Study of ecological carrying capacity index based on three-dimension ecological footprint model-A case study of Hebei Province

Hebei Province is in the north of North China Plain and surrounds two major cities (Beijing and Tianjin) with excellent geographical conditions. With the rapidly developments in economy, society and other fields, ecological environment has been faced with serious risk in Hebei Province, such as water shortage, water pollution, urban air pollution, marine pollution, forest destruction and land desertification. To ensure sustainable development, the effective management of natural assets from the perspective of eco-economy is critical. It is therefore significant to measure the gap between demand for natural resources and the actual available nature resources in Hebei Province. By extending the depth of footprint in Niccolucci's 3D ecological footprint model from ≥ 1 to ≥ 0 and using a unified 3D model framework to analyze ecological surplus state, a unification of resource flow and inventory occupancy was built for accounting human production and livelihood. From this, the ecological footprint, deficit surplus and depth of footprint were built for Hebei Province for the period 2002-2016. Then, the study determined the current land load level through calculating land pressure indexes by using the extended Niccolucci's 3D ecological footprint model. The land pressure indexes included agricultural products pressure index, water resource pressure index, carbon sink pressure index, construction pressure index and comprehensive land pressure index. The results showed:1) per capita ecological footprint of Hebei Province steadily increased in 2002-2016, but per capita productive ecological land area changed little. 2) The depth of ecological footprint of Hebei Province was huge, especially for waters areas and fossil fuel land. The consumption of natural resources due to production in Hebei Province was far greater than the flow of resources, causing high consumption of resources stock in Hebei Province. 3) Ecological deficit in Hebei Province was deep, which was 3.26 hm²·cap.^-1 in 2016. 4) The pressure indices of agricultural products, water resources, carbon sink and comprehensive land pressure index were all greater than 1, and except agricultural products pressure index, the values of other three pressure indexes were above 10, indicating that Hebei had serious land pressure. The livelihood and production activities of the residents were serious burden on ecological productivity of the land. The above results indicated that demand for resources in Hebei Province was greater than supply and that sustainable development was seriously hampered. To improve sustainable development level of Hebei Province, it was necessary to change economic development mode, adjust industrial structure, develop circular economy and improve resource utilization efficiency.