Spatial and Temporal Evaluation of Ecological Footprint Intensity of Jiangsu Province at the County-Level Scale

Abstract

Due to the high ecological pressure that exists in the process of rapid economic development in Jiangsu Province, it is necessary to evaluate its ecological footprint intensity (EFI). This article focuses on ecological footprint intensity analysis at the county scale. We used county-level data to evaluate the spatial distributions and temporal trends of the ecological footprint intensity in Jiangsu’s counties from 1995 to 2015. The temporal trends of counties are divided into five types: linear declining type, N-shape type, inverted-N type, U-shape type and inverted-U shape type. It was discovered that the proportions of the carbon footprint intensity were maintained or increased in most counties. Exploratory spatial data analysis shows that there was a certain regularity of the EFI spatial distributions, i.e., a gradient decrease from north to south, and there was a decline in the spatial heterogeneity of EFI in Jiangsu’s counties over time. The global Moran’s index (Moran’s I) and local spatial association index (LISA) are used to analyze both the global and local spatial correlation of EFIs among counties of Jiangsu Province. The high-high and low-low agglomeration effects were the most common, and there were assimilation impacts of counties with strong agglomeration on adjacent units over time. The results implied the utility of differentiated EFI reduction control measures and promotion of low-low agglomeration and suppression of high-high agglomeration in EFI-related ecology policy.

Regional Forecasting of Fine Particulate Matter Concentrations: A Novel Hybrid Model Based on Principal Component Regression and EOF

“…With 1% of the country's land area, Jiangsu produces a GDP of 10 thousand billion Chinese yuan, ranking second in China. Research on air quality in Jiangsu has increased and attracted more attention (Chen & Wang, 2015; Gu et al., 2020; Wu & Liu, 2020; Zhang et al., 2015).…”

Can collaborative innovation constrain ecological footprint? Empirical evidence from Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, China

“…The lingering challenge of reduction of global carbon emissions and the resulting deficit in ecological resources, especially for the United States, China and other large economics (Khan et al 2021, Shahzad et al 2021, Tang et al 2015, has prompted the research on the reduction of EF. Additionally, extensive urbanization in such rapidly growing countries has caused a large decline in available land resources (Wu &Liu 2020), and it is critically important to find a sustainable path towards relieving the pressure on the global ecosystem. Therefore, revealing the rationale behind the dynamics of EF is poised to provide further information for policy formulation, and can help guide policymakers, researchers and ecological activists.…”