IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jsusta/v8y2016i4p329-d67572.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Dynamic Changes of the Ecological Footprint and Its Component Analysis Response to Land Use in Wuhan, China

Author

Listed:
  • Xiaowei Yao

    (School of Public Administration, China University of Geosciences, Wuhan 430074, China)

  • Zhanqi Wang

    (School of Public Administration, China University of Geosciences, Wuhan 430074, China)

  • Hongwei Zhang

    (School of Public Administration, China University of Geosciences, Wuhan 430074, China)

Abstract

Humans’ demands for biological resources and energies have always been increasing, whereas evidence has shown that this demand is outpacing the regenerative and absorptive capacity of the planet. Since China is experiencing unprecedented urbanization and industrialization processes, how much impact this has imposed on the earth during economic development worldwide is conspicuous. Therefore, this paper tries to examine the environmental impact in detail and track its changes in a typical city of Central China, Wuhan, based on ecological footprint analysis. By calculating the ecological footprint and its components in terms of biologically productive land areas during the period of 1995–2008, it is found that the ecological footprint increased in fluctuations from 1.48 gha per capita to 2.10 gha per capita, with the carbon footprint contributing most within the whole time period. Compared to the tiny declining biocapacity of the region, a gradually aggravated ecological deficit in the city was observed, which increased from 1.12 gha per capita in 1995 to 1.79 gha per capita in 2008. Component analysis on the trends of the ecological footprint and ecological deficit reveals that the impact on the ecosystem induced by humans’ demands for resource production and energy consumption became greater than before, and cutting down the consumption of fossil fuels could reduce the carbon footprint and the overall ecological deficit of the city.

Suggested Citation

  • Xiaowei Yao & Zhanqi Wang & Hongwei Zhang, 2016. "Dynamic Changes of the Ecological Footprint and Its Component Analysis Response to Land Use in Wuhan, China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 8(4), pages 1-14, April.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:8:y:2016:i:4:p:329-:d:67572
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/8/4/329/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/8/4/329/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Jason Venetoulis & John Talberth, 2008. "Refining the ecological footprint," Environment, Development and Sustainability: A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Theory and Practice of Sustainable Development, Springer, vol. 10(4), pages 441-469, August.
    2. Kitzes, Justin & Galli, Alessandro & Bagliani, Marco & Barrett, John & Dige, Gorm & Ede, Sharon & Erb, Karlheinz & Giljum, Stefan & Haberl, Helmut & Hails, Chris & Jolia-Ferrier, Laurent & Jungwirth, , 2009. "A research agenda for improving national Ecological Footprint accounts," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 68(7), pages 1991-2007, May.
    3. Siche, J.R. & Agostinho, F. & Ortega, E. & Romeiro, A., 2008. "Sustainability of nations by indices: Comparative study between environmental sustainability index, ecological footprint and the emergy performance indices," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 66(4), pages 628-637, July.
    4. M. Lenzen & D. Moran & K. Kanemoto & B. Foran & L. Lobefaro & A. Geschke, 2012. "International trade drives biodiversity threats in developing nations," Nature, Nature, vol. 486(7401), pages 109-112, June.
    5. Duro, Juan Antonio & Teixidó-Figueras, Jordi, 2013. "Ecological footprint inequality across countries: The role of environment intensity, income and interaction effects," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 93(C), pages 34-41.
    6. Chen, Cheng-Zhong & Lin, Zhen-Shan, 2008. "Multiple timescale analysis and factor analysis of energy ecological footprint growth in China 1953-2006," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 36(5), pages 1666-1678, May.
    7. Teixidó-Figueras, Jordi & Duro, Juan Antonio, 2015. "The building blocks of International Ecological Footprint inequality: A Regression-Based Decomposition," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 118(C), pages 30-39.
    8. Wackernagel, Mathis & Onisto, Larry & Bello, Patricia & Callejas Linares, Alejandro & Susana Lopez Falfan, Ina & Mendez Garcia, Jesus & Isabel Suarez Guerrero, Ana & Guadalupe Suarez Guerrero, Ma., 1999. "National natural capital accounting with the ecological footprint concept," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 29(3), pages 375-390, June.
    9. Wei Song & Xiangzheng Deng, 2015. "Effects of Urbanization-Induced Cultivated Land Loss on Ecosystem Services in the North China Plain," Energies, MDPI, vol. 8(6), pages 1-16, June.
    10. Xiangzheng Deng & Chunhong Zhao & Yingzhi Lin & Tao Zhang & Yi Qu & Fan Zhang & Zhan Wang & Feng Wu, 2014. "Downscaling the Impacts of Large-Scale LUCC on Surface Temperature along with IPCC RCPs: A Global Perspective," Energies, MDPI, vol. 7(4), pages 1-20, April.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Jincheng Li & Xinyue Zhang & Xuexiu Chang & Wei Gao, 2018. "Revising Yield and Equivalence Factors of Ecological Footprints Based on Land-Use Conversion," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(11), pages 1-17, November.
    2. Shiwen Zhang & Xiaoling Xie, 2022. "Exploration of Rural Agroforestry–Pastoral Complex Systems Based on Ecological Footprint*—Taking Zhagana in Yiwa Township as an Example," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(21), pages 1-15, November.
    3. Huailin Zhang & Zhibin Zhang & Jianhong Dong & Fawen Gao & Wenbin Zhang & Weimin Gong, 2020. "Spatial production or sustainable development? An empirical research on the urbanization of less-developed regions based on the case of Hexi Corridor in China," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 15(7), pages 1-17, July.
    4. Chuxiong Deng & Zhen Liu & Rongrong Li & Ke Li, 2018. "Sustainability Evaluation Based on a Three-Dimensional Ecological Footprint Model: A Case Study in Hunan, China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(12), pages 1-22, November.
    5. Gong Chen & Qi Li & Fei Peng & Hamed Karamian & Boyuan Tang, 2019. "Henan Ecological Security Evaluation Using Improved 3D Ecological Footprint Model Based on Emergy and Net Primary Productivity," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(5), pages 1-23, March.
    6. Ishrar Sameen & Tasnim Feroze, 2021. "Spatial heterogeneity of ecological footprint of production: a district-level study of Bangladesh," Environment, Development and Sustainability: A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Theory and Practice of Sustainable Development, Springer, vol. 23(6), pages 8949-8973, June.
    7. Lulu Qu & Xueyi Shi & Chang Liu & Ye Yuan, 2017. "An Emergy-Based Hybrid Method for Assessing Sustainability of the Resource-Dependent Region," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 9(1), pages 1-13, January.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Thomas Wiedmann & John Barrett, 2010. "A Review of the Ecological Footprint Indicator—Perceptions and Methods," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 2(6), pages 1-49, June.
    2. Ferng, Jiun-Jiun, 2014. "Nested open systems: An important concept for applying ecological footprint analysis to sustainable development assessment," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 106(C), pages 105-111.
    3. Shuhui Zhang & Fuquan Li & Yuke Zhou & Ziyuan Hu & Ruixin Zhang & Xiaoyu Xiang & Yali Zhang, 2022. "Using Net Primary Productivity to Characterize the Spatio-Temporal Dynamics of Ecological Footprint for a Resource-Based City, Panzhihua in China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(5), pages 1-14, March.
    4. Gu, Qiwei & Wang, Hongqi & Zheng, Yinan & Zhu, Jingwen & Li, Xiaoke, 2015. "Ecological footprint analysis for urban agglomeration sustainability in the middle stream of the Yangtze River," Ecological Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 318(C), pages 86-99.
    5. Mindaugas Staniunas & Marija Burinskiene & Vida Maliene, 2012. "Ecology in Urban Planning: Mitigating the Environmental Damage of Municipal Solid Waste," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 4(9), pages 1-18, August.
    6. Jincheng Li & Xinyue Zhang & Xuexiu Chang & Wei Gao, 2018. "Revising Yield and Equivalence Factors of Ecological Footprints Based on Land-Use Conversion," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(11), pages 1-17, November.
    7. Enkhjargal Volodya & Min Ju Yeo & Yong Pyo Kim, 2018. "Trends of Ecological Footprints and Policy Direction for Sustainable Development in Mongolia: A Case Study," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(11), pages 1-19, November.
    8. Yao Lu & Xiaoshun Li & Heng Ni & Xin Chen & Chuyu Xia & Dongmei Jiang & Huiping Fan, 2019. "Temporal-Spatial Evolution of the Urban Ecological Footprint Based on Net Primary Productivity: A Case Study of Xuzhou Central Area, China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(1), pages 1-21, January.
    9. Yunhe Yin & Xiang Han & Shaohong Wu, 2017. "Spatial and Temporal Variations in the Ecological Footprints in Northwest China from 2005 to 2014," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 9(4), pages 1-15, April.
    10. Teixidó Figueras, Jordi & Duro Moreno, Juan Antonio, 2012. "Ecological Footprint Inequality: A methodological review and some results," Working Papers 2072/203168, Universitat Rovira i Virgili, Department of Economics.
    11. Maria Serena Mancini & Mikel Evans & Katsunori Iha & Carla Danelutti & Alessandro Galli, 2018. "Assessing the Ecological Footprint of Ecotourism Packages: A Methodological Proposition," Resources, MDPI, vol. 7(2), pages 1-37, June.
    12. Jonas Bunsen & Matthias Finkbeiner, 2022. "An Introductory Review of Input-Output Analysis in Sustainability Sciences Including Potential Implications of Aggregation," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(1), pages 1-24, December.
    13. Xin Yang & Fan Zhang & Cheng Luo & Anlu Zhang, 2019. "Farmland Ecological Compensation Zoning and Horizontal Fiscal Payment Mechanism in Wuhan Agglomeration, China, From the Perspective of Ecological Footprint," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(8), pages 1-15, April.
    14. Simona Ioana Ghita & Andreea Simona Saseanu & Rodica-Manuela Gogonea & Catalin-Emilian Huidumac-Petrescu, 2018. "Perspectives of Ecological Footprint in European Context under the Impact of Information Society and Sustainable Development," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(9), pages 1-25, September.
    15. Giannetti, B.F. & Almeida, C.M.V.B. & Bonilla, S.H., 2010. "Comparing emergy accounting with well-known sustainability metrics: The case of Southern Cone Common Market, Mercosur," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 38(7), pages 3518-3526, July.
    16. Ferng, Jiun-Jiun, 2011. "Measuring and locating footprints: A case study of Taiwan's rice and wheat consumption footprint," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 71(C), pages 191-201.
    17. Yisong Wang & Jincheng Huang & Shiming Fang, 2019. "Sustainability Assessment of Natural Capital Based on the 3D Ecological Footprint Model: A Case Study of the Shennongjia National Park Pilot," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(4), pages 1-17, February.
    18. Feng Dong & Bolin Yu & Jixiong Zhang, 2018. "What Contributes to Regional Disparities of Energy Consumption in China? Evidence from Quantile Regression-Shapley Decomposition Approach," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(6), pages 1-26, May.
    19. Yue, Dongxia & Xu, Xiaofeng & Hui, Cang & Xiong, Youcai & Han, Xuemei & Ma, Jinhui, 2011. "Biocapacity supply and demand in Northwestern China: A spatial appraisal of sustainability," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 70(5), pages 988-994, March.
    20. Thomas Kuhn & Radomir Pestow & Anja Zenker, 2019. "An Axiomatic Characterization of a Generalized Ecological Footprint," Chemnitz Economic Papers 033, Department of Economics, Chemnitz University of Technology, revised Aug 2019.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:8:y:2016:i:4:p:329-:d:67572. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.