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Emergy-based sustainability assessment of Inner Mongolia

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Abstract

An integrated environmental accounting of the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region (IMAR) is presented in this paper based on emergy analysis with data from 1987 to 2007. Through calculating environmental and economic inputs and a series of emergy indicators, this paper discusses IMAR’s resource use structure, economic situation, and trade status. The results show that more than 85% of the emergy used in IMAR was derived from home sources, indicating a strong capacity for self-sufficiency. Concentrated-used local non-renewable emergy, which provides IMAR economy with most of the driving forces, took the largest share in total emergy use after 2004 and reached 58% in 2007. The Western China Development Plan of 2000 ushered in a rapid growth of coal and electricity production and exportation to other regions of China from IMAR. The export/import emergy ratio of IMAR reached 3.46 in 2007, with the coal exported (3.44×1023 sej in 2007) without being used by IMAR itself, accounting for almost 100% of the difference between the imports and exports. The results also show that from 1987 to 1998, EmSI values remained higher than 10, suggesting underdevelopment in IMAR; after 1998, EmSI values decreased sharply from 19.07 in 1998 to 1.88 in 2007, indicating that IMAR is characterized by medium-run sustainability and is relying more on non-renewable resources and imports.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Geographic Sciences and Natural Resources Research, CAS, Beijing, 100101, China

    Luping Zhu, Haitao Li, Tao Liang & Maochao Yan

  2. Department of Environmental Sciences, The University of Toledo, Toledo, OH, 43606, USA

    Haitao Li, Jiquan Chen & Ranjeet John

  3. International Ecological Research Center, Zhejiang University of Agriculture and Forestry, Hangzhou, 311300, China

    Haitao Li

Authors
  1. Luping Zhu
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  2. Haitao Li
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  3. Jiquan Chen
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  4. Ranjeet John
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  5. Tao Liang
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  6. Maochao Yan
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Haitao Li.

Additional information

Foundation: NASA’s LCLUC Program, No.NN-X-09-AM-55G; Knowledge Innovation Program of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, No.KZCX2-EW-306; China Scholarship Council

Author: Zhu Luping, MS, specialized in environmental economics.

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Zhu, L., Li, H., Chen, J. et al. Emergy-based sustainability assessment of Inner Mongolia. J. Geogr. Sci. 22, 843–858 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11442-012-0967-5

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11442-012-0967-5

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