Abstract:

In China, the northeast black soil area shoulders the important responsibility of guaranteeing national food security. By using the panel data from 2006 to 2020, the spatial and temporal pattern of ecological status of arable land in the northeast black soil area was explored, based on the improved three-dimensional ecological footprint model of arable land and the corrected parameter factors of arable land and the accounting of cropland carbon footprints, as well as the evaluation on the sustainability of ecological status of arable land in the northeast black soil area with the help of ecological deficit/surplus, sustainable utilization index, ecological pressure index, etc. It was shown that in terms of temporal evolution, the ecological footprint and ecological carrying capacity of arable land in the northeast black soil area exhibited an inverted “V” dynamic change, while the carbon footprint of arable land showed a rising trend. In terms of spatial evolution, the ecological footprint of arable land in the northeast black soil area increased from south to north, and the ecological carrying capacity of arable land showed a distribution pattern of “high in the north and low in the south, high in the east and low in the west”, and the degree of spatial difference gradually deepened. In terms of sustainability, the ecological deficit situation of arable land in the northeast black soil area emerged, with the ecological pressure index fluctuating around 0.8, showing an overall increasing trend, and the utilization of black soil gradually developed in an unsustainable direction.

Key words: arable land, ecological carrying capacity, carbon footprint, ecological footprint, sustainability