Title: Evaluation of ecosystem sustainability in Changchun City, China based on improved emergy analysis and fuzzy clustering integration model

Authors: Xing Han; Yujia Song; Yujun Wang; Chang Peng

Addresses: College of Resources and Environment, Jilin Agricultural University, Changchun, Jilin 130118, China; Jilin Provincial Key Laboratory of Soil Resource Sustainable Utilization for Commodity Grain Bases, Jilin Agricultural University, Changchun, Jilin 130118, China ' College of Tourism and Geographical Sciences, Jilin Normal University, Siping, Jilin 136000, China ' College of Resources and Environment, Jilin Agricultural University, Changchun, Jilin 130118, China; Jilin Provincial Key Laboratory of Soil Resource Sustainable Utilization for Commodity Grain Bases, Jilin Agricultural University, Changchun, Jilin 130118, China ' Institute of Agricultural Environment and Resources Research, Jilin Academy of Agriculture Sciences, Changchun, Jilin 130033, China

Abstract: The urban composite ecosystem was broken down into three daughter systems of nature, economics, and society to prevent the uncertainty of results arising from the disagreement of assessment indices. In addition, the traditional method for emergy analysis was improved and integrated with the fuzzy clustering model in order to provide a new method for the proper evaluation of the health of urban ecosystems from the perspective of energy-material coupling. With this new method, the health of urban ecosystem in Changchun, China was evaluated. Results showed that by continuously adjusting the energy structure, the industry structure, and the development mode, the urban ecosystem of Changchun City gradually transitioned from the unhealthy to the healthy status. However, a membership value of only 0.77 indicated the weak health of the ecosystem where the environmental load rate gradually increased every year. Emergy analysis using the fuzzy clustering integration model demonstrated the whole health status of urban composite systems with a certain degree of operability and replicability.

Keywords: ecosystem; health evaluation; environmental load rate; evaluation system; China.

DOI: 10.1504/IJESD.2024.135643

International Journal of Environment and Sustainable Development, 2024 Vol.23 No.1, pp.97 - 114

Received: 09 Apr 2022
Accepted: 14 Jan 2023
Published online: 20 Dec 2023 *