Relationship Characteristics of Human Development and Its Footprint in the Loess Plateau Based on Decoupling Model

Abstract

With the rapid economic and social development of the Loess Plateau, the human development index has continued to improve while the ecological footprint of human beings has continued to increase. This paper aims to understand the feedbacks between the HDI and ecological footprint, and to analyse the changes in the correlation patterns between the two driven by economic development, in order to provide theoretical support for the synergistic pathways between human development and ecological conservation on the Loess Plateau. Based on quantitative analysis of the spatial and temporal changes in the ecological footprint, ecological carrying capacity, and human development index of the Loess Plateau from 2000 to 2020, this paper applies a decoupling model to reveal the decoupling relationship and patterns between the ecological footprint and the human development index. The results show that: (1) the ecological carrying capacity of the Loess Plateau is smaller than the ecological footprint (i.e., in an ecological deficit) from 2000 to 2020, with the deficit increasing from 0.18ghm2/person in 2000 to 0.66ghm2/person in 2020, and the overall ecological deficit of the hinterland of the Loess Plateau is significantly smaller than that of the northwest and southeast. (2) The human development index of the Loess Plateau increased from 0.54 to 0.75 from 2000 to 2020, with rapid progress in human society and a higher level of human development in the hinterland than in the surrounding areas. (3) The relationship between the ecological footprint of the Loess Plateau and the Human Development Index has undergone a transformation process from “expansionary negative decoupling - weak decoupling strong - decoupling”. That is, the ecological resources consumed are less to support a higher level of human development, and the ecological pressure on human social development tends to decrease. The pressure on human and social development tends to decrease, and the two tend to maintain a “strong decoupling”.