Emergy-based environmental accounting: Evaluation of Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region

Abstract

An integrated environmental accounting of the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region (IMAR) is presented, based on an emergy analysis using data on environmental and economic inputs and outputs within and without IMAR from 1987 to 2007. This includes an analysis of resource and economic structure and trade status. Using these metrics, IMAR is compared with other Chinese regions, as well as the nation as a whole, with respect to the performance and stainability of their respective ecological-economic systems. Results show that more than 85% of the emergy in IMAR was derived from home region sources, indicating a strong capacity for self-sufficiency, even if this amount as a percentage of the total declined from about 93 to 87 percent over the 20 year period. These results also show, that the value of the emergy-based stainability index (1.86 in 2007) indicates that IMAR is a sustainable system over medium length time periods. However, the imbalance of trade, the over-dependence on nonrenewable resources, and the high amounts of waste produced per unit of emergy expended, will all hinder the stainability of the system in the longer term context. Suggestions for public policy choices, relevant to these findings, are discussed.