Abstract
Ecological science focuses on the structure and function of the natural environment. However, the study of ecological environments primarily focuses on single-element research and lacks a comprehensive perspective. To examine ecological environmental trends on different scales, the present paper selected Yunnan Province as the study area. Chemical oxygen demand, rocky desertification, forest coverage, natural disaster data and spatial analysis methods were used to obtain the ecological environmental characteristics of each county and construct a comprehensive evaluation method of the ecological environment. The present paper revealed that the environmental capacity in Yunnan Province was at a moderate level, the ecological environment fragility was remarkable, the significance of the ecological environment was very high, natural disasters occurred frequently, and spatial differentiation between ecological environments was obvious. The province may be divided into three functional areas: the comprehensive-balanced area, the efficiency-dominated area and the environment-dominated area. Central Yunnan was a key development zone and the main area for the manufacturing and service industries, which were built as a modern industrial system in Yunnan Province. The ecological environment in northwestern Yunnan and southern Yunnan is of high significance, and this region was an ecological environment protection area that was important area for the construction of the modern agricultural system in Yunnan Province. To achieve sustainable development of the ecological environment, the spatial characteristics of the ecological environment must be determined at the county scale.
Highlights
The development of the world economy has exacerbated problems with the ecological environment since the 1990s
Based on the minimum value of the remaining amounts of Chemical oxygen demand (COD) and NH3-N in the river section of each county in Yunnan, the results of the study showed that the ecological environment capacity was moderate in Yunnan Province, with 91 counties above the moderate level and 33 counties below the low level
The results showed that the ecological significance of 124 counties in Yunnan Province may be divided into 4 levels, with 90 counties of moderate significance and 34 counties of low significance
Summary
The development of the world economy has exacerbated problems with the ecological environment since the 1990s. Scholars believe that the cost to the ecological environment of achieving economic growth is increasing, which has led to serious deterioration of the ecological environment that continues to intensify. The ecological environment has become a focus of political and academic concerns. Considerable ecological environment research was performed in the last 30 years, and this field has grown rapidly in the last 20 years. Research results are primarily published in journals, dissertations, conference papers and monographs.
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Free) 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
