Ecological footprint analysis on the traditional rice-fish agricultural area： a case study of Qingtian County, Zhejiang Province, China

Qingtian County of Zhejiang Province, China has maintained the traditional rice-fish agriculture for about 2,000 years and formed exceptional cultural heritage based on this kind of production mode, so it was ed by FAO as a pilot site for the rice-fish agricultural heritage systems in 2005. This research has applied the indicators of ecological footprint and biocapacity to monitor the environmental conditions of Qingtian County, aiming to find the impact that the traditional agricultural production mode and the local inhabitants lifestyle have placed on the local environmental conditions as well as the role they have played in maintaining ecological balance, cultural inheritance and regional sustainable development. Results show that Qingtian County is characterized by a nearly breakeven total ecological balance, as opposed to Zhejiang Province, the world and other agricultural regions. However, compared with another rice-fish agricultural region, Congjiang County which enjoys a considerable ecological reserve, Qingtian County has consumed a greater amount of environmental resources. Specifically, about half of the ecological footprint of Qingtian County can be attributed to the cropland （50.8%） while the CO2 area only accounts for 11.2%, which is dramatically different from that of the modern industrialized regions. And a vast of percentage of energy is caused by the combustion of fuelwood which not only requires the land to absorb the CO2 emission it has generated but also occupies the forest where it has been chopped.     

Application of ecological footprint in ecological industrial systems：a study case of maize-MSG production systems

To improve the comparability of the research results of ecological industry, the ecological footprint is appliedto analyze the resource utilization and environmental pollution in various subsystems, taking maize-MSG as a case.Results show that the production process from maize to MSG is a extended process of ecological footprint, and that theecological footprint of the maize production is the biggest; the extension of ecological footprint is followed by the increaseof footprint profit, which means that the extension of production chain is an important method to improve the resourcesprofit; the systems have a big proportion of the indirect energy ecological footprint; the air and water pollution in MSGsubsystem is the most serious. At last, it can be identified that ecological footprint is a good method to measure resourceutilization and environmental pollution in various subsystems of an integrated ecological industry.     

Definitions and progress of ecosystem health and ecological security

1. Introduction Development of human industrial civilization and predatory exploitation of natural resources have in- duced tremendous changes of ecological environment. In recent years, territorial and global environmental problems have increased, such as greenhouse effect, depletion of ozone, global warming, water scarcity, water pollution, acid rain, decrease of biodiversity, soil erosion desertification etc. These changes seriously intimidate the health and security of ecosystems, and dist…     

Quantitative evaluation of sustainable development based on ecological footprint method: a case study of Tianjin

Since the concept of sustainable development emerged in the late 1980s, more and more countries and regions have been utilizing sustainable development as their developing strategy. But decades have passed without any effective methods available to quantitatively assess sustainable development, Since the ecological footprint evaluation method initiated in 1992, it has become popular in quantitative assessment of sustainable development because of its convenience, easy-understanding, and reliability. As one of the biggest coastal cities in north China and the economic center of the Bohai Coastal Region, Tianjin's gross domestic product (GDP) was 369.762 billion yuan in 2005, accounting for 2.0% of the whole nation's GDP The paper analyzes Tianjin's development with the ecological footprint method, and the results show that Tianjin's ecological footprint and biocapacity in 2005 were 2. 507gha/cap and 0.276gha/cap respectively. The ecological deficit was 2.230gha/cap. And from 1980 to 2005, Tianjin's ecological deficit per 104 yuan GDP decreased; while per capita ecological deficit has been tending to increase rapidly in recent years. All these results demonstrate that Tianjin is in a state of unsustainable development.     

国土资源安全的系统学研究

在分析国土资源与社会经济发展关系的基础上,论述了国土资源安全系统的基本内涵、系统组成即国土资源、国土资源规划、国土资源开发、国土资源利用、国土资源保护等子系统,总结了国土资源安全系统环境构成及其对系统运行的影响。     

A study of zoning for energy security in China

As a result of more and more serious energy risks, the study of national energy security zoning is not only the basic requirement of energy risk management but also the new demand of economic development for the energy industry. Firstly, this paper analyzes the basic situation of energy resources and production and consumption of primary. energy from 1996 to 2005 in China. Secondly; this paper founds an Energy Security Index System formed by six indices including the percentage of energy reserves, interlocal dependent degree, energy elasticity coefficient and so on. It subsequently calculates the weight of these indices with the factor analysis rating method Lastly, the paper evaluates and zones the abilities of energy security of 30 provinces in China with the grey chuster method According to their security; the 30 provinces are classified into three different levels： high, medium, and low levels. The regions at low energy security level include Beijing, Shanghai, Zhejiang, Fujian, Guangdong, Guangxi and Hainan. They are mainly littoral and short of primary energy production while mostly dependent on other provinces. Those at medium energy security level include 15 provinces （cities or districts）, such as Liaoning, Tianjin, Hebei, Shandong, Henan, Hunan and so on. These provinces are in the northeast, north, east of and central China. Those at high energy security level contain Shanxi. lnner Mongolia, Heilongjiang, Jilin, Chongqing, Sichuan, Shaanxi. Xinjiang. These provinces are the main primary energy production bases.     

河北省各区人口、耕地与粮食安全的协调情况分析

在上世纪80年代河北农业区划分的基础上，封各区域的人口、耕地与粮食产量进行分时点对比分析，并封各区域人口与耕地、人口与粮食、耕地与粮食之间的协调情况从静态和动态两个方面进行了分析。     

Incorporating methane into ecological footprint analysis: A case study of Ireland

Carbon dioxide (CO₂) accounting is important to global ecological footprint analysis. However methane (CH₄), with a global warming potential (GWP) 25 times that of CO₂, should not be neglected as an environmental indicator for informed environmental management. While this is a significant component, the CH₄ associated with imported embodied energy should also be included in national greenhouse gas (GHG) inventories. This study proposes an initial method for incorporating methane into ecological footprint analyses and hopes to inform future debate on its inclusion. In order to account for differences in methane intensities from exporting countries, methane intensities for OECD countries were calculated using emission and energy consumption estimates taken directly from National Inventory Reports (NIR), published in conjunction with the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). For other countries the methane intensities were estimated using energy balances published by the International Energy Association (IEA) and IPCC default emission factors. In order to estimate embodied organic methane, material imports and exports were translated into units (such as live animals) capable of conversion into methane emissions. A significant increase in Ireland's footprint results from the inclusion of the GWP of methane is included within the footprint calculation.     

Orientation and community participation of ecological development： a case study of Hutuo River in Shijiazhuang City, China

Entrusted to by Shijiazhuang municipal Party committee and government,Shanghai Tongji University finished ＂The General Planning of Ecological Development Project of Hutuo River in Shijiazhuang City＂.It aims to build Hutuo River into a wind-breaking and sand-fixing barrier and ecological protect district in the north of Shijiazhuang based on the recovery of natural ecology to improve the environment of Shijiazhuang city.It also intends to develop the district lightly and build it into a nature beauty spot and big park.After the construction for several years,the general environment of this district has been greatly improved.But during the development,the man-made landscapes are highlighted excessively,which deviates from the construction of nature landscape.The currency of constructing big leisure park gradually comes into being,so the recovery of nature ecological is slow.So,this paper intends to make the orientation to ecological development of Hutuo River in Shijiazhuang city and puts forward the community participation to promote the future development of ecotourism in Shijiazhuang.     

The SLCP-driven land use changes and farmers' responses in the loess hilly and gully region: a case study for Ansai County

Taking Ansai County, located in loess hilly and gully area as a case, this study analyzes the land use changes driven by the SLCP (Slope Land Conversion Program) and the farmers' responses by household survey and participatory rapid appraisal (PRA).It is found that the SLCP aroused various changes in land use, agricultural production, rural incomes, etc.In the period of 1999-2005, the farmland and grasslands were reduced by 26, 809 ha and 17,571 ha respectively, while forestland increased by 38,203 ha:greenhouse vegetable and orchard got a quick development, with the area enlarged by about 7 times and nearly doubled respectively.The SLCP reduced the area of crops particularly those that normally grown on slope lands, e.g.the sowing area of winter wheat dropped from 19.39% of the total cropping area in 1999 to 0.98% in 2005.Draught animals, pigs and sheep have a decline in the number because the remained land and the ban on grazing on natural grasslands can not provide sufficient feed forage.Thanks to the financial subsidy, farmers increased land inputs and thus outputs.To achieve long-term sustainable development and improve rural income, the government should continuously support farmers to improve the land management, to adopt alternative land use systems, and to increase inputs on soil conservation.Vegetable and fruit production are two promise land use systems, and should be further developed.     

LUCC of large opencast mines in loess area during ecological restoration： a case study of Pingshuo Mine

1. Introduction Studies on land eco-recovery and ecology re- construction emerged in1960s in the world, but it didn't begin until 1980s in China. Actually, the stud- ies on land recovery and ecological reconstruction began in China in 1990s. Many large progresses have been made in the study on the theory of eco- logical recovery of disused land in recent 10 years [1-3]. According to the characters of terrene and min- eral resources, the research areas of ecological re- covery consist of: (1) …     

Measuring economic loss caused by ecological damages： a case study of China＇s forest ecosystem in 2005

At present about 60% of ecosystem has been damaged and degraded severely, resulting in enormous ecological loss globally. The essential cause is the irrational utilization of ecosystem by humankind, so it is tire key to changing improper environmental performance of humankind so as to prevent ecosystem from being damaged The quantitative valuation on the loss of ecological damage is an effective tool to guide human eco-environmental performance. In this paper, the concepts related to the valuation on ecological damage cost are introduced,＂ uncertainties that might arise in the valuation on the loss of ecological damage such as area coverage of valuation, ecological damage quantity, borders of ecological damage cost and data support are analyzed and the valuation approaches for the loss of ecological damage are also discussed As a case study, the economic losses of ecological damage of forest in 2005 in China are valuated.     

Suitability evaluation of regional coastal ecotourism based on SOM neural network model:a case study of Qingdao,Yantai,Weihai and Rizhao of Shandong Province

Development of coastal ecotourism has been a,focus of Shandong government, and the suitability evaluation of regional eoastai ecotourism is crucial for the reasonable plan and sustainable development of Shandong coastal ecotourism. By using MATLAB language to establish a SOM neural network model, this＇ paper evaluates the eoastal ecotourism suitability of four regions, Qingdao. Yantai, Weihai and Rizhao of Shandong Province and divides 33 subordinate regions of those four cities into four categories, i.e. regions poorly suitable for ecotourism resources, regions highly suitable for coastal ecotourism, regions secondly suitable for coastal ecotourism, regions ordinarily suitable.for coastal ecotourism, Related suggestions on development of regional coastal ecotourism have been given in the final conclusions.     

The SLCP-driven land use changes and farmers＇ responses in the loess hilly and gully region： a case study for Ansai County

Taking Ansai County located in loess hilly and gully area as a case, this study analyzes the land use changes driven by the SLCP （Slope Land Conversion Program） and the farmers＇ responses by household survey and participatory rapid appraisal （PRA）. It is found that the SLCP aroused various changes in land use, agricultural production, rural incomes, etc. In the period of 1999-2005, the farmland and grasslands were reduced by 26,809 ha and 17,571 ha respectively, while forestland increased by 38,203 ha; greenhouse vegetable and orchard got a quick development, with the area enlarged by about 7 times and nearly doubled respectively. The SLCP reduced the area of crops particularly those that normally grown on slope lands, e.g. the sowing area of winter wheat ped from 19.39% of the total cropping area in 1999 to 0.98% in 2005. Draught animals, pigs and sheep have a decline in the number because the remained land and the ban on grazing on natural grasslands can not provide sufficient feed forage. Thanks to the financial subsidy, farmers increased land inputs and thus outputs. To achieve long-term sustainable development and improve rural income, the government should continuously support farmers to improve the land management, to adopt alternative land use systems, and to increase inputs on soil conservation. Vegetable and fruit production are two promise land use systems, and should be further developed.     

A study of benefits compensation mechanism for agricultural water rights trading under the restriction of ecological reconstruction: case study of Shiyang River basin

Agricultural water allocation system based on priority rights has caused regional conJtiets and downstream ecological degradation.It is the urgent need to introduce the concept of the initial water rights and establish benefits compensation mechanism to resolve such problems.This paper takes the Shivang River basin as an example to calculate the opportunity cost of 0.97×108m3 of agricultural water encroached by the middle reach based on initial water right allocation system under which water is allocated in accordance with the ratio between agricultural population of two different regions concerning the downstream ecological reconstruction needs with Bio-economic model (BEM).The results suggest that the total economic loss of Minqin County for ecological econstruction amounts to 2.57×108 yuan,of which 1.68×108 yuan is ecological compensation,representing the economic loss Minqin suffered for ecological reconstruction which should burden beneficial groups of eeological reconstruction and 0.89×108 yuan is the economic loss Minqin suffered due to Liangzhou's encroachment behavior which should be compensated by Liangzhou.     

A study of benefits compensation mechanism for agricultural water rights trading under the restriction of ecological reconstruction： a case study of Shiyang River basin

Agricultural water allocation system based on priority rights has caused regional conflicts and downstream ecological degradation. It is the urgent need to introduce the concept of the initial water rights and establish benefits compensation mechanism to resolve such problems. This paper takes the Shiyang River basin as an example to calculate the opportunity cost of 0.97×10^8 m^3 of agricultural water encroached by the middle reach based on initial water right allocation system under which water is allocated in accordance with the ratio between agricultural population of two different regions concerning the downstream ecological reconstruction needs with Bio-economic model （BEM）. The results suggest that the total economic loss of Minqin County for ecological reconstruction amounts to 2.5 7×10^8 yuan, of which 1.68×10^8 yuan is ecological compensation, representing the economic loss Minqin suffered for ecological reconstruction which shouM burden beneficial groups of ecological reconstruction and 0.89 ×10^8 yuan is the economic loss Minqin suffered due to Liangzhou＇s encroachment behavior which should be compensated by Liangzhou.     

Modelling regional policy scenarios in the agri-food sector: a case study of a Spanish region

The agri-food industry has several features of great importance for sustainable economic growth in rural areas. The objective of this work is to evaluate the effects associated with different scenarios of growth, and changes in the regional agri-food industry. These scenarios simulate changes in exports and imports, changes in technology and changes in the level of industrial integration. We develop a computable general equilibrium model calibrated for the region. Our results indicate that policies trying to improve the competitiveness and dynamism of strategic sectors as the agro-industrial complex in this regional economy exert positive effects on its growth and income, having notable impacts on local job markets but also in other sectors and activities linked through the whole production chain.     

Development of suburb farm landscape in the process of urban-rural overall planning from the perspective of ecological economics： a case study of Chengdu City

With the accelerating development of Chinese urbanization and the widening gap between rural and urban areas, urban-rural overall planning is to be an inevitable choice for economic and social development. However, the specific patterns and methods in urban-rural overall planning are greatly different. From the persperctive of ecological economy, taking the main physical and biological pattern of the farmland as research objects, this paper analyzes the components and characteristics of farm landscape, the relationship between farm landscape exploitation and rural tourism, and the role of farm landscape exploitation in planning urban and rural development. It expatiates on the pattern, method and principle of farm landscape development. Furthermore, based on the actual development case, this paper explores how to make high-grade tourism products with scientific and reasonable farm landscape development method, how to increase peasant income, how to improve urban and rural ecological economic environment, so as to promote urban-rural overall planning.     

Environmental hazard and ecological infrastructure construction of hilly city： a case of metropolitan area of Chongqing Municipality

This paper takes metropolitan area of Chongqing Municipality as an example, Chongqing, located at the tail area of the Three Gorges Reservoir; is a typically in-land hilly city in China. A series of serious eco-environmental hazard affecting hilly city, have appeared： the forest landscape has been fragmented; the stability of ecological system has nat been maintained： soil erosion has been serionus; geological disasters have become more and more frequented; the phenomenon of city ＂heat islands＂ is obvious： and environmental pollution is worsened with Iow physical self-puri- fication. All of the hazards above will affect ecological security of the tail area of the Three Gorges Reservoir and sustainable development of Changqing. In order to guarantee ecological security and health of Chongqing and the Three Gorges Reservoir, the eountermeasures for ecological infrastructure construction are put forward： quickly drawing up ecological infrastructure planning of Chongqing Municipality, strengthening the integration and continuation of hilly-water spatial pattern, maintaining the diversity and stability of local ecosystem, establishing the green space system in-cluding suburban.forest, farmland and green space. recovering wetland ecosystem, optimizing industrial structure and urban spatial distribution, developing recycling economy; establishing ecological infrastructure monitoring network and information forecast system, carrying out ecological management for Chongqing Municipality and so on.     

Search, migration, and urban land use: The case of transportation policies

We develop a search-matching model with rural-urban migration and an explicit land market. Wages, job creation, urban housing prices are endogenous and we characterize the steady-state equilibrium. We then consider three different policies: a transportation policy that improves the public transport system in the city, an entry-cost policy that encourages investment in the city and a restricting-migration policy that imposes some costs on migrants. We show that all these policies can increase urban employment but the transportation policy has much more drastic effects. This is because a decrease in commuting costs has both a direct positive effect on land rents, which discourages migrants to move to the city, and a direct negative effect on urban wages, which reduces job creation and thus migration. When these two effects are combined with search frictions, the interactions between the land and the labor markets have amplifying positive effects on urban employment. Thus, improving the transport infrastructure in cities can increase urban employment despite the induced migration from rural areas.