Analyzing The Development Situation Of Lanzhou City Based On Ecological Footprint Theory

As one of the center problems faced by the world in the 21th century, sustainable development has already been approved and gradually been gained more attentions. Since 1990's, the research of sustainable development's index system has become one of the frontiers. Along with the research in depth, a considerable variety of index systems have gradually been advanced. The ecological footprint method, put forward by William E.Rees in 1992 and further developed by Mathis Wackernagel, provides a concise frame checking the use of natural capital in regions, nations or the global, and can quantitatively judge the sustainable development situation of a region.Lanzhou City which is the political, economy and cultural centre of Gansu Province, in the the especial location of "Block in the quadruple" in the Northwest, functions as a bridge and tie connecting the eastern and central regions with the western. With the deepening of the reform and the gradual implementation of the western development strategy, the contradictions between development of social economic and protection of ecological environment have become increasingly conspicuous.On the basis of the introduction to the involved concepts of ecological footprint theory, combined the actual circumstance of Lanzhou City, the author calculated and dynamically analyzed the ecological footprints from 2001 to 2007, according to the datas of the statistical yearbooks. The study results showed that:The ecological footprint per capita was in an increasing trend , from 2. 70273251hm~2 in 2002 to 3. 87891928hm~2 in 2007, while the main components were fossil energy land and arable land, annual average proportions of which were 77. 79%, 19.01% respectively. The ecological capacity per capita had changed a little, maintaining in 0. 7hm~2, but took on the downward trend as a whole, while the main components were arable land and pasture land, and annual average proportions were 46.11%, 29.77%. The ecological deficit per capita increased continually to the maximum, 3. 18236881hm~2 in 2007, and the ratio of ecological footprint and ecological capacity was 5. 57: 1, while the fossil energy land had the largest contribution proportion, and annual average proportion was 90.91%. This intense contradiction indicated the severe situation of the ecology in Lanzhou City. Besides, this paper extended the model by integrateing a number of socio-economic indicators into the ecological footprint model, , realized dynamic and predictive functions , and quantitatively judged the development situation of Lanzhou City.The development ability of Lanzhou City is in the trend of rising at present, however, the ecological capacity hasn't already been able to satisfy the needs of local economic development and people's living standard, while economic growth now is based on the depletion of natural resources, moreover, the ecological deficit will not be weakened. That is, it will still be in unsustainably developing period. Consequently, the relevant measures must be taken to decrease the ecological footprint and to enhance the capacity of sustainable development.