Ecological footprint accounting and analysis applied to Heilongjiang province

The strategy of sustainable development is paid more attention by the people in the world. It is urgently to solve such problems by an appropriate method. This article applies ecological footprint to account and analyze the sustainable development of China's Heilongjiang province from 1995 to 2006. The following results were obtained. The arable land contributed most to the ecological footprint among the six components of the ecological footprint per capita of Heilongjiang Province. It is consonant with the actual condition. The ecological capacity per capita changed form 2.3136 gha in 1995, declined to 2.2907 gha in 1997, and rose to 2.7701 gha in 2006. The total ecological capacity increased from 1.08x107gha in 1995 to 1.37x107 gha in 2006.Although the ecological capacity increased slightly, the increase was slower than that of the ecological footprint. The results show that Heilongjiang province suffered unsustainable from the years 1995 to 2006. The ecological deficit reached the peak in 2000 with 0.9204 gha and it reduced form 2001 to 2006. The main reason was the excess exploitation and consumption of natural resource and improper economical development.