Abstract: Sustainability of regional ecosystem influences human production and life directly and indirectly. In order to promote regional sustainable development, it is necessary to explore the development trends of different industries in a region. This paper aimed to investigate the development trends of society, economy and environment of Xingwen County, a mountainous region in southwestern China from 2005 to 2011 by applying emergy analysis. The results showed that the social subsystem developed rapidly, and the pillar industries of Xingwen County transformed from agriculture to industry and tourism. Meanwhile, the rapid development of the industry and the tourism also incurred an increasing pressure on the local environment. The functions of economy, environment and society of the three industries were relatively independent of one another. In a word, the society and economy of this county developed relatively well; however, the rising environmental pressure challenged its sustainable development.

Key words: sub-alpine meadow, δ¹³C, plant leaf, environmental factor