Environmental Carrying Capacity Assessment—the Policy Instrument and Tool for Sustainable Spatial Management

The application of ecological footprint and biocapacity for environmental carrying capacity assessment: A new approach for European cities

PurposeUncontrolled and unsustainable urban development has a significant impact on the overall quality of the environment. Contemporary spatial management does not take into account the non-economic conditions of ecosystem functions and their biophysical limits, which results in a deterioration of the environment. Furthermore, urban development continues all over the world, which is associated with a projected population increase, particularly in cities. Therefore, there is need to include analyses in the field of environmental carrying capacity (ECC) for more sustainable spatial management and development. The ECC concept is a tool for sustainable development of human settlements. It could be defined as threshold level of anthropopressure, which the environment is able to balance and withstand without serious degradation and irreversible changes. The use of ECC assessment will help ensure the needs of the city’s residents, which are conditioned by the environment. The paper aims to discuss this issue.Design/methodology/approachThis review study presents an overview of the ECC concept and its potential for use in spatial management at local level, especially for cities. The content analysis introduces definitions of spatial management and others main actions of spatial economy as well as the definitions of ECC. The overview of existing ECC models is a part of presented review.FindingsThe paper shows the ECC approach from global to local level on Poland as an example country.Originality/valueThe literature review identified that the idea of ECC could be a useful concept and tool for sustainable spatial development and management. This concept allows for verification of the resources and environmental state of given territory unit. Therefore, the assessment of ECC allows to verify if development of given area, for instance country, region or even city, is conducted within the framework of sustainable principles. Despite this, the assessment of ECC is not taken into account when future spatial management is defined. Thus, this circumstance could be a reason for this research area development.

Tourism environmental carrying capacity, a term born out of the booming development of the tourist industry and a basis for determining whether tourism activities negatively impact the environment, comes under the spotlight in the field of tourism research To preserve the exploitation of tourism resources in the Yellow River estuary, re-frame tourism structure and protect the environment, this paper dissected the current development and utilization of wetland tourism resources in the region and the corresponding resource advantages in virtue of SWOT and assessed the local ecotourism environmental carrying capacity by applying the evaluation model of ecotourism environmental carrying capacity. Years between 2017 and 2021 reported overweighted human social and economic activities in the Yellow River Estuary, proving the assessment outcomes. From 2017 to 2019, it dropped from 0.83 to 0.61, and then slowly and stabilized at this level. Fluctuations were found in the ecological and environmental assimilative capacity. The pollution-accepting capacity, between 2017 and 2018, increased from 1.3 to 1.8, dropped to some 0.61 from 2018 to 2019, and then rose to 1.35 by 2021. Judging from the economic growth in the area, these indicators were constantly rising. It follows that given ensuring ecological security, efforts should be doubled in studying the development of ecotourism in the Yellow River Estuary under the guidance of sustainable development theory, thereby carrying out tourism activities in phases and planned manner.

Urbanization and mass movement of the population from rural areas and small cities to megacities have led to environmental, economic, and social problems in Iran. In dealing with these challenges, assessing resource and environmental carrying capacity (RECC) is considered an effective method to leverage space and capital to achieve sustainable development. This study aimed to rank the provincial RECC in Iran. Toward this purpose, environmental indices were generated from remotely sensed and statistical census data. Then, the provinces were scored in terms of environmental, economic, and infrastructural carrying capacities, and RECC using the mean variance analysis method. Results demonstrated that in most areas, there is no relationship between economic and infrastructural capacities and development. Statistically, a correlation coefficient of −0.53 between economic and environmental carrying capacities indicated excessive use of environmental capacities. Moreover, the spatial distribution pattern of environmental, economic, and infrastructural carrying capacity was entirely heterogeneous between the provinces; there was a northeast–southwest pattern in terms of infrastructural capacity and an economic pattern from north to south. The distribution pattern of RECC is most consistent with the environmental capacity, pointing at the high weight of the indicators of the RECC model. In conclusion, this research offers a new vision for policymakers and provides a theoretical and applicable framework for implementing sustainable strategies in land‐use planning. It is recommended that the RECC concept and tools can be used not only for planning but also for measuring the efficiency of spatial development programs and establishing land balances in the region.

The rich natural resources and multi-ethnic cultural characteristics of the third pole region have created a good foundation for its development of ecotourism. However, the sustainable development of the third Pole ecotourism still needs to be explored on the basis of environmental carrying capacity assessment. Starting from the perspective of tourism environmental carrying capacity, this paper takes the third pillar as the research area, adopts the methods of desktop research, survey and interview, literature search, etc. Based on the construction of environmental carrying capacity model, carries out data analysis from four aspects: ecology, resource space, residents' psychology and social economy. The results showed that the other three carrying capacity levels were higher except for the social and economic carrying capacity. Therefore, it can be concluded that the third pole region is suitable for the development of ecotourism, but due to the low socio-economic carrying capacity, the development of ecotourism should be guided and regulated to some extent, and it is necessary to formulate a strategy suitable for the sustainable development of ecotourism in the third pole.

Application of Retrospective Environmental Carrying Capacity Assessment for Marine Reclamation

Yang, S.; Ren, L., and Gou, L., 2022. An empirical study on the environmental carrying capacity of marine resources based on the entropy-weight TOPSIS model. Journal of Coastal Research, 38(5), 1037–1049. Coconut Creek (Florida), ISSN 0749-0208. The sustainable development of the marine economy has drawn increasing attention from the countries of the world. To realize the compatibility between marine resources and environmental carrying capacity and marine economic development, it is important to fully understand the environmental carrying capacity of marine resources and its evolutionary trends. After an in-depth discussion on the definition of marine resources and environmental carrying capacity, an assessment system was constructed, incorporating 28 indicators that cover the development of the marine economy, marine resources carrying capacity, and the marine environmental carrying capacity. Following this, the entropy-weight Technique for Order of Preference by Similarity to Ideal Solution (TOPSIS) model and the kernel density estimation method were used to assess the environmental carrying capacity and internal carrying capacity of Qingdao's marine resources from 2007 to 2018. The empirical results show that the environmental carrying capacity of marine resources in Qingdao presented a declining trend between 2007 and 2010, followed by a noticeable upward trend from 2011 to 2014, and then another downward trend in 2015. These findings suggest that both the carrying capacity of marine resources and environmental carrying capacity are still under threat, as indicated by a low capacity assessment score overall. Specifically, whereas the development of the marine economy progressed steadily, marine resources carrying capacity fluctuated, reaching a maximum value of 0.3251 in 2007, and the overall marine environmental carrying capacity presented a fluctuating upward trend, which was generally consistent with the changes in marine resources and environmental carrying capacity. The results show that the model can consider many factors simultaneously, evaluate the marine resources and environmental carrying capacity, and provide valuable insights into the study of marine carrying capacity and policy implications for achieving sustainable development in the marine sector.

Our understanding of resources and environmental carrying capacity is deepened with the comprehensive effects of human needs and external stress. When human survival and development mainly depend on the supply of local resources and environmental conditions, the resources and environmental carrying capacity is largely controled by the dominant limiting factors. With sustainable development and environmental protection, the resources and environmental carrying capacity has gradually changed from supply restriction to demand support. There is an expression of capacity, threshold, intensity, and ability to characterize the resources and environmental carrying capacity. The impact of climate change and human activities on the resource and environmental system is increasing, altering resources and environmental carrying capacity. At present, the interrelationship and internal mechanism among resource and environmental carrying capacity, ecosystem vulnerability, and climate change risk are still unclear, which restricts the further development of theory and method. We preliminarily summarized and discussed the basic theory and method system of the research on carrying capacity of regional resources and environment. Furthermore, we advocated to develop the cascade relations of "carrying capacity of biological population development-carrying capacity of environmental stress in ecosystems-natural resources supply carrying capacity-natural environment carrying capacity-carrying capacity of social and economic development". Moreover, the calculation method and conceptual model of multi-dimensional resource and environmental carrying capacity were put forward under each concept framework. This study provided new ideas for the research on the method of resources and environment carrying capacity.

Clariant's 3Q 2012 results in Catalysis and Energy

Green innovation has become an important driving force for China’s economic transformation and development. This paper selects the 2010–2020 provincial-level regions in China as samples, and adopts a multi-indicator comprehensive evaluation method to comprehensively, objectively and scientifically evaluate the environmental carrying capacity of air pollution in two dimensions: natural resource endowment and human activity impact, and also measures and calculates the green innovation in each province, city and autonomous region to explore the specific impact of green innovation on environmental carrying capacity and its spatial spillover effect; it also explores the heterogeneous effects of green innovation on environmental carrying capacity under different pollution environments. The conclusions show that: (1) Green innovation has a positive impact on environmental carrying capacity. (2) There is a spatial spillover effect of green innovation on environmental carrying capacity. In other words, in areas with higher PM2.5 concentration, that is, lower environmental quality, green innovation has a weaker ability to improve environmental carrying capacity; in areas with lower PM2.5 concentration, that is higher environmental quality, green innovation has a stronger ability to improve environmental carrying capacity. (3) In the process of green innovation affecting environmental carrying capacity, PM2.5 plays the part of a mediating effect, indicating that green innovation is an intermediate transmission mechanism affecting environmental carrying capacity, and the results show that the absolute value of the short-term indirect effect is greater than the absolute value of the short-term direct effect, and the long-term direct effect is greater than the long-term indirect effect.

PDF HTML阅读 XML下载 导出引用 引用提醒 基于资源环境承载力的国家级新区空间开发管控研究 DOI: 10.5846/stxb201809061901 作者: 作者单位: 作者简介: 通讯作者: 中图分类号: 基金项目: 国家科技部重大专项（2018ZX07208007）；江苏省环保科研课题（2017007） Research on urban space development and control of national new areas based on environmental carrying capacity Author: Affiliation: Fund Project: 摘要 | 图/表 | 访问统计 | 参考文献 | 相似文献 | 引证文献 | 资源附件 | 文章评论 摘要:随着我国城市工业化和城镇化的快速推进，由于不合理的空间开发导致生态空间被挤占、城市资源环境超载现象日益突出。以资源环境承载力为基础的空间开发管控制度是体现生态优先、绿色发展理念，从源头实现城市经济社会发展和环境协调发展的重要路径。选取国家级新区江北新区为案例地区，通过构建涵盖生态保护重要性、土地承载力、环境容量、环境压力4个要素层、10项具体指标的评价体系，基于GIS空间分析工具评估区域资源环境承载力。研究表明江北新区资源环境承载力呈现由沿江向内陆、平原地区向丘陵地区逐级递减趋势，根据要素层在空间分布差异性，将区域分为资源环境承载力饱和区域、资源承载力尚好但环境压力较大区域、资源承载力较好且环境压力较小区域、生态环境安全保障区域四个类型，并制定差异化的空间准入和管控措施。研究不仅为资源环境要素全面融入国家新一轮空间规划体系制定和实施全过程提供技术支撑，也可为长江经济带制造业发达地区探索可持续发展空间开发路径提供案例借鉴。 Abstract:With the rapid advancement of urban industrialization and urbanization, ecological space in cities is facing the risk of being occupied and the phenomenon of urban resource and environmental overloading is becoming increasingly prominent due to unreasonable space development. The space development control system based on environmental carrying capacity is not only an important way to reflect the concept of ecological priority and green development, but also the main path to achieve the coordinated development of urban economy, society, and environment from the source. Taking the national new area Nanjing Jiangbei New Area as a case study, this paper describes an evaluation system of environmental carrying capacity. The system covers specific indicators and four factor layers for the importance of ecological protection, land carrying capacity, environmental capacity, and environmental stress. An overlay analysis is utilized to analyze factor layers based on the GIS Spatial Analysis tool. The results show that the environmental carrying capacity in Jiangbei New Area decreases gradually from the riverside to inland areas, and from the plain to hilly areas. According to the spatial distribution differences of the factor layers, this study divides the case area into four types:environmental carrying capacity saturated areas, unsaturated areas of carrying capacity but with high environmental pressure, carrying capacity sufficient area with less environmental pressure, and eco-environment safety guarantee area. Furthermore, this study puts forward different spatial access threshold and control requirements for different regions. This study not only provides technical support for promoting the comprehensive integration of resources and environmental elements into the new round of spatial planning systems, but also provides a case for China's traditional manufacturing of developed new areas along the Yangtze River Economic Zone to explore a sustainable space development path. 参考文献 相似文献 引证文献

This study identifies the carrying state and value of Tibet’s resource and environmental carrying capacity. A new theoretical framework is proposed for exploring the resource and environmental carrying capacity based on two perspectives of “growth limit” and “stability of Human-Earth relationship system”. On this basis, an ideal growth model that accords with the “short board” effect is established to predict the population limitation. Analytical results show that the holistic state of resource and environmental carrying capacity in Tibet is in jeopardy. From 2010 to 2016, Tibet’s carrying state continued to decline, moreover, the negative forces still overwhelm the positive forces. Although the resource reserves still have room for more population, the environmental capacity and ecological capacity have been overloaded. Meanwhile, the Human-Earth relationship system is in an unstable stage. Three scenarios that respond to different socioeconomic developments are implemented to predict the population limitation of resource and environmental carrying capacity in Tibet; thus, authors argue that Tibet should keep its population size within 4 million around 2025. This research will provide reference for sustainable development and resources and environmental conservation in Tibet.

With rapid population growth and productivity development, the contradiction between economic and social development and resource and environmental protection is becoming increasingly prominent, so it is important to study the regional environmental carrying capacity to protect the environment and promote high-quality economic development. This study takes the three major urban agglomerations of Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei, Yangtze River Delta and Pearl River Delta as the research objects, and uses the entropy-weighted topsis model and the obstacle diagnosis model to evaluate the comprehensive environmental carrying capacity levels of the three major urban agglomerations and analyse their main obstacle factors. The results show that: 1) the average environmental carrying capacity level scores of the three major urban agglomerations during the study period were Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei (0.23103) > Yangtze River Delta (0.17687) > Pearl River Delta (0.16); 2) the degree of synergy between subsystems affects the environmental carrying capacity level; 3) China has still not achieved harmony between the environment and economic growth, and economic development is the main influencing factor for the level of environmental carrying capacity. In the future, it is recommended that each city cluster adhere to the construction of ecological civilization and vigorously develop high-tech and green industries; at the same time, give full play to the radiation-driven role of the regional core cities, make use of the synergistic effect of resource agglomeration and maximize the efficiency of resource utilization, so as to ultimately achieve the coordinated development of economic society and regional resources and environment.

The concepts of regional resources and environmental carrying capacity are important aspects of both academic inquiry and government policy. Although notable results have been achieved in terms of evaluating both these variables, most researchers have utilized a traditional analytical method that incorporates the “pressure-state-response” model. A new approach is proposed in this study for the comprehensive evaluation of regional resources and environmental carrying capacity; applying a “pressure-support”, “destructiveness- resilience”, and “degradation-promotion” (“PS-DR-DP”) hexagon interaction theoretical model, we divided carrying capacity into these three pairs of interactive forces which correspond with resource supporting ability, environmental capacity, and risk-disaster resisting ability, respectively. Negative carrying capacity load in this context was defined to include pressure, destructiveness, and degradation, while support, resilience, and promotion comprised positive attributes. The status of regional carrying capacity was then determined via the ratio between positive and negative contribution values, expressed in terms of changes in both hexagonal shape and area that result from interactive forces. In order to test our “PS-DR-DP” theory-based model, we carried out a further empirical study on Beijing over the period between 2010 and 2015. Analytical results also revealed that the city is now close to attaining a perfect state for both resources and environmental carrying capacity; the latter state in Beijing increased from 1.0143 to 1.1411 between 2010 and 2015, an improved carrying capacity despite the fact that population increased by two million. The average contribution value also reached 0.7025 in 2015, indicating that the city approached an optimal loading threshold at this time but still had space for additional carrying capacity. The findings of our analysis provide theoretical support to enable the city of Beijing to control population levels below 23 million by 2020.

The high-quality development of society needs the support of resource and environmental carrying capacity, and the improvement of resource and environmental carrying capacity is driven by the process of high-quality development. Therefore, how to realize the dynamic coordination of the two is an urgent problem to be solved. Different from previous studies which mainly focused on economic development and the environment, this paper considers all aspects of society and analyzes the interactive relationship between high-quality development and resource and environmental carrying capacity for the first time. Based on the panel data of 30 provinces in China from 2005 to 2020, a comprehensive evaluation index system is constructed, and the information entropy method, coupling coordination degree, and kernel density estimation model are applied to explore the coupling coordination relationship and spatial-temporal characteristics between resource and environmental carrying capacity and high-quality development. The results show that there are four nonlinear relationships between the resource and environmental carrying capacity and high-quality development, including simultaneous increase, first increase and then decrease, first decrease and then increase, and alternating fluctuation; Water resources per capita and the green coverage rate of the built-up area contributed the most to the resource and environmental carrying capacity subsystem, and GDP per capita and urbanization rate contributed the most to the high-quality development subsystem. From the time series, the coupling relationship between the two shows an upward trend over time. From the spatial series, the coupling relationship between the two is in a state of spatial aggregation. This paper discusses the results and puts forward policy recommendations, hoping to provide a reference for the coordinated development of the region. Moreover, this study provides a new perspective for the scientific construction of the relationship between resource and environmental carrying capacity and high-quality development on a global level.