Search

In response to the impacts of climate change and the intensity of human activities in the alpine meadow region, there is an urgent need to determine the ecological quality and its drivers in alpine meadow areas. In this paper, Shangri-La was adopted as an example, the spatial and temporal evolution patterns of the ecological quality in Shangri-La were determined in both natural and social dimensions, and the contributions of various driving factors were analyzed. The conclusions are as follows: (1) the natural status index of Shangri-La from 2000 to 2020 generally showed a spatial distribution pattern that decreased from the central townships toward the north and south, and the social pressure index was irregularly distributed in high-value areas and continuously distributed in low-value areas. (2) From 2000 to 2020, the areas with high values of the ecological quality index were mainly distributed in central Shangri-La, with a maximum value of 0.91, while the low values were largely distributed in some townships in the north and south, with a minimum value of 0.26. (3) In the driving factors, the influences of the normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) and net primary productivity (NPP) were greater than those of the other factors, among which the NDVI attained the largest mean value of 0.452, while the relative humidity (RHU) attained the lowest value of 0.036. (4) In terms of relative contributions, evapotranspiration (EVP) and precipitation (TEM) shifted from a positive drive to a negative drive from south to north. The contribution of the temperature to the ecological quality was the highest, at 64%. The spatial heterogeneity in the contributions of human disturbance activity factors to the ecological quality varied significantly, with the largest negative driving contribution of the NPP, at − 42.36%. The results could provide a basis for regional ecological quality protection and restoration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Green development is key to promoting regional sustainable development. We construct an evaluation index system for green development levels based on the "sansheng" dimensions—production, living, and ecology. We rely on the "sansheng" (production, living, and ecology) dimensions, combined with the analytic hierarchy process (AHP) and the entropy weight method to analyze indicator weights, to construct an evaluation index system for green development levels. This system enables the identification of the evolution patterns of green development and the analysis of driving factors in the Chengdu-Chongqing economic zone from the "sansheng" perspective. The results indicate that: (1) The green development level in the Chengdu-Chongqing Economic Zone has been continuously rising, with the average index increasing from 0.197 to 0.254. Yuzhong District and Chengdu City have shown particularly high green development levels; in 2020, the green development level index for Yuzhong District reached 0.568, while Chengdu City's index reached 0.522. (2) The spatial clustering of green development levels in the Chengdu-Chongqing economic zone exhibited a trend of first strengthening and then weakening, with the highest clustering degree observed in 2015. (3) National strategies have significantly promoted the improvement of regional green development levels. The average green development index during the pre-establishment, initial development, and rapid development stages of the Chengdu-Chongqing Economic Zone increased from 0.205 to 0.229, and then to 0.254. (4) The Theil index results show an increase in the disparity of green development levels among different regions within the Chengdu-Chongqing Economic Zone.The results of the optimal scaling regression model show that the driving factors with a significant impact on the level of green development include the Number of physicians per million people, Public library book collections Per 100 people, Per capita regional GDP, and Number of secondary schools Per million people, each contributing over 15% to the impact. These findings provide valuable data support for formulating regional economic development strategies and are conducive to advancing sustainable development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Carbon sink service (CSS) is crucial in addressing global warming and provides theoretical support for research on human‒system coupling. CSS generation, flow, and utilization in the composite ecosystem of mountains, rivers, forests, farmlands, lakes, and grasslands (CEMRFFLG) provides theoretical support for sustainable development. Quantifying the coupled supply‒flow‒demand processes and mechanisms of the CSS in CEMRFFLG remains a pressing issue for the study of carbon sink service flows (CSSFs). First, quantify the CSS supply and demand situation of CEMRFFLG Chongqing. Second, the coupling process of the CSSF among the water, forest, farmland, and grassland subsystems is explored via the breakpoint model combined with the metacoupling framework. Finally, a multiscenario simulation of CSSF was performed to reveal its flow mechanism. The results show that: (1) Net primary productivity (NPP) mainly comes from forests, and carbon emissions (CEs) mainly come from farmland. (2) During telecoupling, the forest subsystem has the highest total value in the outflow and inflow plots, accounting for 35.51% and 61.24% of the total, respectively. (3) The CSSF mainly moves from areas with forest areas to areas with human activities. This paper proposes optimization suggestions for the CSSF in Chongqing. This is essential for achieving the complex ecosystem's sustainable development., Competing Interests: Declarations. Competing interests: The authors declare no competing interests. Additional information: The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this study., (© 2025. The Author(s).)