Using ArcGIS to analyze the spatial distribution of traditional villages in Yunnan Province in combination with the actual local conditions of traditional villages, the purpose of this study is to determine the development model suitable for their characteristics. The results show several important features of traditional village distribution. (1) The traditional villages in Yunnan Province have spatial structural characteristics of unbalanced cohesive distribution, and they are mainly distributed in the higher-level cities and prefectures such as northwest Yunnan, west Yunnan and south Yunnan. Among them, the traditional villages of Baoshan City have the highest distribution density of 66.33 per 10000 km². This is followed by Dali Prefecture and Honghe Prefecture, where the densities of traditional villages are 44.13 per 10000 km² and 37.66 per 10000 km², respectively. (2) The factors affecting the spatial distribution structure of traditional villages in Yunnan Province are natural geographical factors, humanistic historical factors and transportation factors. Among them, the natural geographical conditions with a large vertical gap in Yunnan Province gave birth to the human settlement environment of traditional villages. The history of a farming civilization that has been passed down from generation to generation has laid a brilliant and splendid humanistic foundation for traditional villages, and the high-altitude areas are relatively primitive. The transportation conditions have delayed the destruction of traditional villages by urbanization and industrialization. In summary, these factors have affected the spatial distribution pattern of traditional villages in Yunnan Province to some extent. (3) According to the law of the spatial distribution of traditional villages in Yunnan Province, it is necessary to explore the activation path of traditional village tourism with regional characteristics and ethnic characteristics, and also to carry out differentiated development according to the different endowment characteristics of local resources, that is to develop a series of activation modes including agricultural tourism, cultural tourism and ecological tourism.

Root system architecture (RSA) refers to the spatial distribution and extended morphology of plant root systems in soil. RSA not only determines the ability of plants to obtain water and nutrients but also affects other ecological functions. Hence, it plays a dominant role in the overall health of plants. The study of RSA can provide insight into plant absorption of water and fertilizers, the relationship between above- and belowground plant parts, and the physiological health and ecological functions of plants. Therefore, this paper summarizes research on the morphology, functionality, plasticity and research methods of RSA. We first review the basic structure, physiology, and ecological functions of root systems. Then the soil factors that shape RSA—including soil moisture, nutrients, temperature, aeration, and others—are summarized. After that, research methods for studying RSA are described in detail, including harvesting, two-dimensional morphological observation, and three-dimensional image reconstruction. Finally, future research developments and innovations are discussed to provide a theoretical basis for further investigations in this field.

Gross ecosystem product (GEP) is the gross value of all ecosystem products and services provided by ecosystems for human society. In practice, GEP measures the ecosystems' contributions to human well-being and constitutes one of the core issues in the construction of ecological civilization systems. Currently, GEP accounting faces a series of problems, such as the inconsistency of accounting subjects and a lack of accounting standards, the result of which is the non-reproducibility and weak applicability of accounting results. In this paper, mainstream models for ecosystem service valuation are summarized in a systematic manner. On this basis, eight basic principles are established for screening accounting indicators: biological productivity, human benefits, production territoriality, current increment, actual effectiveness, physical metrizability, data availability, and harmlessness. Next, a series of ecosystem service subjects are identified that need to be excluded from accounting, and the detailed reasons for their exclusion are presented. Finally, three ideas for improving GEP accounting are offered from the perspectives of the relationship between biological production and human production, the circulation-transport relationship and spatial differences, and harms to the ecosystem carrying capacity. The purpose is to provide positive considerations aimed at promoting the socio-economic applications of accounting and to contribute to the scientific quantification of the values of ecological products.

In this paper, the life cycle assessment (LCA) method is used to evaluate and quantify the energy consumption and environmental impacts of biodegradable polylactic acid (PLA) plastic packaging from the five stages of raw material acquisition, raw material transportation, product production, products use and final disposal. Seven impact categories were selected for the impact analysis: abiotic depletion potential fossil fuels (ADP), global warming potential (GWP), acidification potential (AP), eutrophication potential (EP), photochemical ozone formation potential (POCP), human toxicity potential (HTP), and terrestrial ecotoxicity potential (TETP). The results of the LCA are discussed and the results show that production of products is the highest stage of the environmental impact. Meanwhile, in the entire life cycle, the top three environmental impact categories are GWP, ADP and HTP, which account for 32.63%, 24.83% and 14.01%, respectively. The LCA results show that the environmental impact can be reduced in several ways: reducing the consumption of electricity, increasing the input of new energy, increasing the conversion rate of materials in the production process, using organic and water-soluble fertilizers instead of conventional fertilizers, using environment-friendly fuels and establishing a sound recycling system.

As an emerging mountain vacation tourism product, ski tourism is becoming increasingly important in the domestic tourism market. As an important theory for studying the quality of consumer experience, perceived value has been widely employed in tourism research in recent years, and improving the ski tourism experience value has become the focus of competition among ski tourism destinations. Taking the ski tourists in Chongli District of Zhangjiakou as an example, 305 valid questionnaires were collected by using online and offline methods. Based on the theory of perceived value, this paper adopted principal component analysis and cluster analysis to conduct a preliminary study of ski tourism experience and market segmentation. In addition, this paper examined the differences in demographic and behavioral characteristics of different types of ski tourists. This study finds that: (1) The perceived value of ski tourism experience includes four dimensions: facility value, perceived price, safety value and service value. (2) Using the perceived value to segment ski tourists, three different customer segments are identified: comfort-pursuant, price-sensitive and safety-oriented. (3) There are significant differences in key metrics, such as number of visits and stay time, among different types of ski tourists according to their demographic characteristics such as gender, age, monthly income, and behavioral characteristics. These results reveal the different dimensions of the perceived value of ski tourism experience and determine the market segments and characteristics of ski tourists. Developing a corresponding marketing strategy based on the different market segments can better promote the perceived value of ski tourists, and ultimately strengthen the competitiveness of the enterprises.

Global economic development and increasing human activities have brought great challenges to fragile ecosystems. In order to avoid, reduce, and reverse desertification, Chinese and foreign scientists and ecological governance institutions have developed a series of ecological restoration technologies (ERTs) and models in the past few decades. These technologies can improve residents’ livelihoods, strengthen disaster resilience, and launch a comprehensive review of degraded ecosystems in desertification regions. However, some studies and practices have limited the selection and promotion of good technologies and the assessments of these technologies, resulting in the waste and loss of funds and manpower. The objective of this study is to identify desertification control and restoration technologies and models, summarize the evolutionary features and trends of these technologies under different natural conditions, and evaluate the various ERTs that are now available. The data sources of this study include the databases of international organizations, CNKI, related literature and reports, and questionnaires from institutions and experts. First, the three stages of ERTs evolution were summarized, and the key events and social-economic developments were identified as the driving forces of evolution. Then, the four categories of ERTs were identified as biological, engineering, agricultural, and management ERTs. Finally, the key ERTs were evaluated in the five dimensions of the degree of difficulty, the degree of maturity, effectiveness, suitability, and potential for transfer. The management ERTs scores for the degree of difficulty, the degree of maturity, and potential for transfer are higher. This study provides a reference for adapting to local conditions, the comprehensive management, rational development, and utilization of dryland resources, improving the application of ecological technologies, and promoting the export and import of the excellent technologies.

As a typical representative of the herbivorous wild animals in Chang Tang Plateau, the number of Tibetan wild asses has increased significantly in recent years. Clarifying the distribution, population, and size of its habitats is conducive to formulating the protection plan for wild animals and managing the conflict between people and wild animals in Chang Tang Plateau. Based on the distribution probability of Tibetan wild ass habitats and environmental factors, the number of Tibetan wild asses in Gaize County of Chang Tang Plateau was calculated by using the belt transect method and random forest model, and due to the uncertainty of the calculations, the results were corrected and analyzed. The results show that the living environment of Tibetan wild asses in Gaize County of Chang Tang Plateau is at 4400-4600 m above sea level, 350-400 m away from the river, and the average temperature in the warmest season is 10-12 ℃. The vegetation types of habitats are generally temperate tufted dwarf grass, dwarf semi shrub desert grassland, alpine grass, Carex grassland, alpine cushion dwarf semi shrub desert, among others. On the basis of studying the environmental preferences of Tibetan wild asses, the random forest model was corrected by using the data of the second scientific survey sample line of Qinghai-Tibet Plateau for three years. The approximate number of Tibetan wild asses in each of the different areas of Gaize County was obtained. The number of Tibetan wild asses in Gaize Town, Xianqian Township, Gumu Township, Chabu Township, Mami Township, Wuma Township and Dongcuo Township is 855, 3458, 2358, 1453, 743, 943 and 647, respectively. By studying the environmental preferences of Tibetan wild asses and analyzing the results of the belt transect survey, the random forest model can accurately estimate the number of Tibetan wild asses in Gaize County of Chang Tang Plateau.

The high-quality development of culture and tourism is an important path for promoting the implementation of the rural revitalization strategy, urban-rural integration and development, and realizing common prosperity. This special issue focuses on the major issue of “rural revitalization and high-quality development of culture and tourism”, and contains 22 academic papers with in-depth discussions on five themes: “Rural revitalization and rural tourism high-quality development”, “rural tourism destination and homestay development”, “tourism environmental behavior and farmers’ participation in tourism”, “tourism resilience and tourism risk”, “cultural tourism and tourism high-quality development”. This collection of articles has three characteristics: Rich research areas and diverse research objects; diverse research methods that are inventive, logical, and scientific; and diverse theoretical viewpoints that span several disciplines. Considering the shortcomings of the current research, it puts forward future research directions such as strengthening localized theoretical research, expanding research areas and perspectives, and further deepening and enriching the research contents. In addition to supporting China’s efforts to promote high-quality culture and tourism, as well as comprehensive rural revitalization, this special issue can offer theoretical directions and actual experience in these areas.

To deeply reach target markets and attract more tourists, a variety of media have been leveraged by tourism destination marketing organizations, particularly video games become a brand-new approach for destination marketing. With Assassin’s Creed: Unity as the research object, based on the Stimulus-Organism-Response (SOR) model, this article analyses and presents the influences of tourism destination factors in video games on the players’ perception of tourism destination image and their intention to visit. In this case, a conceptual model has been built with game factors as the independent variable, tourism destination image as the mediating variable and the players’ intention to visit as the dependent variable. Moreover, Multiple Regression is used in the analysis, proving significantly positive effects of game experience, character attachment, and tourism destination image on players' intention to visit. Consequently this study provides research support for the combination of tourism destination marketing and video games.

Preparations for the Beijing Winter Olympics have promoted the rapid development of ice-snow tourism in China, which contributes to achieving the goal of having “300 million people participate in ice-snow sports”. This paper analyzes the status quo and problems associated with the growth of ice-snow tourism in China based on the methods of documentation and field investigation. The results indicate that China’s efforts have born abundant fruits. Notwithstanding, there are still some problems due to the limited time and hastened process of ice-snow tourism development, including unreasonable exploitation, low-quality products and services, imperfect investment and financing system, inadequate management, a single marketing mode, and insufficient talent teams. Compared with developed countries in Europe and the United States, ice-snow tourism in China is in the stage of rapid development. To achieve the high-quality development of ice-snow tourism in China, this paper proposes actions from eight aspects which involve policy, products and services, marketing, safety management and control, talent teams, standardization construction, science and technology, and community participation. This study can provide references for the high-quality development of ice-snow tourism in China, as well as perfecting Chinese theoretical research on ice-snow tourism.

The Beijing Winter Olympics brought a historical miracle to the development of China’s ice and snow tourism. It is both an opportunity and a challenge to reap the extra dividends of the times and to develop China’s ice and snow tourism. By selecting 18 academic papers, this special issue deeply discusses the status quo and the future measures of ice and snow tourism in China from three aspects: ice and snow tourism development and management, the ice and snow tourism experience and its influencing factors, and ice and snow tourism impact assessment. Moreover, one part entitled “Tourism Culture and Ecotourism” has been set up to emphasize those cutting-edge research topics. It is worth mentioning that this issue is in-depth and has profound connotations. First of all, the research area ranges from national to regional to the city-level, including both longitudinal and horizontal research. In additon, the research methods are practical, innovative, and at the frontier of scientific research, and include industrial correlation analysis methods, kernel density, spatial autocorrelation and other geospatial analysis methods, content analysis methods, sentiment analysis methods, structural equation models, Delphi methods, spatial statistics methods, geographic detector method and many others. In general, this special issue combines qualitative research with quantitative research, provides a variety of theoretical perspectives such as perceived value theory, institutional evolution theory, etc., and builds various useful models like the pre-competition evaluation model for ice and snow tourism heritage, the consumption skill-travel radius decision-making influence model under the moderating effect of the ski resort comprehensive leisure environment, the evaluation model of the suitability of glacier tourism resource development, the model of the relationship between tourists’ experience value and loyalty in the context of ice and snow tourism, among others. These studies are expected to provide theoretical and practical guidance for the development of ice and snow tourism in the post-Winter Olympics era, and help ice and snow tourism develop in a sustainable and high-quality direction.

The skiing economy is a typical experience economy, so understanding the experience of ski tourists is essential to the development of the destination. To enrich the tourism experience research in the emerging ski market, this paper studies the 7118 online reviews of beginner skiers by selecting the main ski resorts in China as a case study. The content analysis method and sentiment analysis based on the domain lexicon and custom rules are combined to explore the perception characteristics of the beginners from the two aspects of experience dimension and experience satisfaction. Three main results were found. (1) The five main dimensions that affect the ski tourism experience of beginners are interaction perception, price perception, reputation perception, risk perception and functional perception. (2) For beginners, skiing is the primary purpose of tourism instead of being the critical factor of the positive reviews. They pay more attention to the pleasure produced by interpersonal interactions. (3) From 2014/2015 ski season to 2010/2021 ski season, the positive sentiment of beginners had no obvious change, while the negative sentiment showed a continuous downward trend, and the negative sentiment was mainly distributed among reviews on price, low temperature and service. This paper not only expands the research perspective of ski tourism, but also provides managerial inspiration for ski destinations interested in attracting beginners from the emerging ski markets.

The global ski tourism market has been in a relatively mature period. However, passenger flows are stagnating in many countries and the growth perspectives are not very appealing. This change of the tourism market troubled the entire ski industry with new challenges, leading to the ski tourism industry model established in the 20th century failing to meet the current development needs. According to multiple data sources, including relevant industry reports and the latest data from internetm, this article based on a variety of these reports and the latest data from website, analyzed the ski tourism market’s both sides of supply and demand, systematically summarized the evolution of ski tourism industry since the 21st century, discussed the process of the ski tourism industry’s development and the economy’s growth, and revealed the relationship between the influencing factors of ski tourism market’s potentials. Meanwhile, the main problems and challenges in the ski market were also summarized. The results showed that global ski tourism had entered a mature stage since the beginning of 2000. Moreover, there was a specific correlation between skiing participation rate and GDP, which varied with the regional economic level and the maturity degree of skiing industry. Despite some impacts from COVID-19, the ski industry in most regions exhibited signs of recovery in 2021. The Winter Olympic Games in China have brought new opportunities to the skiing industry and have been expected to encourage global participation in skiing. However, some existing ski resorts in different countries and regions may not significantly contribute to the future development of global ski tourism, and the potential growth of ski tourism market might be small and mainly concentrated in China. At present, the biggest threat to the ski market is baby boomers having long been the bulk of ski resort visitors. The ski market is faced with this aging problem and the widespread phenomenon of ski culture fault. How to meet the needs of this new generation of customers who lack ski backgrounds or cultures is a severe challenge for all emerging and existing ski resorts around the world. Besides, public transport accessibility, service quality and resorts operation capacity have also been the improvement direction of the ski market in dire need.

The alpine treeline ecotone is defined as a forest-grassland or forest-tundra transition boundary either between subalpine forest and treeless grassland, or between subalpine forest and treeless tundra. The alpine treeline ecotone serves irreplaceable ecological functions and provides various ecosystem services. There are three lines associated with the alpine treeline ecotone, the tree species line (i.e., the highest elevational limit of individual tree establishment and growth), the treeline (i.e., the transition line between tree islands and isolated individual trees) and the timber line (i.e., the upper boundary of the closed subalpine forest). The alpine treeline ecotone is the belt region between the tree species line and the timber line of the closed forest. The treeline is very sensitive to climate change and is often used as an indicator for the response of vegetation to global warming. However, there is currently no comprehensive review in the field of alpine treeline advance under global warming. Therefore, this review summarizes the literature and discusses the theoretical bases and challenges in the study of alpine treeline dynamics from the following four aspects: (1) Ecological functions and issues of treeline dynamics; (2) Methodology for monitoring treeline dynamics; (3) Treeline shifts in different climate zones; (4) Driving factors for treeline upward shifting.

With the increasing proportion of open-pit coal mining in the coal mining industry in China, a series of potential safety hazards, environmental pollution, ecological damage and other problems caused by open-pit coal mining have attracted a great deal of attention. Scientifically determining the appropriate mining right scope of an open-pit coal mine can prevent various problems caused by coal mining from the source. In this study, according to the characteristics of open-pit coal mining and the environmental characteristics in arid areas, 15 indicators were selected and their weights were determined from the three perspectives of geological environment, social environment and ecological environment by using the AHP. Based on the spatial analysis function of ArcGIS, a digital evaluation model was established for the corresponding influencing factors, and a comprehensive evaluation model for setting the mining right range was constructed by superimposing the weights. Finally, four mining areas were identified within the study area in Wuhai, Inner Mongolia, and their ecological values were calculated to determine the mining area with the lowest ecological impact.

Under the initiative of “encouraging 300 million people to participate in ice and snow sports” and the guidance of the ‘Evidence-based’ policy-making process, this study takes the Hierarchical Model of Leisure Constraints as the theoretical framework to empirically explore the constraints influencing the participation of residents in Southern China in ice and snow sports. After factor analysis, the constraint dimension of residents’ participation was obtained, and the constraints of participants and non-participants were evaluated and compared by Propensity Score Matching (PSM). The results indicate that Chengdu residents have potential interest in and demand for winter sports, and the constraint dimensions are: facilities and services, companions, time, and personal feelings. The predisposition scores of the experimental group and the control group revealed that the constraints on interest, relevant knowledge and skills, and personal feelings of the participating group were significantly lower than those of the non-participating group, while the other constraints were not significant. We suggest that efforts should be made to increase the effective supply according to local conditions in order to reduce structural constraints, and the social attributes should be integrated into ice and snow sports to resolve the inter-personal constraints.

The successful bid for the Beijing Winter Olympics has brought historic opportunities for the development of ice and snow tourism in China. An index system for the evaluation of tourist satisfaction in ice and snow tourism destinations was constructed from the target layer-factor layer-index layer approach in this paper. Taking tourists with ice and snow tourism experience as the research object, and integrating a questionnaire survey and the Importance-Performance Analysis (IPA) method, a total of 840 valid questionnaires were collected to assess the satisfaction of tourists in snow and ice tourism destinations, and the promotion model of tourist satisfaction in ice and snow tourism destinations was put forward. This process led to three main results. (1) Ice and snow tourists in China are characterized as young and better-educated, with college students aged 19 to 25 as the main consumer group. More than 70% of ice and snow tourists are pretty satisfied with the current development of ice and snow destinations in China, and are willing to participate again. (2) Other than “ice and snow souvenirs”, tourists’ perceptions of importance are all higher than the level of perceived satisfaction, and the importance values of the 13 indicators including “Scenic spot security” and “Diversity of ice and snow entertainment and sports” are especially high, showing that tourists have high expectations and demands of the destinations. However, the perceived satisfaction level of tourists for all indexes is generally low, mostly at the general satisfaction level, indicating that ice and snow tourism destinations have only partially met the demands of ice and snow tourists, and there is still much room for improvement. (3) After IPA analysis, five suggestions for improving the satisfaction of tourists in ice and snow tourism destinations were put forward, including diversification of the tourism business model, construction of tourism facilities, a market diversified cultivation model, a humanized mode of tourism service and a refined management model. The results of this study will help to enrich the theory of ice and snow tourist satisfaction and promote the high-quality development of China's ice and snow tourism in the post-Winter Olympics era.

Digital cultural tourism is an important part of the digital economy and digital China. The development of rural digital cultural tourism is an important engine for implementing the strategy of rural revitalization and leading the high-quality development of China’s rural tourism in the new era, which helps to promote the coupling and coordinated development of the high-quality development of rural tourism and common prosperity. This study examines the opportunities and challenges in using digital cultural tourism to promote rural revitalization, discusses the mechanism and model for enabling the common prosperity of the rural digital cultural tourism industry to achieve digital cultural tourism in the promotion of rural revitalization, and finally proposes a development path. The findings indicate that: (1) Digital cultural tourism has emerged as a significant force behind the growth of the rural tourism sector, and is a key route for achieving the objective of rural revitalization. (2) Digital cultural tourism and rural revitalization have mutually beneficial relationships; digital cultural tourism enables rural revitalization, and rural revitalization unlocks digital cultural tourism’s development potential, resulting in a positive interaction mechanism. (3) Four models of digital cultural tourism promoting rural revitalization are proposed, considering the rural classification scheme and related research. They are the digital cultural tourism for urban-rural integration and revitalization model, the digital cultural tourism for characteristic village revitalization model, the digital cultural tourism for agriculture, culture and tourism integration and revitalization model, and the digital cultural tourism for arts revitalization model. (4) To thoroughly promote the development of the rural digital cultural tourist sector, it should adhere to the product as the core, digital technology as the foundation, talent revitalization as the leader, and policy as the guarantee. The findings of this study enrich the research findings in digital cultural tourism and rural revitalization, which can serve as theoretical references and a practical foundation for the development of digital cultural tourism to empower rural revitalization.

Research on spatial flow as it relates to the relationship between the supply and demand of ecosystem services supports a significant connection between the supply of ecosystem services and human well-being. Understanding the entire process of the production and flow, as well as the use of ecosystem services, accurately assessing the balance of supply and demand of ecosystem services, and establishing a two-way feedback relationship between supply and demand are vital for the scientific management of the ecosystem and ensuring the sustainable development of regional resources. Based on a large number of relevant publications, this paper comprehensively summarizes the concepts and assessment methods of ecosystem service supply and demand from the perspective of ecosystem service supply and demand, and discusses the impacts of land use and climate change on the temporal and spatial changes of ecosystem services under the background of global change. Then, an analysis of the research progress in the ecosystem services spatial flow indicated that there are still deficiencies in the quantification of cultural services, the dynamics of ecosystem service flow and the driving mechanism of ecosystem services. We also propose that clarifying the driving mechanism and transfer process of ecosystem services, and realizing the mutual conversion between different spatial-temporal scales of ecosystem services, is an important approach for improving the application of ecosystem services research in practice in the future.

The anthropogenic heat release from tourism activities has a cumulative effect on glacial retreat when coupled with climate change. Mitigating the impacts of glacial tourism activities on glaciers and promoting the sustainable development of glacial tourism have become urgent issues. Taking Yulong and Hailuogou glacier tourism destinations as examples, we collected survey questionnaires related to glacial tourists (n=1113) and tourism companies (n=329) by systematic field surveys during 2016-2017, and we obtained data on energy consumption from catering, accommodation, transportation, sightseeing, shopping, entertainment, and waste disposal. This study builds a responsible tourism system and discusses the strategies and measures used to engage stakeholders (mainly tourism companies, tourists, local governments, tourism associations, and the central government) in responsible tourism in order to reduce the impacts of tourism activities on glaciers. These strategies mainly include: improving the energy efficiency of the supply of tourism products and services, promoting the consumption of low-energy tourism products and services, strengthening the supervision and management of low-energy consumption tourism development, creating an environment for energy savings and consumption reduction, and establishing a long-term operational mechanism for responsible tourism management. A rewsponsible tourism system allows stakeholders to properly address this dilemma, internalize sustainable development goals to find their intrinsic self-discipline, and work together to fulfill the public responsibility of realizing the sustainable development of glacial tourism.

The role of tourism in social and economic development and stabilizing the Olympic legacy has been widely discussed. Beijing is the first “Dual-Olympic City”. For the first time, the Beijing Winter Olympics has adopted a model of three competition areas, which has attracted much attention to the study of its tourism legacy. In the legacy plan, the construction of the “Beijing-Zhangjiakou Sports Culture and Tourism Belt” was proposed. The development of ice and snow tourism and the cultivation of the ice and snow tourism market is also reflected in many policy documents and government actions. The scientific planning before the competition laid a good foundation for the sustainable development of its ice and snow tourism heritage. This research combines Olympic legacy research with tourism destination theory, and focuses on ice and snow tourism directly related to the Winter Olympics and the significance of pre-event planning for legacy protection. At the same time, the improvement of the quality of ice and snow tourism destinations is embedded in the pre-Olympic legacy, and opinions and suggestions on how to ensure the stability of the legacy after the games are given. This study uses the literature review method and the second-hand materials survey research method, then through establishing a tourism legacy pre-game evaluation model and the use of geographic information, government reports, policies, publicly released statistics and news reports, etc.. It explores the legacy of the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics and Paralympics, aiming to lay the foundation for preserving the continuous value of the ice and snow tourism legacy during and after the Olympics. The results indicate that the Beijing Winter Olympics has made relatively complete plans and reliable progress in both tangible and intangible legacy. Complete tourism infrastructure, an optimistic sport and cultural atmosphere, and the improvement of residents’ health concept and sports awareness have become boosters for the development of ice and snow tourism in the Beijing-Zhangjiakou region.

Facing the impacts of climate change and the ecological environmental problems caused by urbanization, urban-rural resilience is a new value goal of territorial space development. Blue-green space is an interconnected network system of natural and artificial green space and water bodies, which can dissolve the internal and external pressures of the system by way of mitigatory acceptance and adaptive interaction, reduce the impact of climate change and artificial construction disturbances, and provide diversified composite functions. By recognizing the connotation of the concept of blue-green space, its composite ecological functionality and its relationship with the value of urban-rural resilience, this paper constructs a conceptual framework for the integrated planning of blue-green space in urban and rural areas with “resilient objectives, resource identification, integrated configuration, differentiated regulation”. The paper proposes an integrated and coordinated multi-scale practicable approach of blue-green space planning (i.e., the construction of the blue-green corridor network, the configuration of blue-green open space, the allocation of blue-green infrastructure) and the regulation-based urban-rural transect, with the aim of improving the hydroecological performance and composite functional services in order to realize urban and rural resilience.

Improving energy efficiency is crucial for achieving the carbon peaking and carbon neutrality goals. The digital economy, which is characterized by big data, artificial intelligence, the internet of things, and a new generation of mobile Internet, has quietly penetrated all aspects of the economy and society, profoundly changing the means of production and lives of human beings. Digital technologies have great potential to improve the global energy system’s security, productivity, efficiency, and sustainability. Based on the panel data of 30 provinces in mainland China from 2006 to 2021, this study divided energy efficiency into total and single factor energy efficiency. The two-way fixed-effect model and the Driscol-Kraay method were used to adjust the standard error test in order to examine the impact of digital technology represented by industrial robots on energy efficiency and its path mechanism. Studies have shown that digital technology can significantly improve total factor energy efficiency and reduce energy intensity per unit of GDP. This conclusion was found to be still valid after the robustness test using feasible generalized least squares, time-varying difference in difference and fixed effect space Durbin model. The results of the mechanism test show that digital technology can improve energy efficiency by increasing the degree of industrial virtual agglomeration and the channels of foreign direct investment. This paper provides a valuable discussion on how information technology advances can improve energy efficiency in the era of the digital economy. The conclusions will help relevant market players to formulate policies and measures and corporate strategies to improve energy efficiency. At the same time, it also deepens the theoretical understanding and mechanism path of digital technology’s impact on energy consumption.

Research on the evolution of cultural policy is the key in the field of public policy study, and it is also an important means to solve the problems that have emerged in cultural heritage management. The National Cultural Park is an innovative cultural heritage protection system proposed by Chinese leaders within the context of national rejuvenation and building a culturally-strong country campaign. From the perspective of system evolution theory, this paper systematically sorts out the ideas behind international heritage management and the evolutionary process of the Cultural Relics Protection Unit system, in an effort to explore the origin, innovation and vision of the National Cultural Park System. A review of the international heritage documents revealed that the principle of heritage protection has developed from “authenticity” to “integrity”, and the focus of the protection object has also changed from “monism” to “diversity”, which provided a theoretical background for the burgeoning National Cultural Park. The Cultural Relics Protection Unit system has been promoted as the most crucial cultural heritage management system in China. Therefore, this study sheds light on the evolution and limitations of the system that lays a practical foundation for the National Cultural Park System. There have been three stages in the history of China’s National Cultural Relics Protection Unit, namely, the creation of the system (1956-1965), the survival crisis of the system (1966-1977), and the rebirth and development of the system (1978 to the present), in which the main driving concepts of China's cultural heritage management have been sequentially elucidated as simple protectionism, tolerant conservatism and comprehensive developmentalism, respectively. Since the establishment of China’s Cultural Relics Protection Unit system, tremendous progress has been made not only in the enlightenment of the public’s mindset and but also in the development of system and culture. However, the changes in the institutional environment gradually exposed its limitations regarding cultural relic management and value expression. The National Cultural Park System is the fruit created by the internal contradictions of the cultural heritage system itself and the evolution of heritage theory. Its biggest innovation lies in the two core connotations of “integrated protection” and “integrated development”. In the future, as the National Cultural Park management system matures, a Chinese cultural heritage management system will take shape in which the National Cultural Parks become dominant and various cultural resources are utilized. Finally, the National Cultural Park will become a symbol of Chinese culture and will be internalized into the common belief system of the Chinese nation.

The successful bid for the 2022 Winter Olympics has provided a new opportunity for the popularization of ice-snow sports and making improvements in the efficiency of ice-snow tourism in China. Taking Zhangjiakou City in Hebei Province as the research object and using questionnaire analysis and the structural equation model (SEM), this paper examined several hypotheses of the relationship between tourist experiential value and tourist loyalty in the context of ice-snow tourism, and a mediation analysis was conducted to explore the moderating role of travel companions. The results show that: (1) The functional value, emotional value and social value have significant positive effects on tourist loyalty; (2) Tourist satisfaction is a partial mediator between functional value, emotional value, social value and tourist loyalty, and a full mediator between cognitive value and tourist loyalty; and (3) Travel companions play a significant moderating role in the influence of emotional value on tourist loyalty. Based on these findings, several suggestions are put forward for the high-quality development of ice-snow tourism in China, including developing ice-snow family tourism products, building an ice-snow brand with winter Olympics characteristics, constructing the ice-snow industrial system, and cultivating ice-snow culture.

This study aims to survey the literature and factual evidence on the nexus between deforestation and agriculture through an assessment of the potential impacts of climate change in the context of the world, India, and the Western Ghats. The Western Ghats region was chosen for this study because of its deep ecological significance. A few underlying themes were created and findings were documented under each theme that ranged from the causes of deforestation, the transformation of forest land for agriculture, the nexus between agriculture, deforestation and climate change, climate-driven agricultural vulnerability and the reconciliation of forest protection with agriculture. These findings suggest that shifting agriculture has been a dominant source of deforestation. The primary climatic impacts on agriculture are seen through crop yield falls. India’s arid and semiarid tropical regions have witnessed high climate-driven agricultural sensitivity. This could be on account of the fact that India’s tropical forests have witnessed high deforestation. The presence of higher tree densities in areas under Joint Forest Planning and Management in the Western Ghats create the potential for sparing remaining land areas for non-forest uses such as agriculture.

Ice-and-snow tourism (IST) is a booming industry, and the development of its industrial clusters reflects its regional development quality. Taking 1985-2021 data for China’s IST enterprises, this study used industrial cluster identification and industrial correlation analysis to explore the development of IST industrial clusters. The following results were obtained: (1) China’s IST initially formed hotspot industrial clusters in Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei, the Northeast, the Yangtze River Delta, the Pearl River Delta, Chengdu-Chongqing, and Xinjiang regions. (2) Multiple industry forms failed to become deeply integrated into development, indicating a need to optimize the structure of the IST industrial chain. (3) The development environment of IST industrial clusters in each province showed differentiated characteristics. (4) IST industrial clustering was affected by both internal and external factors. External factors were grouped into climate and ice-and-snow resources, government policies and sports events, and economic fundamentals and market conditions. Internal factors included industrial association and industrial integration in the IST industrial cluster. Based on this study’s identification of the characteristics of China’s IST industrial clusters, countermeasures are proposed for their optimal development.

Medicinal and aromatic plants (MAPs) have been grown and used extensively for health care and healing practices since time immemorial in Nepal. They possess cultural, religious and economic values in Nepalese communities. In recent years, the MAPs sector is a growing commercial sector in Nepal that provides livelihood opportunities for low income generating people especially in the Himalayas. In this regard, this study assesses the contribution of MAPs to the gross domestic product (GDP) of Karnali Province of Nepal. A total of 58 species of MAPs were identified in Karnali Province. It was found that various parts of these annuals, biennials and perennial plants have been used as medicines, perfumes and food. MAPs in Karnali Province generated economic output equivalent to NPR 160738 million (USD 1.39 billion) or 1.03% of GDP of Karnali Province and 0.02% of the National GDP in the fiscal year 2019/2020. However, the findings revealed that the current GDP estimate undervalues the contribution of the MAPs sector to the national GDP due to the non-inclusion of ethnobotanical uses of medicinal plants. Moreover, if all cash and environmental benefits people derive from this sector could be valued and recorded in the System of National Accounts, the GDP from MAPs would be much higher than the amount estimated in this study. We conclude that MAPs have a reasonable contribution to the GDP of Karnali Province and Nepal.

With the promotion of the rural revitalization strategy, cultural and creative industries of tourism have gradually become an important driving force for rural revitalization. Since the economic level of minority areas is low and the concept of industrial development lags behind, developing the cultural and creative industries of tourism has a positive role in cultural revitalization and economic structure transformation. In recent years, Ebian Yi Autonomous County (Ebian County) has relied on rich intangible cultural heritage resources and achieved fruitful results in the development of cultural and creative products of rural tourism, adding vitality to its rural tourism and rural revitalization. Starting from the economy and the development of cultural and creative industries empowered by intangible cultural heritage (ICH), this study analyzed the impact of related cultural and creative products of Ebian County on its economic development in the five-year period from 2018 to 2022 by means of qualitative and quantitative research methods. Three main conclusions could be drawn. (1) The impact of intangible cultural heritage cultural and creative industries of Ebian County on the economy has been positive and expanding gradually with time. (2) The number of inheritors and workshops, and the business income of workshops are the three major factors affecting the development of cultural and creative industries. (3) Ebian already has a good foundation of cultural and creative industries of intangible cultural heritage, so the investment of funds and training of talents have played a major role in promoting the development of cultural and creative industries of intangible cultural heritage.

At present, carbon intensity in the economy has become a realistic problem faced by many countries. Decarbonization and green development have gradually become one of the main trends in the world, and major countries around the world have put forward carbon neutrality targets. Russia is one of the largest greenhouse gas emitters in the world. Therefore, under the current international situation of The Russia-Ukraine war and the exogenous impact on Russia’s economy and finance, it is of great significance to study Russia’s carbon emissions for Russia’s economic development, environmental protection and global green development. In recent years, Russia’s carbon intensity has remained high, which may be caused by several factors, such as the decline in actual investment level, single industrial structure, excessive dependence on oil and gas industry, external shocks to the Russian economy in 2014 and other macroeconomic factors. The purpose of this study is to identify trends in carbon intensity during the period of exogenous shocks to the Russian economy and financial sector from 2014 to 2018, and to explain the causes. First, the synthetic control method is used to examine the changes in Russia’s carbon intensity since 2014, and the results show that since 2014, Russia’s carbon intensity has increased significantly; Secondly, using the mediation effect analysis model to test the impact mechanism, it is found that since 2014, the Russian industrial structure has not been actively improved, but instead increased its dependence on the resource industry, thereby increasing carbon emissions. Combined with the tail effect analysis, Russia has faced significant economic pressure, and its carbon intensity is unlikely to return to the state before 2014 in the short term.