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Copyright of Transformations in Business & Economics is the property of Vilnius University 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.)

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]

The situation of resource utilization and eco-environment protection remains critical globally. The harmony between eco-environment health and water-energy utilization efficiency is a strong support for the realization of high-quality development. In this paper, an Assessment-Decoupling two-stage framework was developed to investigate the relationship between water-energy resource utilization and ecological security. In detail, an improved input-output indicator system was constructed to assess the water-energy resource utilization efficiency (WEUE), and its influencing factors were examined from multiple system perspectives; then, we intended to evaluate the ecological risk (ER) from a raster-scale perspective based on land-use types; and finally, the decoupling idea was introduced to quantify the fitness relationship of the above two aspects. The framework was applied to Henan Province, China. The study found that: (1) the WEUE of Henan Province shows a "W" pattern of development during 2000–2020; in 2000–2010, the WEUE of South Henan declined, while in 2010–2020, the WEUE of Henan Province gradually improved, with significant increases in various districts. (2) The ecological risk index (ERI) in Henan Province generally shows a decreasing trend, and the spatial difference is more obvious, with the high-risk areas mainly concentrated in the central, east, and south Henan, and the west of Henan is mainly a low-risk area. (3) There is strong spatial variation in the decoupling states of WEUE and ERI of the 18 districts in Henan Province, and the differences become more pronounced over time. The number of districts with a strong negative decoupling state has been increasing during the entire period, and a total of 14 districts have reached the above state in 2020. The developed framework offers a new idea for clarifying the relationship between resource utilization and ecological conditions, and the obtained results can provide data support for the realization of sustainable development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Green and high-efficiency water resource utilization patterns hold paramount importance in promoting sustainable economic and social development, as well as in attaining the goal of carbon neutrality. Most research on water utilization efficiency have taken a general perspective to quantify it, neglecting independent relationships and green effects among water use sectors. This study proposed an integrated measurement model of green water resource utilization efficiency (GWRUE), combined with the carbon dioxide emission equivalent analysis method of water resource behaviors, and constructed an input–output indicator system of GWRUE from four dimensions: domestic, industrial, agricultural, and ecological water. The aim is to achieve the measurement of GWRUE towards carbon neutrality. In this paper, 18 cities in Henan Province were used as instances to carry out the study. The results show that (1) The CO2 emission equivalent from multiple water use sectors in Henan Province showed a tendency of fluctuating reduction during the study period, from a peak of 21,090,100 tons in 2012 to a low of 12,351,900 tons in 2021, with large spatial variations, and the CO2 emission effect existed in most cities, with Zhengzhou being the highest. (2) The GWRUE of domestic, industrial, and agricultural water in Henan Province and 18 cities exhibited an overall upward trend, while that of ecological water presented a downward trend and was at the lowest level among the four sectors. (3) Consolidated GWRUE in Henan Province tended to decrease and then increase; its value was 0.512 in 2011, 0.448 in 2017, and 0.586 in 2021, and most of its cities were at a Medium level. The findings of this study can serve as a theoretical and practical basis for improving the level of green and efficient utilization of water resources, as well as offer references for relevant water use sectors to formulate CO2 emission reduction policies. [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 land use mode directly affects the health of the ecosystem. The ecological health evaluation of land use is of practical significance to promoting the sustainable land resources utilization. This paper applies the Markov theory to construct the land use conversion matrix. 19 indexes are selected to construct evaluation index system for land use ecological health. A dynamic evaluation method is put forward. Taking Weihui County, Henan Province as an example, the evaluated results show that from 2010 to 2020, land use and transformation is mainly concentrated in 7 types, i.e. agricultural, residential, industrial, fruit and forest land use. The health ecological types accounted for 40.51% and 36.20% of the total evaluated area both in 2010 and 2020 respectively, which decreased by 6.31% with the comparison of two periods. The results have certain reference value for improving land ecological health and promoting local sustainable economic and social development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of China Population Resources & Environment is the property of Shandong Normal University 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.)

Silo-cave is a unique human habitation form on the Loess Plateau in northern China, which consists of an excavated 6–7 m deep pit as the courtyard and cave dwellings in the surrounding four walls. This architecture has had a history of more than 7000 years, and yet such "living fossils for the history of dwellings" are now facing great crises and challenges during rapid social and economic development. In this paper, remote sensing and GIS techniques are used to comprehensively and systematically investigate the spatial distributions and morphological characteristics of silo-caves at both the macro and micro scales. The research shows that silo-cave villages are mainly distributed in economically underdeveloped areas, such as West Henan (Yuxi), South Shanxi (Jinnan), Central Shaanxi (Guanzhong), and East Gansu (Longdong). The morphological evolution patterns of typical silo-cave villages are identified, including: (1) retaining the periphery and rebuilding the inner parts of the villages, (2) retaining the inner parts and expanding the periphery of the villages, and (3) rebuilding the inner parts and expanding the periphery of the villages. These patterns are demonstrated to be influenced by many factors, including landforms, traffic conditions, economic development, population growth, and administrative division adjustment. Sustainable development of these traditional silo-cave villages relies on administrative policy and planning, people's awareness of cultural heritage protection, culture inheritance, industrial transformation, and public services. [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]

The Yellow River Basin (YB) acts as a key barrier to ecological security and is an important experimental region for high-quality development in China. There is a growing demand to assess the ecological status in order to promote the sustainable development of the YB. The eco-environmental quality (EEQ) of the YB was assessed at both the regional and provincial scales utilizing the remote sensing-based ecological index (RSEI) with Landsat images from 2000 to 2020. Then, the Theil–Sen (T-S) estimator and Mann–Kendall (M-K) test were utilized to evaluate its variation trend. Next, the optimal parameter-based geodetector (OPGD) model was used to examine the drivers influencing the EEQ in the YB. Finally, the geographically weighted regression (GWR) model was utilized to further explore the responses of the drivers to RSEI changes. The results suggest that (1) a lower RSEI value was found in the north, while a higher RSEI value was found in the south of the YB. Sichuan (SC) and Inner Mongolia (IM) had the highest and the lowest EEQ, respectively, among the YB provinces. (2) Throughout the research period, the EEQ of the YB improved, whereas it deteriorated in both Henan (HA) and Shandong (SD) provinces. (3) The soil-available water content (AWC), annual precipitation (PRE), and distance from impervious surfaces (IMD) were the main factors affecting the spatial differentiation of RSEI in the YB. (4) The influence of meteorological factors (PRE and TMP) on RSEI changes was greater than that of IMD, and the influence of IMD on RSEI changes showed a significant increasing trend. The research results provide valuable information for application in local ecological construction and regional development planning. [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]

As human consumption expands, four environmental footprints (EFs) exceed the planetary boundaries (PBs) at the global scale. Managing absolute environmental sustainability (AES) based on PBs and EFs at the subnational level is crucial for policy insights. However, a consumption‐based AES management framework still needs to be developed. A framework, including five nexus environmental pressures embodied in the supply chain, was developed and tested in our study across China's 30 provinces to address this knowledge gap. The framework involved three steps: (a) assessing AES for five environmental pressures, (b) measuring environmental surplus and overshoot and composition of EFs, and (c) identifying priority areas for AES management. The results showed that only some provinces are sustainable for three impact‐oriented indicators, especially those with larger populations. Moreover, the embodied environmental pressure mainly flows from the Northwest to Southeast China. For two resource‐oriented indicators, over 74% of provinces are absolutely sustainable. From a nexus perspective, Shandong and Shanghai are identified as priorities for AES management due to their low IESI values of 0.32, 0.33, and 0.40, respectively, which means the worst performance. To improve their IESI, Shanghai needs to control the consumption of blue water‐intensive products, while Shandong and Henan should consume fewer CO2 emissions and N‐ and P‐loss‐intensive products. This framework can clarify subnational responsibilities of environmental overshoots, guide sustainable development, and be widely used at the subnational level in countries worldwide. Plain Language Summary: Earth's ecosystem has a limited ability to provide natural resources and accept pollutants. Absolute environmental sustainability (AES) assumes that irreversible impacts will occur once human needs surpass this capacity, emphasizing the need for policymaking based on the current situation. As a crucial policy‐related entity, subnational regions urge AES management. Here, we focus not only on assessing AES of five environmental pressures (including carbon dioxide (CO2) emission, freshwater use, Nitrogen (N) loss, Phosphorus (P) loss, and land use) embodied in supply chains but also on identifying the priorities of AES management among 30 Chinese provinces. We found that the CO2, N, and P driven by final demands have transgressed the absolute limits in all provinces, especially with larger populations. They mainly consume products from Northwest China. More than 74% of the provinces are within the freshwater and land use boundaries. Shanghai, Shandong, and Henan are identified as priorities of AESA management because of their lousy performance from a nexus perspective. They should be responsible for consumption. Applying this framework globally at the subnational scale is crucial for consumption‐based AES management and global environmental preservation. Key Points: A consumption‐based integrated framework for subnational environmental sustainability management within planetary boundaries was developedAll Chinese provinces overconsumed Nitrogen, Phosphorus, and Carbon dioxide‐intensive productsHenan, Shandong, Shanghai, and Jiangsu were identified as priorities for absolute environmental sustainability management [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Grasping the structure of the spatial associations in the energy–carbon emission efficiency (ECEE) of the transportation industry is of great importance for ensuring the green and sustainable development of the transportation industry. Based on the panel data on the transportation industry in 30 Chinese provinces from 2003 to 2017, this paper measures the provincial ECEE using the non-radial directional distance function (NDDF) and explores the structure of the spatial associations in ECEE and its influencing factors using social network analysis (SNA). The results show that (1) the average value of transportation ECEE in China is 0.34. The overall ECEE is relatively low and exhibits obvious spatial and temporal heterogeneity. (2) The network structure of the spatial associations for ECEE exhibit a hierarchical gradient characterized by density in the east and sparsity in the west, with provinces in the eastern and central regions, such as Henan, Zhejiang, and Fujian, possessing core leadership positions in the spatial transportation ECEE network. (3) The results of the block model show that the spatial ECEE network in the Chinese transportation industry has an obvious factional structure and that there are significant spatial associations among the blocks. Block 4, which contains several western provinces, exerts clear spatial spillover effects. (4) Regarding the factors affecting the formation of the spatial association network for ECEE, the differences in industrial structures, transportation energy structures, education levels, environmental regulations, and foreign direct investment among the provinces have positive and relatively significant effects on ECEE networks. The findings of this paper have theoretical and policy implications for integrating energy conservation and carbon emission reduction in China's transportation industry across regions. [Display omitted] • ECEE for energy-intensive industries is measured. • Spatial and temporal heterogeneity of ECEE is depicted. • The structure of ECEE spatial association network exhibits density in the east and sparsity in the west. • Henan, Zhejiang and Fujian possess the core leadership position in the spatial association network. • The driving factors of ECEE spatial association network are explored using QAP. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper evaluates the ecotourism suitability of Henan province based on the ecotourism suitability evaluation system. And our research clarifies the spatial distribution of the ecotourism suitability in Henan province, China, explores the internal relations between landscape pattern and ecotourism suitability, and provides a scientific basis for the future sustainable development of ecotourism in Henan from an ecological perspective. The results show the following: 1) the ecotourism suitability is obvious differences between the eastern and western regions in Henan, with the indexes of ecotourism suitability in the western and southern regions being higher than those in other regions. The ecotourism suitability shows a trend of first increasing and then decreasing in Henan, with the highest value in 2007; 2) the Pearson correlation analysis shows that the key landscape pattern factors, including landscape patch area, shape, number, type, and spatial configuration, have an important impact on ecotourism suitability and show significant time differences. [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]

Copyright of Journal of Henan Agricultural Sciences is the property of Editorial Board of Journal of Henan Agricultural Sciences 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.)

The North China Plain is the main producing area of winter wheat in China. Due to the relatively poor condition of water resources, the competition of water between industry and agriculture is fierce. The increasing shortage of water resources has led to serious overexploitation of groundwater in some areas. Agricultural development is faced with severe challenges. In order to ensure regional food security and sustainable winter wheat planting, 52 cities of North China Plain (NCP), in the following of the paper, use the shorted name NCP，were taken as research units to analyze the matching characteristics of agricultural water and land resources, so as to reveal the direction of irrigated agriculture development and winter wheat suitable planting layout considering their balance in future. The paper firstly analyzed the cultivated area determined by water resource and irrigation development by agricultural available water, and then pointed out the direction of water-suited planting layout of winter wheat. The results showed that: 1) the Gini coefficient showed an increasing trend, which indicated that the area of cultivated land and irrigation area supported by water resources have nearly reached the upper limit. The large-scale extension of both cultivated and irrigation area is impossible under the restriction of water. 2) The amount of agricultural available water resources per unit of effective irrigation area and the effective precipitation increased gradually from north to south in the NCP, but the spatial distribution of water requirement of winter wheat in its growth period changed in the opposite way. This indicated the poor spatiotemporal match between winter wheat planting and water resources, leading to the cost of spending more water to maintain wheat production. 3), The further development of irrigation and the water-suited planting of winter wheat should pay attention to the southern part of the plain with rich water (such as southern Henan Province, Jiangsu Province, Anhui Province, etc.) to ensure the regional agricultural development. That is of great significance to the regional sustainable development, water shortage alleviation and national grain safety. ● Restraining the irrigation area and winter wheat in NCP. ● Moderately development irrigation area in south of the NCP. ● Water-suited planting layout of Winter wheat. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

At present, the air quality of most cities in Henan Province is seriously polluted. This will do great harm to people's health and the sustainable development of society. In order to solve this situation and improve the air quality of Henan Province, it is necessary to make effective forecast for the future air quality. After comprehensive consideration of various prediction models, combined with the characteristics of air quality, this paper selects the grey model as the research tool. In order to improve the prediction accuracy of the model, a compound accumulative grey model is proposed in this paper. It has been proved that the accuracy of this model is higher than that of other models. The study found that the concentration of SO 2 and NO 2 in 18 cities in Henan province will continue to decline, reaching the first-level standard. PM 2.5 and PM 10 concentrations in all cities still exceeded the standard, with some cities exceeding the standard seriously. In the future, the focus of air control in Henan Province should be on PM 2.5 and PM 10. The forecast results can provide reference for related departments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Taking Changyuan City of Henan Province, a pilot city of collective commercial construction land reform, as the research object, this paper analyzes the scientific connotation of "same land, same right, same price" of collective commercial construction land and state-owned land in the unified urban-rural construction land market system, and how to realize "same land, same right, same price". The results show that in order to realize the fair entry of collective construction land into the market, it must base on scientific use control, unify the urban and rural construction land market and adhere to the guidance of market mechanism, and finally realize the sustainable development of the land market. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Distributed Energy System (DES), a comprehensive energy utilization system distributed on user side, has been recognized as a promising energy utilization method that can improve energy efficiency, reduce greenhouse gas emissions, and achieve sustainable development. However, the DES is usually driven by various energy sources, and it is a complex issue to decide the composition of the system. To improve the incompleteness of a single subjective or objective assessment. So, it is urgent to find a comprehensive and efficient decision-making method for different systems. This paper states a total of 23 indicators in 4 criterion group: technology, economy, environment, and society. Based on the combination of the order relation analysis method (G1) and the anti-entropy weighting method (a-EWM), a comprehensive evaluation model, order relation-anti-entropy weight model (G1-aEWM), of distributed energy is established. This comprehensive evaluation model is used to analyze a hospital in Henan and find the final solution for the distributed energy system of the hospital. The empirical analysis results verify the rationality of the comprehensive evaluation model and provide an evaluation basis for the establishment of distributed energy systems in the future. [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]

The evaluation of rural governance capacity is a crucial part of studying the economic and social development of rural areas in the Henan Province. Based on the theory of social structure, this article studies the rural governance capacity. We construct a governance capacity evaluation indicator system from the perspective of social structure theory and use the entropy weight method TOPSIS evaluation model to calculate indicator weight and governance ability score of every township. The results illustrate that the overall governance capacity score is low, and there are differences among regions. The weights, which are different among different governance agents, provide a certain guidance for effectively improving governance capabilities. This study will offer a reference for the assessment of the governance of rural areas in Henan or in areas with similar economic and social development to the Henan region. [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]

With the rapid development of urbanization, the Chinese construction industry has generated a large quantity of carbon emission and brought about challenges to sustainable development while making enormous contributions to national economic development. Thus, this industry is the key field of energy conservation and emission reduction. Facilitating sustainable development of the construction industry and scientifically and reasonably evaluating the carbon emission efficiency of the construction industry will be important for effectively controlling carbon emission and boosting the sustainable development of the construction industry. Carbon emission was added into the total-factor productivity model of the traditional construction industry as an environmental factor in this study, and a total-factor evaluation model for the carbon emission efficiency of the construction industry was constructed. Henan Province was taken as an example, and empirical analysis was conducted to determine the differences of Henan construction industry in the period of 2012-2018 in the aspect of carbon emission efficiency. Results showed that the total-factor carbon emission efficiency of Henan construction industry in the period of 2012–2018 was 1.084%, which indicated a certain increase in the total-factor emission efficiency of Henan construction industry over the 7 years. The overall resource utilization efficiency of Henan construction industry was improved by 0.84% due to the joint actions of elevated technological progress (by 0.35%) and improved technical efficiency (by 0.47%). Average pure technical efficiency was slightly reduced by 0.03%, which indicated that building scale was the driving force for improving the total-factor efficiency of the construction industry. The study results can provide systematic and comprehensive carbon emission information in the construction industry for policy making. Therefore, the carbon emission status of the construction industry in one province can be mastered from a provincial level to clarify responsibilities, facilitate coordinated development, and boost the efficiency and equity of emission reduction in the construction industry. This way will be important for finally realizing the goals of energy conservation, emission reduction, and low-carbon development. [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]