Assessment of Regional Sustainability Based on Modified Ecological Footprint: A Case Study of Suzhou, China

Ecological Footprint (EF) is an effective method to measure quantitatively sustainable development. However original EF analysis of sustainability at the regional scale provides easily misinterpreted information, which could not reflect truly the pressure of the regional population on the local ecosystem due to the regional import and export. A regional ecosystem could support the local population consumption entirely depending on import, while shift the ecological pressure to other regions and the local ecosystems is thus well preserved. To assess sustainability of a region exactly, two concepts of the consumptive EF and productive EF were put forward. As we acknowledged that original EF only measures human demand for biological goods and services, and does not capture other aspects of social or economic sustainability. Therefore, to assess comprehensively regional sustainability, we attempted to combine several social indicators including unit GDP (Gross Domestic Product) EF, integrated development satisfaction, comprehensive pressure index with the indicator of EF. Also the application to a municipal was discussed. The time series of EF of study area were accounted and the sustainable development status were assessed from 1993 to 2002. Based on the result of EF analysis and the realities of study area, the feasibility of amendments proposed were assessed. Results showed that the amendments proposed were reasonable and feasible, and the resized model could better evaluate the sustainability of a region.