Analysis and evaluation of the ecological carrying capacity of 17 cities in Shandong Province in 2008
2008年山东省17城市生态承载力分析

There have been significant bottleneck problems in sustainable development for 17 cities in Shandong Province, due to limited resources, rapid urbanization, and a large portion of industries of large-scale energy consumers and polluters. Considering the situation in Shandong, an evaluation index of ecological carrying capacity (ECC) was constructed from the levels of development, support and ecological resilience. By applying factor analysis, the components of ECC for the 17 cities were analyzed and the limiting factors of regional development were identified. The results show that there is an obvious regional difference in ECC between the coastal (eastern) and inland (central and western) cities. By analyzing the nature and composition of common factors and the size of load factors, limiting factors of ECC for a particular city were determined, with the water resources available as the most important factor. Key measures to improve the overall levels of ECC in the 17 cities include promoting coordinated regional development, using water and land resources rationally and efficiently, improving the industrial layout and upgrading industrial levels.