Ecological Security Assessment Based on Ecological Footprint Approach in Hulunbeir Grassland, China

Abstract

Hulunbeir grassland, as a crucial ecological barrier and energy supply base in northwest China, suffers from a fragile ecological environment. Therefore, it is crucially important for Hulunbeir grassland to achieve the sustainable development of its social economies and ecological environments through the evaluation of its ecological security. This paper introduces the indexes of the ecological pressure index (EPI), ecological footprint diversity index (EFDI), and ecological coordination coefficient (ECC) based on the ecological footprint model. Furthermore, the Stochastic Impacts by Regression on Population, Affluence, and Technology (STIRPAT) model was applied to analyze the main driving factors of the change of the ecological footprint. The results showed that: The ecological footprint (EF) per capita of Hulunbeir grassland has nearly doubled in 11 years to 11.04 ha/cap in 2016, while the ecological capacity (EC) per capita was rather low and increased slowly, leading to a continuous increase of per capita ecological deficit (ED) (from 5.7113 ha/cap to 11.0937 ha/cap). Within this, the footprint of fossil energy land and grassland contributed the most to the total EF, and forestland and cropland played the major role in EC. The EPI increased from 0.82 in 2006 to 1.25 in 2016, leading the level of ecological security to increase from level 3 (moderately safe) to level 4 (moderately risky). The indexes of the EFDI and ECC both reached a minimum in 2014 and then began to rise, indicating that Hulunbeir steppe’s ecological environment, as well as its coordination with economy, was considered to be worse in 2014 but then gradually ameliorated. The STIRPAT model indicated that the main factors driving the EF increase were per capita GDP and the proportion of secondary industry, while the decrease of unit GDP energy consumption played an effective role in curbing the continuous growth of the EF. These findings not only have realistic significance in promoting the coordinated development between economy and natural resource utilization under the constraint of fragile environment, but also provide a scientific reference for similar energy-rich ecologically fragile regions.

Decoupling and Decomposition Analysis of Land Natural Capital Utilization and Economic Growth: A Case Study in Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region, China

“…To date, the ecological footprint model has been improved and extended from one-dimension [ 17 ] to two-dimension [ 14 , 15 ] and then to three-dimensional model [ 18 , 19 ], and has been applied to researches at multiple scales of global [ 15 ], national [ 20 ], province [ 21 ], city [ 22 ], and enterprise [ 23 ]. Especially in ecologically sensitive areas [ 24 , 25 ], the ecological footprint model has fully demonstrated its advantages of ecological sustainability. In the latest applications of three-dimensional ecological footprint in Shandong Province [ 26 ], Jiangsu Province [ 27 ], Hainan Province [ 28 ], Shaanxi Province [ 29 ], Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei Metropolitan region [ 30 ], Pearl River Delta Urban Agglomerations [ 31 ], Yellow River Delta Region [ 32 ], Southern Qin Ling piedmont [ 33 ], Beijing city [ 34 ] and Guiyang city [ 8 ], scholars studied the dynamics of regional natural capital stock and flow, ecological sustainability and driving factors influencing the changes of ecological footprints.…”

Explore Associations between Subjective Well-Being and Eco-Logical Footprints with Fixed Effects Panel Regressions

“…Ecological footprint (EF) is used to measure humans' consumption and natural supply [10]. It is also an important orientation of environment research [11][12][13][14][15][16][17]. Proposed by Wackernagel et al in 1996 [18], EF has constantly been well reported from 1961-2016 by the free public platform of the global footprint network.…”

Simulating Urban Growth Scenarios Based on Ecological Security Pattern: A Case Study in Quanzhou, China

“…In recent decades, the rapid development of urbanization has induced a series of environmental problems including the overconsumption of natural resources, environmental degradation, air pollution, and soil erosion [ 1 , 2 , 3 , 4 ]. These environmental problems, in return, intensify the risk of natural disasters and jeopardize human well-being in a wide variety of aspects from health and safety to living standards [ 5 , 6 ]. Sustainable development entails a stable eco-environment and vibrant ecosystem service [ 4 , 7 ].…”

“…Despite a fruitful line of research in analyzing ESP, there seems to be a lack of ESP application, particularly in incorporating ESP into urban growth simulation [ 1 , 2 , 3 , 4 , 5 , 6 , 7 , 8 , 9 , 15 , 16 , 17 , 18 , 19 , 23 , 24 , 25 ]. On one hand, most ESP-related studies have focused on ESP identification and construction.…”

“…As a matter of fact, it is evident that ESP covers a much larger extent than the conservation area [ 10 , 11 ]. In light of the importance of ESP in achieving sustainable development [ 1 , 2 , 3 , 4 , 5 , 6 , 7 , 8 , 9 , 10 , 11 , 12 , 15 , 16 , 17 , 18 , 19 ], there is a compelling need to incorporate ESP in urban growth simulation. It follows that if we, as a society, call for more eco-friendly and sustainable urban development, then ESP is required in simulating urban growth as a key facet in better informing planners and policymakers in landscape design and urban planning.…”