Exploration of Rural Agroforestry–Pastoral Complex Systems Based on Ecological Footprint*—Taking Zhagana in Yiwa Township as an Example

Abstract

Since 2010, with the rapid development of tourism in Zhagana, Yiwa township, problems with the agroforestry–pastoral complex system and economic development in Zhagana have come to the fore. In order to investigate the sustainability of the agroforestry–pastoral complex system, the ecological footprint model was used to analyse the sustainable development of the ecosystem in Yiwa township from 2005 to 2020 and the ecological security changes in Zhagana from 2010 to 2020 through examining the ecological footprint intensity, the ecosystem diversity index and the ecosystem development capacity index. The results of the study show that the per capita ecological footprint of Yiwa township showed an overall decreasing trend between 2005 and 2020, and the per capita ecological deficit also showed a decreasing trend. Forest land was the most important component of the ecological footprint per capita, and grassland was the most important component of the ecological carrying capacity per capita. The footprint depth tended to increase and then decrease, and the footprint width tended to decrease, with a gentle increase from 2010. The ecological pressure index showed an overall decreasing trend, and the ecological sustainability index showed a sudden upward fluctuation after 2016. Overall, the ecological economy of Zhagana has some capacity for development, but there is a high level of ecological pressure.