1. Definition of ecological security
Ecological security refers to the health and integrity of the ecosystem. It is the protection degree of human beings from ecological destruction and environmental pollution in production, life and health, including drinking water and food safety, air quality, green environment and other basic elements.
A healthy ecosystem is stable and sustainable, which can maintain its organizational structure and autonomy in time and its resilience to stress. On the contrary, an unhealthy ecosystem is an ecosystem with incomplete or abnormal functions, and its security situation is threatened.
2. The limitations of ecological security
The concept of ecological security was put forward as early as 1970s. However, due to the richness and complexity of the connotation of ecological security and the lack of in-depth research on ecological security, a unified and universally accepted definition has not yet been formed.
There are two limitations in the definition of ecological security: on the one hand, it ignores vulnerability (referring to the nature that a system is vulnerable to environmental changes and natural disasters in a certain social, political, economic and cultural background); On the other hand, ecological security is only regarded as a state, but the dynamic nature of ecological security is not considered.
In view of this limitation, ecological security can be defined as the existence state and guarantee conditions for people and nature as a whole to be free from adverse factors, and the vulnerability of the system is constantly improving.
On the one hand, ecological security means that under the influence of external unfavorable factors, people and nature are not damaged, infringed or threatened, the survival and development of human society can be sustained, and the natural ecosystem can remain healthy and complete. On the other hand, the realization of ecological security is a dynamic process, and the objective guarantee conditions for the dynamic health of human and nature need to be realized through the continuous improvement of vulnerability.