Shortcomings of applying ecological footprints to the ecological assessment of regional sustainable development
生态足迹分析应用于区域可持续发展生态评估的缺陷

Ecological assessment of sustainable development is one of the leading fields of international ecological economics and of researches on sustainable development. Ecological footprinting, which is a new biophysical method of ecological assessment, is developing rapidly. It quantifies the ecological sustainability of the development of a nation or an area from the standpoint of biological production. Ecological footprint analysis is superior to other biophysical methods of ecological sustainability assessment in three respects: firstly, the indices used have specific meanings; secondly, the model is easy to comprehend and readily applied to different contexts; and thirdly, the data required are widely obtainable, allowing global comparisons. However, ecological footprint analysis is not without its shortcomings. As case studies accumulate, the need to adjust theoretical models of ecological footprints is becoming increasingly apparent. Research on the theoretical shortcomings of ecological footprinting is an important preliminary to such adjustments. From a review of the latet research, we can identify six key issues in applying ecological footprint analysis to ecological assessment of regional sustainable development. First, the weakness of sustainability assessments makes it difficult to reflect the state of sustainability of the system as a whole. Second, as it is a steady state model, it lacks predictive power. Third, how to apply ecological footprint analysis over long time series is still being worked out. Fourth, the relativity of global mean productivity means that the results of assessment are relative rather than absolute. Fifth, too much weight is put on land quantity while land quality is overlooked. Sixth, the assumption that biologically productive land use types are mutually exclusive (i.e. do not overlap) ignores the possibility that they are compatible. Notwithstanding these theoretical shortcomings, the ecological footprint method can effectively assess the ecological sustainability of regional development, at least in terms of the supply and demand of biologically productive land, and at least at the global scale. However, at national, regional and local scales, the shortcomings will significantly affect the validity and accuracy of assessments. It is therefore necessary to adjust the theoretical model of the ecological footprint. An important and feasible approach to such improvement would be to add a quality dimension to the measurement units of global hectares, hectares of bioproductive land, and global average productivity of sea areas. Also, extending the analysis to the supply and demand of all kinds of biologically productive land could provide more information on ecological sustainability.