The study looked at how sustainable development was in Fujian Province in 2003 by calculating its ecological footprint. They found that each person in the province used more natural resources than what the area could provide. This led to a deficit, showing that the province was not developing sustainably. Fujian also used more resources than the country as a whole could support, showing a national unsustainability. However, when compared to the whole world, Fujian used only a fraction of the global resource limit, suggesting it was on a path towards sustainable development on a global scale.