Ecological footprint research based on RS and GIS in Hexi Corridor, China

The ecological footprint analysis is a concise quantitative method of the natural capital consumption measurement by tracking the footprint of energy sources and resources consumption in a region. This approach provides an estimate for the necessary land area to sustain current consumption levels of resources within a given population, and compares with the area of biologically productive land available. It can judge if the consumption pattern is sustainable. This paper, applying the methods of questionnaire and remote sensing image analysis, seeks to explore a modified method for ecological footprint analysis. The new method applies questionnaire in ecological footprint and does remote sensing image analysis in ecological capacity. It judges the ecological status by comparing the above results. In addition, this scheme predicts the ecological footprint based on the consumption and population models and the ecological capacity by Cellular Automata. Furthermore, future ecological status can be judged by comparing the ecological footprint with the ecological capacity.