Comparison of sustainable development status in Heilongjiang Province based on traditional ecological footprint method and emergy ecological footprint method

By using traditional ecological footprint method and its modification, emergy ecological footprint method, the sustainable development status of Heilongjiang Province in 2005 was analyzed. The results showed that the ecological deficits of Heilongjiang Province in 2005 based on emergy and conventional ecological footprint methods were 1.919 and 0.6256 hm2 x cap(-1), respectively. The ecological footprint value based on the two methods both exceeded its carrying capacity, which indicated that the social and economic development of the study area was not sustainable. Emergy ecological footprint method was used to discuss the relationships between human's material demand and ecosystem resources supply, and more stable parameters such as emergy transformity and emergy density were introduced into emergy ecological footprint method, which overcame some of the shortcomings of conventional ecological method.