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• Most of China still faces notable water poverty with obvious spatial variations. • Unconventional water use does not always have a positive impact on water poverty. • The impact shows an inverted U-shaped tendency as per capita GDP increases. • Sustainable water management plans should be tailored to local economy. Unconventional water serves as a bridge to water sustainability. However, many developing nations still have a long way to go in terms of unconventional water utilization. Different regional characteristics lead to different consumption capacities for unconventional water. Consequently, more unconventional water use (UWU) may not necessarily be positive for alleviating water poverty. However, there is a significant research gap in this field. This paper aims to answer three key questions: "Whether UWU consistently alleviates water poverty?" "Is this effect spatially heterogeneous?" and "What role do economic factors play in addressing water poverty?" For that, this paper focused on 30 provinces in China, with the sample period spanning from 2006 to 2021. To identify the mechanisms through which UWU alleviates water poverty, this paper employed a panel fixed-effects model using the Water Poverty Index (WPI) as the dependent variable and the square of UWU amount as an independent variable. The results indicate a non-linear impact of UWU on WPI, with the significance of impact influenced by GDP per capita (PGDP). Furthermore, threshold regressions were conducted with PGDP as the threshold variable. The results revealed a double-threshold effect of PGDP in the impact of UWU on WPI, displaying "U" or inverted "U" shape as PGDP develops: When PGDP is less than or equal to RMB 13,574, UWU demonstrates a negative effect on WPI; when PGDP ranges from RMB 13,574 to RMB 53,653, the effect turns positive; however, when PGDP exceeds RMB 53,653, the effect turns back to negative. The findings confirm that more UWU is not always better. Sustainable utilization plans of water resources must be tailored to local conditions, especially considering the unique characteristics of the regional economy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• The definition of water sustainability is further expanded. • A water sustainability assessment model regarding quantity-quality-benefit is innovatively built. • The impact of coupled coordination relationships between the three subsystems is considered. • Water sustainability is evaluated from the single and three-dimensional perspective simultaneously. • Three-dimensional water sustainability assessment is more objective and scientific. An integrated water sustainability assessment is conducive to realizing the optimal allocation and efficient water utilization, and alleviating the water crisis. Existing research mainly appraises water quantity and water quality as unidimensional or in combination, without considering the water benefit, and few studies have assessed the regional water sustainability based on an integrated evaluation multidimensionally. Therefore, this paper innovatively introduces water benefit to construct a three-dimensional quantity-quality-benefit model (QQBM) to evaluate water sustainability in line with the water footprint (WF) theory and water resources balance sheet (WRBS). The impact of the coupled coordination relationship among water quantity, water quality, and water benefit on the water sustainability evaluation is further analyzed by introducing the coupled coordination degree model (CCDM). This paper takes the Yangtze River Economic Belt (YREB) as an example and makes a spatio-temporal analysis of the water sustainability in its 11 provincial capitals during 2010-2021 from a single dimension and a three-dimensional perspective, respectively. The results found that: (1) From a single dimension, the water sustainability in the 11 provincial capitals in the YREB during 2010-2021 is at a medium level, with better water benefit sustainability, moderate water quantity sustainability, and horrendous water quality sustainability. Among them, the water sustainability is the best in Guiyang and Hangzhou, while the worst in Shanghai. (2) From a three-dimensional perspective, the water sustainability in the 11 provincial capitals from 2010 to 2021 is horrific. Among them, the water sustainability is the best in Kunming, Changsha, Nanjing and Shanghai, while the worst in Wuhan and Hefei. (3) The degree of coupling coordination between water quantity, water quality and water benefit significantly influence the water sustainability in the 11 provincial capitals of the YREB. The three-dimensional assessment model QQBM constructed in this study is more comprehensive and objective than the single perspective assessment. The findings in this paper can help other regions to conduct similar water sustainability assessments and inform policy recommendations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

[Display omitted] • This paper proposed general laws of rural housing-industry transformation and revitalization. • Complex adaptability system theory is developed to identify the pattern of rural housing-industry transformation. • The pattern of TGRA' rural housing-industry transformation process was identified. • Policy suggestions were given for TGRA of China's rural revitalization. The core of dual circulation in the Three Gorges Reservoir Area (TGRA) and the greening Yangtze River is sustainable development. Reservoir housing-industry coordinate sustainable is extremely important to ensuring a more sustainable TGRA. Here, we investigate the overall characteristics of housing-industry transformation development and rural revitalization path in the TGRA at microscopic perspective. Taking Wutu village (WTV), a historical and cultural rural in the TGRA, as case study area, we also analyze the evolution, stage characteristics, and trends of housing-industry system (HIS) using theoretical analysis and empirical research from the perspective of spatio-temporal-development and complex adaptability system model. The findings reveal that: (1) In the traditional housing-industry separation stage(1978–1998), the development of villagers' self-organization and the positive and correct leadership of the village party branch are the dominant forces for the evolution of HIS in WTV. The adaptive behavior of the main body and the strength of the housing-industry effect are limited, and the evolution of the HIS is in the accumulation stage of quantitative change. (2) In the stage of cooperative transformation of housing-industry (1999–2018), the positive and correct leadership of the village party branch is the dominant force of the evolution of HIS in WTV, and the government's policy support is the main force of the evolution of HIS in WTV. (3) In the stage of modern housing-industry integration (2019 to present), the interaction of multiple subjects is the dominant force in the evolution of HIS in WTV. Multiple entities further adapt to various changes in the external environment, and the system structure and level have taken a qualitative leap. Overall, the evolution of HIS in WTV is a dynamic and continuous process. Based on the evolution stage and driving mechanism of HIS, it is necessary to improve the self-organization and adaptive response and ability of the complex adaptive system in WTV, adapt to the general law of system evolution, and effectively regulate the transformation and upgrading of HIS in WTV. Our research outcomes offer valuable insights for fostering rural transformation, enhancing the housing-industry environment, and ultimately propelling the TGRA towards a more sustainable and prosperous future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Analysis of logistics performance impact on natural environment in EU countries. • Methodology of Green Logistics Performance Index (GLPI) creation to compare countries. • GLPI components: Logistics Performance Index and Environmental Performance Index. • GLPI calculation for EU countries to compare, and see the progress or regress. • Overview on GLPI as a benchmarking tool with its utility suggestions. Logistics performance has a significant impact on the natural environment. The paper analyses it from a broad macro perspective of European Union countries. Also, it proposes the methodology of creation and possibilities of use of the Green Logistics Performance Index (GLPI) to deepen the analyses and compare countries. The paper's primary goal is to introduce and justify the implementation of the GLPI. First, a literature review is provided, covering the concept of green logistics and environmental problems. Next, the Logistics Performance Index (LPI) and Environmental Performance Index (EPI) are described in detail as the components of GLPI, and the methodology of GLPI creation is presented. Finally, the GLPI is calculated for all European Union countries in 2018 (the latest data) and 2010 to compare the differences and see the progress or regress. This part of the paper gives an overview of GLPI as a benchmarking tool, pointing out the positives and negatives, and transferring the best environmental practices from leading counties to others. In the end, the benefits of GLPI are described together with its utility suggestions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Literature review papers related to the tourism-energy nexus are analyzed. • Four main groups are identified considering the quantitative methodology used. • Topics and discussions on the nexus between tourism and energy are developed. • Future research is discussed. The high dependence of tourism activities on energy consumption, and particularly on non-renewable energy, is a major barrier to building sustainable tourism models. For this reason, the analysis of tourism and energy use is a growing field of study within sustainability debates. Despite this, there is a gap in the literature and, to the best of our knowledge, there is no previous study that critically reviews the vast literature on the energy-tourism nexus. This paper aims to fill this gap in tourism knowledge. The main objective of this article is to conduct a systematic review of scientific studies with a quantitative empirical basis that examine this nexus, trying to answer the following questions: What are the main methodologies used to approach the tourism-energy nexus? which indicators or variables are relevant?; is there a consensus on the results?; and what are the main lines of discussion on the use of energy in tourism? To this end, we particularly focus on the main methodologies, results and perspectives during the period 2001–2021. A total of 1,189 articles were reviewed by abstract and title, 236 were included for the full review and 163 were finally selected. The results show how the nexus and energy dependence of tourism is assessed mainly from four major methodological groups: G1) econometric models, regressions and other statistical methodologies (67% of the sample); G2) surveys, questionnaires and energy audits (15%); G3) Life Cycle Analysis (13%) and G4) other approaches and environmental impact indicators to assess the relationship between energy and tourism (5%). The analysis between the causal relationships between tourism development, economic growth, energy use, environmental degradation and energy efficiency of accommodations are the main issues evaluated, considering a wide range of indicators/variables. Based on the gaps and limitations found in the literature review on tourism and energy, it is discussed how some findings should be interpreted with caution due to their methodological approaches and differences. Finally, some of the main lines of future research in this field are also presented. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Identified 30 agro-ecosystem specific sustainability indicators. • Sustainability indicators help in mapping the climate resilience of agriculture. • We propose a framework, "Climate Risk Management Package for Agriculture (CRiMPA)", to aid in planning interventions. The impending threats of changing climate have been well documented across sectors. The climate risks are best addressed through increasing adaptive capacity and building resilience. Ever since the global call during the Rio Summit in 1992 for establishing sustainability indicators across sectors, there have been several studies across the world on developing indicators for sustainability, vulnerability and climate resilience. Agriculture, the most vulnerable system to changing climate, depends on the resilience of both social and ecological systems. This paper focuses on integrating the variability of climate into the agricultural sustainability measurement with a broad base of indicators and bringing in the localized factors for representing the agroecosystem specificities. The paper also aims at identifying indicators for measuring climate resilient agriculture in Indian sub-continent and developing a conceptual framework for profiling the spatial resilience across various agro-ecosystems for appropriate location-specific policy interventions. In the current study 1209 indicators used in various research studies were screened, grouped for similarity and purpose and classified based on the various dimensions viz., social, economic, ecological, etc. After a critical review based on their appropriateness as a measurable indicator, extent of overlap, relevance in Indian context and possible data availability, 41 indicators were shortlisted for validation through a comprehensive structured online survey among subject matter specialists (n = 225). The responses from the experts (n = 36) were analysed using weighted sum model (WSM) and analytic hierarchy process (AHP). The study identifies a list of 30 sustainability indicators for climate resilient agriculture in India, that are particularly suitable for different agro-ecosystems of the sub-continent. The authors advocate an action-oriented model called Climate Risk Management Package for Agriculture (CRiMPA) to aid in planning spatial/agro-ecosystem specific interventions, which in turn could strengthen the National Action Plan for Climate Change (NAPCC) of Government of India. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Ethiopia's food system sustainability was estimated at 0.46 on a 0–1 scale in 2020. • Ethiopia's sustainability falls short of the 0.75 satisfactory benchmark. • Social and Environmental dimensions exceed a discrete sustainability level of 0.5. • Economic, and food and nutrition security dimensions receive low scores, below 0.5. In the face of continuous population growth, environmental degradation, climate extremes and enduring abject poverty, ensuring sustainability of the food system is of crucial importance. As such, developing a comprehensive measure of sustainability has been of a great interest for both researchers and policy makers so as to measure progresses and evaluate the outcomes overtime. This paper attempts to assess the food system sustainability (FSSI) in Ethiopia over the past two decades from 2001 to 2020. A composite index was constructed by aggregating 24 selected food system indicators in the four food system dimensions: environmental, economic, social, and food and nutrition security. 'Distance to a Reference' method was employed for data normalization, whereas equal weighting and linear aggregation methods were used for aggregating the indicators in each dimension. The result showed that in a scale from 0 to 1, better score was achieved in the social dimension (0.66), followed by environmental dimension (0.52), and food and nutrition dimension (0.43), with the least recorded in the economic dimension (0.31) in 2020. The overall Food System Sustainability Index for the most recent year (2020) was estimated to be 0.46 which is far below a satisfactory level of food system sustainability (0.75) as per OECD Classification of Sustainability Indices. The result calls for policy interventions aimed at improving the overall food system sustainability in light of the four food system dimensions, in general, and the weak dimensions, in particular. Given the predictable need for more food production in the face of growing populace, interventions that enhance synergies and limit the potential trade-off among the food system outcomes, as well as striking the right balance should be the policy direction for Ethiopia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

[Display omitted] • The concept of industrial ecology (IE) was defined based on symbiosis theory. • IE was evaluated from the functional and structural dimensions of the IE system. • Evaluation subjects of IES include symbiotic units, patterns, and environment. • The overall IE level in the Area has improved with Inner Mongolia standing out. • The industrial and ecological development remained isolated or mutual restriction. This paper defined regional industrial ecology (IE) to include four connotations: sustainable social-economic-ecological development, the high-quality transformation of the industrial system (IS) and the ecological system (ES), and harmonious symbiosis between IS and ES. Regarding the composition of the symbiotic system, this paper proposed that the IE evaluation be carried out from three aspects: the sustainability of the symbiotic environment, the high-quality development of the symbiont, and the symbiotic pattern between the symbiotic units. Then, the maturity index determined by the symbiont and symbiotic mode and the orderliness index determined by the symbiont and symbiotic environment were measured to determine the IE level from the perspectives of the system's function and structure. Besides, this paper adopted Geodetector and Oprobit model to identify the influencing factors of IE. Taking the π-shaped Curve Area of the Yellow River as the study area, this paper found that the IE systems' structural orderliness of capital cities and resource-based cities was low, while the orderliness level of non-resource-based cities was high. The IE systems' functional maturity level in the northwest Area was better than that of the southeast. The IE level was high in Inner Mongolia while low in Shanxi and Ningxia. Scientific innovation, economic development, openness degree, ecological pressure, industrial structure, urbanization level, and government influence have different influences on the IE systems' orderliness and maturity levels. The findings of this paper provided a basis for realizing IE and promoting the high-quality transformation of the whole basin. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Graphical abstract Abstract Conservationists and protected area managers spend millions in establishing and maintaining protected areas every year. However, many studies revealed that the design and coverage of protected areas are still inadequate in representing key biodiversity features, are insufficient in the management approach to address the threats and pressures and have a low level of ecological integrity because of the increasing levels of environmental degradation. There is strong evidence of different anthropogenic pressures that deteriorate the effectiveness of existing protected areas, structurally, compositionally and functionally. Hence, the evaluation of a protected area's effectiveness is very crucial in maintaining long-term biodiversity conservation. Different evaluations have been carried out to assess the effectiveness of protected areas but focus only on certain issues or a single component. Current effectiveness evaluations still inadequately incorporate important criteria to make the evaluation of protected areas more comprehensive. Therefore, this paper will first focus on reviewing the current conditions and threats towards biodiversity conservation in tropical protected areas. Then, there will be a discussion on the relationship between the threats that cause issues with the effectiveness of protected areas. From issues that influence protected areas, the criteria or components that are crucial in developing the consolidated index model are identified. The main objective of this paper is to propose a consolidated index model that integrates the components of design and planning, ecological integrity and management to assess the conservation effectiveness of individual terrestrial protected areas in tropical regions. Hence, this paper presents the first step to develop a consolidated index model that can be implemented by park managers to assess conservation effectiveness. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Urban metabolism concerns the evaluation of how much urban ecosystems produce and consume resources. Such an assessment is now a critical perspective in understanding the manner in which city development affects local and regional environment. Research in urban metabolism is a relatively new and ever-evolving area that encompasses a multidisciplinary field and moves toward a combined natural and social science. This paper offers a verifiable and reproducible systematic literature review of sustainable urban metabolism, analyzing and scrutinizing 813 papers for co-occurrence of keywords. This review aims to answer two research questions: (i) what are the prevailing themes in urban metabolism and (ii) how have these themes measured the support of cities toward sustainability? Through clustering analysis based on bibliometric method, four different focuses and their main keywords were outlined. The four clusters are general concept, methodology, policy issue, and specific element clusters, and their core keywords are city, energy, relationship, network, sustainability, China, indicator, economy, country, recycling, disposal, and recovery. Urban metabolism themes have evolved from nutrient flows and individual element treatment concerning industrial ecology in the course of the past century to ecological views of complex urban networks. The taxonomy of themes and the analysis of their evolution lead to further research agenda on the general framework of urban metabolism toward sustainability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Decoupling state of ecological footprint in 30 province of China is analyzed. • There are four decomposition indicators for decoupling. • Technological factors, and economic factors are important factors driving decoupling. • The methods of realizing environmental sustainability are discussed. Nowadays, economic development and ecological environment protection are difficult to synergize, which poses a challenge to global sustainable development. This paper uses the Tapio decoupling model to evaluate the decoupling between ecological footprint and economic growth, and uses the Logarithmic Mean Divisia Index (LMDI) decomposition methods to identify the driving factors of decoupling at national and provincial levels. There are four driving factors: industrial structural, technological innovation, economic development, and population size. It is found that: (1) The ecological footprint of 28 provinces show an upward trend, with an average increase of 40.26%. Among them, the ecological footprint of three provinces in the northwest region increased by more than 100%, and there is an urgent need to reduce natural resource consumption and ensure resource sustainability; (2) The number of provinces with good decoupling show a change of first declining and then rising. Moreover, the spatial distribution characteristics of the decoupling state are obvious, with the northeastern region in negative decoupling; and (3) Technological innovation plays a positive and leading role in decoupling, with a contribution rate of 0.5402. However, economic development inhibits decoupling, with a contribution rate of 0.3829. According to the results, this paper suggests countermeasures and approaches to promote the decoupling of ecological footprint and economic growth, and establishes three key regional concerns. It provides a basis for further analysis of environmental governance in China. Not only that, the regulatory measures and methods proposed in this study will also help promote the decoupling process of other developing countries in the world. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

[Display omitted] • Energy-Water-Food security nexus of mung bean production in Iran is analyzed. • Non-renewable cumulative energy demand is estimated at 27.4 MJ/kg of beans. • Total water footprint is estimated at 1.55 m3/kg of beans. • On-farm production concentrates the largest environmental impacts (40% to 96%). • Cooking accumulates over 50% of the carbon footprint. Mung bean is a very important crop in Iran in both socio-economic and nutritional terms. However, although discussions on food and food security increasingly include sustainability issues, there are no precedents in academic literature that analyze in depth the nexus between energy, water use and food security in relation to this crop in Iran from an agri-food system approach. Therefore, our main objective is to assess the energy-water-food security (EWFs) nexus and the environmental impact of mung bean production in Iran from a "cradle to fork" approach using different nutritional units (1 kg of beans, 1 kg of proteins, and 1000 kcal) and load allocation criteria. In addition, an economic analysis of the farms is carried out. The results show that the on-farm production of mung beans is the phase where the largest environmental impacts are concentrated (between 40 % and 96 % of them, including those related to water and energy use), while cooking accounts for more than 50 % of the carbon footprint. The non-renewable cumulative energy demand (NR CED) and total water footprint (TWF) per kilogram of beans ("cradle to fork") is estimated at 27.4 MJ and 1.55 m3 and the farm Net Margin (NM) is estimated at 3,677 USD per ha. The paper discusses whether mung bean is a low-impact option for protein production, especially when compared to animal products and the importance of using different functional units and load allocation criteria to address the issue of EWFs and sustainability. In this regard, further research is needed to improve the environmental efficiency of bean production, which is critical for promoting sustainable diets in line with food security goals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• A methodological effort toward weightless index constructions. • A novel weightless algorithm for constructing composite sustainability indexes. • Applicable framework of comparative experiments to optimize algorithm parameters. • Assessing global sustainability with novel weightless composite index algorithm. A composite index based on selected indicators is a widely used tool for guiding, monitoring, and evaluating a society's level of sustainability. However, determining the weight of each indicator is typically a methodologically problematic and highly controversial process. This paper proposes a weightless strategy for constructing composite sustainability indices based on the mathematical optimization concept of Pareto fronts. The core idea is to model each indicator as an individual objective and explore Pareto fronts within the resulting multi-objective solution space. In practice, a total of 24 typical implementations of the strategy were realized to represent four categories with varying parameter settings, i.e., straightforward/hierarchical implementations with/without avoiding basic indicator accuracy issues. Comparative experiments demonstrated that a hierarchical approach utilizing the goodness of variance fit-based (GVF = 0.80) natural breaks to nullify accuracy problems is the most effective implementation. To demonstrate its usefulness, the strategy implemented using this approach was applied to analyze the world's sustainability by revising the well-known sustainable society index. This study provides a novel paradigm of composite sustainability indices and represents the first assessment of world sustainability using multiple criteria (indicators) without weights. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Methodological factors are often acknowledged for their impact on the urban sustainability assessment outcomes. The significance of this impact, however, divides those who assign it great importance; to the point of compromising any attempt at sustainability benchmarking using indicators, from those who regard it as having a relatively limited role. In this paper, we aim to contribute to this debate by assessing how methodological choices could influence the variation in the outcomes of indicator-based urban sustainability benchmarking. The paper starts with a literature review outlining the evolution of the approaches adopted since the pioneering experiences in the ‘90s to show a convergence in indicators and data over time. Subsequently, by using the data of the 25 most populous cities in Quebec, we empirically analyse the sensitivity of the cities’ sustainability scores to 18 combinations of estimation techniques, and observe consistency within the outcomes while maintaining general patterns regardless of the approach used. The results suggest that methodological choices play a limited role in the urban sustainability assessment outcomes. Thus, other determinants beyond the evaluation methods are most likely involved and therefore should be a major focus in future research agendas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ecosystem services (ES) assessments commonly focus on a specific biophysical region or nation and take its geographic borders as the system boundary. Most geographical regions are, however, not closed systems but are open and telecoupled with other regions, such that the use of ES in one location is dependent on ecosystem processes and ecological management in other locations. Interregional ES flows often affect national economies and may trigger issues of national security and global equity. To date, however, methodologies for assessing interregional flows of ES have been published in dispersed literature. This paper provides a three-step guidance for how to assess four different types of interregional ES flows (traded goods, passive biophysical flows, species migration and dispersal as well as information flows). This guidance is intended to complement national and regional ecosystem assessments. The three steps are to (i) define the goal and scope of interregional ES flow assessments, (ii) quantify the interregional ES flows using a tiered approach and (iii) interpret results in terms of uncertainties, consequences and governance options. We compile different indicators for assessing interregional ES flows and evaluate their suitability for national and regional ES assessments. Finally, to assess the implications of interregional ES flows for environmental sustainability and human well-being, we relate our flow indicators to the Sustainable Development Goals. This guidance towards systematic assessment of interregional ES flows provides a first step to measure and quantify externalised environmental costs and can contribute to the development of indicators to address interregional imbalances in trade, foreign policy and beyond. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• An index of Sustainable Agriculture for the EU-28 over the period 2005–2014 is computed. • A Granger-causality test for panel data is implemented. • A negative bidirectional relationship between climate change and agricultural yields is verified. • A negative bidirectional relationship between climate change and sustainable agriculture is identified. • Conventional agriculture negatively affects sustainable agriculture. Agriculture and climate change are characterized by a complex cause-effect relationship. The agricultural sector generates significant quantities of gas emissions that affect climate. The rise in the concentration of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, the increase in temperatures as well as changes in the precipitation regime have repercussions on the volume, quality and stability of the agricultural and zoo technical production, but also on the natural environment in which agriculture is practiced. Based on the above, the purpose of the paper is twofold. Firstly, through the Wroclaw Taxonomic Method, we construct a composite indicator, called the Index of Sustainable Agriculture (ISA), and analyse 28 countries that have joined the European Union from 1 July 2013 to today (EU-28) over the period 2005–2014, according to 16 variables. Secondly, the Granger-causality test for panel data is implemented in order to verify the causal relationship among the ISA, climate change and agricultural production. In other words, we test which of the three analyzed variables turns out to be the cause variable and which, instead, turns out to be the effect variable. Furthermore, we test if there is a bidirectional causality among the variables. This analysis provides a wide overview on how European countries rank according to the ISA and its three crucial pillars, i.e. environmental, economic and social. Moreover, important causality relationships among the ISA, climate changes (approximated by mean annual temperature and mean annual precipitation and provided by the Climate Research Unit (CRU) Time-Series (TS) Version 3.22 of the University of East Anglia) and agricultural production (approximated by wheat and spelt yields and provided by EUROSTAT) are identified. In particular, the following hypotheses are verified: 1) there is a negative bidirectional relationship between climate change and agricultural yields; 2) there is a negative bidirectional causal relationship between climate change and sustainable agriculture; 3) conventional agriculture negatively affects sustainable agriculture. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Soil organic carbon (SOC)-mediated ecosystem services (ES) had the highest sensitivity to SOC changes in Semiarid Chaco. • SOC-mediated ES had the lowest sensitivity to SOC changes in East Southern Pampa. • Semiarid Chaco sub-region have a highly fragile environment. • Agricultural production should be increased by increasing crop yields instead of planted surface. • It is fundamental to improve our knowledge regarding critical thresholds of SOC. The basis and essence of life on earth depends on soil health, and its main indicator is the soil organic carbon (SOC) content. Hence, SOC stock is a key component for the supply of many ecosystem services (SOC-mediated ES), such as erosion protection, nutrient cycling, water regulation, and climate regulation. Land use changes from natural ecosystems into agricultural systems generally deplete SOC stocks. Therefore, agricultural production usually involves trade-off relations with SOC-mediated ES supply. This paper assessed the trade-offs between agricultural production and SOC-mediated ES supply in six sub-regions of Argentina: East Southern Pampa, West Southern Pampa, Flooding Pampa, Central Pampa, Rolling Pampa and Semiarid Chaco. In the Semiarid Chaco, overall SOC-mediated ES supply had the highest sensitivity to SOC changes, and the lowest sensitivity to natural cover removal. In East Southern Pampa, overall SOC-mediated ES supply had the lowest sensitivity to SOC changes and the highest to natural cover removal. The differences in sensitivity of overall SOC-mediated ES supply to the changes in SOC could be explained by soil texture, which is finer at East Southern Pampa. The differences in sensitivity of overall SOC-mediated ES supply to natural cover removal could be associated with the initial SOC stocks, which is lower in the Semiarid Chaco. The high sensitivity of SOC-mediated ES to SOC change and the low levels of SOC-mediated ES supply found in the Semiarid Chaco sub-region suggests that it is a highly fragile environment. The agricultural expansion over natural areas led to trade-offs between production and SOC-mediated ES supply. However, increasing crop yields would lead to win-win situations, by positive effects on agricultural production and SOC-mediated ES supply. Hence, agricultural production should be increased by increasing crop yields rather than expanding cropland and/or pasture over natural areas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Coordinated development of water and socio-economic. • Forming an integrated model of sustainability assessment and policy making. • An equilibrium evaluation model can overcome ambiguity and randomness. • Nine types of urban water interaction relationships can be displayed in DPM. • Weak systems and indicators can be reflected in policy. The evolution direction of the relationship between city and water determines the healthy prosperity and sustainable development of a city. Scientific evaluation of the matching relationship between water resources and social economy in different cities is the key to analyze the interaction relationship between city and water. Current research on sustainable evaluation of complex systems is dominated by one-dimensional static evaluation, which cannot help find gaps and predict development. Insufficient analysis of the city-water relationship reduces the reference and foresight of policy making. Moreover, conventional methods cannot overcome the uncertainty of the evaluation process. Therefore, this paper constructs a coordinated evaluation model based on directional policy matrix and cloud model, and categorizes cities in different development stages and water resources conditions into the matrix. Based on the analysis of the sources of contradictions in the relationship between city and water for three types of cities, such as cooperative interaction, competitive interaction and conflict interaction, water resources utilization policy and urban development strategy are adjusted accordingly. According to the evaluation results, the single system of the city, such as water resource carrying capacity or economic society level, has a positive development. However, from the point of view of the matching degree of the composite system, the interaction between city and water in most cities is not friendly. Among the cities, leading cities (Guangzhou, Shanghai, Wuhan) and robust cities (Chongqing, Chengdu) have a healthy match between water resources and social economy, and the relationship between city and water is cooperative. In driving cities (Beijing, Tianjin) and restrictive cities (Zhengzhou, Xi 'an), water resources and social economy do not match, and the relationship between city and water exists competition or even conflict. Based on the contradictions of different types of cities, the system in need of improvement and vulnerability indicators, water resources policy and economic society strategy recommendations are given to ensure sustainable development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper addresses how urban sustainability is modeled and the ways criteria-based systems deal with its measurability for an effective and reliable assessment. Twelve sustainability models are reviewed and a subset is briefly presented. More importantly, this research work investigates five national rating systems of sustainable urban development compared with the newly developed CAMSUD system. The comparison focuses on the systems' structure, categorization, technical content and measurability. The main findings about the selected national rating systems thoroughly discussed in the paper are: (i) They all have a tree-like structure, (ii) their conceptualization and categorization follow three or four sustainability pillars models, sustainability topics or spatial scale; (iii) they use either planning-oriented or performance-oriented weighting approaches; (iv) the criteria are defined as sustainability goals, action measures or assignments to be fulfilled; (v) the sustainability items can hardly be juxtaposed since they are differently handled, (vi) overlapping criteria might occur, (vii) similar criteria can be categorized under different categories and this affects the emphasis put on these categories, (viii) all criteria are independently rated with no consideration of mutual interrelationships. In an attempt to solve some of these weaknesses, the newly developed CAMSUD system is introduced as alternative and relies on the following: (i) the system structure is considered as a network, (ii) the conceptualization and categorization is based on spatial scaling as well as on sustainability topics and pillars, (iii) many criteria are directly planning-relevant (23 of 40), (iv) the criteria are defined as sustainability goals rather than action measures and (v) the quantification of criteria is planned as to account for mutual interactions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The importance of pursuing sustainable modes of development has received increased global recognition in recent years. Since the issue was first addressed in the United Nations’ 1987 Brundtland Report, many countries have developed their own sustainability strategies. In Panama, a UNESCO Chair entitled Dialogues on Sustainability was created in 2011 by four scholarly institutions with the objective of advancing a sustainability agenda through education, research and discussion. In line with conclusions from the United Nations’ Agenda 21 action plan, the UNESCO Chair identified the creation of a set of national sustainability indicators as an important step toward this goal. This paper presents the work done by the Chair to develop a dashboard of national sustainability indicators for Panama. Indicators were selected using participatory methods, involving 42 individuals representing 16 different government agencies, NGOs, academic institutions, and private entities from Panama. Adhering to a three-pillar structure, the resulting dashboard of 20 indicators is shown to be a useful tool for understanding past trends, present issues, and future trajectories within Panama’s economic, environmental, and social spheres. As a further demonstration of the dashboard’s utility, this paper focuses on three example issues shown by the dashboard to be important: security, vehicles and vehicle emissions, and natural disasters. This paper also juxtaposes the Human Development Index and Ecological Footprint to compare Panama with other Latin American countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The need to advance bio-physical accounting as a base for sustainability assessment has been acknowledged and advanced in recent years. One approach highly relevant to the 21st century global reality is the ‘Footprint’—Ecological, Land, Water and Carbon. While each has merits and limitations, the potential to bring all together under the title of the ‘Footprint Family’ is emerging. This paper embraces a footprint family approach to analyze beef consumption in the state of Israel over a decade (1999–2010) and explore some tradeoffs between different biophysical components. The research results reveal that on average a tonne of beef consumed in Israel, reflecting a mixture of sources of supply from all over the world requires 9.5 ha of land and 10,000 m 3 of water, mostly for grazing in Latin America (in Brazil and Argentina) but also for growing feed in the U.S and the E.U. Enteric fermentation, manure management, farm operations, shipping and slaughtering generate approximately 19.7 t of CO 2 e and the above can be integrated into an ecological footprint figure of approximately 6 global hectares. The paper also demonstrates the utility of inter-regional biophysical accounting at the detailed commodity level. Inter-regional accounting identifies the geographic locations that contribute resources to, and are affected by, the production of specific consumption products. Comprehensive interregional biophysical accounting can be used to generate a better understanding of the complex ecological impacts associated with most consumption products, and the implications of the relationship between these impacts for sustainability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Highlights • Cities supply their material needs from various local and global sources. • The manuscript presents a multi and cross scale analysis of urban metabolism. • The manuscript focuses on the city of Tel Aviv-Jaffa, Israel. • It analyzes the material supplies used by the city and its reliance on several spatial scales. • 47% of the materials are imported and 99% of the waste is at the global scale. Abstract Cities supply their material needs from various sources, located not only in their nearby region, but also from other places around the world. Consequently, they have significant environmental impact in those areas. 'Urban metabolism' is a leading research approach, which advances urban analysis by attempting to quantify the amount of materials and energy that flow through a city. In recent years, this tool has been used widely, but there have been no prior metabolism studies that attempt to locate and quantify the resources and waste flows to and from a city on the local, regional and global scales. The goal of this paper is to present such an approach to urban metabolism, as a means to advance urban sustainability. The manuscript focuses on the city of Tel Aviv-Jaffa, Israel. It analyzes the overall urban metabolism and identifies the routes followed by the material supplies used by the city and its environmental impact on several spatial scales – local, regional and global. Overall the city of Tel Aviv-Jaffa relies on direct and indirect use of approximately 3600 kt of materials a year out of which approximately 47% are imported. Furthermore, 99% of the city related waste is outside Israel and only small portion remains at the regional level and within the city. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Highlights • The development of a sustainability index model applicable to the Mauritian manufacturing sector. • To identify the key dimensions for sustainability assessment for the Mauritian manufacturing industry. • To include sustainability indicators of Mauritian manufacturing companies into a single multi-dimensional model. Abstract It has been long recognized that environmental matters are important to the survival of manufacturing companies. Yet manufacturing companies continue to degrade the environment, over exploit natural resources and generate unmanageable amount of wastes. Manufacturing is not just about financial returns, but it should also be conscious of the long-term impacts on living standards of both present and future generations. The purpose of this paper is to develop a sustainability index to quantify the impact of Mauritian manufacturing activities on the environment. This research is an attempt to stimulate manufacturing companies in Mauritius to report their organization's sustainability via an index that shall aid in driving both profits and growth. It reviews the main social, economic and environmental issues affecting manufacturing companies and provides a Sustainability Index Model (SIM) that can be used as a sustainability performance measurement indicator, helping in the mitigation of perennial business challenges. The derived sustainability index, that combines the principal sustainable indicators quoted in the literature, has been used as a single decision-making tool for assisting manufacturing companies realize sustainable development goals. A sample of 30 large manufacturing companies in Mauritius were used to validate the sustainability index model. The study reveals an index with 9 environmental, 4 economic and 2 social indicators which were pertinent in sustainability measurement, with varying degree of importance, within the Mauritian manufacturing context. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Highlights • An integrated approach is developed for environmental sustainability. • Climate variability has significant impacts on local environmental sustainability. • Rio Grande Basin is sustainable under current climate conditions. • Rio Grande Basin will become less sustainable in the late 21st century. Abstract Extreme weather events have been affecting local environmental sustainability. Previous literature in this field evaluates environmental sustainability based mainly on past and current resource consumption and availability, however, knowledge about the status and potential changes of environmental sustainability under future climate extremes is missing. This paper proposes an integrated approach (combining the Ecological Footprint Analysis with econometric regressions) to predict future environmental sustainability under different climate scenarios. Based on the case study of the U.S. Rio Grande Basin, the results show that this region has been sustainable in 1982–2012, although sustainability levels have been declining over time. In addition, projections for the future show that the entire region will most likely move away from sustainability by the end of this century under the high emission scenario (e.g., RCP8.5). These findings are relevant for sustainable resource management and allocation of local environmental resources as well as for decision-making support regarding climate risk adaptation and mitigation strategies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Highlights • We assess the stocks of three urban systems using emergy synthesis. • Materials and energy stored increase the size and complexity of the urban systems. • ABC developed and grown relying mainly on economic and social capitals. • Emergy Synthesis provides insight into the reliance of economic activity on natural capital. • Emergy Synthesis may guide the development of effective policies for urban systems. Abstract Environmental assessments of urban systems intend to help city managers to identify feasible measures towards the reduction of urban vulnerability and to the understanding on how cities are dependent on available resources. Through the emergy approach, city managers may recognize subcomponents from each building block that individually and collectively influence the municipalities' environmental performance. Internal stocks of the urban systems play an important role on cities functioning, and the interactions among economic, social and natural capital influence the municipal performance. This paper uses emergy synthesis to account for the internal stocks of the multi-urban system called ABC Paulista, the role of stocks in ABC development and growth. Three forms of capital (economic, social and environmental) were accounted for, which allowed describing the urban settlements according to their nature (such as service provider or industrial cluster). Results may assist policy makers in regard to urban aggregates sustainability and also in formulating policies for particular cities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Highlights • A method for quantifying the limits to growth of cities is proposed. • Emergy accounting is introduced to assess the limits to growth. • Results claim for more studies considering larger time-period under analysis. • The proposed approach offers a new perspective to assess the limits of urban growth. Abstract Cities are important urban productive systems whose main goal could be considered the supply of innovation to generate economic growth. However, as well as all social organization managed by scale economies, cities eventually tend to reduce or even stop growth. In this scenario, public policies are essential to avoid the potential collapse of society. The sustainability of cities has been studied through different methodological approaches, but few scientific works assessed the limits of their growth. This paper explores the potentialities of emergy accounting in contributing to the discussions about the limits of growth for urban productive systems. The cities of Araraquara, Bragança Paulista, Campinas, São Paulo and Taubaté were considered as case study due to their socio-economic importance in São Paulo State, Brazil. The time period ranges from 1999 to 2011. Results from the dynamics of "empower" (in seJ/yr) indicate that all assessed cities have the same development pattern, and differences are related to their current development degree. All assessed cities showed an efficiency increase estimated by the conversion of input materials and energy (measured in seJ) into outputs of goods and services (measured in $). However, a stabilization of efficiency was not observed along the studied period. This result suggests that the hypothesized limits to growth do not exist, were not reached, or even the time period considered was not long enough to allow for observing a stabilization pattern. The methodological approach used in this work contributes to assess urban productive systems through a macro-perspective approach using an input-output model of systems functioning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Approximately 17% of agricultural lands in the western plain of Taiwan were converted to other uses during 1971–2006 due to rapidly industrial and urban development and high population density. Previous studies on the loss of farmland due to urbanization have focused on changes in the agricultural landscape such as fragmentation and irregular shape of farmlands. The shrinkage and fragmentation of agricultural land due to urbanization not only reduces food production but also results in the decrease and degradation of other agro-ecosystem services. Emergy synthesis has been used to assess land use changes in agricultural lands. However, the relationship between farmland fragmentation and the energy flows in agricultural systems has not been studied. This paper investigates empirically how ecological energetic flows of agricultural land were affected by landscape change in the western coastal plain of Taiwan by using emergy synthesis to assess the changes in ecological energetic flows of agricultural systems in each township from 1971 to 2006. Landscape metrics were also chosen to analyze the agricultural landscape change in each township. These metrics were then correlated with the results of emergy synthesis to study the relationship between farmland fragmentation and energy flows in the agricultural system. The results show that the fragmentation of farmlands tends to intensify the inflows of goods and services from the human economic system for farmland operations. For the counties closer to metropolitan areas, maintaining larger farm sizes and preventing farmland fragmentation decreases the proportion of resource inflows from the economic system and mitigates environmental loading in agricultural systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While environmental composite indexes are useful tools in ranking the relative performance of countries on characteristics of interest, critiques are being made about their lack of relevance and responsiveness pertaining to changes in the environment; this negatively affects their usefulness and relevance. In this paper, an alternative to the Environmental Performance Index (EPI) is proposed by constructing a proof-of-concept index based on component variables whose changes reflect the actual state of the environment and the environmental sustainability on the particular dimensions measured. The proposed Environmental State and Sustainability Index (ESSI) also takes into account the relationships between variables in constructing the composite index by checking the relevance of the theoretical environmental dimensions against factor components, which explains the complex relationships between environmental variables and aims at achieving a relevant weighting of the component variables. Results indicate that ESSI scores are comparable with EPI and reflect better the actual situation of some countries with high-rank differences. Thus, ESSI can be used as a basis for constructing or revising environmental indicators that are closer to the objective of achieving a truly overarching measure of the state of the environment that is relevant in informing policy and reflect actual changes in the component dimensions as relevant data becomes available. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Performance indicators (PIs) are essential in the benchmarking process used to rate and rank water companies. However, a set of individual PIs does not provide a holistic assessment of company performance from multiple perspectives. A multidimensional evaluation of the performance of water companies can be achieved by aggregating the PIs into a synthetic indicator. Although the concept of sustainability involves economic, environmental and social criteria, most of the previous studies have not considered these three dimensions simultaneously. This paper discusses a process of indicator aggregation using two approaches based on multi-criteria decision analysis to evaluate and compare the sustainability of water companies from a holistic perspective. A synthetic indicator embracing economic, environmental and social PIs was computed for a sample of 154 Portuguese water companies. Both methods yielded similar rankings of water company sustainability. The techniques and results presented in this paper may be utilized as a means of improving the benchmarking process in regulated water industries, as well as providing valuable contributions to decision-makers on the most efficient steps for improving the sustainability of urban water services. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper aims to improve ecosystem assessment practice by sharing the lessons learned from the Flanders Regional Ecosystem Assessment. The ‘ EU biodiversity strategy to 2020 ’, requests the EU member states ‘ to map and assess the state of ecosystems and their services by 2014 ’. However, a large number of member states have yet to start this assessment, and depend on assistance from the European Commission and on experiences from ongoing national assessments. In the region of Flanders (Belgium), several ecosystem service projects have since 2009 led the way to the ‘Flanders Regional Ecosystem Assessment’ (Flanders-REA), led by the governments’ leading research institute on biodiversity. To attain high regional requirements on scientific quality, acceptance and effective local policy impact, this assessment has tackled a number of challenges. The challenges discussed in this paper are obtaining conceptual clarity and consensus across disciplines and partners, the integration of multiple sources of information, critical handling of maps and the inclusion of experts and stakeholders. This paper also critically reflects on the definition of EU targets, their implementation, the current EU assistance to the member states, and the alignment with actual local and global policy needs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Understanding the interactions between ecosystems and their underlying environmental constraints, the services which they provide, and the people benefiting from those services, are essential for the effective management and sustainability of socio-ecosystems (ecosystems which support and are impacted upon by humans). Ecosystem service (ES) indicators attempt to provide a means of measuring service provision, but the scale at which they are developed is likely to impact on how they can be used to influence the effective management of socio-ecosystems. This paper compares science and practice in the development of service measures at contrasting scales in: (a) an active research project, focused on local catchment management to improve water quality at Loweswater in the English Lake District, and (b) a science-based study developing national scale indicators of water quality using the Countryside Survey dataset. The paper explores different approaches taken towards the production of ecological measures, which inform on either single or multiple ES delivery across the land/water interface, dependent on scale. It considers how scale impacts on the process of gathering data and on the types of data which can contribute to ES indicators. It further reflects on how service indicators representing different scales of study may be used and by whom. Local scales, in this case the catchment scale, provide a valuable socio-ecological unit for exploring ES delivery, but the extent to which ecosystem service indicators may be used by local actors is uncertain. Larger scale studies may be confined to single services by virtue of data availability but can provide useful policy tools for targeting action. The paper concludes that ‘scale’ is an important consideration when developing ES indicators. It also concludes that questions around the utility of such indicators should consider the relevance of scale and how it relates to governance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Assessments and sustainable management of ecosystem services (ES) require an understanding of both ES supply and demand qualities, quantities, spatial scales and dynamics. Mismatches, i.e., differences in quality or quantity between the supply and demand of ES, can occur in many different forms. Being able to identify these mismatches and their nature is of prime importance for informing governance and management decisions. This manuscript explores which mismatches can be detected by current ES supply and demand assessments and which mismatches currently remain unidentified. An analytic framework was developed comprised of five interlinked components of ES supply and demand linking nature and society (i.e., potential supply, managed supply, match, demand, and interests). This framework was used to examine 11 recent papers, which applied ES assessments to both ES supply and demand, to determine which mismatches were or could be identified and which mismatches remained unidentified. The selected papers typically used multiple methods in their assessments to capture supply and demand components. The found diversity in methods and the inclusion of temporal and spatial dimensions, and the existence of multiple stakeholder groups allowed for the assessments to identify several mismatches, but also lead to differences in the discriminative capacity of the assessments between the selected papers. The mismatch that was most often included in the assessments was Unsatisfied demand , whereas the least included mismatch was Unsustainable uptake. The mismatches caused by differing spatial patterns were most often identified, whereas the existence of mismatches among different stakeholder groups was least often detected in the assessment methods. Three options emerged that could further strengthen the discriminative capacity of ES supply and demand assessments to inform sustainable ES governance and management decisions: (i) include multiple stakeholders groups and the diversification of their roles and demands; (ii) acknowledge that ES supply is not only determined by the bio-geophysical conditions, but also determined by the ES demand by society, in terms of their quantity, quality and location, as well as by the applied management; (iii) include temporal and spatial scale sensitivity into the discriminative capacity of assessment methods to allow for a better identification which institutional structures could most effectively act upon them. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Energy productivity is a key indicator to evaluate energy efficiency. However, few researchers focus on China’s energy productivity at the city level or its spatial patterns. The aim of this paper is to investigate the determinants and spatial character of changes to China’s energy productivity at the city level. The change in energy productivity is decomposed using a distance function approach, and its spatial character is identified through exploratory spatial data analysis, based on data from 248 cities between 2010 and 2014. The study revealed that China’s overall energy productivity exhibited a downward trend caused primarily by the effects of technological and technical efficiency changes at the city level. Additionally, significant spatial autocorrelation existed in energy productivity, although most cities did not show significant spatial clustering. Based on the above results, we provide relevant suggestions for policymakers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Holistic ecological indices can integrate the ways in which humans derive happiness (both pleasure and meaning) as either extractive, balanced, or regenerative processes. This critical review paper describes the need for and initial development of a new comprehensive research assessment tool for sustainable and happy neighborhoods: the Sustainable Neighborhoods for Happiness assessment (SNfHa) Tool. The SNfHa builds upon the foundation of the Sustainable Neighborhoods for Happiness Index (Cloutier et al., 2014a) and associated Sustainable Neighborhoods for Happiness projects (Cloutier and Pfeiffer, 2015; Pfeiffer and Cloutier, 2016). We first provide a critical literature review of the most relevant quantitative and qualitative measures within five domains: happiness, and ecological, economic, social, and cultural sustainability, to inform the development of a comprehensive assessment tool. Next, we provide brief insight on a neighborhood development project where the tool is being applied to assess the promotion of happiness through ecological, economic, social and cultural sustainability. The tool can also be applied in future Sustainable Neighborhoods for Happiness projects. Ultimately, we suggest that sustainable neighborhood development should promote the pursuit of happiness while regenerating local economies and ecosystems, rekindling or enhancing social connections, and revitalizing or maintaining desired cultural traditions. We need holistic indices that can promote the growth toward such a vision. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The implementation and the diffusion of environmental policy is a hotspot in European ecosystem management. Policy diffusion meets the need of the harmonization principle in which the EU countries must converge towards the same targets. In the light of this, the paper aims to explain the main determinants of the environmental diffusion policy, allowing countries to converge on a common base. We outline the achievements of the environmental policy objectives of the countries by using the Environmental Performance Index, a widely accepted index used at the international level. By using a dyadic dataset on 15 European countries, we highlight the economic and institutional determinants pointing out successes and failures of policies adopted. The findings reveal that the economic variables play most important role in the diffusion process of environmental policy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Due to steadily increasing resource demand and accompanying raising public awareness, a variety of assessment methodologies evaluating resource use and its consequences were published in the last years. Existing methodologies are typically developed considering the specific characteristics of one particular resource type and as consequence are not suitable for cross-cutting assessment of different resource types. This paper proposes an 3-step approach for combining different resource use assessment methodologies allowing for a consistent assessment of product systems using different resource types. The first steps evaluate if the considered dimensions, categories, indicators, indicator models and underlying data are consistent. When this is the case, they can be included in the combined methodology without further adjustments. Differences are identified simultaneously and addressed in the subsequent steps. Within the steps guidance is provided on how the dimensions, categories and indicators of the methodologies can be adjusted to fit in the combined methodology. In a case study the proposed approach is applied to two methodologies developed by the authors assessing abiotic (ESSENZ method) and biotic resources and raw materials (BIRD method). The ESSENZ method consists of four dimensions, which are quantified by overall 21 categories and indicators. The BIRD method takes into account five dimensions and 24 corresponding categories and indicators. As none of the considered dimension of the two methodologies match, comparison of the considered resource types as well as application in a case study is not possible. By applying the proposed approach all five dimensions and 25 of the overall 27 categories and indicators can be integrated in the combined approach for a consistent assessment of abiotic and biotic resources and raw materials. The obtained combined methodology is then applied to three shelves made out of metal, wood and plastic. It could be shown that the introduced approach provides meaningful guidance on how to combine different resource use assessment methodologies and increases the findings gained from a combined and consistent assessment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Eco-efficiency is an indicator that is tied to economic activities and ecology; it serves as a useful instrument for sustainability analysis. Based on a panel data set for the period 2005–2014, this paper estimated the eco-efficiency of 21 cities in Guangdong province, China by applying a super-slack-based measure (Super-SBM) model that considers undesirable output indicators and a Topsis model. Using a panel data model with fixed effects, the influencing factors on eco-efficiency were also explored. The results indicate that during the study period, the three indexes—resource inputs (RI), economic benefits (EB) and environmental impacts (EI)—showed obvious spatiotemporal differentiation with high values mainly being located in the core region of Guangdong (the Pearl River Delta, PRD) and low values being primarily distributed in the northern area of the province. Influenced by inputs and outputs, the eco-efficiency presented significant disparities among four areas and 21 cities. The highest eco-efficiency was in the eastern area and then in the PRD, areas whose eco-efficiency averaged around 1.16 and 1.10, respectively, while the north had the lowest value, averaging below 1.00. Regional disparity was found to increase and spatial autocorrelation to decrease gradually between 2005 and 2014. The results of the panel data analysis indicate that technical innovation had the greatest positive influence on eco-efficiency, followed by government regulation, openness and population density. Conversely, land-use intensity was identified as the main inhibiting factor among the negative influencing factors, which also included industrial structure and per capita GDP. Interestingly, the study found that a high level of per capita GDP would not necessarily lead to high eco-efficiency. The findings of this study hold important implications for both policy makers and urban planners. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Eco-efficiency is of great significance in facilitating a region’s sustainable development. However, there are some inconsistencies among the concepts and also relationships of eco-efficiency and its relevant efficiencies in recent studies. This paper integrates eco-efficiency and three related-efficiencies (economic efficiency, energy efficiency, and environmental efficiencies) into a total-factor analysis framework, regarding them as composite eco-efficiency indicators. Employing a new data envelopment analysis approach, named Meta-US-SBM, which considers meta-frontier, undesirable outputs, super efficiency, and slacks simultaneously, the measure system of these four efficiencies is established. An empirical study is conducted using Chinese provincial data from 2001 to 2014. Results indicate that, overall, the regional economic efficiency is better than other related efficiency indicators. Furthermore, different provinces are adopting different development modes, as denoted by significant heterogeneity among eco-efficiency indicators. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Sustainability programs and their assessments have often been criticized for failing to support social justice. Eco-city development has also raised similar concerns. This research was conducted in order to address such problems. Specifically, this paper develops a new sustainability index that emphasizes environmental justice for the purpose of better classifying and assessing eco-cities. The proposed index measures equity among places as a result of eco-city development. Specifically, this index indicates instances in which a certain location achieves sustainability through means detrimental to another location. Thus, the index, comprised of environmental, economic, and social indicators of sustainability, may also be used to foster justice among diverse locations (urban centers, suburbs, rural areas, and neighboring cities) by highlighting the genuine motives behind eco-city development. One preliminary finding from the application of this classification is that oftentimes, eco-city development is not completed in the environmental, economic, or social interests of the people. Official eco-cities tend to serve government officials’ interest in upper mobility. Developer eco-cities tend to be commercial expansions or developments focused on growth, profit, and model demonstration. Both official and developer eco-cities degrade the environment. They are also likely to develop urban centers at the environmental expense of other places. The economic growth of official and developer eco-cities is accompanied by worsening income inequality and social injustice. As a result, these types of eco-cities fail the sustainability performance assessment. Conversely, eco-cities founded by the citizens or by donors tend to focus on social and economic equity. This study was completed using qualitative research methods, including field work in 29 eco-cities throughout China and various countries. This field work was conducted from 2006 to 2014. Data was collected through interviews with 87 government officials, as well as environmental experts, grassroots environmentalists, residents, and real estate developers. The findings reveal that the majority of Chinese eco-cities have been overlooked in global eco-city literature. The research also calls for effective sustainability management in order to avoid the development of eco-cities that negatively impact the environmental and social interests of surrounding areas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper brings together the diverse aspects which affect the sustainable urban mobility transition. They are labelled as Spatial, Socio-economic, Supply, Satisfaction and Strive dimension and summed up as 5S. We come up with a systematic procedure for creating indicators under each dimension. The proposed indicators reconcile the need for wide-scope coverage with operability and as such they provide a platform for international comparisons. Apart from that, we have covered some relevant aspects which are in the course of the development yet. These are walking facilities and institutional capacity. To illustrate the operationalization of our conceptual framework, we have provided the data for ten European cities and conducted a pilot study using multivariate graphical technique, Co-plot. This kind of data visualization enables preliminary analysis of performance without weighting decisions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Emergy is an environmental accounting tool, with a specific set of indicators, that proved to be highly informative for sustainability assessment of national economies. The empower, defined as emergy per unit time, is a measure of the overall flow of resources used by a system in order to support its functioning. Continuous time-series of empower are not available for most of the world countries, due to the large amount of data needed for its calculation year by year. In this paper, we aim at filling this gap by means of a model that facilitates reconstruction of continuous time series of the non-renewable component of empower for a set of 57 countries of the world from 1995 to 2012. The reconstruction is based on a 3 year global emergy dataset and on the acknowledged relationships between the use of non-renewables, satellite observed artificial lights emitted at night, and Gross Domestic Product. Results show that this method provides accurate estimations of non-renewable empower at the country scale. The estimation model can be extended onward and backward in time and replicated for more countries, also using higher-resolution satellite imageries newly available. Besides representing an important advancement in emergy theory, this information is helpful for monitoring progresses toward Sustainable Development and energy use international goals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the accelerating urbanization process, there is an increasing shortage of land resource. It leads to an increasingly serious conflicts between built-up areas and other types of land use. This will further hinder city sustainable development. To address the issue, this paper takes urban land management sustainability as the study object and puts forward an evaluation method on sustainable land management (SLM) in urban area. First, four aspects of sustainable land management are proposed, namely economic progress, social stability, urban improvement and ecological balance. Second, a system with fourteen indicators is built according to the aspects. Third, using the indicators, the sub-performance and the overall efficiency of SLM are evaluated with the technique for order preference by similarity to ideal solution (TOPSIS) based on entropy weight. After that, the proposed method is applied to a case study of Shanghai, China. The results show the time series changing of SLM performance from 2000 to 2011 and reveal an unbalanced development path among the four aspects of SLM. Accordingly, policy recommendations are proposed to improve the sustainable land management efficiency. Therefore, it demonstrates that the proposed evaluation method can be used to reveal to what extend the urban land use is reasonable and sustainable and provides guidance on government urban land planning and policy making. Consequently, it helps to improve the land use efficiency and ease the land use conflict. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Estimate the maximum sustainable yield. • The status of Japanese sardine resources is healthy. • Reasonable amount of management policy proposed for Japanese sardine. Japanese sardine (Sardinops melanostictus) is one of the main species caught in the high seas purse seine fishery in the Northwest Pacific Ocean and its resources gradually recovered in recent years. This paper used the historical yearly catch data of Japanese sardine from 1990 to 2021 and biological data (manily for body length) in April-November 2020–2022 to assess its maximum sustainable yield (MSY) and stock resource status using Catch-MSY and LBB models, respectively. And then based on the evaluation results of Japanese sardine MSY, we analyzed the stock management strategies on this species by the Kobe II Strategy Matrix (K2SM). The results were as follows: (1) the Catch-MSY model assessed its MSY as 170.0 × 104 t with a 95 % confidence interval of 134.1 × 104 t ∼ 211.4 × 104 t; (2) the LBB model assessed the biological parameters for the last three years (2020–2022) with the interval range of L c /L c_opt was 0.76–0.95, B/B MSY was 0.79–0.84, and B/B 0 was 1.9–2.3, which indicate that Japanese sardine resource is healthy and recovering; (3) the results of these two models and the Kobe Ⅱ management strategy matrix are combined to predict future resource status probability values. The management target range for the medium term (5-10 years) should be set 100 % TAC to MSY values, i.e., 102.0 × 104 t–170.0 × 104 t as TAC, and for the long term (10–20 years) can be set to 120 % TAC to MSY values, i.e., 122.4 × 104 t–170.0 × 104 t. Japanese sardine fishery resource can be sustainably used on a longer time scale. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Review of indicator frameworks for urban sustainability and coastal adaptation. • Comparison of frameworks and analysis of differences and similarities. • Consistency among sustainability frameworks; ambiguities in coastal adaptation. • Varying scopes of city functions and risk create barriers to integrated assessment. • Integrated assessments can obviate unintended consequences and foster synergies. Current adaptation responses to sea-level rise tend to focus on protecting existing infrastructure resulting in unsustainable adaptation pathways. At the same time, urban development compromises a city's adaptive capacity if the climate risk component is ignored. While fighting for the same space, these two domains are currently widely analyzed separately. This paper develops a framework for integrating sustainability assessments of sustainable urban development (SUD) and coastal adaptation to climate change (CACC). Through a systematic literature review, we collected more than 2,700 indicators for SUD and 1,800 indicators for CACC. The indicators occurring most frequently are extracted and structured into frameworks. The study highlights the differences and similarities between the two frameworks. We further identify complementary and conflicting objectives that can advance or inhibit the effective integration of SUD and CACC. CACC tends to focus on assessing specific adaptation measures and their immediate impact on the city's vulnerability, ignoring wider impacts on socioeconomic systems. SUD considers the city and its functions as a whole but ignores vulnerability assessments across urban subsystems. We develop a combined framework for sustainability assessment that may serve as a basis for both qualitative and quantitative integrated studies under the paradigm of sustainable adaptation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• A zoning method based on ecological indicators and economic indicators is applied. • Ecological and economic situations are highly correlated with topographic conditions. • The coupling coordination degree(CCD) between ecology and economy is calculated. • Economic development is highly positively correlated with CCD. • Targeted regional sustainable development strategies are put forward. The coordinated development of ecology and economy is one of the key issues of sustainable development. A full understanding of the relationship between ecology and economy is necessary for the coordinated development of the two. This paper takes Sichuan Province as the research area and county-level administrative districts as the research unit. Based on the medium value of the ecological quality index and economic growth index of each unit, Sichuan Province is divided into dual pressure zones (DPZ), economic backward zones (EBZ), ecological crisis zones (ECZ), and coordinated development zones (CDZ) and the coupling coordination degree (CCD) of each unit is studied. The results show that: (1) On the whole, the eastern part of Sichuan Province has a better level of economic development, and the southern part of the western region has a higher ecological quality. The ecological quality and economic growth pattern are highly correlated with topographical conditions. (2) The distribution characteristics of the four types of partitions are significantly different. The EBZ are more distributed in the western and southern of Sichuan Province, the ECZ are more distributed in the eastern, the DPZ and CDZ are relatively more sporadic. More than 90% of the partition changed zones are distributed in the eastern area. (3) The CCD of more than 95% units belongs to moderate coordination and high coordination. The overall CCD of the four types of zones has shown an upward trend from 2010 to 2015. Based on the results, Sichuan Province should follow the path of clear waters and green mountains are as good as mountains of gold and silver, and targeted sustainable development suggestions for DPZ, EBZ, ECZ, and CDZ are put forward. This paper provides guidance for formulating regional sustainable development strategies, especially in areas with unbalanced development due to congenital topographical conditions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Over the past decade, Ecological Footprint has become one of the most popular and widespread indicators for sustainability assessment and resource management. However, its popularity has been coupled, especially in recent years, by the emergence of critical views on the indicator's rationale, methodology and policy usefulness. Most of these criticisms commonly point to the inability of the Ecological Footprint to track the human-induced depletion of natural capital stocks as one of the main shortcomings of the methodology. Fully addressing this issue will require research efforts and, most likely, further methodological refinements. The aim of this paper is therefore to outline the basis of a new area of investigation in Ecological Footprint research, primarily aimed at implementing the distinction between the use of stocks and the use of flows in Ecological Footprint Accounting and debating its implications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this paper is to propose a class of composite indicators for measuring well-being at the local level, which takes into account the variability between and within the local units. Although we believe that well-being is a multidimensional concept and cannot be reduced to a single measure, we also stress the importance of aggregating the information of several well-being indicators into a reduced number of composite indicators, one for each well-being domain, which play a crucial role in policymaking and benchmarking. As an application, we focus on the Equitable and Sustainable Well-being of the Italian Provinces. In particular, based on a dataset containing 41 elementary indicators, we aggregate them by domain, comparing different aggregative approaches and illustrating the difference in the rankings of the Italian Provinces they produce. Finally, as an illustrative example, we focus on a member of the class of composite indicators that accounts both for vertical variability (between the Provinces) and horizontal variability (within the Provinces). The construction of a composite index for each domain allows us to evaluate and compare multidimensional well-being among the Italian Provinces. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The conflict between economic growth and the environment is complex and sharper today than ever before. Indeed, the relationship between economic growth and the sustainability of ecosystems has been extensively discussed in the literature, but the results remain controversial. This paper reviews the use of single and composite indicators of environmental damage and questions whether the Environmental Kuznets Curve (EKC) hypothesis sufficiently mirrors the relationship between economic growth and ecological damage. Ecological Indicators are relevant when they potentially inform society about ecological developments in a reliable way. We use the modified composite index of environmental performance ( mCIEP ) to measure environmental damage, and GDP per capita to represent economic growth. The econometric model is developed using panel data composed of 152 countries and a period of 6 years. The model is estimated for the full sample, for three different sets of countries, by level of development, and a decomposition analysis is carried out, which corresponds to the study of the CIEP individual dimensions. Our results reveal that, at present, the EKC hypothesis is not proved. We conclude that it is critical to be clear that economic growth alone is not enough to improve environmental quality. Therefore, creating a consistent, coherent and effective environmental policy framework is essential in order to improve environmental quality that supports wellbeing and enables long-term economic development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The relationship between sustainability and happiness is an intriguing and growing research area (Cloutier et al., 2013; Montgomery, 2013; Florida et al., 2013; Leyden et al., 2011). However, a review of primary literature and research indicates a missing gap in neighborhood level assessments of sustainability and happiness. The Sustainable Neighborhoods for Happiness Index (SNHI) was developed using city level data and studies (Cloutier et al., 2014), but was created with the intent of serving as a neighborhood measure. Within this paper, we detail the development of the Sustainable Neighborhoods for Happiness (SNfH) Decision Tool – a neighborhood level assessment tool, derived from the SNHI, to assist in decisions around future strategies for sustainable community development. While several sustainability decision tools exist, there is a need for those that are easily understood and accessible to neighborhood stakeholders (e.g., residents, community leaders, city employees). The SNfH Decision Tool was created with a user-friendly graphical front-end and embedded back-end calculations to inform users. The goal is to help neighborhood stakeholders identify the needs of their community to swiftly take action to alleviate issues and promote a sustainable and happy future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The complicated task of measuring environmental sustainability has often led to comparative evaluations of national performance using ranking lists and generic policy targets. In this paper, a set of national environmental indicators is determined through the deployment of a five-stage methodology, which includes the use of focus group research and formation of an expert team to guide the process, selection of an initial pool of pre-existing indicators, establishment of criteria to guide the selection process, and setting of appropriate policy or trend-based targets given the nation-specific context. The nations of Iceland and Norway are used as case studies to demonstrate an effective means of communicating indicator outcomes over time. National performance is first evaluated on an indicator-by-indicator basis and then summarised overall through a system of traffic lights and radar charts for trend and target-based indicators respectively. Via this analytical process, it also becomes clear that data shortages partially constrain the extent to which a nation’s environmental sustainability performance can be deciphered. Improved data collection is necessary connected to the measurement of several environmental issues on a national scale, particularly the sustainability of fisheries, soil erosion and biodiversity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]