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Strong sustainable development sticks to the irreplaceability and uniqueness of natural capital and maintains that the essential stock of natural capital should be passed on from one generation to another. It achieves environmental equity and intergenerational equity by maximizing the intertemporal utility of environmental benefits. This paper analyzes the dimensions of the strong sustainable development paradigm in identifying ecological space. The ecological space can be divided into two categories: strong sustainable development space and weak sustainable development space. The former refers to the critical ecological space where ecological security is maintained and the priority is to maintain the status quo of the ecosystem, or at least keep it from sinking into degeneration. In contrast, the latter belongs to the non-critical ecological space, where proper development and construction can be carried out within the ecological security threshold. Based on the case study of the Tarim River Basin and the concept of strong sustainable development, this paper keeps to the method of combining ecological service function and ecological sensitivity in assessment and conducts research on the classification of the ecological space and the patterns of strong and weak sustainability. According to the research, the sensitive and extremely sensitive areas of the Tarim River Basin take up the lion ’s share of the total area, or 55.01% and 29.23%, respectively. The strong sustainable development ecological space incorporates the urgent ecological space and the crisis ecological space, which stand at 305 257.84 km² and 573 281.16 km², respectively, accounting for 29.28% and 54.98% of the researched area, respectively. The re‑ search reveals a high degree of conflict over the ecological security of land use in the Tarim River Basin and a desperate adjustment ca‑ pability for the strong sustainable development of ecological space. Ecological space of strong sustainable development is an important ecological functional space. Accurate identification of ecological space can provide a scientific basis for the delineation of ecological protection red lines and the management of ecological space. Ecological space evaluation based on the paradigm of strong sustainable development can provide green development planning ideas under ecological priority for the subsequent development strategies of respective regions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Promoting the United Nations' Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) is a world consensus and a necessity for China. In the process of achieving a sustainable future, evaluating a country's sustainable development progress, understanding China's position in global sustainable development, and identifying the advantages and challenges of China's sustainable development are of great signif-icance for the world to understand China and for China to optimize its sustainable development system. Based on this, this paper took the Sustainable Development Reports issued by the Sustainable Development Solutions Network from 2015 to 2022 as the main carrier to explore the assessment and progress of global SDGs, and analyzed the effects of China's implementation of SDGs and the gap be-tween China and other countries in the world from the perspective of how China was viewed by the world in order to provide a possible path for improving China's sustainable development and to drive the sustainable development of the world. The results showed that, on a global scale, sustainable development had obvious regional and economic agglomeration characteristics, and the progress in realizing the SDGs was homogeneous to a certain extent. From a global perspective, China's sustainable development progress was relatively sta-ble and ranked at the uppermiddle level of the world. In 2022, China's SDG score was 72.4, ranking 56th among 163 countries. In particular, China made remarkable progress in achieving the ' No Poverty,' ' Quality Education,' and ' Responsible Consumption and Produc-tion' goals, and provided basic experience for the sustainable development of the world. The sustainable development goals of ' Life Be-low Water' and 'Life on Land' were prominent weaknesses in China's sustainable development, and there was a certain gap between China and other countries in the world. Further optimizing the assessment system for sustainable development, clarifying priorities for sustainable development, focusing on key regions and groups, and building global partnerships are inherent requirements for implement-ing the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and building a more inclusive and sustainable development pattern. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Eco-agriculture focuses on the green development of agriculture and it is an essential part of agricultural development in China and worldwide. As part of the first batch of national eco-agriculture construction pilot counties and one of the China Nationally Important Agricultural Heritage Systems（China-NIAHS）sites，Deqing County occupies a vital position in the practice of eco-agriculture in China. Thus, this paper traces the basic history of eco-agricultural practices and summarizes the current typical models of eco-agricultural development in Deqing County. In addition, this paper analyses the core connotations and primary values of the typical models of ecoagriculture in this county. The typical models include the“pearl mussel-fish-grain-mulberry-livestock”complex system, rice field ecological planting and breeding models, aquaponics, and agritourism. Additionally, this paper makes targeted suggestions to promote the sustainable development of eco-agriculture in Deqing County based on current problems and challenges. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background--At present, China has made great efforts to promote the development of cultural and creative tourism in forest regions. However, there are few studies on the cultural creativity of forest resources development in academic research. And it is difficult to quantify the traditional evaluation indicators, so there is a lack of reasonable countermeasures for the development of forest regions. (2) Methods--First of all, the analytic hierarchy process and fuzzy comprehensive evaluation method are adopted. The evaluation index system of sustainable development of cultural and creative tourism in forest regions is composed of 5 second-level evaluation indicators of economic sustainability, social sustainability, cultural sustainability, ecological environment sustainability, management sustainability and 4l third-level evaluation indicators. Secondly, 415 valid questionnaires were distributed. Taking Longtan Village as a pilot project, this paper demonstrates the scientificity and rationality of the evaluation index system. Finally, we draw conclusions and put forward some suggestion. (3) Results--Through calculation, the ranking of evaluation indicators is as follows: ecological environment sustainability (0. 348), social sustainability (0. 253), cultural sustainability (0. 241), management sustainability (0. 093), economic sustainability (0. 065). At the same time, it is calculated that the sustainable score of cultural and creative tourism in Longtan village forest regions is 3. 930. Therefore, we believe that the cultural and creative tourism in the forest region is basically sustainable: the ecological environment of the forest region is beautiful, the government supports the development of the forest region greatly, the social governance of new and old residents is harmonious and the innovation of the leadership of the Party Committee is beneficial. However, there are also deficiencies: because it is difficult to meet the psychological demands of novelty, the participation of tourists in cultural and creative activities is not prominent. The connotation of cultural creativity in forest regions is not excavated enough, and cultural creativity and cultural exchanges need to be strengthened. What' s more, the publicity and protection of rural environment are not enough, and public health and waste disposal need to be improved. Last but not least, residents' willingness and ability to participate are not adapted. ⑷ Conclusions and Discussions--In order to improve the sustainability of the development of cultural and creative tourism in forest regions, it is suggested that the relevant departments should formulate special support policies for cultural and creative tourism in forest regions, promote the construction of infrastructure, and increase industrial support. At the same time, we should strengthen the awareness of pluralistic co-governance, smooth the ways of pluralistic co-governance, adhere to the party building to lead cultural creation, innovate the development model of forest regions, increase the publicity of cultural and creative activities in forest regions, integrate culture and science and technology, and develop new business types to enhance tourists" sense of participation and interactive experience. In addition, it is expected that the planning and design of cultural and creative tourism products, in-depth excavation of cultural connotation. And also we should strengthen environmental improvement, improve the governance capacity and effectiveness of forest regions and protect the ecological environment of forest regions. Finally, it is very necessary to attach importance to the construction of human capital, absorb compound talents and strengthen the vocational skills training of residents. [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]

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]