A Load-Carrier Perspective Method for Evaluating Land Resources Carrying Capacity.

If land resources are forced to withstand greater populations than they are able to withstand, irreversible damage to the land resources system will happen in a specific region. This challenge highlights the urgency of appropriately evaluating the land resources carrying capacity (LRCC). A proper level of the capacity can ensure that land resources demands imposed by human activities are at a reasonable level. There is a need for a proper evaluation method for assessing LRCC. This study presents a new evaluation method from a load-carrier perspective for assessing LRCC by examining the relationships between the pressure caused by human activities and the supply capacity of land resources. In developing this method, a land resources system is determined by two primary components, namely carrier and load. The compositions of carrier and load are determined by applying the theory of multifunctional land use. A case demonstration is conducted to show the application of the method. The main findings can be drawn from this study as follows. Firstly, a "load-carrier" perspective method is requested for evaluating the regional LRCC, and it is effective in obtaining the value of LRCC in the demonstration case. Secondly, the composition of land resources carriers and loads embodied in the load-carrier perspective method is determined by using the theory of multifunctional land use. Thirdly, the case results suggest that seven regions are overloaded in LRCC and the other two regions are approaching the limitation of LRCC among nine county-level administration regions in Chongqing. This study contributes to the development of literature in the field of LRCC. The application of the "load-carrier" perspective method can help local governments in the case study regions make policies to ensure that land resources demands imposed by human activities are under control at a reasonable level.

An evolution perspective on the urban land carrying capacity in the urbanization era of China.

The past few decades witness a typical urbanization era in large developing countries such as China. In line with the urbanization process, land resources have inevitably presented a series of changes. The evolution of urban land carrying capacity (ULCC) is appreciated as a yardstick for guiding towards sustainable urban development. This paper therefore proposes an alternative method from carrier-load perspective for investigating the evolution of ULCC performance in China during the rapid urbanization era of 2012-2017. The data employed for analysis is collected from 290 Chinese prefectural-level cities. Results indicate that ULCC performance in the urbanizing China has been evolving towards a better state, for which 94% of the surveyed cities have made progress. However, significant disparity exists between cities on ULCC evolution performance, in particular, mega cities tend to have better ULCC evolution performance. Some cities may have better evolution performance although they have a poor average ULCC value. Contrarily, some cities may present poor evolution performance but they carry a better average ULCC value. The research findings provide valuable references not only for policy-makers to better understand the state of ULCC across the country, and appreciate inspiring experiences and lessons for implementing effective tailor-made measures to improve the ULCC performance, but also for enriching the literature in land resource management.

A load-carrier perspective examination on the change of ecological environment carrying capacity during urbanization process in China.

Urbanization has prompted a dramatic social and economic development during the past decades in China. As a long-term national strategy, urbanization can only be implemented effectively with sufficient and sustainable ecological environment resources. By appreciating that the ecological environment carrying capacity (EECC) is a yardstick for guiding the practice of sustainable urban development, it is therefore pressing to examine the change of EECC adequately, so that the sustainable urbanization can be addressed appropriately. This paper develops a new method from load-carrier perspective to explore the change of EECC performance in the rapid urbanizing China. The EECC performance on water, land, atmosphere and overall perspectives were measured for 30 provinces in China based on the established method. The results show that most provinces in China are experiencing an improving EECC performance during the urbanization process, particularly with an obvious progress in land dimension. In referring to the spatial difference of overall EECC performance, the gap between 30 provinces has been narrowing during surveyed years. However, few provinces including Chongqing, Shandong and Jiangxi have undergone a degradation in overall EECC performance. The EECC performance in atmosphere dimension is still considered as a challenge faced by most provinces, evidenced by high level of PM2.5 concentration. These research findings provide valuable references not only for Chinese governments to formulate effective policy instruments and strategy measures for improving ecological environmental carrying status, but also for researchers to further study in the ecological environment carrying capacity in the context of other countries.