Regional carrying state evaluation based on ecological footprint method in Guangdong, Guangxi and Hainan, China

With the rapid development of China economy, the conflict between environmental destruction and economical development is aggravating increasingly. A method used to evaluate the regional carrying state is introduced in this article. Research area chosen in this research includes Guangdong, Guangxi and Hainan, three provinces of southern China. Ecological footprint method (EFM), one of the mainly used evaluation methodologies, was adopted to calculate the regional bio-capacity. By comparing the bio-capacity with ecological footprint of consumption, ecological deficit was obtained, and then applied to the evaluation of carrying state. According to the practical situation, carrying state was classified as non-overloading, normal overloading and severely overloading, three different levels. The suggestion of sustainable development in these three provinces was accordingly proposed: develop non-overloading areas with priority, optimize severely overloading areas with emphasis, and exploit normal overloading areas with limit.