Evaluation of Resource and Environmental Carrying Capacity at Provincial Level in China Using a Pressure–Support–Adjustment Ternary System

Ying Peng, Xingyu Tan, Zhanglin Zhu, Jiayun Liao, Luojing Xiang and Feng Wu ()
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Ying Peng: School of Resource and Environmental Sciences, Wuhan University, Wuhan 430072, China
Xingyu Tan: Hubei Provincial Academy of Eco-Environmental Sciences (Provincial Appraisal Center for Ecological and Environmental Engineering), Wuhan 430071, China
Zhanglin Zhu: Hubei Provincial Academy of Eco-Environmental Sciences (Provincial Appraisal Center for Ecological and Environmental Engineering), Wuhan 430071, China
Jiayun Liao: Hubei Provincial Academy of Eco-Environmental Sciences (Provincial Appraisal Center for Ecological and Environmental Engineering), Wuhan 430071, China
Luojing Xiang: Hubei Provincial Academy of Eco-Environmental Sciences (Provincial Appraisal Center for Ecological and Environmental Engineering), Wuhan 430071, China
Feng Wu: School of Resource and Environmental Sciences, Wuhan University, Wuhan 430072, China

Sustainability, 2024, vol. 16, issue 19, 1-25

Abstract: Resources and environment are essential elements of social and economic development. Whether the current resources and environment can sufficiently support economic and social development is an important scientific issue. Existing studies have not reached a consensus on the definition, assessment, and forewarning methods of resource and environmental carrying capacity (RECC). Therefore, this study puts forward a ternary theoretical system of RECC from the perspective of pressure, support, and adjustment, constructs a novel evaluation indices system of RECC, introduces a ternary evaluation model, and proposes a hierarchical forewarning method of RECC with a threshold of 1. Furthermore, an empirical demonstration of 31 provinces in China is presented. The results show that: (1) the average RECC index of 31 areas revealed a downward trend from 2012 to 2021, indicating the gradually improving RECC; (2) the RECC indices of central areas were always high, which manifests the poor RECC; (3) the number of provinces with RECC at Alert Level III decreased from 18 to 7, and the number of provinces at Non-Alert Level increased from 6 to 8.

Keywords: resource and environmental carrying capacity; evaluation; pressure; support; adjustment (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2024
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