Preliminary study on the eco-economic regionalization: A case of Northwestern China

Northwest China includes six provincial districts of Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, Shaanxi Province, Gansu Province, Qinghai Province, Ningxia Autonomous Region and Xinjiang Autonomous Region. This region is located in the alpine frigid region, and region and the loess plateau, therefore, its eco-environment is frail and economy is under-developed. Based on climate data, land use data, and socio-economic statistic data, this article analyzed the data of precipitation, air temperature, humidity, population, GDP, industrial structure, land use changes, designed water-heat condition, and integrated human activity pressure. By utilizing ArcGIS 8, we divided the eco-economic region into three-level categories according to the environment condition and human activities in county scale in Northwest China, and analyzed the basic characteristics and main eco-economic problems of each eco-economic region.