Central Asia is located at the core region of the "Silk Road Economic Belt", while its ecological environment is fragile. Researchers from the Xinjiang Institute of Ecology and Geography (XIEG) of the Chinese Academy of Sciences quantitatively evaluated the ecological security status of central Asia. 

They applied improved emerge ecological footprint model to quantitatively study the variations of ecological footprint and ecological carrying capacity, evaluated the ecological security statuses, and predicted the future changes of ecological footprint and ecological carrying capacity in central Asian countries. 

Results showed that the ecological footprint per capita in central Asia increased rapidly after 1999, and Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan had the largest growth rates, with the annual average change rates of 3.93% and 2.77%, respectively. The energy consumption footprints in Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan contributed most to their total ecological footprints, with contribution rates being 38.34%, 57.06% and 46.52%, respectively.

The ecological carrying capacity per capita in central Asian countries showed decrease trends, among which, Turkmenistan declined greatly with the annual average change rate of -1.93%. The future predication indicated that Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan would shift from ecological surpluses to ecological deficits after 2020. Ecological pressures in central Asian countries would persistently increase, especially in Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan. 

This study was published in Journal of Cleaner Production, entitled "Evaluation and analysis of ecological security in arid areas of Central Asia based on the emergy ecological footprint (EEF) model".