Evaluation of Oasis Sustainability Based on Emergy and Decomposition Analysis

Ting Chang, Degang Yang, Jinwei Huo, Fuqiang Xia and Zhiping Zhang
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Degang Yang: Xinjiang Institute of Ecology and Geography of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, University of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Urumqi 830011, China
Jinwei Huo: Xinjiang Institute of Ecology and Geography of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, University of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Urumqi 830011, China
Fuqiang Xia: Xinjiang Institute of Ecology and Geography of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, University of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Urumqi 830011, China
Zhiping Zhang: Xinjiang Institute of Ecology and Geography of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, University of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Urumqi 830011, China

Sustainability, 2018, vol. 10, issue 6, 1-14

Abstract: The human welfare and sustainability of oases have received wide attention because of the fragility of the ecological environment and the instability of these systems. In this study, the sustainability level and the driving forces of emergy utilization in the Hotan Prefecture (in the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, China) from 2005 to 2015 were evaluated using the emergy approach combined with the logarithmic mean Divisia index (LMDI) method. The emergy analysis showed that non-renewable resources (N) accounted for a large proportion of net emergy (U). The Emergy Sustainability Index (ESI) continued to decline in the study period, implying increasing environmental stress. From a long-term perspective, the system’s development is not sustainable. According to the emergy analysis and the LMDI results, it is imperative to pursue the following aims: (1) increase the per capita gross domestic product (GDP) and labor productivity, (2) improve the efficiency of state investment and aid fund utilization, (3) enhance the area’s sustainability level and economic independence, and (4) protect the area’s fragile ecological environment.

Keywords: emergy theory; environmental accounting; human impact population affluence technology (IPAT) model; index decomposition analysis (IDA); logarithmic mean Divisia index (LMDI); Hotan (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2018
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (5)

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