Research on Regional Ecological Security Assessment

[Purpose] This paper explains the basic theory and research methods of ecological security based on the basic concept of ecological security. Qinhuangdao City is the study area, the index system of its ecological security assessment was constructed on the basis of the pressure - state - response conceptual model, and its ecological security was evaluated by comprehensive index method. The evaluation result is that the ecological security index of Qinhuangdao is 0.633, and it is in the lower bound of the relatively safer state. At present, the main ecological problems are water shortage, water pollutions, large quantity of gaseous pollutants emission from heavy industry enterprises, inadequate protection of natural reserves, and insufficient investments in environmental protection. Some targeted countermeasures for strengthening regional ecological security management are proposed as following: establishing ecological security early warning system, developing and utilizing water resources rationally to improve water utilization efficiency, strengthening the marine environmental protection to ensure the security of marine environment, reducing sulfur dioxide emission volume by improving air quality through an effective way, and implementing ecological restoration project to improve the ecological carrying capacity. The ecology of Qinhuangdao would move to a safer ecological level through these channels. (C) 2011 Published by Elsevier B.V. Selection and/or peer-review under responsibility of International Materials Science Society.