The calculation of Ecological Footprint (EF) on the basis of Input-Output model (I-O model) was advanced by Bicknell, and modif ied and improved by Ferng who corrected the footprint's aggregation to each sectors. For the lack of suffi cient technique to deal with the trade between the research areas and the rest of the world, it is necessary to improve this method. And a dynamic analysis of the change of footprint based on I-O model, which could explore the factor impacting the footprint using the special advantage of I-O model, ought to be put into practice. After introducing the new method in detail, we calculate and compare the EF and the change of Gansu Province in the northwest of China in 1997 and 2002. The result shows that there was an increase of EF in 2002 caused by final domestic demand. Further, the increment in EF export was 2.0×105 ha and 1.6×106 ha in import. The out-of-region support dropped from 22.6% to 18.6%. We introduce three factors causing the EF change based on the character of I-O model: the productivity of the resource which is explained by the change of resource used to obtain one unit output in a sector, the improvement of the economics and the final demand. Finally, we find that the effects of the three factors on the EF change are not identical except the industry sectors and the change of factors in the agriculture and the industry sectors works notably.
