Shandong Province Ecological Footprint And Their Ability To Support Regional Sustainable Development

Ecological footprint analysis, as measurement for sustainable development,was first put forward by the Canadian eco-economist William Ree and hisdoctor student Mathis Wackernagel during the early 1990s. Ecological footprint,the visualized concept, reflected the impact of human beings to the earth.Once there was not enough room on the earth, the cities and factories on earthwould lose their balance. At last, the human civilization will be damaged by thehuman itself. The amount of ecological footprint reflects human demand andecological capacity reflects supply of the environment, evaluation onsustainable development of a certain area was made by comparing theecological demand with supply.In this paper, the author introduced the concept of ecological footprint as wellas related theories and the calculation method, calculated the ecologicalfootprint of Shandong Province during the recent 15 years, analyzed thetemporal dynamic of ecological footprint and spatial differentiation of ecologicalfootprints among 17 cities in Shandong, and at last evaluated the sustainabilityof ecological footprint on regional sustainable development. The paper wasdivided into the following parts:Part one: In this part, the concept, related theories, calculation method andresearch dynamics of ecological footprint as well as developmental status ofShandong Province were introduced.Part two: Using the data on the statistical annual books of Shandong Provinceand its 17cities, the author established the ecological account of ShandongProvince and calculated the ecological footprint and ecological capacity ofShandong Province during 1990～2004. The results showed that ecologicalfootprint increased from 1.6657hm2 per to 3.6258hm2 per, while ecologicalcapacity changed a little.Part three: In this part, the author analyzed the differentiations of ecologicalfootprints among 17cities, and the results showed that, the ecologicalfootprints of different cities varied widely.Part four: A serial of indices were chosen to illustrate the sustainability ofecological footprint on sustainable development of Shandong Province.