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Under the background of the new normal economy, ecotourism maintains a good momentum of development. Therefore, it can be foreseen that industrial integration is an inevitable trend in the development of contemporary industries, and the integration of cultural industries and tourism industries will bring good effects to regional economic development. In order to fully study the impact of ecotourism and its applied technologies on regional economy and culture, this paper proposes research on the application of virtual reality technology in the coordination and interaction of regional economy and culture in the sustainable development of ecotourism. The approach of this paper is to study VR technology in digital tourism and then to evaluate the sustainability of ecotourism and economic culture. The role of these methods is to study the interaction process between the tourism industry, regional economy, and cultural industry. It explores the law of action between the three so as to achieve the purpose of system optimization. Taking Henan Province, China, as an example, this paper discusses the application of virtual reality technology in ecotourism and studies the impact of ecotourism on economy and culture. The experimental results show that the average value of ecotourism-economic-cultural coordination degree in Henan Province is 0.399, and it is urgent to apply virtual reality technology in ecotourism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ongoing environmental issues and degradation provoke the implementation of relevant incentives to overcome them without restrictions of economic growth. Considering the Chinese sustainable development policy, each province should provide the effective ecological regulations that consider the dynamic changes of the economic and ecological indicators of the province's development. In this case, the paper aims to analyze the relationship between economic growth and environmental quality. The object of the investigation is the Henan provinces of China from 1994 to 2020. The study applied a vector autoregression model between the one-way and two-way relationship analysis, Granger causality test, cointegration test, and impulse response function. The findings confirm that GDP growth causes exhaust gas production and that SO2 will also influence wastewater. The results of the co-consolidation analysis showed that if the production of industrial solid waste gas and SO2 volume increased by 1% each, GDP per capita would increase by 0.22% and 0.35%, respectively. The findings of the variance decomposition of the GDP per capita in the first phase are all due to their perturbation term. The other influencing factors have no influence. Over time, GDP per capita is less and less affected and significantly enhanced by wastewater, exhaust gas, and SO2. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The sustainable development of China's economy and society has been restricted by energy and environmental issues. With the implementation of the Rise of Central China strategy, Henan, a populous province in China, is facing the threat of an energy shortage as its economy grows steadily and the urbanization process accelerates. Using panel data of 18 cities in Henan Province for the period of 2006–2018, this study investigates the relationship between energy consumption and economic and social development variables based on the extended Stochastic Impacts by Regression on Population, Affluence, and Technology (STIRPAT) model and threshold regression method. The empirical results indicate that economic and social development are significantly positively correlated with total electricity consumption, although there is regional heterogeneity in this relationship. Moreover, there is evidence for a nonlinear relationship between economic and social development and urban energy consumption. These conclusions not only promote the healthy and sustainable economic development of Henan Province but also provide a reference for other provinces and cities that are experiencing rapid development in China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the context of ecological civilization construction in China, interregional ancient trees are important natural and cultural resources, and it is vital that they are effectively protected and utilized according to their spatial distribution and regional conditions in order to provide a balance between local economic development and the ecological environment. This article analyzes the spatial heterogeneity of 26,842 ancient trees and explores the underlying natural and human factors by using geoinformatics–based techniques (i.e., the nearest neighbor index, kernel density, spatial autocorrelation, and the geographically weighted regression model) in Henan Province, Central China. The research findings conclude that: (1) The interregional ancient trees show positive spatial autocorrelation, and the aggregation effect in Western Henan is the most significant. (2) The growing environment and elevation exert a more obvious influence on the spatial pattern of interregional ancient trees. (3) The main influencing factors per region are different, for example, historical culture in Western Henan, water source and elevation in Southern Henan, and the growing environment in Eastern Henan, while ancient trees in Northern Henan have a weak relationship with each factor. This research facilitates political strategy making for sustainable development and the protection of interregional ancient trees. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Theoretically, agricultural insurance influences farmers' use of pesticides by changing the expected income of agricultural production. Full-cost insurance, with high guarantee and high compensation characteristics, may significantly affect farmers' pesticide use. First, this paper constructs a production function to characterize and compare the marginal incomes of insured and uninsured farmers under risk uncertainty and analyses how insured farmers can increase marginal income by increasing or reducing factor inputs. Considering scale differentiation, it discusses pesticide use strategies different types of farmers may adopt to maximize household utility. Second, using survey data of the pilot counties of full-cost insurance for wheat in Henan Province, China, the simultaneous equation model is used for empirical testing. The results reveal the following: (i) Farmers' insurance participation and pesticide application behaviour are not mutually independent. (ii) For the whole sample, full-cost insurance for wheat has a significant pesticide reduction effect. (iii) However, considering scale differentiation, pesticide application decreases significantly among insured ordinary farmers but does not change significantly among insured large-scale farmers. Third, policy measures are proposed to activate the green development function of agricultural insurance. • Construct a production function and a utility function to conduct mechanism analysis. • Estimate simultaneous equation model based on pilot area household level dataset. • Analyse the effect of full-cost insurance on pesticide input behavior. • Find full-cost insurance significantly reduces the pesticide use of ordinary farmers. • But insignificant effect on the pesticide use of large-scale farmers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The abnormity of climate change poses environmental concerns and indirectly promotes the development of low-carbon economic growth pattern. Climate change mitigation technology innovations contribute significantly to achieve environmental goals in China, and thus, technological cooperation has become a strategic choice for the Chinese provinces to achieve technological breakthroughs. Based on 3, 280, 808 patents, this study uses social network analysis (SNA) method and similarity measurement to discuss the evolution process and structural features of the spatial correlation network to analyze the patent data from 1985 to 2020. The process for the research is as follows. First, a form solution of the correlation problem to calculate the minimum Euclidean distance is available in the field of social network. Second, the European distance is used to measure the similarity between provinces, and then, SNA is used to construct the spatial correlation network. Finally, the similarity of growth trend of provincial patent applications in different years from a nonlinear perspective is described, so as to calculate the potential provincial linkage strength. The results demonstrate that low-carbon technology innovation in China takes the form of a network structure. The network exhibits significant characteristics of regional agglomeration, and several central provinces exert the role of mediation and transmission, such as Tianjin, Hubei, and Henan. The study contributes by illustrating the current situation of green technology innovation and provides a critical theoretical foundation for the government when formulating future low-carbon economy development policies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Few studies have investigated agricultural carbon emissions peaks, especially from the financial development perspective. This study focuses on the effects of financial scale and efficiency to achieve an agricultural carbon emissions peak in China's Henan Province. Using an extended STIRPAT model and scenario analysis, we find: (1) with the inverted U-shaped influence mechanism of rural financial scale and incorporating rural financial efficiency, agricultural carbon emissions in Henan will peak at 14.17 million tons in 2040, 12.50 million tons in 2034, and 11.73 million tons in 2023 under the baseline low-carbon, moderately accelerated low-carbon, and stringent low-carbon development scenarios; (2) without financial efficiency improvements, carbon emissions will peak five years, three years, and six years later, and the peak value will increase 0.97 million tons, 0.65 million tons, and 0.30 million tons. Therefore, agricultural carbon emissions will peak earlier with continuous and strong financial policy adjustment to facilitate financial development. We also find that agricultural carbon absorption exceeds emissions, achieving carbon neutrality. The policy implication is that financial development matters to sustainable agricultural development. Developing countries could learn from the financial development experience (i.e., gradual financial reform and a stable financial environment) in Henan and China in general. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

By means of investigation and research of the 7 cities of the urban and rural integration in Henan Province, the paper summarizes five aspects of urban and rural integration in Henan Province in common from the social and economic conditions, spatial characteristics, dynamic mechanism, organization form, security measures: higher level of economic development, the selective advantage of location, the power mechanism characteristics of taking the government as the main body from top to bottom, the organization form of strengthen the construction of new rural area and industrial agglomeration area construction, the security measures of innovation mechanism system.The main sticking point to urban and rural integri-tion is the capital input and output, the rural collective economic power shortage problem, the problem of sustainable development of new rural community. A useful reference is playing the active role of rural cadre and masses initiative to promote the integration of urban and rural by injection power source from bottom to top; much channel solves problem of farmer employment according to local conditions; improve rural economy from hematopoietic function rely on industry development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Energy demand and carbon emission in building construction and utilization have presented an increasing trend with urbanization development and improvement of living standard. Improving the carbon emission efficiency of the construction industry is a precondition for allocating carbon emission reduction objectives and interregional experience exchange over carbon emission reduction. An inputoutput index system was first constructed in this study to obtain the carbon emission efficiency of the construction industry. Carbon dioxide emission of the construction industry was taken as unexpected output, and the super efficiency slack-based measure-data envelopment analysis (SBM–DEA) model was used to estimate the carbon emission efficiency of the construction industry in Henan Province, China during 2008-2019. Finally, treatment measures were proposed to retard the rising trend of carbon emission in the construction industry. Results showed that the mean carbon emission efficiency of the construction industry in Henan Province during 2008-2019 is 1.007 and the carbon emission efficiency of the construction industry reaches the minimum value of only 0.807 in 2012. The carbon emission efficiency of the construction industry in Henan Province demonstrated an overall rising trend with a small amplitude during the investigation period. The results of this study can provide a reference for exploring the efficiency of the construction industry in Henan Province under carbon emission constraint, analyzing and identifying efficiency improvement objectives and methods for the construction industry, and facilitating its sustainable development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Sustainable development of mineral resources (MRs) is important for a national strategy of resource security and ecological civilization. Reasonable zoning of MRs for development and management is key. In this study, we developed a multi-objective framework for MRs zones (MRZs), including indicator sets and dividing processes, after evaluating and grading indicators of 131 county-level units in Henan Province, China. We used this framework to customize resource management measures for all kinds of MRZs. The dominant criteria in the zoning evaluation system were resource conditions, development and utilization conditions, ecological environment conditions, and socioeconomic conditions, which included ecological priority, resource security, and socioeconomic development. Discriminant analyses, spatial superposition, cluster analyses, and exclusion method in ArcGIS were used to divide the study area into five categories: prohibited MRZ, restricted MRZ, key MRZ, optimal MRZ, and common MRZ. The results indicated the obvious regional characteristics of MRZ distribution in Henan Province, with 32 restricted MRZs, seven key MRZs, three optimal MRZs, and 23 common MRZs. Prohibited MRZs were located in 51 counties. For the different MRZ types, specific management measures were put forward to improve the layout structure and facilitate the future MRs planning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Geological environment is a resource base, environmental base, and engineering base for human socioeconomic activities. The main function of the geological environment is to provide stable and safe living space and essential resources for the existence and development of human society. However, geological environmental problems become increasingly prominent in some provinces in China due to fragility of the geological environment, uneven population distribution, backward economic development, and massive construction projects. The function of geological environments in some provinces to support sustainable economic and social development is evidently insufficient, and the threshold values of their geological environmental bearing capacity nearly reach the upper limit. For example, Henan Province, China, an evaluation index system for geological environmental bearing capacity, was established from three aspects, as follows: natural hazard, geological disaster, and disaster control. The weights of evaluation indexes were calculated using the variation coefficient method. Finally, the geological environmental bearing capacity of Henan Province during 2010-2018 was measured through the comprehensive evaluation method. Results showed that the constructed evaluation index system for geological environmental bearing capacity, which consisted of 34 indexes, was scientific and reasonable. During 2010-2018, the geological environmental bearing capacity of Henan Province was superior or excellent. Geological environmental bearing capacity can be improved by reinforcing the construction of legal rules and laws for geological environmental protection, carrying out research work regarding geological environmental bearing capacity, launching geological environmental monitoring and early warning system construction, and implementing feasibility demonstration for the geological environment of major construction projects. The study results can provide practical guidance and reference to realize the predictive analysis of geological environmental bearing capacity and coordinate human socioeconomic activities and geological environment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

China has made remarkable progress in poverty alleviation. However, the key to consolidating the existing poverty alleviation achievements is how to prevent rural households out of poverty from regressing back poverty; in other words, how they can maintain livelihood sustainability? According to a theoretical analysis of livelihood sustainability, based on the "whole process" of the livelihood development of rural households out of poverty in China, this article puts forward three determinants of livelihood sustainability – livelihood basis, livelihood acceleration and livelihood environment, establishes the dynamic mechanism framework from the perspective of the "acting force" and a corresponding evaluation indicator system. Taking Hua County of Henan Province, one of the first poverty alleviation counties in China, as an example, according to the questionnaire of rural households out of poverty, this paper analyzes the current static livelihood characteristics of rural households out of poverty and the dynamic mechanisms of livelihood sustainability in the process of poverty alleviation on the basis of the quantitative measurement of livelihood sustainability. The main conclusions are as follows: (i) Livelihood basis, livelihood acceleration, livelihood environment and livelihood sustainability of rural households out of poverty in Hua County are at the medium level as a whole. (ii) Livelihood resources, especially labor resources, and the initiative of rural households to develop their livelihood, have important influences on sustainability; rural households that lifted themselves out of poverty earlier, are located in characteristic industrial zones or modern industrial zones, or adopt diversified or non-agricultural production modes, have a higher level of livelihood sustainability. (iii) The sustainable livelihood development of rural households out of poverty needs to stimulate the endogenous power of rural households to generate positive livelihood acceleration on the premise of securing a livelihood basis, supplemented by suitable livelihood environment support. In the process of poverty alleviation, the livelihood basis, livelihood acceleration and livelihood environment play the roles of the "starting force", "driving force" and "supporting force" respectively in order to jointly affect the livelihood behavior of rural households, form different levels of livelihood performance, and present different dynamic processes of livelihood sustainability. These findings are of great value for other developing countries' improving livelihood sustainability of rural households. • We put forward three determinants that promote sustainable livelihood development by adopting the metaphor of acceleration in kinematics and establish a dynamic mechanism framework from the perspective of the "acting force". • The sustainable livelihood development of rural households out of poverty needs to stimulate the endogenous power of rural households to generate positive livelihood acceleration on the premise of securing a livelihood basis, supplemented by suitable livelihood environment support. • Livelihood resources, livelihood structures, industry types and the initiative of rural households to develop their livelihood, have important influences on sustainability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Tourism is a worldwide industry, but the per capita share of tourism resources in China is relatively small, and the capacity of the tourism environment is limited. Achieving economic growth in tourism and preserving tourism resources and the ecological environment are the premise and guarantee of tourism’s sustainable development under the constraints of tourism resources and ecological environment. By calculating the coupling degree of the tourism industry and regional ecological environment, the coupling degree of the regional economy and environment in a particular area can be effectively determined, and a basis for promoting the coordinated development of tourism and ecological environment can be provided. Taking Henan Province as an example, this study establishes a comprehensive evaluation system of the coupling degree between the tourism industry and regional ecological environment system, and uses the coupling model to analyse the coupling status of the two subsystems in Henan Province, and proposes policy suggestions to promote the coupling development of the two subsystems. Results show that the tourism subsystem of Henan Province increased from 0.024 in 2010 to 0.862 in 2016, and the order degree of the ecological subsystem rose from 0.070 in 2010 to 0.770 in 2016. The orderliness of the eco-environment subsystem is less than that of the tourism subsystem, indicating that further improvement of the eco-environment in Henan Province is still possible. The coupling degree of the tourism industry and regional ecological environment showed an increasing trend annually from 0.169 in 2011 to 0.766 in 2016 and exhibited a particularly large increase in 2013. This study’s results can provide a theoretical reference for understanding the coordinated development between the tourism industry and regional ecological environment, promoting the coupling between them, and enhancing the sustainable tourism industry of Henan Province. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Rapid economic growth and urbanization have contributed to increasing concerns around sustainable development in China. Although urban sustainable development is often comprised of environmental, economic, social and governance aspects, most empirical studies on the public perception of sustainability have exclusively focused on the environmental aspect. Using extensive survey data from three representative cities in Henan Province, China, this study is a first endeavor to examine how perceptions of urban sustainability performance and concerns vary by demographic and socio‐economic status of local residents. This study documents that familiarity with sustainable development concepts is positively associated with education, income, party affiliation and personal health of individuals, while negatively correlated with age. In addition, this study has shown that the most severe threats to sustainability as perceived by citizens are air pollution, corruption, income and education inequality, and excessive industrial production. At the same time, economic indicators such as unemployment, poverty and consumerism are considered lesser threats than social inequality or environmental pollution. Furthermore, residents generally view the sustainable development performance of their cities as mediocre. While generally younger residents and residents with higher levels of education tend to be more critical and long‐term residents tend to be more forgiving, results frequently show that concerns and attitudes towards sustainable development by various socio‐demographic groups differ from city to city. This is strong evidence to support independent local policies tailored to the socio‐demographics of each individual city. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The conflict of the human-water relationships (HWR) has further increased the water-related risks, such as water environment deterioration, water shortages, and even regional violent conflicts for obtaining usable water resources. Knowing how to evaluate and regulate the discordant HWR to form a balanced growth between sustainable socio-economy and water resources protection has become a critical issue in water resources management. The harmony theory method, which provides a new perspective for solving the conflict between humans and water, has been widely used in current studies. However, this method focuses less on the quantitative study of the balance status of HWR. This study proposes a harmony theory-based HWR evaluation method that contains a systematic process of harmony assessment, indicator identification, harmony balance constraints, and harmony regulation for assessing and regulating the discordant HWR. The Henan Province of China, which has a complicated HWR, was selected as a case study to apply and verify the approach proposed in this study. The results indicated that (1) Henan Province showed a poor harmony status. The human–water harmony degree of 18 distinctions in the province varied from 0.41 to 0.76, showing an increasing trend from 2006 to 2018, indicating that the HWR was gradually improving in recent years. (2) The human–water harmony degree showed that HWR in the southwest part of Henan Province, with less human activities, was better than that in its northeast part, which had faster social development. Sanmenxia City, located in the west part of the province, had the highest human–water harmony degree because of the recent water control projects implemented in the city, indicating that human production measures could effectively help improve HWR. (3) At present, Henan Province has serious discordant indicators in these three aspects (water system health, humanistic system development, and human-water system coordination), which proves that it is still facing pressure from both socio-economy sustainable development and water resources protection. Our results provide insight into water resources management in Henan Province and other similar regions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We are facing the water shortage crisis. To realise sustainable development, we should improve water-use efficiency (WUE). In this study, a cloud–compound fuzzy matter element–entropy combined model was constructed to evaluate WUE. The Huai river basin (HRB) was selected as the study area. The cloud model was used to select some indices and build the comprehensive evaluation index system (CEIS), which included the overall, agricultural, industrial, domestic and environmental categories. The compound fuzzy matter element model was used to calculate the comprehensive indicators of WUE of the HRB and its regions. The weight of each index in the CEIS was determined using the entropy model. The results showed that WUE of the HRB had an upward trend on the whole because of the enhanced emphasis on water resources by the international and national governments. However, the regional difference was obvious. The WUE of Henan province was higher than that of Jiangsu province. The imbalance of regional WUE is an international problem. By analysing the difference among regions, research can provide a reference for the decision making of the water resources management department. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]