Ecological sustainability evaluation of Lanzhou City based on the improved ecological footprint method

The ecological footprint and the ecological capacity of Lanzhou City in 2005~2009 were calculated with the improved ecological footprint method.The sustainable development situation of Lanzhou City was got by comparing and analyzing the results.At the same time,the reference data and theory basis for the area sustainable development were also provided.In order to improve the accuracy of the evaluation results,the improved ecological footprint method and a 5-year time series were used to overcome the shortcomings of insufficient dynamics of ecological footprints.The improved model was more suitable for Chinese actual situation in indicators and calculation methods.The results showed that the per capita ecological footprint of Lanzhou City increased by 4.15% from 2.022 3 hm2 in 2005 to 2.107 2 hm2 in 2009,the per capita ecological capacity increased by 6.88% from 0.562 7 hm2 in 2005 to 0.524 0 hm2 in 2009.The five-year average ecological footprint was about 3.8 times as the ecological capacity,the per capita ecological deficit was 1.541 7 hm2.It showed that the population pressure on resources and environment in Lanzhou City exceeded the carrying capacity more than 3.8 times,the gap was still increasing.The ecological footprint of fossil fuels land accounted for the largest proportion.According to the analysis results,some measures such as changing the energy and economic structures,reforming the ecological environment were proposed.