Evaluation on the coupling coordination of resources and environment carrying capacity in Chinese mining economic zones

The evaluation of coupling coordination has great significance to find the “short plank” of resources and environment carrying capacity. A combination of subjective and objective weighting methods, comprehensive evaluation method and coupling coordination model are used to evaluate the coupling coordination degree and search for the “short plank” of resources and environment carrying capacity in Chinese mining economic zones. The results show that: (1) All mining economic zones are in the state of unbalanced development, and most of them are in the state of moderately unbalanced development. (2) Western mining economic zones are in the better state of coupling coordination, and the eastern zones follow. (3) Most mining economic zones lag behind in water resources, and obvious geographical features exist in the “short plank”. It suggests that there must be different policies to lead the development in diverse mining economic zones.