Biocapacity supply and demand in Northwestern China: A spatial appraisal of sustainability

Abstract

Integrating spatial analysis with the supply and demand of biocapacity is critical for the sustainable development of regional eco-economic systems. Previous studies have focused on the temporal analysis of biocapacity at broad geographical scales, but lacked the systematic spatial realization at fine scales. An improvement is proposed of this conventional methodology of the ecological footprint by incorporating landuse data derived from high-resolution remote-sensing images into the calculation of biocapacity supply at regional, provincial and county levels in Northwestern China in 2000. The spatial heterogeneity and its effect on the biocapacity supply were systematically revealed for this region. First, the biocapacity supply declined from the east (the Guanzhong Basin and the Loess Plateau) to the middle (the Qaidam Basin and the Turpan Basin), and turned to rise from the middle to the west (the northwest of the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomy). Second, although the gap between biocapacity supply and demand resulted in a small ecological deficit at the regional level, a large ecological deficit was observed at the provincial and county levels, highlighting an unsustainable situation for some of the sub-regions. Importantly, a power law relationship was unveiled between the biocapacity supply and population density, suggesting that (i) the biocapacity supply as a critical indicator could reflect the intensity of human exploitation on local biophysical resources and (ii) humans tend to have a preference to inhabit those areas with high biological productivity. These results provide opportunities to enhance policy development by central and local governments as part of the long-term Great Western Development Strategy of China.

Biocapacity in the Gili Matra Region: A Spatial Assessment of The Carrying Capacity of Small Islands

“…The human population density is an important factor of BC intensity and determinant of the carrying capacity of the region based on the maximum consumption of resources and waste (Rees, 1992;Yue et al, 2011). The high value of BC imports can increase the high dependence of an area with other regions (Yue et al, 2011).…”

“…Heterogeneity is also indirectly strongly associated with natural diversity (Wrbka et al, 2004). Meaning, the more homogeneous the space will make the limited kind of supply provided, and can affect the sustainable development (Shia et al, 2004;Bagliani et al, 2008;Yue et al, 2011). The aim of this study to appraise BC in the Gili Matra Islands to estimate the existing carrying capacity for sustainable development.…”

“…Assessment of BC is mostly done and limited by the administrative area (Bagliani et al, 2008;Toderoiu, 2010;Yue et al, 2011;Hopton and White, 2012;Niccolucci et al, 2012;Borucke et al, 2013;Galli et al, 2014). This is related to the availability of existing data (Hopton and White, 2012), where the data source used is regional statistical data, whereas in the level of the smaller ecological space, especially with the specific and massive utilization rate should be assessed in detail and precisely to ensure the carrying capacity and sustainability of existing activities and resources, as suppliers of all needs (Rees, 1992).…”

“…This is related to the availability of existing data (Hopton and White, 2012), where the data source used is regional statistical data, whereas in the level of the smaller ecological space, especially with the specific and massive utilization rate should be assessed in detail and precisely to ensure the carrying capacity and sustainability of existing activities and resources, as suppliers of all needs (Rees, 1992). For that, spatial analysis can be done to help estimate the carrying capacity and existing needs, to understand the economic, social and environmental interactions, and sustainable policies (Erb, 2004;Kissinger and Rees, 2010;Yue et al, 2011;Niccolucci et al, 2012), both spatially and temporarily.…”

“…Locally, BC represents the endowment of ecologically productive region and indicates the ecosystems potential capacity to provide natural resources and services (Bagliani et al, 2008;Toderoiu, 2010) and the indicators of ecosystem wellbeing and vulnerability (Vačkář, 2012). BC calculation is very important to ensure that the range of land productivity and supply that can be provided by a region based on productive land categories (Bagliani et al, 2008;Toderoiu, 2010;Yue et al, 2011). BC may also provide geographical wealth information regarding the distribution and use of ecological resources and ecosystem services (Bagliani et al, 2008;Borucke et al, 2013).…”