Spatiotemporal Analysis of Ecological Security in Xinjiang based on Ecological Pressure Index

Great achievements have been gotten in socioeconomic development in Xinjiang since the launching of west development strategy of China,but this process has also caused a lot of serious ecological and environmental problems.In this paper,ecological footprint and biological carrying capacity of different regions in Xinjiang in 2000-2007 were calculated and analyzed based on the ecological footprint theory.Ecological pressure index was selected to build a model for regional ecological security evaluation,and then ecological security of different regions in Xinjiang was assessed.Results showed that:(1) The per capita ecological footprint in each regions of Xinjiang showed an increasing trend with varying degrees,and the biological carrying capacity as a whole showed a decreasing tendency.(2) The ecological security condition of Xinjiang changed from security to insecurity along the large-scale development process,and the ecological insecurity condition increased and the increase percentage was different in different zones.(3) The spatial distribution of ecological security in Xinjiang could be ranked as North XinjiangMidland XinjiangEast and West XinjiangNorthern Slope of the Tangshan Mountains.