Study On The Assessment Of The Regional Sustainable Development Capacity Of Gansu Province

Since 1987 the World Commission on Environment and Development formally proposed the concept of "sustainable development", it has become the researched focus in many subjects, and moreover, the basic guiding principle of the socio-economic development. Because of the low socio-economic development level, heavy task of the economic development, inadequate water and soil resources and the problems of resources and environment, the comprehensive assessment of the regional sustainable development capacity is helpful to clear the exploiting order of the territory, realize the equilibrium and order of the regional development in Gansu Province. It is practical significance on promoting socio-economic development, relaxing the pressure of resources and environment, improving the ecological environment, and achieving the coordinate development on population, economy, resources and environment in Gansu Province.This thesis takes Gansu Province as the researched area, counties as the assessing units. Basing on sustainable development theory and assessment indicators, referring to the natural resources, environmental conditions and socio-economic development status of Gansu Province, the thesis constructs assessment indicator system of sustainable development capacity in counties that relating to economy, society, resources, environment and ecology, and then using the factor analysis method to calculates the sustainable development capacity of counties in Gansu Province. Basing on calculational result of counties and using the GIS software, the thesis divides the territory of Gansu Province into five classificatory capacity areas, with hoping to provide references for realizing an orderly development of regions and spatial equilibrium, ultimately achieving sustainable development on population, resources, environment, economy and society in Gansu Province. The thesis includes the following six chapters:Chapter 1 is the introduction. It introduces the research background, research significance, as well as the main research contents, research methods and research program.Chapter 2 is the review on sustainable development. It mainly studies the focal points, the assessment indicator system and the applicable situation in area studies from the domestic and international theories of sustainable development.Chapter 3 is the analysis on economic and social development status and characteristics in Gansu Province. It introduces the natural resources, environmental conditions, analyzes economic and social development level, land-use conditions, water resources utilization, and then points out the characteristics and the primal problems of socio-economic development in Gansu Province.Chapter 4 is to select and calculate the indicators of sustainable development capacity in counties of Gansu Province. Basing on sustainable development theory and assessment indicators, referring to the natural resources, environmental conditions and socio-economic development status of Gansu Province, it constructs assessment indicator system of sustainable development capacity in counties that includes 22 indicators relating to economy, society, resources, environment and ecology, then it calculates indicators according to the DEM data, the land-use data, the water resources data, the list of nature reserve, the road mileage and the socio-economic data of "Gansu Yearbook".Chapter 5 is the comprehensive assessment for sustainable development capacity of every county in Gansu Province. Firstly the indicators are dealt with non-dimensional processing. And then using the factor analysis method to calculate the sustainable development capacity of counties in Gansu Province and analyzing calculational result. Finally, basing on calculational result and using the GIS software divides the territory of Gansu Province into five classificatory capacity areas.Chapter 6 is the conclusion and expectation. It summarizes the main research findings, innovations and inadequacies of the thesis, and then gives my recommendations in future research.