Analysis of over-consumption of natural resources and the ecological trade deficit in China based on ecological footprints

China has experienced unprecedented economic development in recent years and is now facing severe challenges caused by the over-consumption of resources and by ecological and environmental degradation. To assess the influence of resource exploitation and ecological trade, we have developed an index of excessive resource consumption based on the concepts of ecological deficit and ecological over-shoot, and we have used the ecological trade deficit to assess the pressure created by the export and import of resources and products. Our analysis indicated that China's consumption footprint surpassed its biocapacity in 1983, leading to an ecological deficit, and the production footprint surpassed its biocapacity in 1986, leading to an ecological over-shoot, as the over-consumption of natural resources grew. By 2010, 3.6 times the current area of bioproductive land was needed to provide sufficient resources to meet the consumption. China has been encouraging the development of exporting enterprises by implementing a series of financial and tax incentives, which have stimulated the economy in the short-term but have gradually increased the ecological trade deficit since 2000.     

基于国家生态足迹账户计算方法的福建省生态足迹研究

运用国家生态足迹账户计算方法(2010版),计算并分析2000-2009年福建省的生态足迹和生态承载力,旨在展示国外生态足迹计算方法研究的最新进展,更准确地揭示近年来福建省的生态足迹和生态承载力状况。结果表明:2000-2009年福建省人均生态足迹由1.2902 gha^**快速增长至2.4925 gha;人均生态承载力由0.9772 gha轻微下降为0.9363 gha;生态赤字持续快速扩大,支撑经济发展由需要1.32倍的福建生态承载力变为需要2.66倍;碳吸收地在生态足迹结构中始终占据首位且呈快速扩大趋势,是福建生态赤字的主导因素;生态效率年均增长率大大低于地区生产总值年均增长率,目前福建生态效率还远低于主要发达国家。     

Estimating the environmental Kuznets curve for ecological footprint at the global level: A spatial econometric approach

The national ecological footprint of both consumption and production are significantly spatially autocorrelated at global level. This violates the assumption of independently distributed errors of most conventional estimation techniques. Using a spatial econometric approach, this paper re-examine the relationship between economic growth and environmental impact for indicator of ecological footprint. The results do not show evidence of inverted U-shape Environmental Kuznets Curve. The domestic ecological footprint of consumption (or production) was obviously influenced by the ecological footprint of consumption (or production), income and biocapacity in neighborhood countries. We also found that the consumption footprint is more sensitive to domestic income, while production footprint is more sensitive to domestic biocapacity, which is often unnoticed in EKC hypothesis analyses that focus exclusively on the consumption-based or production-based indictors.     

中国水生态足迹广度、深度评价及空间格局

运用生态足迹方法对水资源进行流量资本和存量资本区分,测算分析了中国31个省市1997—2014年的水生态足迹广度与深度。结果显示:(1)中国的水生态足迹广度受年际水资源量丰枯影响,总体呈波动趋势;各省市的水生态足迹广度存在着明显差异,南方地区水生态足迹广度普遍大于北方地区;(2)研究期内,中国的水生态足迹深度只有1998年为1,其余年份的水资源流量资本已不能满足人类生产生活的需求,需要消耗水资源存量资本;各省市之间水生态足迹深度相差较大,整体上北方高南方低,其中14个省份18年的平均水生态足迹深度为1,平均水生态足迹深度最高的地区是宁夏的308.12;(3)运用空间自相关方法对31个省市的水生态足迹广度和深度进行分析得出,中国省际水生态足迹广度与深度均存在明显的空间集聚现象。水生态足迹广度H-H集聚地区主要集中在中国南方地区,水生态足迹深度H-H集聚地区主要集中在中国北方地区。通过对全国水生态足迹广度与深度的测度分析为水生态足迹分析提供新的研究方法,同时也为区域水资源可持续利用提供理论依据。     

Energy,Nitrogen, and Farm Surplus Transitions in Agriculture from Historical Data Modeling. France, 1882–2013.

This article addresses agricultural metabolism and transitions for energy, nitrogen, farm production, self‐sufficiency, and surplus from historical data since the nineteenth century. It builds on an empirical data set on agricultural production and production means in France covering 130 consecutive years (1882–2013). Agricultural transitions have increased the net production and surplus of farms by a factor of 4 and have zeroed self‐sufficiency. The energy consumption remained quasi‐stable since 1882, but the energy and nitrogen structure of agriculture fully changed. With an EROI (energy return to energy invested) of 2 until 1950, preindustrial agriculture consumed as much energy to function as it provided in exportable surplus to sustain the nonagricultural population. The EROI doubled to 4 over the last 60 years, driven, on the one hand, by efficiency improvements in traction through the replacement of draft animals by motors and, on the other hand, by the joint increase in crop yields and efficiency in nitrogen use. Agricultural energy and nitrogen transitions shifted France from a self‐sufficiency agri‐food‐energy regime to a fossil‐dependent food export regime. Knowledge of resource conversion mechanisms over the long duration highlights the effects of changing agricultural metabolism on the system's feeding capacity. Farm self‐sufficiency is an asset against fossil fuel constraints, price volatility, and greenhouse gas emissions, but it equates to lower farm surplus in support of urbanization.     

北京市消耗食物生态足迹距离

以北京市消耗食物生态足迹的距离为研究核心。结果表明2008年至2012年,北京的生态足迹距离、人均生态足迹和生态足迹总里程总体呈现逐年增长趋势:生态足迹距离增大到676.75 km,增长19.3%;人均生态足迹距离增加到18.42万km,增长54%;生态足迹总里程增加了1倍强,达到56亿t km。北京市的食物生态足迹距离不断扩大,并涵盖了全国大部分地区,北京城市化的生态成本上升。所消耗各类食物的生态足迹距离从大到小分别为水果类、蔬菜或粮油类、肉蛋类和水产类。蔬菜类和水果类的生态足迹距离存在明显的季节波动,且冬春季节远高于夏秋季节。从转移生态承载力来源地的视角,直线距离越远、占据市场份额越大的地区,对北京市消耗食物生态足迹距离的贡献率越高。     

An urban university's ecological footprint and the effect of climate change

Ecological footprint analysis (EFA) has been used since the early 1990s as a measure of sustainability for geographical regions, products, and activities. EFA is used as a measure of land and water ecosystems needed to provide the resources for a given population and process the waste that it produces in a globalized metric (global hectares), generally on an annual basis. As institutions seek ways to become more sustainable they have used a variety of metrics, ranking systems, and indicators to evaluate their baseline and progress towards those goals. An EFA for a large urban public university, the University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC), was calculated as 97,601 global hectares (2.66 global hectares per total faculty, staff and students). The breakdown of sources is energy for the built environment (73%), transportation and commuting (13%), materials and waste (12%), and food (3%). UIC's ecological footprint to actual landprint ratio has a value of 1005 which is 1–2 orders of magnitude higher than the other campuses that have performed EFAs. This is an indicator of the urban nature of the campus since the land resources in an urban environment are limited and the activities tend to be denser. A sensitivity analysis to examine the effect of climate change events on the footprint indicated that, if all other factors are held constant, climate change will increase the ecological footprint of UIC.     

Effects of eutrophication and exotic crayfish on health status of two Spanish lakes: a joint application of ecological indicators

Lake Sentiz and Lake Chozas are two small water bodies in the Province of León (NW Spain). The former is mesotrophic and the latter went from oligotrophic to turbid in 1997, due to introduction of an invasive allochthonous crayfish Procambarus clarkii (Rodríguez et al., 2003, Rodríguez et al., 2005, Marchi et al., 2011a, Marchi et al., 2011b). We set out to study health status of the two ecosystems by the joint use of different but correlated ecological indicators, supplementing the values obtained by monitoring campaigns. We examine three scenarios: (1) Lake Sentiz, (2) Lake Chozas before and (3) Lake Chozas after the biological invasion. We evaluate eco-exergy, emergy and eco-exergy–empower ratio, three holistic ecological indicators based on the thermodynamics of far-from-equilibrium systems. When structural changes take place in ecosystems it is recommended to apply holistic thermodynamic indicators as presented in Jørgensen et al., 2010a, Jørgensen et al., 2010b. We propose their joint application for a complete overview of the monetary value of natural capital, because they provide information added to statistical analysis and direct measurement. The aim is to determine which of these indicators best represents the effects of eutrophication and perturbations caused by alien species in the two freshwater systems. The eco-exergy–empower ratio gives the best results, since it clearly indicates lake efficiency in transforming direct and indirect solar energy inputs into organization. The eco-exergy (work capacity) results are used to estimate ecosystem services and quantify the economic value of lake natural capital. Calculation of ecosystem services on an eco-exergy basis provides good indications of monetary gains or losses possible in perturbed systems, including eutrophic or invaded ecosystems. This is not surprising, because work capacities include all possible services offered by ecosystems, not only the services actually used by humans. Eco-exergy and the eco-exergy–empower ratio can be guidelines for the calculation of ecosystem services, although they give only a partial indication of the environmental costs and benefits of a given level of information. The present results suggest political and economic considerations and solutions, and are a useful example for organisations involved in environmental management of pollution and biological invasions by exotic species.     

基于NFA计算方法的厦门市生态足迹分析

运用国家生态足迹账户(NFA)计算方法(2010版),计算并分析2000～2009年厦门市的生态足迹和生态承载力,旨在展示国外生态足迹计算方法研究最新进展,更准确地揭示近年厦门市生态足迹和生态承载力状况。结果表明:2000～2009年厦门市人均生态足迹由1.686 9 gha快速增长至3.245 2 gha;人均生态承载力由0.317 2 gha持续下降为0.268 5 gha;生态赤字持续快速扩大,支撑经济发展由需要5.32个厦门变为需要12.09个厦门的生态承载力;碳吸收地在生态足迹结构中始终占据第一位且呈快速扩大趋势,是厦门市生态赤字的主导因素;生态效率呈持续增长趋势,但目前厦门市生态效率还远低于主要发达国家。     

Oil for Fish: An Energy Return on Investment Analysis of Selected European Union Fishing Fleets

World food production has increased substantially in the past century, thanks mostly to the increase in the use of oil as input in the production processes. This growing use of fossil fuels has negative effects, both on the environment and the production costs. Fishing is a fuel consuming food production activity, and its energy efficiency performance has worsened over time. World‐wide fisheries are also suffering from overexploitation, which contributes to the poor efficiency performance, adding more pressure and criticism on this economic activity. In this paper we analyzed the energy efficiency performance of more than 20,000 European Union (EU) fishing vessels for the period 2002–2008, using the edible energy return on investment (EROI) indicator. The vessels analyzed, grouped in 49 different fleets, represented 25% of the vessels and 33% of the landings of the EU fishing sector. These EU fishing fleets’ average EROI for 2008 was 0.11, which translates to an energy content of the fuel burned that is 9 times greater than the edible energy content of the catch. Hence, the significance of this study arises from the use of time‐series data on a relevant part of the EU fleet that showed stable or even slight improvements on the EROI over time. Moreover, results showed that the energy efficiency of the different fleets varied significantly (from 0.02 to 1.12), mainly depending on the fishing gear and the vessel length. The performance of the most efficient fleets, such as large pelagic trawlers and seiners, was comparable to many agricultural production activities. The plausible drivers behind these trends are further considered.     

An integrated data envelopment analysis and emergy-based ecological footprint methodology in evaluating sustainable development,a case study of Jiangsu Province,China

Many cities are experiencing rapid urbanization and ecological degradation, which has resulted in unsustainable development. It is essential to conduct a scientifically rigorous method to assess the regional sustainability. Among many indicators, eco-efficiency could be an effective instrument to promote a transformation towards sustainability. This study applied the emergy ecological footprint analysis and data envelopment analysis to evaluate the eco-efficiency using data collected from 1993 to 2012 for Jiangsu Province, China. The results showed that Jiangsu’s emergy ecological footprint and ecological deficit experienced an ascending trend in general during the period 1993–2012, indicating that the regional development of Jiangsu has been moving away from sustainability for a long time. In six types of biologically productive areas, fossil land and arable were the major parts of emergy ecological footprint. Furthermore, the growth of green gross domestic product was only about 52% of the conventional gross domestic product, and the pollutants emission, energy and resources consumption increased yearly as the gross domestic product increased. Finally, the result of the data envelopment analysis model showed that the effective years only accounted for 20% during the 20 years. In the inefficient years, biological resources, energy resources, pollutant emission (wastewater, gas and solid) and labor were overmuch, and the efficiency of fund usage achieved the optimal in Jiangsu Province. Therefore, improving the level of agricultural modernization, increasing the proportion of non-fossil energy, developing renewable energy and reducing pollutant emission are recommended to promote the regional sustainability.     

Influencing factors and multi-scenario prediction of China's ecological footprint based on the STIRPAT model

Focusing on the spatial and temporal pattern, evolution law, influencing factors and prediction of regional ecological footprint (EF) is conducive to promoting sustainable development of regional populations, resources, and the environment. Firstly, this study used the EF model to analyze the spatial and temporal patterns and dynamic evolution characteristics of the total ecological footprint (TEF) and the relative contributions of the biological ecological footprint (BEF), energy ecological footprint (EEF), and pollution ecological footprint (PEF) in China from 2000 to 2019. Secondly, the impact of socioeconomic factors on China's TEF was analyzed based on the STIRPAT model. Finally, the future development trend of China's TEF was analyzed by multi-scenario prediction. The results demonstrate that: (1) from 2000 to 2019, the TEF levels of China form three gradient spaces, (2) the BEF is the biggest contributor to EF in most of China's provinces, (3) total energy consumption is the most important positive factor for China's TEF while proportion of tertiary industry in the three industries is the most important negative factor, and (4) maintaining low growth in total energy consumption and high growth in proportion of tertiary industry in the three industries is crucial for limiting the future growth of China's TEF     

足迹家族:概念、类型、理论框架与整合模式

足迹研究是当前生态经济学和可持续发展领域的热点与前沿课题。探讨了足迹类指标的内涵,将其定义为一类评估人类资源消费和废弃物排放等活动环境影响的指标;介绍了生态足迹、碳足迹、水足迹、能源足迹、化学足迹、氮足迹和生物多样性足迹7类典型足迹指标的概念与研究进展;在此基础上提出了普适性的足迹家族概念,总结了足迹家族的选择性、开放性、系统性和不确定性特征,并根据足迹类指标的一般运算流程构建了足迹家族的理论框架;基于大量文献成果系统比较了生态足迹、碳足迹和水足迹3类关键足迹的特征差异,提出了在足迹家族层面增强指标兼容性的措施;通过逐一测试各关键足迹与27项环境问题的相关程度,从决策相关性的角度初步探索了该足迹家族的整合模式;展望了未来足迹(家族)研究的重点方向。     

Socioeconomic indicators for sustainable design and commercial development of algal biofuel systems

Social and economic indicators can be used to support design of sustainable energy systems. Indicators representing categories of social well‐being, energy security, external trade, profitability, resource conservation, and social acceptability have not yet been measured in published sustainability assessments for commercial algal biofuel facilities. We review socioeconomic indicators that have been modeled at the commercial scale or measured at the pilot or laboratory scale, as well as factors that affect them, and discuss additional indicators that should be measured during commercialization to form a more complete picture of socioeconomic sustainability of algal biofuels. Indicators estimated in the scientific literature include the profitability indicators, return on investment (ROI) and net present value (NPV), and the resource conservation indicator, fossil energy return on investment (EROI). These modeled indicators have clear sustainability targets and have been used to design sustainable algal biofuel systems. Factors affecting ROI, NPV, and EROI include infrastructure, process choices, and financial assumptions. The food security indicator, percent change in food price volatility, is probably zero where agricultural lands are not used for production of algae‐based biofuels; however, food‐related coproducts from algae could enhance food security. The energy security indicators energy security premium and fuel price volatility and external trade indicators terms of trade and trade volume cannot be projected into the future with accuracy prior to commercialization. Together with environmental sustainability indicators, the use of a suite of socioeconomic sustainability indicators should contribute to progress toward sustainability of algal biofuels.     

能值生态足迹模型的改进——以海南为例

通过对比总结现有能值生态足迹模型研究成果,从能值密度、能值生态承载力、能值生态指标分类和整合等方面分析了模型存在的问题,在此基础上,构建了消费端和供给端构建足迹账户体系,并提出能值生态足迹和能值生态承载力模型的改进和优化。利用改进模型,实证分析了2000—2016年海南生态经济系统的变化特征。结果表明:(1)能源账户和生物产品账户足迹大幅增加。污染账户和建设用地账户足迹状态稳定。(2)生产承载力随着技术进步不断提高,而环境承载力随着人类对环境资源的占用强度增加不断下降。(3)海南生态环境整体表现为生态盈余,但污染账户、能源账户盈余缩减,2011年能源账户开始出现生态赤字。通过足迹账户的构建,能够更清晰地追踪各账户和各类土地能值生态足迹、能值生态承载力以及能值生态盈余/赤字产生的变化,能值生态足迹模型改进之后能够更客观反映区域生态经济系统状况,为地区有针对性开展环境管理和保护提供依据。     

How sustainable are biofuels? Answers and further questions arising from an ecological footprint perspective

By using biofuels bioproductive land is devoted to supply energy. As the bioproductive land area on our planet is confined and actually decreasing, biofuels compete against other demands like the production of food, industrial resources, nature conservation etc. This not only results in higher prices for agricultural and forestry products, but also increases environmental pressures. The aim of this paper is to clarify if and to which extent biofuels might be sustainable by applying modified calculation methods of the ecological footprint. It can be concluded that biofuels can offer huge environmental benefits compared to fossil fuels. Yet, if and to which extent biofuel production is sustainable depends on the amount of land available and, therefore, can only be decided in a regional context. Ecological footprinting can significantly support these regional decision making processes.     

Natural and socioeconomic determinants of the embodied human appropriation of net primary production and its relation to other resource use indicators

Indicators of resource use such as material and energy flow accounts, emission data and the ecological footprint inform societies about their performance by evaluating resource use efficiency and the effectiveness of sustainability policies. The human appropriation of net primary production (HANPP) is an indicator of land-use intensity on each nation's territory used in research as well as in environmental reports. ‘Embodied HANPP’ (eHANPP) measures the HANPP anywhere on earth resulting from a nation's domestic biomass consumption. The objectives of this article are (i) to study the relation between eHANPP and other resource use indicators and (ii) to analyse socioeconomic and natural determinants of global eHANPP patterns in the year 2000. We discuss a statistical analysis of >140 countries aiming to better understand these relationships. We found that indicators of material and energy throughput, fossil-energy related CO₂ emissions as well as the ecological footprint are highly correlated with each other as well as with GDP, while eHANPP is neither correlated with other resource use indicators nor with GDP, despite a strong correlation between final biomass consumption and GDP. This can be explained by improvements in agricultural efficiency associated with GDP growth. Only about half of the variation in eHANPP can be explained by differences in national land-use systems, suggesting a considerable influence of trade on eHANPP patterns. eHANPP related with biomass trade can largely be explained by differences in natural endowment, in particular the availability of productive area. We conclude that eHANPP can deliver important complimentary information to indicators that primarily monitor socioeconomic metabolism.     

中国“水量”和“水质”生态足迹及可持续能力量化方法与实证研究

科学测度水资源和水环境可持续能力,对区域水资源管理具有重要意义。从“水量”和“水质”两个角度,对我国31个省域地区的“水量”及“水质“生态足迹、生态承载力和生态压力指数进行研究。结果表明：(1)2000—2020年,我国水资源生态压力指数均小于1,最高值为2011年的0.86,总体水量供给充足,可持续能力强;万元GDP水量生态足迹呈波动下降趋势,用水效率大幅度提升。(2)2000—2020年,我国水质可持续能力均较强,处于安全和较安全状态,水质生态盈余量约2亿hm²;人均水质承载力约为人均水质生态足迹的2倍,且万元GDP产生的污水量呈下降趋势。(3)人均水量生态足迹和万元GDP水量生态足迹的空间重心均位于甘肃省。水量及水质生态足迹高值区,均主要位于“胡焕庸线”西北部,而承载力高值区,主要位于青藏高原和我国南方地区。(4)我国水量可持续能力处于安全、临界状态和不安全的地区数,分别占55%、6%和39%;水质可持续能力处于安全、临界状态和不安全的地区数,分别占61%、3%和35%;水量及水质可持续能力较强和较弱的地区数之比,约为6∶4。研究揭示了我国水量及水质风险等级...     

生态足迹深度和广度:构建三维模型的新指标

追踪自然资本存量消耗与流量占用是当前可持续发展研究的核心议题.系统阐述了国际上新近提出的生态足迹三维模型的概念与计算方法,重点对足迹深度和足迹广度两个指标进行了探讨,总结了模型的主要优势,并通过引入资本流量占用率和存量流量利用比两个新指标对模型作进一步完善,在此基础上实证分析了1961-2006年的中国生态足迹.结果表明,中国自 1978年步人生态赤字时代以来,足迹深度增长了近2倍,足迹广度减少了11.84％,因自然资本流量不足导致资本存量大幅肖耗已成为社会发展常态.到2006年时,中国需要2.9倍的国土才能持续支撑其资源消费量.研究表明,三维模型分别从时空两方面表征了人类对资本存量的消耗(足迹深度)和对流量的占用(足迹广度),增强了生态足迹在不同区域、不同时期之间的可比性,并在一定程度上克服了经典模型的评估缺陷.最后指出了三维模型今后发展的主要方向.     

近20年疏勒河流域生态承载力和生态需水研究

水资源是一切生物赖以生存和不可替代的基本自然资源,生态需水在维持流域生态系统平衡和生态承载力可持续性方面扮演着极其重要的角色,干旱区内陆河流域尤为突出。以疏勒河流域和其所辖县区为不同尺度区域,利用LandsatTM/ETM+/OLI遥感数据(30 m分辨率),解译该流域近20年5期土地利用数据,同时在收集和整理流域多年水文水资源基础数据的基础上,以流域生态需水为研究主线,运用多学科方法和原理,结合遥感技术、GIS技术,通过现场调查和观测,计算了流域及其所辖县区近20年生态承载力和天然植被生态需水量。结果表明:近20年来,伴随流域生态承载力的增加,生态需水量也呈增加趋势,两者呈非常明显的正相关关系,相关系数达0.6076;县域尺度上,生态需水与生态承载力正相关关系也较高,其中林、草地的生态需水与生态承载力拟合优度R~2分别达0.8519、0.7235,说明林、草地生态承载力的变化对生态需水变化的解释能力更强,二者之间的关系更为紧密;基于空间热点分析,该流域生态承载力和生态需水的热点和冷点区域均呈现相似的空间格局,说明二者之间在空间尺度上也呈正相关关系。研究结论可为疏勒河流域生态水资源量的科学配置和调控提供重要的决策依据。