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This paper analyzes the collapse of the Qing dynasty (1644–1912) through the lens of the Structural Demographic Theory (SDT), a general framework for understanding the drivers of socio-political instability in state-level societies. Although a number of competing ideas for the collapse have been proposed, none provide a comprehensive explanation that incorporates the interaction of all the multiple drivers involved. We argue that the four-fold population explosion peaking in the 19th century, the growing competition for a stagnant number of elite positions, and increasing state fiscal stress combined to produce an increasingly disgruntled populace and elite, leading to significant internal rebellions. We find that while neither the ecological disasters nor the foreign incursions during the 19th century were sufficient on their own to bring down the Qing, when coupled with the rising internal socio-political stresses, they produced a rapid succession of triggering events that culminated in the Qing collapse. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Economic and social development, the state of the environment and a propensity for disasters are closely intertwined. Therefore, environmental policy integration (EPI) across development and disaster management (DM) policies and plans is important. Pakistan as a country is highly vulnerable to climate-induced environmental changes and associated disasters. In this paper, the extent to which its national environment and climate change policy, disaster risk reduction (DRR) policy as well as disaster management (DM) plans are aligned is established, based on a review of government documents and expert opinions. In this context, a particular emphasis is put on China's Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) that led the China–Pakistan Economic Corridor Plan (CPEC; 2017–2030). While environmental assessment (EA) is currently not conducted for any DM policies and plans, DM and EA are well integrated into provincial environmental protection acts, in national as well as most provincial DM plans. It is concluded that a regulatory framework to guide EPI in DM for BRI and CPEC projects is needed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The 8th symposium on fluid geoscience, mineral resources and environmental disasters reflects the formation and evolution of geological fluids, the enrichment and distribution of mineral resources, and the research progress and development trend of environmental disasters in recent years. The relevant papers of the 8th symposium regarding fluid geoscience, mineral resources and environmental disasters from 6 aspects, including the deep geological processes and mineral resources, the physicochemical techniques of geological fluid research, the fluid geochemical characteristics and seismicity, the occurrence characteristics and development status of geothermal resources, the accumulation characteristics, controlling factors and enrichment rules of geological resources, the fluid geoscience and geographical natural environment, were summarized. The results show that ① the generation and evolution mechanism, enrichment and migration mechanism of oil, gas and mineral resources, and the development of exploration and development technology are still the focus of the current research in the field of fluid geoscience, and the research content also pays more attention to the history and mechanism of resource generation and evolution; ② it is the current main trend to adopt diversified and more accurate new technologies to explore new fields with more complicated geological conditions, deeper burial and more difficult exploration and exploitation; ③ at present, the uncertainty of China's extreme natural disaster risk is affected by many natural, economic and social factors, and it shows an increasing trend; destructive earthquakes are in a period of frequent occurrence, and the sudden, abnormal and complex characteristics of natural disasters are also showing an increasing trend, therefore, it is urgent to improve China's natural disaster prevention and control capacity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Forest Research is the property of Forest Research Editorial Office and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Ecological geology is an emerging interdisciplinary subject, studying the interaction, coordination and balance between geological, ecological and disaster environments driven by multi-sphere mutual feedback effects and human activities on the earth surface. Under the general background of ecological civilization construction in China, the ecological geological environment system is composed by ecological environmental system, geological environmental system and geo-hazard environmental system, which are intercoupling and interacting. The core issue of ecological geology lies in the balance of the eco-geological environmental system, and the prevention and control of disasters. Therefore, this paper proposes four major research frontiers of ecological geology and the eco-geological environmental system: (1) The structure and interaction mechanism of the eco-geological environmental system; (2) The mechanism and pattern of the dynamic balance of the eco-geological environmental system; (3) The symbiotic mutual feedback mechanism and progressive evolution process of ecological damages-soil and water disasters-geological disasters; (4) The dynamic detection, monitoring and early warning, as well as management and mitigation of eco-geological environment risks. The above four components are progressively and interdependently integrated to address the core issue of ecological geology. The proceeding of ecological geology should comprehend the connotation of ecology priority and green development, focus on eco-geological safety and disaster environment system issues, and implement the strategic principle of “firstly strengthening the ecological barrier, and then accelerating high-quality development, finally leading the world pattern”, thereby contributing to scientific and technical supports for the decision and implementation of national strategies such as ecological protection and construction of beautiful China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Resilient city construction requires cities to be able to cope with and resist disasters on their own. With the advent and explosive growth of social media such as microblogs, citizens manage to show strong presence in disaster relief and the construction of resilient cities, which has resulted a huge amount of user-generated data. This paper took China's heavy rain disaster in 2021 as an example, collected 111,248 messages on the Chinese microblog platform, and analyzed the reactions of citizens during emergency rescue as social media users. Results show that social media users play an important role in disseminating disaster information, and the topics discussed by users follow the characteristics of information transmission before emotional expression. By analyzing the emotions exhibited by social media users, we discover that users are particularly concerned about whether information would be accurately and efficiently disseminated. Social media users seldom express emotions when publishing information, and a few users have a negative attitude in the face of disasters. Meanwhile, by examining the influence of different social media on disaster relief, we find that government's official media along with other news media acts as the main information disseminator, while influential individual bloggers serve as the main mediators in the information dissemination process. This paper on the whole offers a new lens for analyzing the role played by social media users in disaster relief, the implications of which could be referred to by the public and government agencies, so as to improve the city's adaptability to disasters through cooperative production and accelerate the construction of resilient cities. [Display omitted] • Social media users play the role of information dissemination in disaster rescue. • Users do not have obvious emotional tendencies in social network rescue. • Negative emotions cause a small spread, while positive emotions spread more widely. • Institutionally verified accounts are the main information disseminators. • Influential personal accounts are the main information mediators. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It is important to do some close examinations of environmental justice in local. Such pluralistic notions of environmental justice beyond the mainstream meaning of west countries, and will be the premises of global environmental governance. This paper provides a case study on environmental complaint in china, shows the local meaning of environmental justice. Few owners of the tungsten mine factory make a great profit by monopoly and free utilizing common resources, but leave serious ecological disaster in the local with zero cost on environment use. The phenomenon of 'individual gain but collective pay' is the character in China today, which is also the root leading to villagers' unjust feelings and complaints. Environmental justice in China is different from its western definition, it is not 'fair shares' of the environmental benefits and harms, and not in formal structures of environmental government and policy, but collective responsibility of government and enterprises which get great benefits from the common environment freely. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Human society faces a growing number of risks, including both natural disasters and risks that stem from human behavior. This is particularly true in China, which is experiencing rapid social, economic and political transitions. Since the 1970s, China's modernization process has been accompanied by the emergence of an increasing number of man-made risks, in particular environmental pollution, but until very recently, a risk management system did not exist in China. Society was woken up by a series of disasters and accidents, including SARS in 2003, followed by the explosion of avian flu and the chemical spill in the Songhua River in 2005. The last incident in particular finally kicked off the development of a national risk management system (specifically an emergency response system) in China. This paper analyses the status quo of the legislation, institutions and mechanisms for risk management in China and identifies opportunities and strategies for prioritizing and integrating environmental and health risks into the emerging system. The study concludes that although a series of alarming incidents have succeeded in putting risk management issues at the top of the public and political agenda, currently risk management in China can be characterized as reactive and compartmentalized, with a lack of prioritization and integration of policy efforts and resources. There is also a danger that the traditional state-centered approach may fail to create an effective risk management system, which requires improved transparency, accountability, and cross-sectoral coordination. The paper concludes with the proposal of strategies that might enable the environmental authorities to be more effective and reduce their marginalization and isolation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Drought, a frequent environmental disaster in the monsoon region of east China, significantly affects the agricultural economy. In recent years, researchers have emphasised drought risk management. This paper presents a preliminary method to analyse the risk of agricultural drought with regard to the loss of three main crops in individual prefecture-level cities in the monsoon region of east China. In this study, the agricultural drought risk is assessed by developing the index of consecutive rainless days and establishing loss rate curves based on the historical drought data from 1995 to 2008. The results show that the North China is seriously affected by drought hazard. Northeast China is the most sensitive to drought due to its large sown crop areas and weak irrigation. Approximately 11 % of the cities are in the extreme risk category; this category includes 26 % of the cultivated land area and 11 % of the total crop yields in the region. Twenty-three per cent of the cities, accounting for 28.5 % of the total cultivated land area and 26.4 % of the crop yields of the study area, are in high-risk areas, and 77 % of the cities with high and extreme risk levels are distributed in North and Northeast China. Moreover, 64 % of the cities in the monsoon region of East China are in moderate- and low-risk levels. These cities are primarily located south of the Yangtze River. In conclusion, minimising the risk of agricultural drought must be emphasised in northern China because of the high level of risk. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study evaluates whether people in general alter their perception of environmental pollution after disasters and the extent to which individual and contextual characteristics moderate this relationship. Results of multilevel regression analyses of data from rural China indicate that the experience of disasters heightens awareness of environmental pollution in local communities, net of various individual‐level and community‐level factors. Additionally, well‐maintained social relationships between villagers attenuate the impact of disasters and make people less aware of environmental pollution, and environmental degradation in the village enhances the impact and increases people's environmental awareness. Furthermore, the impact is not significantly different between residents in villages of different economic levels, and between residents of different levels of socioeconomic status. The results highlight the potential for promoting sustainability after experiencing disruptive shocks and stressors triggered by disasters, and demonstrate that it is crucial to understand environmental awareness as a dynamic process in changing local contexts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The implementation of inappropriate land use planning has negative impact on environmental quality, threatens food, health and residential security, and can even lead to regional environmental disaster. In this paper, a worst-case scenario based methodology using the land use environmental tolerance index (LETI) was proposed to assess the impact of land use planning on the environment. The land use planning environmental impact assessment (LUPEA) of Lianyungang City was performed as a case study to demonstrate the novel methodology. The inappropriate land use planning of the study area was spatially identified, and adjustments for the land use planning scheme to minimize the adverse impacts were accordingly recommended. Results show that the land use planning layout of the study area is fundamentally rational as most of the planned production and living land parcels are located outside the worst-case scenario areas, but the small fraction of the parcels in the worst-case scenario areas indicates a need for an improved land use planning scheme. This methodology provides a new perspective to evaluate the impact of land use planning on the environment, especially for densely populated countries which still suffer food, health and residential security issues and thus require much attention to environmental safety. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Journal of Engineering Geology / Gongcheng Dizhi Xuebao is the property of Journal of Engineering Geology and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Many counties in southwestern China were devastated by the Wenchuan earthquake, and this earthquake also induced several geological hazards. Therefore, evaluation of the eco-geological environment in the disaster area is essential for county restoration and ecological remediation. This research considers Pingwu County, which is located 89 km from the epicenter of the Wenchuan earthquake, as the study area to evaluate the eco-geological environment carrying capacity. First, three evaluation index layers are built for an eco-geological environment carrying capacity model after the earthquake, including the geological, ecological and social environments. Then, the evolutionary algorithm is used to modify the analytic hierarchy process (AHP). By optimizing the consistency ratio of the AHP, the most consistent evaluation matrix can be obtained. Finally, we calculate the eco-geological environment carrying capacity in Pingwu via the best consistent evaluation matrix and obtain a hierarchical map of the eco-geological environment carrying capacity through grid rasterization. The results indicate that the current eco-geological environment carrying capacity in Pingwu County mainly contains two states, equilibrium and surplus states. According to the hierarchical map, this study suggests that focusing on ecological protection and disaster monitoring in the eastern and northern areas of Pingwu, large infrastructures should be built in the central and southern areas, and the land use capability should be further improved. Moreover, construction in the central area of Pingwu should be optimized, the scale of regional construction should be controlled, and the original ecological species in the natural protection area should be maintained. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Environmental geological disasters seriously threaten human lives and property. A reasonable analysis of the susceptibility to environmental geological disasters is the basis for disaster prevention and mitigation and can promote the sustainable development of regional economy. This study analyzes the susceptibility of environmental geological disasters, such as collapses, landslides, and debris flows in Helong City, China. Through investigation and comprehensive analysis, ten environmental, geological disaster causing factors, including stratum lithology, distance from the fault, elevation, slope, aspect, rainfall, distance from the water system, NDVI, distance from the road, and profile curvature, were extracted. Combined with GIS, a vulnerability analysis database of environmental geological disasters was established, and vulnerability zoning prediction was performed by using two models of information amount and a generalized regression neural network (GRNN). Then, disaster-vulnerability factors such as population density, road density, GDP, and land use type were added. The results show that the predicted results of the two models are similar to the actual survey results.. The environmental geological disasters in the study area are mainly low and not prone to occur, and the northeast and central areas are highly prone to environmental geological disasters, which are the key prevention and control areas in the study area. The coverage rate of high-vulnerability areas with a high degree of economic development is 8.63%, and the prediction results of the GRNN model are mostly distributed in spots and strips, which is more conducive to accurate disaster prevention and mitigation and cost reduction, promotes regional sustainable development, and has guiding significance for disaster prevention and control and urban planning and construction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Urban Studies (Sage Publications, Ltd.) is the property of Sage Publications, Ltd. and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

In the past decade, learning from foreign countries experience, China has studied and developed environmental monitoring sensor technology; constructed fisheries eco-environment monitoring network; earned out studies on red tide, etc. environmental disaster early warning technology. Besides, our country has explored the water pollution effect on ecological system structure and function, toxicity of pollutants; the habitat restoration and wild species protection and recovery measures; and has gained remarkable progress on key emergency handling technology such as handling oil spill, chemical pollutants and heavy metals pollution accident, etc.. In view of the present policy orientation and research hot spot, the paper suggested to pay more attention to the construction of large scale national environment monitoring data network; to study on disaster early warning mechanism, biological strychnos of pollutents and their genetic variation rule at molecular level, and water environmental restoration and healthy aquaculture strategy, etc., so as to establish a solid foundation for the sustainable development of fishery in China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Considering the traditional indicator of Green GDP and EDP, which ignored the ecological content when used to assess the regional sustainable development level, we proposed a new indicator, “EcoDP”, which consists of five sub-indicators: eco-service domestic product, eco-disaster domestic product, eco-construction domestic product, eco-threat domestic product, and eco-protection cost input, to distinguish the traditional EDP; we also suggest that the “EcoDP” should rather be divided into two main types: the “EcoDP value-stocked” and the “EcoDP value-added”. An analysis is carried out of China''s “EcoDP” change from 1999 to 2008, providing the following figures for the past 10 years: eco-service domestic product rose by 0.11 trillion yuan; eco-disaster domestic product increased by ¥1.03 trillion; eco-construction domestic product dropped by ¥9.8 billion; eco-threat domestic product rose by ¥114.4 billion; eco-protection cost input grew by ¥431.1 billion; and then we discussed the reasons for this change in China''s “EcoDP” from the perspectives of ecosystem, environment, resources and energies. Finally, based on various uncertainties regarding the research methodology adopted, the paper considers how to conduct quantified research and assessment for regional sustainable development in a comprehensive way in the future, in terms of GDP, EDP and social domestic product, like HDI. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: This paper constructs Bai Autonomous Prefecture of Dali''s land ecological security assessment index system based on pressure-state-response model, using entropy method and composite index method to evaluate Dali Prefecture''s land ecological security’ composite index is 0.60823 in 2009, which is in good security condition. Although the whole prefecture''s condition stays comparative security, we should realize the economic disparity and land security status varies from city to city. The difficulty of land exploiting, ecological disasters and the vulnerable land ecosystem are also the reality we should face. So how to maintain the present good trend of land resources development with the rapid development of economy and intensified human activities is what the government and policy makers should consider. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Urban landscape pattern (ULP) is becoming increasingly important for the sustainable development of regions and the whole world. Knowing the ULP status is crucial for making decisions to avoid ecological disasters, reducing environmental problems and industrial pollution, and harmonizing urban development and natural conservation. To link and harmonize various landscape elements and flows in the ULP, this study developed a theoretical scheme from a network viewpoint to explain the spatial interactions among landscape elements and flows. Using a case study of Changzhou city located in southeastern China, this paper tried to integrate ecological factors and socioeconomic conditions using landscape functions modeling and network analysis to establish strategies for ULP design. Because an urban landscape is highly complex with various social, economic, and natural elements, urban landscapes were classified into four subtypes, each with its own specific appearance. Then the paths of socioeconomic and ecological flows were determined using a least-cost distance model. The overall pattern of linkage paths among the ecologically fragile areas could help identify the areas with high ecological risk in Changzhou. For ecologically sustainable, economically sound, and socially just development, a scheme for ecological rehabilitation and security-pattern design was proposed to reduce ecological risks. Finally, this study discussed how to balance economic and ecological needs from the viewpoint of network theory and how to optimize landscape patterns through enhancing functional linkage and strengthening structural connectivity. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

• Considering flood vulnerability and resilience changes in 28 Chinese provinces. • Establishing detailed flood relative vulnerability and resilience evaluation index systems. • First applying a super efficiency SBM-DEA method to resilience assessment research. • Adding Flood disaster drivers and environmental factors to the assessment model. • Some suggestions are introduced to enhance flood disaster ability. China suffers frequent and severe floods that result in significant annual casualties and economic losses. However, as flood vulnerability and resilience varies in different regions and periods, it is vital that the temporal and spatial vulnerability and resilience characteristics are known to enable the government to make suitable arrangements for the distribution of relief funds and assist the regions to improve their disaster capabilities. Therefore, to reveal the relative vulnerability and resilience of the research object, this paper developed Chinese provincial scale flood vulnerability and resilience assessment models from an input-output perspective that accounted for socioeconomic, flood damage, flood driving and environmental factors. The Super-Efficiency Data Envelopment Analysis method was applied to the vulnerability assessment research and the Super-Efficiency Slacks-Based Measure Data Envelopment Analysis method was applied to the resilience assessment research. It was found that high vulnerability, high resilience provinces were mainly distributed in the eastern coastal areas, high vulnerability, low resilience provinces were mainly concentrated around the middle reaches of the Yangtze River, low vulnerability, high resilience provinces were mainly distributed in the western region, and low vulnerability, low resilience provinces were mainly in the southwest region. From 2012 to 2018, the relative flood vulnerability was "declining" in 36% of the provinces, even though they had been under pressure from rising GDP and population densities. It was also found that the annual precipitation as the driving factor had a significant impact on provincial flood vulnerabilities. The relative flood resilience from 2012 to 2018 was "rising-declining" in 39% of the provinces, had "almost no change" in 29%, and was rising in only 11%, which indicated that the relative flood resilience in many Chinese provinces still needs to be improved, with the recovery capacity of the power infrastructure in particular needing to be strengthened. Based on the spatiotemporal relative flood vulnerability and resilience variations in each province, some flood prevention and mitigation suggestions are given. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Construct index system to evaluate coupling coordination degree of socioeconomic & ecological environment in disaster area. • The coupling coordination degree in severely affected counties in southwestern China has been improved after Wenchuan earthquake. • Provide an excellent comprehensive evaluation method for the regional sustainable development. • Coupling coordination degree in Wenchuan earthquake disaster areas show distinct spatial characteristics. The Chinese government established a counterpart support mechanism and ecological civilization construction to promote socioeconomic development and ecological protection after the Wenchuan earthquake. However, the contradiction between the ecological environment and socioeconomic is still has not changed fundamentally. How to coordinate the relationship between the socioeconomic and ecological environment in the disaster area has become a key issue to the sustainable development after the Wenchuan earthquake. The purpose of this paper is to research the coupling and coordination relationship between socioeconomic and ecological environment to provide reference for Wenchuan earthquake disaster area to achieve regional sustainable development goals (SDGs) and high-quality development. Based on this, the dynamic deviation maximization (DM) method and coupling coordination model (CCD) were used to calculate the indicator weight and the overall coordination relationship between socioeconomic (SE) and ecological environment (EE) in Wenchuan earthquake disaster area by using the data from 2005 to 2018. The results showed that the CCD of the Wenchuan earthquake disaster area has increased from 2005 to 2018. From the spatial characteristics, the comprehensive evaluation score of CCD decreased from northeast to southwest in the disaster area, and there is still a significant spatial difference in the disaster area. Besides, the interesting finding is that post-disaster reconstruction and recovery capacity are closely related to location factors, population factors and altitude factors. On this basis, the causes of regional differences are analyzed, and some corresponding concrete suggestions are proposed, involving strengthen the policies to prevent labor loss, expand the characteristic industries of each country according to local conditions, and increase investment in technological innovation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Global warming has changed the distributions of forests of northeastern China. Larix are very important species in this area. Predicting the potential distributions of Larix species and their responses to climate change would attract more and more attention. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Because of the unique natural geography, geological structure, and ecological environment, there are serious geological disasters and environmental damage caused by the high-intensity mining in Western China. It seriously restricts the development of coal resources and the protection of ecological environment. In order to fully capture the law of key stratum breakage with high-intensity mining, the IMS microseismic system was introduced into Xiaojihan coal mine which is a typical high-intensity mining mine in Western China, and the whole process dynamic monitoring was carried out. The process of key stratum breakage was analysed by MS data, which were in agreement with the pressure analysis results of the hydraulic support of the working face. The results showed that there were the obvious forewarning characteristics in microseismic event number, energy release, energy index, Schmidt number, coefficient of seismic response, and b value when the key stratum was breaking. Then, a method to discriminate the breakage of key stratum was proposed by using the forewarning characteristics, which could provide the guidance for prevention and control of geological hazards in the working face with high-intensity mining. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Most of the inland river basins in north-west China have experienced ecosystem degradation and even desertification in the last few decades. As a case study, we estimated the net primary productivity (NPP) of the Heihe river basin and analysed its difference between 2002 and 1998 by using the C-Fix, a Monteith type parametric NPP model. The data used include the normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) derived from the 1-km SPOT/VEGETATION sensor and other environmental records. By obtaining the spatiotemporal patterns of NPP change as well as land use changes from higher resolution imagery in the basin, we identified its forcing factors in terms of climate change and human activities. We suggest that a decline in rainfall over the five years was one reason for NPP decrease in the basin. Other factors, such as irrational reclamation upstream and intensive development of irrigated farmland in the midstream play more important roles. They reinforce water competition between artificial and natural ecosystems over the whole basin. It is also found that human activities can produce very different NPP changes in a short time in mountainous regions. The NPP decreased in the east Qilian Mountains due to farmland reclamation and overgrazing but increased in the west, according to the ecosystem preserve project. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Dryland area occupies 37% of the national territory in China. Desertification and other disasters have limited dryland sustainable development. Here we overview the dryland characteristics and desertification status and introduce four regionally optimized eco-productive paradigms for dryland sustainable development, i.e., the mountain-oasis paradigm in arid desert; the small watershed-based paradigm on the Loess Plateau; the integrated animal husbandry paradigm on the Inner Mongolia Steppe and the agro-pastoral transitional region; and three circle paradigm on the Ordos Plateau. These paradigms are established on the basis of regional landscape patterns and their underlying material and energy flow rules, and different functional belts are determined and capitalized upon with the integrated consideration of regional biogeophysical processes, biogeochemical cycles and biogeosocial relations. These paradigms cannot cover all complex landscape types, but provide theoretical frameworks and practicable models for dryland sustainable development in China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Digital Earth concept as originally proposed by former US Vice president Al Gore is now well established and widely adopted internationally. Similarly, many researchers world-wide are studying the causes, effects and impacts of Global Change. The authors commence by describing a five-step approach to the development of Digital Earth technologies. This is followed by a detailed account of Digital Earth research and developments in China. The authors then present the research results of Global Change studies carried out in China, based on the Digital Earth approach. These research results are based on a classification of global change regions. This covers the following global change situations: Forest and grassland fires in Northern China, temperate region desertification and dust storms, underground coal fires, deforestation and carbon sequestration, protection and utilisation of wetlands, Avian Influenza and the spread of diseases, Tibet Plateau uplift and sub-tropical monsoon climate region, and sea-level rise. The research results show that the environment does not behave in a way easily understood by the traditional disciplinary approach. Although man is clearly a contributing factor to certain Global Change aspects, such as underground coal fires, desertification, land use changes etc., many of the aspects of Global Change are naturally occurring phenomena which have been changing over centuries, and will continue to do so, no matter what actions we undertake to reverse these processes. Hence, in their conclusions, the authors propose that the communities involved in Digital Earth modelling and in Global Change research co-operate closer to overcome the limitations inherent in the current 'conventional' scientific approach, where scientists have very much stayed within their respective scientific boundaries. Such an integrated approach will enable us to build the next level of scientific infrastructure required to understand and predict naturally occurring environmental changes, as well as that of coupled human-environmental systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]