Time Series And Geographical Distribution Of Ecological Footprint For China

As a great developing country, the speed of economic growth of China has been one of the most important attractions in the world since the 1980s'. During the process of rapid economic growth, however, China has cost more, not only in terms of resources depletion but also in terms of ecological deterioration. It is obvious that this pattern of development may face serious challenges in the long run. To ensure sustainable development in social and economic aspects, China has to pay more attention to preservation and protection of natural capitals such as resource, environment and proportion the expenses to the receipts.Most countries in the world are paying more and more attention to sustainable development, which is regarded as a new mode of development. With a view that sustainable indicators are essential for monitoring sustainability and sustainable policy-making, this paper adopts ecological footprint (EF) to probe into the sustainable situation of China's ecological and social development. By calculating China EF in 1961-2001 and comparing results the calculation and comparison of results across provinces, it can provide useful insight into the ecological effects of human consumption, and the biological capacity to support the development of society and economy.Based on the results of this research, some policy suggestions are proposed on the mode of development, sustainable use of natural resources and trade policy.