干旱区生态环境知识资源中心

Understanding the factors that affect the health of a semi-arid region’s eco-economy is necessary for its sustainable development. The health evaluation, or diagnoses, of an eco-economy at the small watershed scale requires the integrated analysis of ecological, economic, and social factors, yet few studies have achieved this. The health of an eco-economy comprises three components: vigor, organization, and resilience. We use an analytic hierarchy process to develop a health evaluation index system that evaluates the health of an eco-economy system. We then use this diagnostic method to explore the factors affecting the health status of a semi-arid loess watershed in China in 2007 and 2009. The results show that between 2007 and 2009 the health status of the eco-economy improved from the better stage to the benign circle stage. The primary productivity of grassland, land productivity, rural per capita net income, number of livestock per household, input-output ratio, commodity rate of farm produce, and labor productivity were the main factors influencing the health of this eco-economy. Furthermore, this study shows that the eco-economy depends on material input from regions outside the watershed.