Evaluation of sustainable development in Qinghai based on energy ecological footprint model

The ecological footprint analysis method is one of the classical methods for measuring the consumption of human social resources in ecological economics. The emergy-based ecological footprint model is the latest development and improvement in this field. In this study, we used regional standards to calculate the ecological carrying capacity and ecological footprint, which can better reflect the real supply capacity of the region and the actual consumption of resources by humans. The methods and data are better than the universally adopted global standards. We quantitatively analyzed the state of sustainable development in Qinghai Province from 2005 to 2014 based on the emergy ecological footprint model, and combined with the ecological footprint of ten thousand yuan GDP, ecological footprint diversity index and development capability index to comprehensively analyze economic development situation of Qinghai Province, and the GIS spatial analysis technology was used to analyze the spatial differences and their changes in the sustainable development of the study area. The results showed 1) The ecological footprint of Qinghai Province exceeded the ecological carrying capacity from 2005 to 2014, the ecological footprint index was less than 0 and declining, and Qinghai Province was in an unsustainable state of development. 2) The areas of unsustainable development in the study area were continuously expanding from 2005 to 2014, which were mainly concentrated in the eastern urban area and their surrounding counties. After 2011, there was a strip distribution from north to east. 3) Ecological energy footprint and multi-factor coupling analysis showed that although the resource utilization efficiency and development capability in Qinghai Province had been greatly improved, it is mainly at the expense of a large amount of resource consumption. The deterioration of ecological environment such as soil erosion, deterioration of ecological functions, decline of regional carrying capacity, and reduction of self-regulation ability was still serious. The results of this study can provide a useful reference for the sustainable development of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau.