Assessment of Natural Resources Sustainability and Ecological Carrying Capacity

Dear Colleagues,

In this Special Issue, original research articles and reviews are welcome. Research areas may include (but not limited to) the following:

In recent years, the rapid growth of the population has brought great pressure to resources and the environment, and the unreasonable exploitation and utilization of natural resources have resulted in different degrees of destruction of the ecological environment. The sustainable development of resources and the environment is a common goal pursued by all countries across the world. How to accurately estimate and evaluate the use (destruction) of the ecological environment by human activities is a hot topic in the current research on sustainable development.

In the process of pursuing economic development and social progress, the world is confronted with a series of ecological problems such as climate change, irrational development and utilization of energy, shortage of water resources, and environmental pollution to varying degrees, resulting in overwhelming the ecological environment. In view of this, countries around the world are gradually realizing that economic development must pay attention to the balance between ecology, society and resources and the environment, in addition to the capacity of each ecosystem and the pressure faced. How to promote the stable development of human society under the constraint of limited natural resources and ecological environment is the key to solve the current sustainable development issues. Research on the relationship between human activities, natural resources, and ecological environment changes at the regional scale is of great significance for realizing sustainable social development.

Under the dual pressure of climate change and human activities, theories such as sustainable development, ecological footprint, resources, and environmental carrying capacity have been paid more and more attention by researchers, and relevant methods to measure the resource and environmental pressure caused by human activities have seen rapid development. Understanding the changes in human activities, resource consumption, and the ecological footprint in typical regions is helpful for more scientific resource and environmental sustainable management at different levels. However, it seems unrealistic to completely reduce the ecological environmental pressure in this framework, especially because of the complexity and diversity of resources and the environment; the traditional single accounting and evaluation method of ecological environmental pressure cannot meet the needs of comprehensive environmental impact assessment, and this easily leads to the transfer of ecological environmental risks. In these cases, powerful methods, such as the change from single indicator quantification to multi-indicator quantification and supplementing and improving the accounting methods of ecological footprint and carrying capacity through other ecological indices, are the best way to solve ecological environmental problems and optimize the utilization degree of natural resources.

Given this scientific framework, we would like to invite scientists involved in this area of research to contribute to this Special Issue, which will focus on analyses, experiments, or simulations that lead to natural resource shortages, changes in the ecological environment, and methods of measuring resource and environmental stress under the influence of global climate change and human activities. Therefore, manuscripts relating the interaction of human–land systems in arid and semi-arid areas at different scales and the carrying capacity of resources and the environment, through analysis, monitoring, and modelling are welcome, in addition to studies aimed at assessing the environmental impact of water and energy use in human activities, methods for assessing the sustainability of natural resources and ecosystem risk assessment, and studies focused on the evolution of the quality of the ecological environment.

We look forward to receiving your contributions.

Prof. Dr. Aidi Huo
Prof. Dr. Pingping Luo
Prof. Dr. Jiqiang Lyu
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

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• human activities
• sustainable development
• ecological carrying capacity
• ecological footprint
• natural resources