A three-dimensional evaluation model for regional carrying capacity of ecological environment to social economic development: Model development and a case study in China

Abstract

A three-dimensional evaluation model was established to evaluate the carrying capacity of regional ecological environment to social economic development, based on the study on the relationship between environmental quality, ecological quality and social economy. It includes socio-economic subsystem, ecological subsystem and environment subsystem. X axis represents the level of ecological quality index; Y axis represents the level of environment quality index; Z-axis represents the level of socio-economic development index. The three-dimensional cube model divides into eight blocks of “I, II, III, IV, V, VI, VII, VIII”, which represent different social and economic development levels and the integrated status of ecological environmental quality. It covers 25 indicators of social economic development, ecological quality, and environmental quality. Entropy weighting method was adopted to determine the weight of each index. Ecological quality index, environmental quality index and socio-economic development index were divided into three grades; the subsystem index of grade Ⅱ is taken as the inflection points Xip, Yip and Zip respectively. 11 prefecture-level cities in Jiangxi province in China were used as a study on carrying capacity evaluation for regional ecological environment to social economic development by the three-dimensional evaluation model. The comprehensive evaluation index and indexes of each subsystem were calculated. The actual ecological environmental quality and socio-economic values of the study area were compared with the corresponding indexes.The study shows that the environment subsystem has a great influence on the comprehensive model. The comprehensive evaluation index of 11 prefecture-level cities in Jiangxi province has exceeded the medium value (grade Ⅱ ). Jiujiang, Ganzhou, Yichun and Shangrao in Jiangxi province are in the model block Ⅷ , other cities in Jiangxi province are in the model block Ⅴ . It shows that all cities of Jiangxi province are still at the intermediate level of carrying capacity and are in the development stage of economic and environmental coordination. The three-dimensional model effectively reflects the actual situation of regional ecological environment, provides a way for other regional carrying capacity evaluation. It is feasible and scientific, and the results are more intuitive, spatial, and visual. The model provides a reference for the macro-management and decision making of ecological environment in the government sector.