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Until recently, China's Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) has overlooked many of the social and environmental dimensions of its projects and actions in favor of more immediate economic and sociopolitical considerations. The main focus of investments under BRI has largely been to improve transport, telecommunication, and energy infrastructures. However, in Central Asia, biodiversity is not only foundational for the livelihoods and socioeconomic wellbeing of communities, it also shapes people's culture and identities. Furthermore, ecosystem services derived from functioning landscapes bring enormous benefit for millions of people downstream through integrated and transboundary water systems. Already under pressure from climate‐induced melting of glaciers, the fate of ecologically important areas is considered in light of the potential harm arising from large‐scale linear infrastructure projects and related investments under China‐led BRI. Following review of some of the anticipated impacts of BRI on mountain environments and societies in the region, we highlight several emerging opportunities and then offer recommendations for development programs—aiming fundamentally to enhance the sustainability of BRI investments. Leveraging new opportunities to strengthen partner countries' priority Sustainable Development Goals and enhancing their agency in the selection of collaborations and the standards to use in environmental impact and risk assessments are recommended. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

China's ecological conservation redline: A solution for future nature conservation. In their article "China's ecological conservation redline", Gao et al. ([2]) properly diagnose loss of biodiversity as one of the most significant challenges to development. [Extracted from the article]

The imperative of project sustainability has become explicit policy within development. This is especially true for technology transfer: 'development objects' are to be used by prospective beneficiaries long after the project's closure. We argue that the link between project sustainability, technology and 'success' requires deeper scrutiny. We investigate a community-based project in Naryn, Kyrgyzstan, which included the transfer of smartphones, weather stations and camera traps. Upon the project's closure, we compare the stakeholders' viewpoints regarding the future use of the equipment, showing how technological objects attract new actors into the project's network, change its course and enhance its impact. We use actor-network theory to explain how development objects shape development processes by generating own networks and transforming social relations of power. We propose a dynamic view of sustainability as: (i) continuation of delivery of project's goods and services, (ii) durability of the achieved changes and (iii) feasibility of independent growth.. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this article, the author comments on a study on ecological migration (EM) in the Tibetan Plateau of China. He stresses that conservation Tibetan grasslands greatly contribute to the ecological services in the region including carbon storage, soil erosion control, and water regulation. However, he discusses that the EM government policies may affect the livelihood of Tibetan pastoralists and the community surrounding the area.