An environmental accounting framework applied to green space ecosystem planning for small towns in China as a case study

The paper presents a method that addresses the problem of the amount of green space required for the environment areas of lower biodiversity by the ecological element threshold method. The original habitat had been highly disturbed by human activities in most developing countries. Taking the population carrying capacity, the balance of carbon–oxygen, and the supply–demand equilibrium of water resource as a group of conjugate restriction factors of green space planning, it quantifies the total amount of green space required to keep the ecological system in balance for the town of Shaliuhe, Hebei Province as the case study. The results show that the main restrictive factor at Shaliuhe town is the imbalance between the supply and demand for the water resource, 89.34% of which is used in agriculture. Therefore, the effects of various ecological improvements are calculated for the years 2005, 2010 and 2015. This case study could be used as a model for the planning of other towns on the northeast China plain to improve the environment, ecology and sustainability. Similarly, the Chinese scenario might provide a useable reference to other developing countries.