Dynamics of Ecological Footprint and Ecological Capacity in Mountain Areas in Southwest Sichuan

The ecological footprint is one of the most important methods to evaluate the sustainability of the region development.The ecological footprint and ecological capacity were calculated based on the ecological footprint theory and computational model for mountain areas in Southwest Sichuan during 2000 to 2012.mountain areas in Southwest Sichuan included Panzhihua City,Liangshanyizuzizhou city (except Muli county),and Yaan city (Hanyuan county and Shimian county).The results showed that the ecological footprint per capita increased from 0.907 hm² in 2000 to 1.9247 hm² in 2012,and the ecological capacity per capita reduced from 2.1236 hm² in 2000 to 1.788 hm² in 2012.Per capital ecologica deficit increased greatly,which reflected that the regional ecosystem was under great pressure and the regional ecological sustainable development of mountain areas in Southwest Sichuan was difficult.In order to achieve the goals of sustainable development strategy in Mountain areas in Southwest Sichuan,strategies were put forward in this paper,including optimizing life style and production mode of the people,controlling the size of population,and adjusting the structure of industry.