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The paper industry is a traditional industry with extensive consumption of resources and energy and more pollutant discharge. This industry is closely related to production and life activities. Under the general requirement of "to step up conservation of the Yangtze River and stop its over development", the paper industry in the Yangtze River Economic Belt should urgently undergo green transformation and development. Based on the undesirable slack-based measure model, spatial gravity center, Kernel density function, Theil index, and panel model, this study examines the green development efficiency and its influencing factors of the paper industry in the Yangtze River Economic Belt from 2001 to 2016. Results showed the following: (1) from 2001 to 2016, the green development efficiency of the paper industry in the Yangtze River Economic Belt had been steadily improved, but the overall efficiency value is not high, which has a great potential for improvement. The green development efficiency of the paper industry in the Yangtze River Economic Belt presents the regional differentiation law of gradient increasing in the upper, middle, and lower reaches. (2) According to the gravity center trajectory, the efficiency center of the green development of the paper industry in the Yangtze River Economic Belt is located in the middle reaches of Hunan Province and Hubei Province and moves to the southwest. This case indicates that the green development efficiency of the paper industry in provinces and cities in the southwest has been improved. (3) The regional differences in the green development efficiency of the paper industry in the Yangtze River Economic Belt show the characteristics of narrowing fluctuations. The regional differences are the primary sources of the difference in the green development efficiency of the paper industry. (4) The enterprise scale, science and technology investment, and industrial structure have significant positive effects on the green development efficiency of the paper industry in the Yangtze River Economic Belt. On the contrary, environmental regulation and foreign investment intensity have significant negative effects. However, the above factors have different effects on the green development efficiency of the paper industry in the upper, middle, and lower reaches of the Yangtze River Economic Belt. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Chinese government is making vigorous efforts to control agricultural pollution. The promotion of an ecological planting–breeding mix pattern is one of them. Farmers' mode of production will affect their subjective well-being. Thus, this paper aims to analyze the impact of adopting the ecological planting–breeding mix pattern on farmers' subjective well-being based on 895 pieces of survey data from the provinces of Hubei, Hunan, and Jiangxi in the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River. Using the endogenous switching regression model, we find that the adoption of the ecological planting–breeding mix pattern has a significant positive effect on farmers' subjective well-being. Based on this counterfactual hypothesis, if the farmers who actually adopted the ecological planting–breeding mix pattern did not adopt it, their subjective well-being would decrease from 4.006 to 3.669. Further examination indicates that self-worth identification, income increase, and neighborhood communication could be potential mechanisms. Additionally, the effect of the ecological planting–breeding mix pattern on subjective well-being is stronger in the group with low financial support. The technical support provided by the government does not have a significant regulatory effect on the adoption of the ecological planting–breeding mix pattern on subjective well-being. Our results suggest that farmers' ecological production behavior can affect their subjective well-being. This may be relevant to many developing countries today that are attempting to adopt ecological agriculture patterns. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The rapid urbanization in China in the past four decades has significantly affected traditional villages, resulting in a series of problems such as limited space, damaged style, weak sense of place, and loss of skills. This paper aims to establish a new paradigm for the sustainable development of village architecture in the Tujia ethnic area of southwestern Hubei province in order to address the issues of development and renovation of village architecture in this region. To achieve this goal, first, through field investigations and records of typical villages in the Tujia ethnic area of southwestern Hubei province, the characteristics of Tujia ethnic villages and the real challenges faced by village architecture are summarized. Secondly, the Delphi method is used to conduct expert interviews, construct a multi-level evaluation index system for sustainable development, and use the analytic hierarchy process to determine the weights of each index. Based on this, four design paradigms for sustainable development are proposed, including flexible layout, integrated interface composition, localized housing construction, and modular unit construction. These four paradigms cover the entire design stage from function to form, and from overall scene to structure. At the same time, multiple modular options are provided for each stage. Compared to the traditional experience-based construction model, the comprehensive benefits and promotability are greatly improved. Therefore, the research findings provide a reference for the sustainable development of traditional village architecture in other ethnic areas of China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Fragile ecosystems that are affected by erosion from high pollution environmental loads pose a serious threat to human health and well-being. The evaluation of regional environmental loads has become a major issue for eco-environmental conservation and management. As a key region in central China, Hubei Province relies on ecosystems and the environment, which offer an important foundation for sustainable development and continuous improvements in social productivity. For this study, seven influencing factors were selected, and a correlation degree model was applied to assess Hubei Province's environmental loads during the period from 1995-2019. The results show that the overall environmental loads exhibit a fluctuating decreasing trend in response to economic growth and development actions. Moreover, as eco-environmental pollution problems have been addressed and improved over time, the ecosystem operating status has been gradually optimized. Finally, the paper concludes with a proposal of specific measures designed to mitigate Hubei Province's ecological loading from the perspectives of industrial structure, public awareness and technological innovation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The impact of global greenhouse gas emissions is increasingly serious, and the development of green low-carbon circular economy has become an inevitable trend for the development of all countries in the world. To achieve emission peak and carbon neutrality is the primary goal of energy conservation and emission reduction. As the core province in central China, Hubei Province is under prominent pressure of carbon emission reduction. In this paper, the future development trend of carbon emissions is analyzed, and the emission peak value and carbon peak time in Hubei Province is predicted. Firstly, the generalized Divisia index method (GDIM) model is proposed to determine the main influencing factors of carbon emissions in Hubei Province. Secondly, based on the main influencing factors identified, a novel STIRPAT (Stochastic Impacts by Regression on Population, Affluence, and Technology) extended model with ridge regression is established to predict carbon emissions. Thirdly, the scenario analysis method is used to set the variables of the STIRPAT extended model and to predict the emission peak value and carbon peak time in Hubei Province. The results show that Hubei Province's carbon emissions peaked first in 2025, with a peak value of 361.81 million tons. Finally, according to the prediction results, the corresponding suggestions on carbon emission reduction are provided in three aspects of industrial structure, energy structure, and urbanization, so as to help government establish a green, low-carbon, and circular development economic system and achieve the industry's cleaner production and sustainable development of society. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ye, M., 2020. Constraints and solutions for harnessing and revitalizing water resources in Hubei Province of China. In: Hu, C. and Cai, M. (eds.), Geo-informatics and Oceanography. Journal of Coastal Research, Special Issue No. 105, pp. 115–118. Coconut Creek (Florida), ISSN 0749-0208. Water is the source of life, the essence of production, and the foundation of ecology. Considering the extreme importance of water resources, this paper takes Hubei Province as an example to study how to effectively solve natural disasters such as flood, drought, and waterlogging in inland river basins in China. Through in-depth analysis of the dialectical relationship between promoting water conservancy and controlling flood disasters, this paper fully demonstrates the great historical opportunities that Hubei Province is afforded under the national ecological civilization construction strategy. Finally, by learning from the successful experience of western developed countries in sustainable utilization of water resources, this paper proposes specific strategies of scientific development of water resources in Hubei Province as follows: constructing flood-control and waterlogging-reduction systems, optimizing water resources allocation structure, speeding up the construction of farmland water conservancy facilities, and strengthening the sustainable development and recycling of water resources, as well as building a modern water conservancy management system, which provides theoretical reference and scientific basis for scientific, orderly, and high-quality development of water resources in Hubei Province under the premise of ecological protection. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Journal of Natural Resources / Ziran Ziyuan Xuebao is the property of Journal of Natural Resources 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.)

Environmental degradation and climate change are two important issues that threaten human survival and sustainable social development. Based on the characteristics of the same source of sulfur dioxide and greenhouse gases, we analyze the collaborative governance mechanism of carbon emission trading on sulfur dioxide. The results show that carbon emission reduction trading may not necessarily deliver sulfur dioxide reduction co-benefits. Then, we conduct an empirical using data of 30 regions in China from 1998 to 2017. The results show that the co-benefits of carbon emission trading in terms of the reduction of sulfur dioxide are regionally heterogeneous. The carbon emission trading policies implemented in Beijing, Chongqing, Hubei, and Guangdong have realized collaborative governance on sulfur dioxide. However, the carbon emission trading policies implemented in Tianjin and Shanghai have not realized collaborative governance on sulfur dioxide. Moreover, Chongqing has the highest average annual sulfur dioxide reduction co-benefits, followed by Guangdong. The gap of sulfur dioxide reduction co-benefits between Beijing and Hubei's synergistic emission reduction effect is small. Moreover, the sulfur dioxide reduction co-benefits of carbon emission trading are mainly achieved by reducing fossil energy consumption. Meanwhile, the carbon emission trading implemented in Beijing also delivers sulfur dioxide reduction co-benefits by improving pollution reduction technology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In recent years, sustainable digital economy development goals have received increasing attention because of the serious influence environment with the development of the rapid economy. Meanwhile, Multiple Criteria Decision-Making (MCDM) methods are efficient ways to measure sustainable developments, which can controls environmental pollution and protects sustainability improvement. However, assessment results are unconvincing by using the common MCDM methods because various areas that caused pollution conditions are inconsistent. Therefore, the purpose of this paper is to design an interpretable MCDM method with uncertain weights for various areas evaluation. In particular, MCDM can be used to evaluate environmental sustainability development efficiently, and deep neural networks can supply credible weights to MCDM. Interpretability is used to understand key factors in the decision-making process. Referring to the national policy and urgent areas from central areas in China, six areas are conducted to assess the sustainable digital economy problem, which could be interpreted as demonstrating the effectiveness and feasibility of the proposed approach. Besides, the experimental results demonstrate that the sustainable developmental level of Hubei is the best in the latest year. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the rapid development of China's urbanization process and the promotion of the 'double carbon' strategy, green buildings will become an inevitable trend in the future development of the construction industry. Among the various building evaluation criteria, it is important to discuss how to promote the development of green buildings more efficiently and adaptively according to the characteristics of personnel needs. This study constructed a questionnaire to assess building use satisfaction based on China's national standards. Field research was conducted on 23 projects in six cities in Hubei Province, China, and a total of 2251 questionnaires were collected. The survey evaluated satisfaction with the current use of green buildings across different age groups and genders. A new satisfaction evaluation model is constructed through fuzzy comprehensive evaluation to provide guidance for the differentiated development of green buildings in different cities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Journal of Central China Normal University is the property of Huazhong 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.)

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]

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

The Han River Basin, a critical water conservation and ecological barrier in Hubei Province, is intricately associated with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Research results show that vegetation cover changes are affected by multiple factors, and understanding the influences of climate change and human activities on vegetation is imperative for achieving sustainable development in the basin. Through quantitative assessment of vegetation changes in diverse landform regions, implementing adaptive ecological construction and environmental protection will foster the sustainable development of ecological civilization in the Han River Basin. This study utilizes MODIS13Q1 data and employs diverse analytical methods to investigate the characteristics of vegetation change and the interrelationships between climate change, meteorological factors, and vegetation cover in various geomorphological areas of the Han River Basin from 2000 to 2020. The results showed that (1) throughout the entire study period, the NDVI of the six types of geomorphological divisions in the Han River Basin exhibited a fluctuating upward trend, with the changes in the low-altitude hilly geomorphic regions being particularly noteworthy. (2) Within the study area, approximately 92.67% of vegetation coverage displayed an increasing trend, while 7.33% showed degradation, predominantly in plains and platforms. Notably, the area of continuous improvement (31.16%) outweighed the area of continuous degradation (3.05%), with low and middle-relief mountain areas demonstrating the most robust growth and sustainability. (3) Human agriculture activities and urbanization processes have emerged as the primary driving force behind vegetation changes in the Han River Basin. The responses of vegetation to climate change and human activities exhibited significant variations across diverse geomorphological regions. In areas characterized by vegetation improvement, the contribution rate of human activities to NDVI changes in different vegetation types surpassed 70%, with plain areas displaying the highest contribution rate at a remarkable 90%. In contrast, the plain and platform regions of the vegetation degradation area were significantly influenced by climate change. In future watershed ecological environment management, it is essential to not only recognize the dominant role of human activities in promoting the growth of mountain vegetation NDVI but also address the impact of climate change on the degradation of vegetation NDVI in plains and platforms. A comprehensive understanding of these factors is crucial for devising effective strategies to ensure sustainable development and ecological balance in the Han River Basin. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Tourism Environmental Carrying Capacity (TECC) is an important index to judge sustainability of scenic zone, which is calculated by Tourism Ecological Footprint (TEF) and Tourism Ecological Capacity (TEC). Based on theories and models of TEF, this paper calculated TEF, TEC, and TECC in Yellow Crane Tower scenic spot. In 2008, TEF per capita was 0.0570hm2, footprint of transportation and waste were large, occupied 55.89% and 33.20% respectively. TEC of Yellow Crane Tower was 108.45hm2 in 2008 and it will be 176.80hm2 in 2012. Therefore, TECC was 3 804 tourists per day and it will be 6 204 tourists per day in 2012. Actually, TECC reached 3 354 tourists per day in 2008, which showed that tourists were under Carrying Capacity, but it is in vigilant situation of sustainable development. Finally, this paper put forward some suggestions on tourism sustainable development in Yellow Crane Tower. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Quantification of the relationship between agricultural water use and social development is important for the balance between conserving water resources and sustainable economic development. The agricultural water footprint (AWF) from crop production across 11 provinces in the Yangtze River Basin (YRB) of China, from 1999 to 2018, was calculated in the current paper. The driving factors which affected the provincial AWF were revealed using the logarithmic mean Divisia index (LMDI) model, based on a temporal and spatial variation assessment. The results showed that, with a growth rate of 1.95% per year, the annual AWF of the in the basin was 441.6 Gm3 (green water accounted for 73.63% of this) in the observed two decades. The Jiangsu, Anhui, Hubei and Sichuan provinces jointly accounted for 54% of the total AWF of the region. Cereal, cotton and fruit crops contributed most of the AWF, and determined the trends of the AWF over time. With the development of the economy and market demand, the dominant crop contributing to the AWF has shifted, from cereal and cotton around 2000, to cereals and fruits at present. The economic level was the main contributing factor driving the AWF. However, water use intensity was the most important factor which inhibited the growth of the AWF. Irrigation technology and the degree of urbanization also played a certain inhibitory role. There were significant differences in the driving effects among the different provinces. A comprehensive evaluation of the AWF and analysis of its driving factors provides a solid foundation for optimizing planting structure, strengthening water resource management, and enhancing regional exchanges and cooperation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Chinese water administration department has continuously explored and formulated regulatory and market-oriented water control policies to alleviate the contradiction between water shortage and economic and social development and promote the new idea of 'water-saving first' water control. Among them, implementing a water resources tax policy as a price means has achieved initial success. The water-saving effect of water resources tax collection is one of the important bases for determining whether the tax reform will be promoted nationwide in the next stage. Based on this, taking Hubei Province, the first tax reform pilot in China, as an example, water resource elements are integrated into the economic system and a dynamic stochastic general equilibrium model (DSGE) is constructed, embedded in water resources tax to simulate the persistent impact of such a tax on water saving objectives. The research shows that: (1) A water resources tax can effectively achieve the goal of water-saving and improve the utilization efficiency of water resources. (2) Levying a water resources tax helps to improve the water-saving awareness of enterprises and residents and promotes enterprises to optimize their production structure. (3) Rational and efficient use of special water resources protection funds is the basis for ensuring the effective implementation of a water resources tax. It can also improve the recycling capacity of water resources. This means that the government should speed up the exploration of the relationship between supply and demand for comprehensive water resources, to establish a reasonable range of water resources tax rates to guarantee people's livelihoods, and to accelerate the construction of water resources tax guarantee measures, in order to achieve a relatively steady-state of water resources utilization and protection, realizing the dual goal of sustainable economic development and sustainable use of water resources. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Rural vitalization (RV) has attracted more and more attention in China, especially since the Rural Vitalization Strategy (RVS) was proposed to restrict rural decline in 2017. The evaluation of RV is an effective means to objectively identify the characteristics and problems of rural development, so exploring scientific and rational evaluation methods is important for sustainable rural development. Therefore, this study builds a data-driven evaluation framework from a "bottom-up" perspective, and selects Hubei Province as the object to evaluate the effectiveness of RV. The evaluation index system is formed based on the concept and connotation of RV, which contains six dimensions, namely thriving businesses (TB), pleasant living environments (PLE), social etiquette and civility (SEC), effective governance (EG), living in prosperity (LP), and organization system (OS). The empirical results indicate that there is a low level of variation of the total scores but an obvious disparity in the dimensional scores in 13 prefecture-level and 83 county-level regions. At county-level, the regional development stage has an impact on the effectiveness of RV, and regions with a higher economy or endowed with better resources perform better. The results of spatial analysis further reveal that there is regional agglomeration as well as differences in various dimensions, and regions with characteristic industries or policy support perform better. Compared with the traditional evaluation method, differentiated evaluation objectives and diversified data are considered in the evaluation process of this study. The results and discussion shown in this study could provide empirical evidence for policymakers to effectively promote RV in the future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Forest Resources Assets Departure Audit (FRADA) is an important measure for the Chinese government to protect and develop forest resources, as well as to promote carbon peaking and carbon neutrality. Explicit audit content and scientific audit method are the basic premises for conducting an accurate audit. In this study, landscape ecology methods were employed to learn the spatiotemporal properties of forest resources, with the support of spatial information technology such as Geography Information System (GIS) and Remote Sensing (RS). A FRADA system from the perspective of landscape pattern index and ecological vulnerability was constructed. A case study was conducted for the evaluation of the proposed FRADA System. Lichuan, a county-level city in Hubei Province, China that is rich in forest resources was selected as the audit sample area, and the tenure period from 2015 to 2019 was regarded as the tenure cycle. The results showed that: (1) Before and after the tenure cycle, the number of patches (NP), patch density (PD) and largest patch index (LPI) of forest landscape showed a downward trend. Meanwhile, the decreased quantity and quality of forest landscapes showed inadequate protection of large forest patches with significant ecological value. In general, it was not beneficial for the sustainable development of forest resources in the view of ecology. (2) The landscape shape index (LSI) and connectivity index (CONNECT) showed an upward trend, which indicates that the shape of the forest landscape is changing in a complex way, and the connectivity has been improved. While, fractal dimension (FD) and fragmentation index (FN) showed a downward trend, indicating that the fragmentation trend of the forest landscape has been alleviated and the forest resources have a continuous and concentrated distribution. (3) The vulnerability of the forest landscape was significantly aggravated. Regarding administrative areas under the jurisdictions of Nanping Township, Jiannan Town and Fobaoshan Development Zone were particularly disturbed, and required special attention. The research results enrich and develop the theories and methods of FRADA and provide suggestions for the sustainable development of forest resources in Lichuan. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As China is currently in a critical period of transition to green development, a quantitative analysis of the coupled synergy between economic growth, population migration, and environmental protection performance can provide a rational reference for the formulation of macro-policies in relevant regions. Based on these objectives, this study built a matching analysis framework between gross domestic production (GDP) density (GD), population density (PD), and gross ecosystem production (GEP) density (ED) to analyze the spatial heterogeneity of these three indicators among 362 municipal units in different regions of the Chinese Mainland from 2000 to 2020 based on satellite remote sensing images and statistical data. The spatial adaptability between them was explored by employing a center-of-gravity model. The findings of this study show that: (1) the GD, PD, and ED on the Chinese Mainland exhibited varying degrees of spatial heterogeneity on both sides of the Hu Line during the investigation period, with the general feature of being higher in the southeastern region and lower in the northwestern region; (2) the centers of gravity of GD, PD, and ED were all located in Hubei Province during the investigation period. The centers of gravity of PD and GD shifted 79.39 km and 109.72 km to the southwest, respectively, whereas the center of gravity of ED, remained relatively stable during the investigation period; and (3) the center of gravity distances between PD–GD, ED–PD, and ED–GD in 2020 were 99.31 km, 247.52 km, and 346.27 km, respectively, and the percentages of highly matched units ranked among the 362 samples were 72.93%, 23.48%, and 25.69% for GD–PD, GD–ED, and ED–PD, respectively. This study concluded that a synergistic spatial pattern of the population, economic layout, and land use on the Chinese Mainland has not yet been formed. Therefore, this study suggests that future policies should be committed to promoting the northwest Chinese Mainland movement of the center of gravity of GD and PD, as well as the southeast movement of the ED center. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Regional sustainability concerns a complex system that mainly consists of three subsystems, being the economy, society, and the environment. A complex system involves intensive interactions and correlations among its components. Therefore, the way how these components are organized to work together efficiently is of great significance to the development of a complex system. For that reason, measuring regional sustainability should not only focus on changes in each subsystem individually, but also consider the interactions and relationships among the subsystems. In this paper, we apply a modified method to assess coordinated development, which highlights the simultaneous promotions of economic grow, social well-being, and environment al conservation. By introducing the model of coordinated development, we evaluate the sustainable development of Hubei province which is a typical region in Central China. The result shows that Hubei performed poorly in coordinated development. Although the coordinated development index was consistently increasing, the speed was very slow. In a detailed analysis of the economic, societal, and environmental subsystems in Hubei, the shortage of an economic driving force was found the main cause of the poor development of Hubei Province. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Accurate electricity consumption forecasting plays a crucial role in electric power systems and is a challenging task due to its complicated mechanism induced by multiple influential factors. To address this problem, this paper develops a novel nonhomogeneous discrete grey model that considers seasonality by introducing a seasonal index into the fractional accumulation generation operator, which is abbreviated as SFNDGM. In addition, the introduction of a one-step ahead rolling mechanism can further improve its prediction performance. To enhance the efficacy, the particle swarm optimization (PSO) algorithm is employed to determine the fractional accumulation order. Subsequently, to demonstrate the effectiveness and superiority of the rolling SFNDGM model, this model is applied to simulate and predict Hubei's quarterly electricity consumption from 2010Q4 to 2019Q3. The numerical results show that the proposed rolling model has a better performance than the other benchmark models. Therefore, the optimal model is utilized to predict Hubei's quarterly electricity consumption by 2021, inferring that electricity consumption will continue to increase in the coming years. Based on the attained forecasts, several suggestions are put forward to promote the sustainable development of Hubei's electricity consumption. • A novel seasonal fractional nonhomogeneous discrete grey model with rolling mechanism is proposed. • The fractional accumulation order determined by the particle swarm optimization algorithm. • The novel model is applied to forecast Hubei's quarterly electricity consumption in the coming future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Given the increase in energy consumption and the advancement of urbanization, the expected level for the prevention and control of air pollution has not been achieved, and urban air quality has deteriorated significantly. Environmental air ecological compensation has become an important method to control air pollution to realize sustainable economic and societal development. The object, method, and standard for compensation were discussed based on the case study of the environmental air ecological compensation mechanism in the Hubei Province of China. Results show that the compensation mechanism solves the negative externality of the environment caused by the fuzzy air property rights to a certain extent. Besides, the mechanism addresses the dilemma caused by the fragmented management of the local government to the collective action and promotes the transformation from the traditional pollution control mode of the regulated enterprises to the governance mode to strengthen government regulation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Industrial structure optimization model can effectively support sustainable economic development. This study firstly summarized four types existing industrial structure optimization models. Based on reviews of these models, this study proposed an inexact chance-constrained fuzzy programming model for industrial structure optimization. This model has three features: (1) the model considers many social economic and ecological environment factors which can provide various of sustainable development strategies; (2) the model considers three uncertainties which are discrete intervals, fuzzy sets and probabilities; therefore, the model can reflect uncertain features of the industrial structure system without excessive hypothesis; (3) the model can effectively reflect the quantitive relationship between economic benefit increasing and ecological environmental cost retardant in the industrial system. The proposed model is applied to industrial structure optimization of Hefeng County, Hubei Province, China. The results provided a series of desired industrial structure patterns and environmental emission scenarios under uncertainty which could help government and industry decision makers in the study area to formulate appropriate industrial policies which could balance the social economic development and ecological environment protection. The modelling results can support quantity and deeply analysis of industrial structure patterns and trade-off between economical development and ecological environment protection. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A compatible relationship between "man" and "land" is the essence of regional sustainable development. In this article VENSIM PLE is used to set up a system dynamics (SD) model of the regional man-land system of Xiangfan, Hubei Province, China. The model is used to simulate dynamic behaviors of society and economy in the face of environmental catastrophe, in order to explore dynamic response among subsystems in man-land systems, and to research mechanisms of regional sustainable development. The model is also used to forecast impacts from the south- to-north water transfer project in China on the environment, society and economy within a time span of 50 years. The model is further used to verify the effects of suggested regulatory policies. The simulation results show counterintuitive outcomes. The most serious impact on Xiangfan caused by the water transfer project would be on economic growth, not on environment quality. However, if a series of regulatory policies were carried out in advance of the water project's construction, the trends of concern could be effectively eased. SD provides tools for precisely understanding complex man-land systems, which always seem counterintuitive. However, there still exist limitations and disadvantages in the model that must be overcome. It is believed that the next logical step in deriving better dynamic models of man-land systems is to integrate SD with other advanced algorithms or technologies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Irrigated agriculture has important implications for achieving the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. However, there is a lack of systematic and quantitative analyses of its impacts on food–energy–water–CO2 nexus. Here we studied impacts of irrigated agriculture on food–energy–water–CO2 nexus across food sending systems (the North China Plain (NCP)), food receiving systems (the rest of China) and spillover systems (Hubei Province, affected by interactions between sending and receiving systems), using life cycle assessment, model scenarios, and the framework of metacoupling (socioeconomic-environmental interactions within and across borders). Results indicated that food supply from the NCP promoted food sustainability in the rest of China, but the NCP consumed over four times more water than its total annual renewable water, with large variations in food–energy–water–CO2 nexus across counties. Although Hubei Province was seldom directly involved in the food trade, it experienced substantial losses in water and land due to the construction of the South-to-North Water Transfer Project which aims to alleviate water shortages in the NCP. This study suggests the need to understand impacts of agriculture on food–energy–water–CO2 nexus in other parts of the world to achieve global sustainability. Local human activities can lead to cross-border environmental impacts through the food–energy–water–CO2 nexus. Here, the authors report wide variations in environmental impacts of irrigated agriculture across counties within the North China Plain under different environmental and socioeconomic scenarios. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]