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Land use and rainfall are two important factors affecting soil erosion processes. The red soil region of southern China is a representative region with high rainfall amounts and rapidly changing land use patterns where the water erosion process is sensitive to changes in land use and rainfall. To comprehensively understand the water erosion response to land use and rainfall in this region, a 6-year in situ experiment based on eight plots (bare land and seven typical land uses) was conducted from 2015 to 2020. The 320 rainfall events were divided into 4 types, and there were 3 main rainfall types. The runoff of different rainfall types was primarily determined by the rainfall amount, while the soil erosion of different rainfall types was primarily determined by the rainfall intensity. High-intensity rainfall contributed the most to both total runoff and soil erosion. Compared with bare land, the seven typical land uses reduced runoff and soil erosion by more than 75%. Grassland, cropland, and forest with low vegetation coverage experienced high runoff and soil erosion, while shrubland most effectively reduced runoff and soil erosion. The combination of land use and rainfall type significantly affected the annual average runoff depth, soil erosion modulus, and soil loss coefficient. Rainfall types can change the relationship between runoff and soil erosion for different land uses. The runoff and soil erosion of bare land were highly correlated with rainfall characteristics, while vegetation weakened this relationship under short- or moderate-duration rainfall. To effectively reduce water erosion, high-intensity rainfall should receive special attention, and all land uses should ensure that vegetation is well developed, especially understory vegetation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

According to the National New Urbanization Plan (2014), China's national urbanization rate will reach approximately 60% in 2020. Throughout the rapid process of urbanization, China's energy consumption will expand at an unprecedented rate. In 2012, total energy consumption in China was 3 . 411 × 10 9 tons of coal equivalent (tce); energy shortage is becoming increasingly serious. In this study, two future urbanization scenarios in China were simulated based on linear and logistic growth models. These models were used to quantitatively predict the long-term (2020–2030) energy consumption of urban and rural residents in three economic sectors: transport, construction, and residential. The annual area of newly paved roads in Chinese cities was positively correlated with energy consumption by the transport sector, and the annual increase in newly built floor space in buildings was positive correlated with energy consumption by the construction sector. If the urbanization level of China is in accordance with the new urbanization plan (the logistic growth model), which proposes a lower urbanization speed, the energy consumption growth by the three sectors will be significantly reduced compared with the linear growth model. Energy consumption growth by the transport, construction, and residential sectors will decrease by 7 . 26 × 10 7 tce, 1 . 28 × 10 7 tce, and 5 . 45 × 10 6 tce by 2020. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ecotourism is an important path to sustainable tourism that has experienced rapid development in recent years. Thus, ecological principles have been considered as the guidelines for tourism and the need to protect the eco-environment has increased substantially. On this basis, the ecotourism planning, a new paradigm for tourism planning, has emerged and it has benefits in terms of both economic development and environmental conservation. The ecotourism planning is based on two important criteria: local tourism resources and ecotourism carrying capacity. In this study, we aimed to investigate the local tourism resources and calculate the ecotourism carrying capacity of Shangri-La County as an example. The results showed that Shangri-La County has abundant tourism resources and a vast diversity of tourism products. However, the natural resources in Shangri-La County are currently being exploited beyond the carrying capacity. Solutions to this problem mainly include sustainable exploitation of tourism resources; better handling of tourism demands by improving the repartitioning of tourism flow; and the development of a digital system to facilitate the management of tourism. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]