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As a global issue, ecological restoration demands for urgent practice and research in the way of Ecological Civilization construction and green development in China. In a narrow sense, ecological restoration mainly refers to ecological engineering and environmental protection measures. In the face of increasingly complex, systematic and regional ecological problems, it has become a consensus to implement multi-scale, multi-path and multi-element systematic ecological restoration. Aiming at the area along the Yangtze River in Jiangsu province, which is the most contradictory area between ecological protection and economic development, this paper used the methods of qualitative and quantitative to identify ecological problems, and used the relevant theories and methods of land use science, landscape ecology and human- land system to construct the evaluation system of ecological restoration potential from the perspective of "element-landscape-system". Based on Getis-Ord Gi * hot spot analysis and K-means cluster methods, this paper identified ecological restoration zones and hot spots, so as to build an ecological restoration pattern structure composed of points, lines (belts) and areas, and put forward corresponding countermeasures. The results show that: (1) Ecological restoration has multi- scale character, complex- objects character and multi- approaches character. Different scales of ecological restoration have different objects, approaches and objectives, which are connected by different levels and types of planning; (2) The average value of ecological restoration potential at the factor level of the study area is 0.460, and the spatial distribution is characterized by "large scale dispersion and small scale agglomeration". The hot spots of ecological restoration potential at the landscape level are distributed around the Yangtze River Estuary, and the cold spots are distributed in the Yang-Tai plain. According to the evaluation indexes of social economy, ecological function and planning response, the study area can be divided into five clusters; (3) According to the evaluation results, the ecological restoration structure of "five areas, three belts and two cores" can be constructed, and the countermeasures can be put forward in the aspects of development orientation, spatial control strategy, restoration object, engineering measures and so on. This study can provide reference for the compilation of ecological restoration planning of the area along the Yangtze River in Jiangsu province, the exploration of connotation and implementation paradigm. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Effective ecological network construction can guarantee regional ecological security, which is an important path to achieve regional sustainable development. Based on the analysis of the connotation of ecological nodes, this paper establishes a multi- level ecological node identification system based on "resource- based strategic point - structural strategic point - structural weak point", and uses remote sensing images, land use data, POI data, etc. of Jintan district in 2015. This paper also employs multi- target genetic algorithm, minimum resistance model and so on. The hierarchical ecological network in the ideal state of Jintan district was constructed, and the ecological network was quantitatively evaluated by using indexes such as the network topology and nodes utility. Based on the above, the following main conclusions were obtained: (1) Multi- level ecological network is significantly better than the general network in terms of nodes utility and overall network performance. And the water network area has a strong applicability. (2) As the current situation of the ecological network distribution is uneven, the ecological nodes' layout needs to be optimized. The optimized node coverage increased by 17.70%, the uniformity of node distribution decreased by 45.45%, and the average clustering coefficient increased by 87.36%. (3) Multi-level ecological node system has practical application, and different management strategies should be adopted for different types of ecological nodes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In most resource-based regions, their long-term economic growth is slow during the exploitation of natural resources. How to use resource advantages, get rid of resource bottlenecks, and achieve long-term stable economic development are key issues of the resourcebased regions. In view of this, this paper takes the panel data of China's key coal cities from 2000 to 2016 as a sample to explore different ways in which natural resources in resourcebased areas affect economic growth. The results show that resource-based regions benefit from the "resource bonus" in the short term. However, due to being prone to resource industry dependence behavior, these regions have a "crowding out effect" on other economic activities and resources and environment, which affects the long-term economic growth rate. At the same time, resource- based regions are likely to exhibit the "extensive growth" characteristics of relying on physical capital investment to achieve economic growth. The conclusions of this paper not only enrich the literature on the impact mechanism of natural resources on economic growth, but also have some practical enlightenment on how to achieve sustainable development in resource-based regions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Learning and borrowing Western experience and criteria played an important role in the establishment of China's modern protected area system. However, at present, after the system took shape, some insufficiency in the international standards have been exposed. For example, they lack a systematic framework for understanding the value of cultural landscapes. Under the favourable circumstances of the recent institutional reform, it is timely to reflect on the tradition of borrowing the Western- based international criteria. This paper first compares the establishment process of the international conservation system with that of China and argues that China was not able to participate in the design and criteria-formulation in the earlier stages, which led to the under-representation of its development phase and the characteristics of the cultural landscape of its protected areas. Secondly, the cultural landscape characteristics of Chinese protected areas are analysed from the perspective of the overlapping geographical distribution of population and the protected areas. It is then pointed out that there has been a distinction between the traditional Chinese concept (syncretism between people and their living environment) and that of the West (the opposition between nature and culture). Thirdly, this paper addresses the dual challenges of conservation and development that Chinese protected areas have been faced with. It challenges the rationality of applying the criteria formulated on the protected areas in a specific population and development context to others in a totally different context. Finally, a more critical view is suggested when we learn from the experience of other countries and deal with the international criteria. It is necessary to take full consideration of the comparability of the human- land relationship and to realise the political implication of international conservation careers as provided by international agreement systems. Meanwhile, it is time to devote more efforts to explore a Chinese approach of sustainable and peaceful development based on the cultural landscape characteristics and developing pressures on Chinese protected areas, which will contribute to a wider range of countries and regions that are faced with similar dual challenges of conservation and development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The land use function transition is an important measure to promote the coordination of land use functions and achieve sustainable regional development. This paper constructs an analysis framework for land use function transition based on sustainable development from the perspective of functional coordination, and uses the five phases of remote sensing images of Jiangsu province in 1995, 2000, 2005, 2010 and 2015, as well as related resource utilization and socio-economic data to construct the three level evaluation system of land use function. Taking the county as an evaluation unit, through triangle model and spatial correlation analysis, the spatial- temporal evolution characteristics of land use functions are quantitatively analyzed, and the coordination status of land use functions is proposed for sustainable land use in Jiangsu province. This paper has obtained the following main findings: (1) During the research period, the overall level of land use function in Jiangsu province has increased at a slower pace. The production and living functions have enhanced in different degrees, and the ecological function has significantly been reduced. (2) The spatial aggregation of production and living functions of land use in this province has not been obvious, and the areas of ecological functional hot spots and cold spots have a "Y"-shaped pattern of agglomeration distribution. (3) The sustainable development of different functional areas has not been the same. The sustainable development of key development zones and restricted development zones has been generally good. The sustainable development of optimizing development zones has been weak and continued to deteriorate. In the process of implementing development plans and space planning, we suggest that priority should be given to construct the modern demonstrative region in Southern Jiangsu, the key development zones should be focused on the living function transition, the restricted development zones (I type) should be focused on the production function transition, and the forbidden development zones should be implemented strictly to protect the environment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The problem of resource and environment requires human to strengthen the management of natural resources. In the Third Plenary Session of the 18th CPC Central Committee, balance sheet of natural resources is proposed. The fundamental purpose is to strengthen the accounting and management of natural resources, and to realize the sustainable development of resource, environment, economy and society. The purpose of preparing balance sheet of natural resources is to establish a system of natural resources accounting which accounts for changes in natural resources by compiling reports and clears the resources and environmental costs of local economic and social development. The system of natural resources accounting can be used to restrict the development view of local governments at all levels, improve the system of performance assessment, explicit the responsibility of local governments, and delineate red lines of natural resources development and utilization. Balance sheet of natural resources is an important start for the Ministry of Natural Resources to improve the management of natural resources. In this paper, we review the exploration of natural resource accounting and balance sheet of natural resources and the related research results both at home and abroad. Based on the important tasks of the current natural resource management and the responsibilities of the Ministry of Natural Resources, this paper studies the production theory, the resource science theory and the accounting theory related to balance sheet of natural resources. Based on the above research background and requirements of the balance sheet of natural resources, the main contents of balance sheet of natural resources are established, the key concepts of natural resource asset, liability and equity are analyzed, and the equities of natural resources are divided on the basis of the carrying capacity of resources and environment and related plans. On the basis of the related research results of natural resource balance sheet, we think that the balance sheet of natural resources is not only a report presentation, but also a suitable accounting system. We put forward the framework of balance sheet of natural resources and its accounting process and take the land resources as an example to demonstrate the process. This paper analyzes the compilation of balance sheet of natural resources and its accounting process. The main result of this study is the establishment of the system of "confirmation, measurement, record and report"of natural resources accounting based on double-entry bookkeep. Based on the equation of"assets = liabilities + equity", the assets, the liabilities and the equities of natural resources are displayed. Combined with the research results of current natural resource research, it will be possible to further develop the special balance sheet of natural resources, establish the standard natural resources accounting subjects, and construct the management information system of natural resources accounting. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Understanding the genesis and evolution of the concept of carrying capacity scientifically is of great scientific value and realistic significance to carry out theoretical investigation and practical research of resources and environmental carrying capacity (RECC). With the perspective of natural resources and environment, in this paper, starting from the terminology of ecological carrying capacity established based on the maximum biomass of individual species, the terminology of resources carrying capacity (RCC) developed based on the relationship of human population and natural resources, to the terminology of environmental carrying capacity formed based on the relationship of human population and environment, and then to the integrated term of RECC oriented to regional sustainable development, the genesis and evolution process of RECC were comprehensively summarized in a longitudinal fashion. This preliminary review paper was typically relied on the currently available historical English literatures (e.g. published papers, books and reports) as well as some literatures in Chinese. This review paper showed that the term of Carrying Capacity originated in the fields of engineering and mechanism which belong to the study of Physics in 1840s. It then achieved continuous but controversial development in Ecology, Geography, Resource Science and Environmental Science. To our knowledge, the concept of RECC can be mirrored in the studies of energy carrying capacity and carrying capacity of animal husbandry in the earlier 1900s. It was not until the late 1940s that the examination of land carrying capacity symbolized the born of RCC. In the late 1990s, a comprehensive concept of carrying capacity or RECC was reported occasionally without gaining too much public attention. However, strictly speaking, the related analysis of RECC in China was just started in the early 2000s. Overall, the RECC related studies in China are currently at their developing stage featured by concept discussion and qualitative analysis, although the concept of RECC has gained much attention from national decision-making departments. In contrast, similar studies of RECC are seldom reported abroad. Entering the 21st century, labelled as an important indicator for describing the restriction degree of development, the practical importance of the RECC related studies is gaining and/or will gain more and more attention from the scientific community of natural resources and environment as well as the central government. For example, there were several projects supported by the National Key Research and Development Program of China during 2016-2018. However, the concept of carrying capacity has seemingly become a ready-made panacea which is widely generalized in many research aspects or has a conceptualization tendency. In terms of these issues, it is necessary to clarify and rectify the genesis and evolution of RECC thoroughly and strengthen continuous studies of RECC from the perspectives of scientific connotation and theoretical basis, technical approaches and model parameters, as well as the standardization for practical utilization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It is an inevitable requirement to modify human development index (HDI) with greenness and fairness indicators. Using ecological footprint, this paper tried to construct the human-ecological sustainable development index (HEDI) based on panel data of 28 countries from 1990 to 2014, and analyzed the contribution of sub- indicators to HEDI with the Logarithmic Mean Divisia Index (LMDI) decomposition approach. Fairness was adjusted to construct a comprehensive human- ecological sustainable development index (cHEDI) that could fully reflect the degree of economy, society, ecology and equal development comprehensively. We analyzed the spatial and temporal changes of HEDI and cHEDI with the index in 28 countries around the world. The results show that developed countries with high biomass surplus are highly sustainable, ranking higher than other countries. One of the main factors affecting sustainable development is high carbon emissions in these countries. Besides the high carbon emissions, the shortage of biomass resources is another unsustainable reason in the developed countries with biomass deficit, which maintain development by transferring assets from other countries. Unfairness leads to a decline in comprehensive sustainability in the United States. From 1990 to 2014, income and education in developing countries increased rapidly, but ecological consumption and Gini coefficient continued to rise, and the inhibitory effect gradually expanded to increase the unsustainability of development. The sustainability index of the United States and developing countries is greatly affected by the Gini coefficient. The United Arab Emirates ranked last in the world, with the least sustainable development mode. Although its income ranked first in the world, biomass and energy consumption was very high, and the Gini coefficient far exceeded that of other countries. The development of the least developed countries mainly came from contribution of health, education and low ecological consumption. Barren natural assets limited their further development. Different countries have different shortcomings in human sustainable development. The sub- divisions were highly correlated, hence to achieve the high level of human sustainable development requires better balance between society, economy, greenness, and fairness. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Waterfront resources in the middle reaches of the Yangtze River are abundant, with quite high value of development and utilization. This paper establishes, based on sufficient analysis on characteristics of waterfront resources and geological environmental conditions in the middle reaches of the Yangtze River, the evaluation model for construction appropriateness of major projects such as port and wharf, river-crossing bridge and river-crossing tunnel etc. in the perspective of geology; classifies various project types into four levels i.e. appropriate for development, relatively appropriate for development, generally appropriate for development, and non- priority development by analytic hierarchy process (AHP) and conducts zoning evaluation. According to the results, the port terminal in the middle reaches of the Yangtze River is dominated by non-priority development areas, with a length of 931.47 km, accounting for 46.71% of the total length of the coastline; cross-river tunnels and cross-river bridges are mainly suitable for development and generally suitable for development areas, with the lengths being 1550.75 km and 1224.18 km, respectively, or 77.77% and 61.39% of the total length of the coastline. Finally, we put forward suggestions and rectification measures according to characteristics of each project level, so as to privide a theoretical basis for construction and deployment of major projects in terms of geology, promote the scientifically reasonable development and utilization as well as the effective protection of waterfront resources in the middle reaches of the Yangtze River, and further facilitate the development of Yangtze River Economic Zone and national spatial planning, and protect the sustainable and sound development of Yangtze River. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To understand the agricultural production dynamics and sustainability in the hilly areas of southeast China, this paper took Dehua county, a typical mountainous area in Fujian province, as an example to quantitatively analyze the changes of input, output, environmental load and sustainability of farmland-livestock systems from 2007 to 2016, and constructed the indicators of waste emergy ratio and environmental pollution emergy negative output. The results showed that the input of the farmland- livestock system in the study area was mainly based on the purchasing emergy, accounting for 68%-79% of the total emergy input, and the emergy of water resources accounted for 21%-31%. The emergy output of livestock systems accounted for more than 72% of the total output. And the emergy density fluctuated between 2.68×1012 and 3.33×1012 sej·m-2, and emergy per person increased from 1.23×1016 sej to 1.72× 1016 sej. The net emergy yield ratio decreased by 40%, and the environmental load increased significantly, which could have been maintained since 2015. The emergy sustainability index fell rapidly from 1.14 to 0.42 after a brief rise in 2007-2010. From the indicators of construction, the proportion of system waste emergy decreased, and environmental pollution emergy output decreased by about 22%. In terms of comprehensive economic benefits and waste utilization, the sustainable development of Dehua county has gradually improved in recent years. Dehua county is currently adjusting its output structure of farmland- livestock system. It should increase the amount of feedback emergy in the system, control fertilizer and feed input, and improve waste utilization to achieve sustainable development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper uses the entropy-weighted TOPSIS method to comprehensively evaluate the municipal economic development of prefecture- level cities in the Shanxi- Shaanxi- Inner Mongolia-Gansu-Ningxia (SSIGN) region. Then, it explores the spatio-temporal differentiation of economic development of the region using Markov transition probability analysis method and ESDA spatial analysis method. The results show that: (1) From 2005 to 2015, the gap in municipal economic development between cities in the SSIGN region was narrowed in the fluctuations, indicating that the municipal economic of the study region had not developed towards polarization, and there was a certain foundation for achieving coordinated development. (2) Each economic development grade city presented a diametrically opposite evolution law in different periods. Over time, all besides the lowest-grade cities had a higher risk of grade decline. This result indicates that for cities with higher municipal economic level, effective measures shoud be taken to improve their economic development sustainability. (3) From 2005 to 2010, to a certain degree, there was a significant spatial negative correlation between the economic levels of the cities in the SSIGN region. A positive interaction needs to be formed in this region. By 2015, this relationship was no longer significant. This result indicates that the municipal economic development of the region has improved in the direction of positive integration, but we still need to be alert to the problems of excessive homogenization and lack of effective interaction that have occurred in the historical development of this region. (4) The regional economic development of the SSIGN region has gradually emerged in the spatial pattern of the Golden Triangle consisting of Xi'an, Hohhot and Taiyuan. However, there has also been a clear cold spot in the study region. (5) The municipal economic development system in the cities of this region is generally in a state of low coupling coordination, and unbalanced economic development and uncoordinated are prominent. This result actually points out the key issue affecting the overall coordinated development of the region's economy. That is, the economic development subsystems within the city should also be a balanced system and coordinated development should be achieved among these subsystems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Maintaining the magnitude and intensity of human activities within the carrying capacity of resources and the environment is the core of the sustainable development theory. Therefore, how to assess the carrying capacity in a scientific way receives top priority among sustainability development strategies. The Planetary Boundaries Framework (PBF) that takes into account the Earth system as a whole provides new insights into assessing the carrying capacity of resources and the environment. The PBF has attracted considerable attentions and discussions within the sustainability science since its first appearance in the literature. However, the opportunities and challenges facing the PBF remain largely unexplored by the scientific community. This paper aims to fill in this gap by elaborating on the theoretical basis of the PBF and its conceptual evolution, revisiting the development and applications of the framework at the national, provincial, urban and organizational scales, identifying the challenges that the framework is facing and the solutions, and comparing the framework with the traditional paradigm for assessing the carrying capacity of resources and the environment. As a combination of historical experiences and scientific studies based on the theory of stable states and catastrophe in complex systems, the PBF serves as a useful supplement to the present assessments of carrying capacity. Primarily the downscaling of PBF to sub-global scales can be achieved through either top- down allocation or bottom- up integration. A systematic understanding of the linkages between these two pathways and their potential synergies would be of crucial significance to the development of the framework. However, we observe that there is a lack of clarity and transparency in the PBF regarding the scaling properties and interactions between various biophysical processes, leading to arguments over variables selection and boundaries setting. Besides, methodological challenges appear when we integrate PBF with tools for environmental impact assessment, such as environmental footprints and life cycle assessment, and extending the framework to socioeconomic dimensions. Therefore, there is a need for a deeper understanding of the PBF with respect to its theoretical basis, technical approaches and practical applications, so as to enhance the policy- guiding value of the framework as an approach to address the world's major public issues such as achieving Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Since reform and opening up in 1978, with the rapid development of China's economy, the problem of ecological environment has become increasingly serious. In order to ensure the ecological security of the countries and regions, it is necessary to simulate and predict the future ecological space. Under the background of the Yangtze River protection strategy and the green development of the Yangtze River Economic Belt, this paper takes Hubei province as the research area. Based on the data of land use in 2010 and 2015 and the data of 15 driving factors including natural and human factors, the FLUS model was used to simulate and predict the ecological space of Hubei province in 2035. Based on the current situation of land use in 2010, the results show that the overall accuracy of land use change in Hubei in 2015 is 0.976, and the Kappa coefficient is 0.961, which are of high accuracy. The four scenarios of production space priority, living space priority, ecological space priority and comprehensive space optimization basically meet the needs of different development orientations in this province in the future. From the perspective of geomorphic unit, under different scenarios, the ecological space of Hubei is mainly distributed in the four major mountainous areas on the border of Hubei province, and the ecological space in the central Jianghan Plain is scattered. In terms of quantity scale, the difference in the size and scale of each land use type in different scenarios is more obvious. The area of cultivated land increased by 1216 km2 under the priority of production space, and the scale of urban land use increased by 5959 km2 under the priority of living space. The ecological space used in the ecological space priority scenario increased by 722 km2, while that used in the integrated space optimization scenario became moderate. From the distribution of ecological space change, the ecological space of the four mountainous areas has not changed much, but the ecological space of the central Jianghan Plain is more obvious. From the perspective of administrative divisions, the scope of change is mainly distributed in Wuhan City Circle, Xiangyang city, the central- west of Yichang city and the central part of Suizhou city. All in all, the FLUS model has good applicability to the ecological spatial simulation in Hubei. The results of multi- scenario simulation can provide a multi- angle and multi- directional policy decision reference for the future territorial spatial planning and ecological spatial control in this province [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Xiong'an New Area is a millennium plan and a national event. Water shortage and water pollution have become the main problems which restrict its development. Different from the existing research on Xiong'an strategic development interpretation and resource profile description, this paper combines with scenario analysis and directional distance function models so as to show the water resources utilization efficiency and water saving potential development landscape and path of different scenarios in 2035 for the first time and it is innovatively based on the development of Shenzhen. The research shows that Xiong'an presents a change from low-efficiency zone to high-efficiency zone to high-efficiency zone in the Business as Usual, Starting Process and Construction Completion scenarios from the perspective of utilization efficiency. From the perspective of water saving potential, the reduction of efficiency improvement space and the increase in metatechnology ratios indicate that water saving potential of Xiong'an has been fully explored. Avoiding direct sewage discharge, developing sewage treatment technology actively and optimizing the industrial structure of the Xiong'an New Area are effective ways to promote the utilization efficiency of water resources, which is also an important guarantee for Xiong'an to realize green ecological development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The study of the coupling relationship and coupling path of carbon emission efficiency and industrial structure upgrade is of great practical significance to the green development of China in the new era and for the construction of a beautiful China. Firstly, the carbon emission efficiency is calculated by the super- efficient SBM model containing undesired output. Then, the coupling degree between the efficiency of regional carbon emission and the industrial structure upgrade is calculated and analyzed by the extended coupling model, and the provinces are divided into multiple layers according to their coupling degrees and coupling characteristics. Finally, the coupling path of the two factors is designed under the framework of dynamic distribution. The research found that: (1) There lies an obvious difference between the spatial and temporal pattern of carbon emission efficiency and high-grade industrial structure level. In terms of their coupling degrees, nearly half of the provinces are between 0.2 and 0.4, which can be considered as moderately and mildly imbalanced recession. Besides, according to the coupling characteristics, nearly half of the provinces belong to the coupling type of "low level coordination" with low development degree and high coordination degree. (2) There is an obvious inconsistency between carbon emission efficiency and the industrial structure upgrade in China from the aspect of reginal dynamic distribution. The former has a severer degree of cure than the latter. Therefore, China should improve the degree of coupling between regional carbon emission efficiency and industrial structure on the basis of mitigating the solidification of interregional carbon emission efficiency. (3) The paper designs the coupling path of carbon emission efficiency and the industrial structure upgrade in China on the basis of the coupling classification diagram, which can not only alleviate the dynamic incoordination of the two factors, but also effectively enhance their coupling degree among regions of China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The resource and environment carrying capacity is the basis for strategy decision-making of regional development, especially the optimization of spatial development strategy. In recent years, it has played a pivotal role in guiding regional sustainable development, land planning, urbanization, post- disaster reconstruction planning, and industrial planning. At the same time, clarifying the interaction mechanism between regional resource- environment and production- living factors is the basis of the evaluation of resource and environment carrying capacity. Based on PSR model, this paper presents the conjugation- wrestling theoretical mechanism of resources- environment and production- living, which divides the carrying capacity into four pairs of interaction forces, i.e., support- sensitive point, recovery- fragile point, destruction- critical point and development- equilibrium point. Then it presents DENS model including four dimensions, namely development, environment and disaster, natural resource and ecology, and social welfare. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Sustainable development of tourist destinations needs to focus on the sustainable livelihood of local residents. Based on the theory of sustainable livelihood, this paper takes Hailuogou Scenic Area as an example to analyze the livelihood capital, spatial distribution characteristics of local households and the main factors affecting the traditional and labororiented households' livelihood strategies. Firstly, through the household surveys and interviews, farmers in Hailuogou scenic spot are divided into six types according to their income sources and the direction of their main labor input. Secondly, according to the framework of livelihood capital evaluation and index weight, the sustainable livelihood conditions of local households are quantitatively analyzed. Then, with the multiple logistic regression model, the study identifies the main factors that affect the households' choice of high- level livelihood strategies and reveals the spatial distribution characteristics of different types of households. The results show that among the six livelihood strategies chosen by rural households in Hailuogou Scenic Area, balanced-income and tourism-oriented households have the highest level of sustainable livelihood. On the contrary, traditional and labor- oriented households, who are facing many livelihood risks, have the lowest level of livelihood capital. Besides, local households with different livelihood strategies are clustered and distributed spatially. Financial capital is the significant factor affecting the traditional and labor- oriented households' choice of balanced-income strategy, while material capital and social capital have a significant positive effect on the two types of low-level livelihood farmers' choice of tourismoriented livelihood strategy. In addition, the elevation of rural residential areas, the distance from tourist attractions and roads also have an important impact on farmers' choice of strategies, which means that the lower the elevation of the residential area, the more likely the farmers will choose the balanced-income and tourism-oriented strategies. Similarly, the closer to the core tourist attractions and highways, the more likely local households are to choose two kinds of high-level livelihood strategies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The green development of industry is of great significance to the construction of industrial system that is efficient, low- cost, green and circular development, and to the realization of sustainable economic development. This paper constructs the comprehensive evaluation index system of the green development of industry in Guangdong province from three dimensions of industrial green growth, resource and environmental carrying capacity and government policy support, using the entropy method, measures the comprehensive levels of Guangdong province and its respective cities from 2005 to 2015, and uses the exploratory spatial data analysis method to analyze the spatial correlation characteristics of the green development of industry of the cities in Guangdong province, on the basis of the spatial error model, discusses the influencing factors of industry ecology in Guangdong province. The results show that: (1) On the whole, the comprehensive level of the green development of industry in Guangdong province presents a sustainable growth trend. (2) From the perspective of spatial distribution, the overall spatial pattern of the Pearl River Delta presents a structure of "Core-edge", with the Pearl River Delta as the core and the peripheral areas of the Pearl River Delta as the edge. (3) From the perspective of spatial evolution, the spatial differences of the green development of industry in the cities of Guangdong province are slightly enlarged from 2005 to 2015, but the overall pattern remains relatively stable. (4) From the perspective of spatial correlation characteristics, the agglomeration pattern of the spatial distribution of the green development of industry in the cities of Guangdong province is stable. The cities in the Pearl River Delta present high- high agglomeration phenomenon, while some cities in the eastern and mountainous areas of the peripheral areas present low- low agglomeration phenomenon. (5) Globalization, marketization, residents' income level, government regulation, as well as science and technology level all have a significant influence on the green development of industry in Guangdong province, while the influence of urbanization is not significant. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The continuous degradation of ecosystem services is a common challenge facing human-beings, and it is the focus of global sustainable development research. The ecological environmental protection in the Middle Yangtze River region is of great significance to the construction of ecological security pattern in China. In order to deeply analyze the interference degree of land use activities to ecosystem services value (ESV) in the Middle Yangtze River region, it is necessary to evaluate the spatial-temporal distribution of ESV and the sensitivity of ecosystem services to land use change in the study region. Based on the evaluation results of ESV in the Middle Yangtze River region, this paper constructed the ecological contribution model of land use change and ecosystem services sensitivity model. The results showed that: (1) The average ecosystem service value (AESV) in this region in the years of 1995, 2005 and 2015 was 46244.29 yuan/hm2, 46484.08 yuan/hm2, and 46249.254 yuan/hm2, respectively, and the study region experienced a "first increase and then decrease" change process. The counties with higher AESV were mainly located in the mountainous areas; plain areas, urban agglomeration areas, Wuhan, Changsha, and Nanchang, and major traffic routes tended to have lower AESV; the ESV change rate presented a spatial pattern of "two horizontal and three vertical" distribution. (2) The conversion of cultivated land to forest land and cultivated land to water areas during 1995-2015 were the key factors for the improvement of regional ESV, and their ecological contribution degrees were 33.34% and 32.99%, respectively; forest land converted to cultivated land, forest land converted to construction land and cultivated land converted to construction land were important causes that induced the deterioration of the regional ecological environmental quality, and their ecological contribution degrees were 36.21%, 20.26% and 11.98%, respectively. (3) The ecosystem services sensitivity areas were mainly distributed in areas with frequent human activities, 1% increase in the integrated land use dynamics would result in 0.18% and 0.15% fluctuation in ESV in the Middle Yangtze River region during the periods of 1995- 2005 and 2005-2015, respectively; the ecological sensitivity of food production, raw material production, gas regulation, soil conservation and maintenance of biological diversity increased, and the sensitivity of other ecosystem function gradually weakened during the two study periods. The results of this study can provide scientific implications for the ecological environmental protection and the continuous supply of various sub- functions of the ecosystem services in the Middle Yangtze River region. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Using the panel threshold model proposed by Hansen, this paper empirically studies the nonlinear relationship between economic globalization and ecological footprint based on panel data of 55 countries along "The Belt and Road" from 1993 to 2013, with economic development level (per capita GDP) as the threshold variable. The results show that there are distinctive relations between economic globalization and ecological footprint divided by thresholds rather than a single linear relationship. In different ranges of thresholds, the influences of economic globalization on ecological footprint are different. When the economic development level is less than per capita $ 3905, the improvement of economic globalization can effectively reduce the ecological footprint; when the economic development level exceeds the first threshold of per capita $ 3905, its improvement has positive effect on the ecological footprint, but the coefficient is not significant; when it exceeds the second threshold of per capita $ 8778, its improvement will increase the ecological footprint significantly. Currently, countries along "The Belt and Road" are mainly concentrated in the first and third threshold interval, and the influence of economic globalization on the ecological footprint has a polarization trend. Attention should be given to the countries in the third threshold interval in the process of globalization, which is closely related to many aspects in sustainable development of globalization and "The Belt and Road Initiative". [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The remote location of resource-based cities is considered to be an important factor restricting the transformation and sustainable development of resource- based cities. With the rapid development of high-speed rail, has the location of resource-based cities been improved? In this paper, with the State Council identifying 126 resources- based cities as the case cities, taking the provincial capital cities of resources-based cities located in these provinces and three regional central cities of Beijing, Shanghai, and Guangzhou which are closely linked to resources-based cities as the reference objects, using the calculation method of time distance, the location of resources- based cities was evaluated among different development types and different regions. The research shows that: (1) From the perspective of overall sample, due to the impact of high- speed railway, the location of resource- based cities has deteriorated. Compared with D-series trains, the impact of G-series trains is even more pronounced. (2) Dseries trains and G- series trains have a consistent effect on the locations of resource- based cities. To a certain extent, D- series trains and G- series trains have an overlapping layout in spatial distribution. (3) From the perspective of resource types, the mature resource-based cities are not only the cities with the most obvious improvements of locations, but also the cities with the most obvious deterioration of locations. (4) From the perspective of different regions, the central region is the region with the most obvious improvement of locations, and the western region is the region with the most obvious deterioration of locations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Mekong River Commission is the only international intergovernmental organization in the Mekong River basin engaged in water resources development and management, but its institutional system effectiveness has been questioned. Especially the "Procedures for Notification, Prior Consultation and Agreement" concluded in 2003, which was successively applied to the Xayabury, Don Sahong and Pak Beng hydropower stations in Laos, not only failed to reconcile the differences of interest and contradictions of member countries, but also caused great controversy. As the mainstream hydropower development accelerates, the objective environment for China to participate in the development and management of water resources in the sub- regions is also changed. There is an urgent need to strengthen relevant theoretical foundation and practical research to promote basin development cooperation and sustainable development. Therefore, this paper mainly introduces the institutional framework, management mechanism and operating process of the MRC prior consultation mechanism, while objectively analyzes its achievements and problems based on the three practices, and then puts forward suggestions for improvement in four aspects, such as supplementing an explanatory document, making provisions for benefit compensation and public participation, as well as perfecting the process of prior consultation. Finally, we discuss the impact of the MRC prior consultation mechanism on China's participation in the whole basin management and effective countermeasures, which will provide reference and enlightenment for China's water resources development and cooperation policy under the Lancang- Mekong cooperation framework. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

According to the design scheme of natural resource balance sheet proposed by the author in previous study, this paper takes Zhuxi County, Shiyan City, Hubei Province as a case study and compiles the substance accounting table and value accounting table of Zhuxi County respectively by using statistic methods, market price law, alternative market law, willingness assessment law, etc., and the relationship between the changes of natural resources and regional economic development are analyzed. The results are as follows: 1) The total amount of forest and characteristic resources in Zhuxi County is increasing year by year. The industrial water consumption is decreasing year by year. The efficiency of industrial water is increasing continuously, while the resident living water keeps at a consant level. The water usage for urban public and ecological environment is increasing annually and the trend of agricultural water consumption remains constant. Water consumption is mainly affected by precipitation and other natural conditions. In the future, developing modern agriculture and improving agricultural water efficiency are necessary. In addition, land resources are in the trend of converting to construction land. The government of Zhuxi County should control construction area in a reasonable range. 2) The value of natural resources is in a relatively stable state which shows the natural resources are not over-consumed, and the value of land resources is the highest. The influence of human factors on the value of forest resources is positive and the total value is increasing. The influence of human factors on the value of water resources is negative. 3) With the increase of GDP in Zhuxi County, the total amount of natural resources has not reduced and remains relatively stable. The effect of human factors on the total value of natural resources is positive. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Energy and water are highly correlated. In order to break through the limitations of the previous single-resource management policy and improve the effectiveness of related policies, it is urgent to carry out research on energy-water coupling relationship and collaborative management. Based on the system input-output analysis and ecological network analysis, this paper built an energy-water nexus network of Hubei Province in 2007 and 2012. The results are as follows: 1) In 2012, the energy consumption and water use caused by urban final demand were 14 304.93×104 tce and 346.66×108 m3, respectively. Compared with those in 2007, energy consumption and water use induced by urban final demand increased by 52.26% and 7.98%, respectively. About 50% of energy consumption and water use caused by urban final demand were contributed by manufacturing. 2) In 2007, the recycling rates of water networks and energy networks in Hubei Province were all around 2.71%. The recycling rate of water network increased to 4.23%-4.40% in 2012, and the recycling rate of energy network had small variation. 3) The robustness analysis showed that both energy and the water networks are less efficient and more redundant. 4) After taking nexus effect into consideration, the control of production and supply sectors of electric power and heat over most other sectors in the energy and water networks becomes stronger during 2007- 2012. The proposed nexus network approach may help bridge the gap between nexus modeling and regional resource management by identifying the regulating pathways for each sector to coordinate with their nexus management. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, the evaluation index system of urban ecological well-being performance (hereinafter referred to as UEWP) is established in the first step by means of DEA. Resource indicators including energy consumption per capita, water use per capita and construction land use per capita, and environmental indicators such as waste water discharge per capita, waste gas emission per capita and waste solid discharge per capita are selected as the ecological input, and GDP per capita, life expectance at birth and education, which are the three dimensions of Human Development Index (HDI), are selected as the proxy index of well-being to be the output at city level. The principal component analysis (PCA) is employed during the index processing. In the empirical part, a comparative analysis is conducted based on DEA model (BCC and Super-DEA) and revised DEA model—super-SBM model with cross-sectional data of the year of 2013 from 35 major cities (provincial and sub-provincial cities) in China. Then, on the basis of the DEA value acquired with the super-SBM model, the Tobit regression model is employed to analyze the influencing factors of UEWP. The research result shows that the super-SBM model is a better choice during the evaluation of UEWP since it can solve the radial issue. Main conclusions are as follows: 1) 35 major cities are at overall low level of UEWP in 2013, but there are big gaps among cities, cities with top ranks of UEWP being tourist cities such as Qingdao and Haikou instead of the economically developed cities such as Shanghai or Beijing, the capital city of China. 2) Spatially, the east of China ranks first, and the middle and the west of China are in the second and the third place respectively. 3) The Tobit regressive analysis on the influencing factors of UEWP demonstrates that urban population density and green space are positive factors, and economic scale and industrial structure are negative factors of UEWP. Finally, some constructive suggestions are proposed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]