Green Development and Environmental Carrying Capacity

Abstract

Earlier studies on Carrying Capacity are closely related to the development of Ecology. In 1921, Park and Burgess proposed the concept of Carrying Capacity in their work in Human Ecology, i.e. ‘the maximum limit of the number of individual organisms in existence, in a particular environmental condition (mainly refers to the living space, nutrients, sunlight and other ecological factors in combination)’. This term was then used in environmental science academy in China, i.e. ‘Environmental Carrying Capacity’, reflecting the interaction between intensity of human activity and environment.