A modified ecological footprint calculation method for drylands and its application to Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, China

Abstract

Calculating the ecological footprint at the regional scale is a complicated topic for researchers in quantifying ecosystem services, but as well a crucial step for local decisionmakers to formulate pertinent and feasible polices in guiding the region's sustainable development, particularly in such a severe dryland region as Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region (Xinjiang Region), China, with vastly extensive drylands covered by deserts up to more than million square kilometers. Aiming at improving the effectiveness of ecological footprint calculation (EFC) for dryland areas, this study has modified the methodology of EFC for drylands by incorporating both ecological and productive contributions from desert areas into the EFC process, including the net primary production, emissions from energy consumption, and contaminant discharge, as well as water resources use. The modified method of EFC for drylands involved some recalibrated equivalence factors for desert areas in the calculating process to determine the yield factors for each local administrative unit at prefecture level based on its net primary production (NPP). The results from this study revealed the following: (1) From 2009 to 2020, the average ecological deficit in Xinjiang Region was 16.172 global hectares per capita (gha/cap), with average human use of the desert at 0.22 gha/cap, representing approximately 1.41% of the total ecological footprint. The average biocapacity of desert was 0.12 gha/cap, accounting for approximately 6.73% of the total biocapacity. (2) During the same period, the ecological footprint exhibited an initial increasing trend followed by a subsequent decrease. The ecological biocapacity demonstrated a significant decreasing trend (p < 0.05). All prefectural administrative units within Xinjiang Region exhibited an ecological deficit from 2009 to 2020, whereas a desert ecological surplus occurred only in the Kyzylsu, Kashgar, and Hotan prefectures. (3) As the ecological deficit in Xinjiang was on an increasing trend, it is recommended that in these regions, replacing thermal power with wind and/or photovoltaic power might be a way out to alleviate much of the deficit, since it could reduce the ecological footprint by 8.44%, and would decrease the ecological deficit by benefiting from deserts' carbon reduction. Based on this study, we would like to advocate for optimizing the energy structure in regions with significant desert coverage and enhancing desert production through implementing ecological farming practices.