The construction of an agricultural powerhouse in China is confronted with the practical dilemma of relying mainly on small-scale farming and weak agricultural competitiveness, so an exploration of feasible paths for building an agricultural powerhouse is urgently needed. This study constructed indicator systems that reflect the level of agricultural development from three dimensions: resource endowment, output status, and urban-rural relations. On this basis, the gap between China and the world’s representative agricultural powers was analyzed, and the evolutionary characteristics of agricultural policies in the European Union, Japan, and the United States were explored, leading to relevant policy implications. This analysis found that the superficial problems of China's agricultural development lie in the relative scarcity of good resource conditions and insufficient modernization, while the underlying crux lies in the lack of obvious industrial competitive advantages, which is especially reflected in the lack of coordinated development between industry, agriculture, and urban-rural areas. The European Union, Japan, and the United States all focus on improving the international competitiveness of agriculture based on their comparative advantages, attach importance to the comprehensive development of rural areas, and have effectively constructed coordinated industry-agriculture and urban-rural relations, all of which have promoted the comprehensive development of agriculture. China’s construction of an agricultural powerhouse should be based on its national conditions and the general laws governing the building a world-class agricultural powerhouse. The strategy should include focusing on building a diversified food supply system to ensure food security; focusing on the modernization of agricultural science and technology, which will promote the process of agricultural modernization; promoting the development of the entire agricultural industry chain, which will enhance the competitiveness and risk resistance of the agricultural industry; accelerating public policy reform and continuing to promote urban-rural integration.

To explore the universal influencing factors and promote the development of conservation tillage technology in China, this study conducted a meta-analysis of 40 relevant studies and 42 effect sizes with a total sample size of 27071 to investigate the factors influencing farmers’ conservation tillage technology adoption behavior, changes in the intensity of the influencing factors over time, the existence of heterogeneity in the influencing factors and the sources of that heterogeneity. This analysis yielded three main results. (1) The variables of gender, education, arable land area, cooperative membership, propaganda, training, economic benefit perception, eco-efficiency perception, and risk preference all have significantly positive effects on farmers’ conservation tillage technology adoption behavior. (2) Most of the influencing factors are heterogeneous, but the sources of heterogeneity of the variables are not reflected in the information given in the studies. (3) Over time, the influence of gender (male) on farmers’ technology adoption behavior has emerged as a negative influence, and the degrees of influence of economic benefit perception, eco-efficiency perception, and risk preference on farmers’ technology adoption behavior are weakening. In the future, more attention should be paid to the influence of women on the adoption of conservation tillage technologies, and other important factors should also be incorporated to promote the adoption of conservation tillage technologies by multi-stakeholder coalitions.

In recent years, an ambitious development policy named the targeted poverty alleviation policy has been implemented in China, and it has achieved remarkable success. But whether the smallholder farmers raised out of extreme poverty due to this policy have achieved sustainable livelihoods remains uncertain. This study developed a livelihood sustainability index that can comprehensively assess farmers’ livelihoods, constructed an analytical model of the direct and indirect impacts of policy measures on livelihood sustainability using the farmer’s perceptions of those policies as a mediator, and created a policy perception elasticity factor to screen the contributions of policy measures to the improvement of livelihood sustainability. Based on these theoretical advances, a case study of an indigenous community on the Tibetan Plateau was conducted. The results show that this policy has contributed to improving farmers’ livelihood sustainability in the case areas, especially in terms of livelihood assets and livelihood outcomes, through direct encouragement and indirect influences based on the vulnerability context. In China’s era of “post-targeted poverty alleviation”, the findings from this case study indicate that relevant future policies should attach importance to institutional reform and staff management, and establish practical actions to cope with the uncertainty of the vulnerability context.

The infrastructure of East Lake has undergone a gradual process of degeneration, necessitating the allocation of adequate financial resources to ensure the preservation and sustenance of its ecological environment. However, insufficient funds for conservation and management pose a problem for the management of Urban East Lake. Consequently, the research aimed to (1) identify the local visitor’s satisfaction level with East Lake’s facilities and environmental quality; (2) determine the visitors’ perception of the conservation and management aspect of East Lake; (3) identify factors influencing local visitors’ willingness to pay an entrance fee to East Lake, and (4) estimate an appropriate entrance fee for East Lake. Utilising the Contingent Valuation Method, visitors' willingness to pay was determined. The accumulation of 449 samples was based on convenience sampling. The results indicated that visitor satisfaction and attitude were both high. In addition, respondents had a good perception on East Lake. Age, income, and education level were factors that substantially affected visitors’ willingness to pay; however, only the visitor variable had a positive coefficient. The estimated entrance fee was 2 USD per individual per visit. The research’s findings provided significant policy and recommendations; they would serve as a baseline for the management to impose an entrance fee in East Lake.

Empowering the value realization of ecological products with a digital economy is an important path for achieving the transformation of “two mountains” and the construction of ecological civilization. Based on the panel data of 30 provinces in China from 2011 to 2022, a fixed-effects model was used to empirically test the impact, heterogeneity and mechanism of the effects of the digital economy on the value realization of ecological products. This analysis revealed three key findings. (1) The digital economy has a significant driving effect on improving the ability to realize the value of ecological products, and this effect is still applicable in a variety of robustness tests such as shrinking the years, replacing explanatory variables, and endogeneity tests. (2) The rise of the digital economy affects the value realization of ecological products to different degrees in different regions, especially in the eastern region, while the effect in the central region is not obvious. (3) The analysis of mechanistic variables indicated that the digital economy has an impact on the value realization of ecological products through the development of green finance and government revenue. Therefore, the government should design differentiated and multi-level support policies for the realization of ecological product value according to the heterogeneity of natural resources, ecological potential and the levels of digital economy development in different regions, and it should strengthen the control of non-environmental protection behaviors of the enterprises. Enterprises should accelerate the digital transformation of the entire production, distribution, circulation and consumption chain of ecological products, and actively develop financial products and services that meet the characteristics and needs of ecological products.

Dietary modification has been suggested as a viable path to mitigate climate change. This study explored the evolution of dietary structures in China’s megacities and quantified food-related carbon emissions using the carbon footprint method. Then, we developed a multi-objective optimization model to identify low-carbon dietary options that align with cultural preferences, economic feasibility, and nutritional requirements. We found that from 1992 to 2021, the total food consumption of residents in Beijing and Shanghai experienced a period of fluctuating decline and slow rise, respectively, with their dietary structures both shifting toward animal-based diets. Additionally, the significant increase in meat consumption led to increasing food carbon emissions in Beijing and Shanghai, with per capita emissions rising by 37.2% and 25.2%, respectively. According to the multi-objective optimization model, shifting towards reduced consumption of animal products, particularly meat, would align with culturally acceptable, economically feasible, and low carbon emission goals in Beijing and Shanghai, potentially leading to reductions of 92.14 t and 212.65 t in total food carbon emissions compared with the actual in 2021, respectively. This study enhances understanding of the changing dietary patterns in urban areas and their associated carbon emissions, and emphasizes the significance of optimizing diets as a key priority for advancing global sustainable development.

Agricultural eco-efficiency is a vital indicator for assessing the sustainability of agriculture. Conducting evaluations of agricultural eco-efficiency can provide critical information for policymaking, resource allocation, and the advancement of agricultural sustainable development. While there exists a substantial body of research on the evaluation of agricultural eco-efficiency, its influencing factors, and improvement paths, there remains a paucity of systematic reviews, evaluations, and prospective analyses in this area. This study employed the literature search method to analyze relevant scholarly articles. Chinese literature was sourced from the CNKI (China National Knowledge Infrastructure) database, while international literature was obtained from the Web of Science database. The literature search was conducted from 1998 to 2023. The study reviewed the progress of research on agricultural eco-efficiency and outlined the challenges and prospects that lie ahead. The findings of this study indicate that the primary challenges in the field of agricultural eco-efficiency research include refining the evaluation system, integrating macro and micro influencing factors, and ensuring the suitability of models employed. In the future, the research could expand in areas such as deepening the application of artificial intelligence technology in evaluation methods, clarifying the driving factors of agricultural eco-efficiency, and promoting the green transformation of agriculture. This study provides a comprehensive systematic review and could provide critical information for related research expansion.

This study measured the level of innovation achievement protection and the degree of internal structural upgrading of the productive service industry in 28 provinces of China from 2000 to 2022. Exploratory spatial analysis methods were used to test the spatial correlation between the two variables, and the spatial impact of innovation achievement protection on the optimization of the internal structure of the productive service industry was examined at the national and sectoral levels. The results showed three main aspects of this system. (1) The agglomeration level of innovation achievement protection and internal structure optimization of the productive service industry between regions in China continued to increase during the sample period, and there was a clear similarity and synchronicity in the spatial evolution of the two variables. (2) The overall improvement in the protection level of innovative achievements is conducive to promoting the internal structural upgrading of China’s productive service industry. However, there are significant differences in the degree to which the protection of innovative achievements affects the internal structural upgrading of the productive service industry in the four major regions of the East, Central, Northeast, and West. The protection of innovative achievements in the East and Central regions significantly promotes the internal structural optimization of the productive service industry, while this effect is not significant in the western and northeastern regions. (3) The results of the robustness test indicate that the impact of internal structural upgrading of the productive service industry in the previous year on the level of innovation achievement protection is not significant. The interference from abnormal values of the internal structural upgrading of the productive service industry in various regions and the influence of municipalities directly under the central government on the regression results are not significant. After replacing the main variable, the coefficient of the innovation achievement protection level remained significantly positive. The conclusions of this study supplement and improve the theory of innovation achievement protection and industrial transformation and upgrading, providing decision-making support for improving the level of innovation achievement protection and promoting the internal structural upgrading of the productive service industries in China.

Phoenix species, recognized for their profound ecological, economic, and cultural significance, have garnered substantial attention in research across Asia. However, limited studies exist on research trends, status, distribution, ethnobotany, and pharmacological activities of Phoenix species in the region. The objective of this study is to compile pertinent information on these aspects for Phoenix species in Asia. We employed the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) approach to systematically examine the literature pertaining to Phoenix species in the Asian region. This comprehensive review analyzes research trends on Phoenix species in Asia from year 2000 to 2023. A total of 42 studies were identified, showcasing a growing interest, with a notable peak in publications in 2019. The temporal distribution suggests fluctuating attention over the years. Geographically, the concentration of studies is limited to 12 out of 48 Asian countries, emphasizing the need for more extensive exploration given the widespread availability of Phoenix species. The research primarily focuses on pharmacology, followed by ethnobotany, morphology, taxonomy, material science, environmental engineering, and ecology. Notably, studies disproportionately concentrate on Phoenix dactylifera, leaving other species underexplored. The analysis of research focus, species distribution, and geographical representation underscores the importance of diversifying research themes and exploring the ecological, economic, and cultural significance of lesser-studied Phoenix species across Asia. The findings highlight both the growing interest and existing gaps in our knowledge, urging for a more comprehensive exploration of the entire genus to unravel its full potential and significance across Asian landscapes.

Based on the population and economic data of the Wumeng Mountain Area from 2000 to 2020, this study explored the imbalanced spatiotemporal patterns of population and economy in the area using methods such as the geographic concentration, gravity model, imbalance index, and inconsistency index. The study also analyzed the influencing factors using geodetectors and spatiotemporal geographically weighted regression models. The results show four key aspects of this phenomenon. (1) The spatial distributions of the population and economic geographic concentrations deviate from their ideal distributions. The population distribution shows a spatial pattern of being higher in the northeast and lower in the southwest, while the economic distribution shows a spatial pattern of being higher in the south and lower in the north. (2) The population and economic gravity centers have shifted toward the northeast and south relative to the geometric center of the mountain area, respectively, and the economic center has shifted more than the population center. (3) The degree of imbalance between the population and economic distributions is decreasing, but regional development disparities still exist. The region with inconsistent spatial distributions between population and economy remains stable, showing a "north high, south low" pattern, with an increase in the number of counties dominated by the economy and reductions in the numbers of counties in other categories. (4) Economic power, social consumption level, industrial structure, urban development level, government regulation capacity, and health care infrastructure are the main factors affecting the inconsistent distributions of population and economy in Wumeng Mountain Area, and the effects of these factors are reflected in the promotion of economic development.

In the context of the “Belt and Road Initiative”, the sustainable development of border cities is paramount for facilitating intergovernmental exchanges. Using the system dynamics approach, we integrated border policy factors to create the Border City Coordinated Development (BCCD-SD) model, encompassing three dimensions: Economic, Social, and Resource-Environment. Furthermore, a comprehensive evaluation indicator, the City Coordinated Development Index (CCDI), was devised. Using Lincang City in Southwest China as a case study, this article examines the trends in city development under three scenarios: Inertial Development, Rapid Development, and Green Development. The research findings demonstrate that the model adeptly captures trends in the city coordinated development indicators. Among the three scenarios, the rapid development scenario stands out, yielding the most favorable economic indicators, superior public infrastructure, and the highest employed population. However, the rapid development path, which is heavily focused on economic growth, intensifies resource and environmental pressures, giving rise to sustainability challenges. In contrast, although the green development scenario trails slightly in economic performance compared to rapid development, it fosters a larger urban population and transition of the employed population into citizens while excelling in resource and environmental aspects. Overall, the CCDI attains its highest score under the green development scenario, surpassing those of rapid and inertia development, signifying superior city development coordination along the green path. This scenario effectively combines economic growth, social progress, and resource-environment protection. This study also emphasizes the pivotal role of ports in the coordinated development of border cities and underscores the necessity of expediting the transition from a “gateway” economy to a “port+” economy. One objective of this article is to encourage border cities to serve as more effective windows to the outside world, promote regional coordination, and achieve high-quality development.

The present world pattern has undergone major changes, the trend of world multi-polarization is constantly emerging, and peace and development remain the main themes of today’s society. The formal signing and implementation of the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) is important for meeting the needs of peace and development of many countries and regions. China is in a new era of reform and opening-up, and the RCEP content is in line with China’s concept of pursuing a path of rejuvenation. Based on the locations of important borders, Yunnan Province has become one of the key places for China’s opening-up and development regarding Southeast Asia and South Asia, and the high-quality development of its tourism service trade is of great significance. This study first used the grounded theory analysis method to organize, analyze and process the records of international conferences and government press conferences held in Yunnan Province, as well as important related issues since the signing of RCEP. Then, the social network analysis method was used to analyze the social recognition degree of RCEP in promoting the high-quality development of the tourism service trade in Yunnan Province from the perspectives of different levels and group consensus. The results show that cooperation is the key macro driving force for RCEP in promoting the high-quality development of the tourism service trade in Yunnan Province. Regarding the opportunities and environment of the transportation dividend, policy dividend and investment dividend, port construction, border township construction and exhibition-related construction are important cooperation contents, so they are conducive to the recovery of the tourism industry in a broader development space. Competition can improve the driving force of RCEP in promoting the high-quality development of the tourism service trade in Yunnan Province at the micro level, and has more practical significance. For example, RCEP can better rely on its own geographical advantages and international market competitiveness, optimize the use of resources inside and outside ports, and use high-tech products to form a more green, ecological, organic and sustainable development. In different levels of social identity, RCEP’s power of cooperation is more strongly recognized, while the power of competition is less recognized. However, from the perspective of grouping the various groups, RCEP’s powers of cooperation and competition are jointly recognized by the other groups, indicating that cooperation and competition are necessary for the realization of RCEP’s power. The results of this study provide a certain reference for understanding the dynamics of RCEP in more detail from more angles and for the local implementation of RCEP rules and measures.

The establishment and management of protected areas (PAs) often involve modifying traditional land use rights and changing the production and living activities of locals, which can lead to changes in the factors that drive land use transitions. Our understanding of the spatiotemporal patterns of land use transition and the contributions of social-ecological drivers remains incomplete. In this study, we focused on the Yarlung Zangbu Grand Canyon National Park and examined how social-ecological factors influence land use transitions by developing a theoretical model of land use transitions within PAs. Our findings revealed that cropland, shrubland, grassland, and wetland experienced net losses in area, while forestland, water, ice/snow, barren land, and impervious land exhibited fluctuating growth patterns from 1985 to 2020. The net decrease in grassland was 157425.60 ha, while the net increase in forest was 140709.20 ha. The quality of land habitat increased from 0.5158 to 0.6656. Land use dominant and recessive transitions displayed varying spatial characteristics and scales across different time periods. In particular, the degree of influence of policy factors on land use dominant transition declined from 0.0800 in 1985-1990 to -0.0432 in 2010-2020, while its influence on land use recessive transition declined from 0.00058 in 1985-1990 to 0 in 2010-2020. The results show that social-ecological factors intricately influenced different types of land use transitions, leading to a shift from a balanced state to a new equilibrium. These results enhance our understanding of the spatiotemporal patterns and complex dynamics of land use transitions within PAs, providing insights and practical implications for effective land management in PAs by considering the land-human relationships.

Karst regions are the typical areas of interaction between human society and natural ecosystems. Understanding the historical mechanisms of the evolution of social-ecological systems (SES) is crucial for the future sustainable management of karst regions. This study selected Guangxi, a typical karst mountainous region in Southwest China, as the study area, and used population, cropland area, and forest coverage as the SES elements. Based on the framework of SES research in the karst region, it adopted segmented linear regression to identify the stages of the interactions among these elements, to reveal the evolutionary stages of social development from the long-term perspective. In addition, the driving factor indicators were constructed from the aspects of natural environment, social development, government policy, and climate change, and then the feedback changes brought about by the evolution were investigated. The results show that the evolution of SES in Guangxi from 1363-2020 can be divided into seven stages. In the first, second, and early period of the third stages, the government of Guangxi mainly focused on agricultural activities, although the only way to meet the growing demand for food was by expanding the area of cropland, and the timber trade’s pursuit of economic development, resulting in an increase in rocky desertification. In the fourth stage, the ecological environment improved under the implementation of measures such as the control of rocky desertification and the compensation of forest ecological benefits. After the fifth stage, the effect of rocky desertification control has been remarkable. Although the implementation of relevant policies has alleviated the environmental problems to some extent, the continual changes in the structure and function of SES can challenge further progress towards sustainability in karst regions. This study aims to provide a reference for the long-term national spatial planning and the development of environmental policies in karst regions.

The Weihe River Basin has a significant number of tributaries and a delicate ecological environment. Understanding the spatial and temporal evolution and determinants of landscape ecological risk in the Weihe River Basin (WRB) can improve the scientific protection and development of its watershed ecosystems. This study is based on land use statistics from the WRB for a 30-year period represented by 1990, 2000, 2010, and 2020. An initial model for the assessment of landscaping ecological hazards was created using the software that was also used to generate the landscape ecological risk index, such as ArcGIS 10.4 and Fragstats 4.2-64. Next, the spatial and temporal evolution of landscape ecological risk in the vicinity of the study area was characterized by the trajectory of the center of gravity migration and the spatial autocorrelation of GeoDa. Finally, Geodetector was used to analyze ecological risk drivers in the landscapes. According to the findings, the high-risk and relatively high-risk regions are steadily expanding, while the low-risk and relatively low-risk areas dominate the ecological risk landscape in the WRB. Within the Weihe River Basin, Xianyang and Xi'an are the areas to which the high-risk centers of gravity are migrating. Positive spatial correlations were found between the landscape ecological hazards in the study area, most prominently in the form of high-high and low-low aggregations. The primary drivers are the interplay between the GDP component, temperature, and elevation as a single factor.

A comprehensive assessment of climate change vulnerability is imperative for formulating effective adaptation strategies and advancing sustainable development goals. As one of the most climate-vulnerable regions globally, the Pan-Third Pole area lacks transnational vulnerability assessments, which poses a significant obstacle to efficient climate adaptation. This study conducted transnational comparisons based on primary micro-survey data collected uniformly across Nepal, Cambodia, Thailand, and Myanmar, which are all located in the Pan-Third Pole region. Evaluating and comparing the vulnerabilities employed an extended framework of climate change indicators. The findings reveal substantial variations in vulnerability among the countries, with Cambodia exhibiting the highest vulnerability, followed by Thailand, Myanmar, and Nepal in descending order, primarily due to differences in exposure. Household exposure to climate change also varied significantly. Sensitivity scores decreased in the order of Nepal > Cambodia > Thailand > Myanmar, with demographic factors, tap water accessibility, and land being the major contributors and sources of differentiation among the countries. Regarding adaptability, Thailand demonstrated the highest adaptability, with human and financial capital as the key differentiators. The outcomes underscore the need for tailored policy measures addressing the diverse vulnerabilities, including enhancing household disaster prevention and capital protection. Furthermore, targeted international investments are crucial for improving adaptability among smallholders in this unique region.

Regional collaborative governance of the ecological environment is an important way to promote the sustainable development of urbanization, and local government competition is a characteristic institutional factor that is often ignored in the process of regional ecological environmental governance in China. This study selected the panel data of 278 prefecture-level cities from 2006 to 2018 in China, and used the spatial convergence regression model and the mediation effect model to analyze the spatial convergence of urban eco-efficiency (UEE) and its mechanism from the perspective of local government competition. The results show several empirical patterns. First, the UEE follows a tendency of convergence that narrows the regional gap of urban eco-efficiency, and spatial interaction factors are the keys affecting the convergence of UEE. Second, local government competition, as a characteristic institutional factor, plays an important role in promoting the spatial convergence of UEE, and the effect of administrative distance proximity competition is stronger than that of geographical distance proximity competition. The UEE increases by 0.114 percentage points when its degree of competitive pressure increases by 1 percentage point. Third, the competitive pressure leads to strict environmental regulation policies, which generally improve UEE and thus narrow its gap with advanced cities. Finally, local government competition has heterogeneous effects on urban eco-efficiency. Specifically, under the pressure of local government competition, the environmental regulations improve the UEE in the east and key environmental protection cities, while the central and non-key environmental protection cities experience the opposite effect. The results of this study suggest that if UEE is further introduced into the administrative performance evaluation index systems of local officials, the regional gap of environmental and economic development could be narrowed through ecological competition.

With the progressive aging of China’s population, the contradiction between the supply and demand of elderly care service facilities is increasingly prominent. This study takes Wuxi City as the research area, and evaluates the accessibility characteristics of the elderly service facilities in Wuxi City by using geographic statistics, buffer analysis, Gaussian two-step mobile search and other methods. It then analyzes the spatial distribution and supply and demand of the elderly service facilities in Wuxi City, and introduces the XGBoost algorithm to calculate the factors influencing the distributions of different types of elderly services. The results show that the distribution of home-based and institutional endowment resources in Wuxi is spatially heterogeneous, but there are problems of mismatch between supply and demand and uncoordinated regional development. The accessibility of endowment services varies greatly in different regions, and the number of hierarchical endowment institutions is relatively small. The distribution of community home care service stations is relatively more equitable, but still does not match the size of the elderly population. There are obvious differences in the factors affecting the distributions of nursing institutions and community home nursing service stations. The distribution of nursing institutions is affected by transportation infrastructure, the size of the elderly population, the number of medical resources, the environment, economic level and other factors; while community home care is mainly affected by the size of the elderly population. In order to better meet the elderly service needs of residents, Wuxi needs to increase its investment in elderly service facilities and take various measures to promote the development and improvement of its elderly service facilities.

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.

Urban agglomerations should meet the dual requirements of economic growth and green development, and there is currently an urgent need to improve the efficiency of green development. Therefore, we analyzed the impact of the Yangtze River Delta Urban Agglomeration (YRDUA) policy on the digital economy (DE) and green total factor productivity (GTFP) using the time-varying difference in difference model (DID). The marginal contribution of this study is an evaluation of the long-term effect of the YRDUA policy on green high-quality development. Based on the perspective of the “Porter Hypothesis”, this study examined the similarities and differences in the impacts of urban agglomeration on DE and GTFP. The results show that the policy promotes the urban DE index, but significantly inhibits urban GTFP. This means that the overall impact of urban agglomeration policy on green high-quality development in the Yangtze River Delta (YRD) is still in the “weak Porter Hypothesis” state, the technological innovation and efficiency improvement stimulated by urban agglomeration policies are not enough to significantly improve GTFP, and the “strong Porter Hypothesis” is not tenable. In addition, the heterogeneity analysis shows that the policy has a more obvious role in promoting the green high-quality development of central cities, large and medium-sized cities and innovative cities. The level of urban public service supply shows a threshold effect. When it develops to a certain scale, the urban agglomeration policy has significant positive impacts on both DE and GTFP.

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.

The Huaihe River Basin is one of the typical large river basin economies, promoting its ecological protection and high-quality development is a strategic choice to improve the quality of China’s economic development and narrow the regional development gap, which has far-reaching strategic value for the region and the country in the new era. Based on the theoretical connotation of watershed ecological protection and high-quality economic development, starting from the special characteristics and practical features of the Huaihe River Eco-economic Belt, the panel data of 28 prefecture-level cities in the Huaihe River Eco-economic Belt from 2003-2018 are used as the research samples, the improved entropy method, Dagum Gini coefficient method and panel Tobit model investigate and analyze the time and space of ecological protection and high-quality development in the Huaihe Eco-economic Belt Evolution characteristics and promotion drivers. The results show that the overall ecological protection and high-quality development level of the Huaihe River Eco-economic Belt is 1.4824, showing an overall upward trend, with obvious periodic fluctuations; the high-value areas are mainly located in the lower and middle reaches of the basin, with the spatial agglomeration characteristic of “double core leading”, while the upper reaches are always in the stage of “low level and stable growth trap”; the hypervariable density is the main cause of the regional disparity; per capita output, opening to the outside world, human capital and government intervention drive the improvement of ecological protection and high-quality development. There are significant differences in the driving factors of ecological protection and high-quality development in the upper, middle and lower reaches of the city. The study of the development status of the Huaihe River Eco-economic Belt and its evolution law are of great theoretical significance, practical value for analyzing the synergistic enhancement path of urban ecological protection and high-quality development, promoting the ecological protection and high-quality economic development of the entire Huaihe River Basin.

Tagetes minuta L. is native to the temperate grasslands and relatively high-altitude areas of South America. In 1990, it was first discovered in the Beijing Botanical Garden in China. In 1994, Pema Dawa introduced the species as a Tibetan medicine from the mountains of northern India to his courtyard in Gangjiang Village, Wolong Town, Milin County. Around 2010, scholars discovered that Tagetes minuta L. was widely invasive, which aroused extensive social concern. Featuring small weight, large number, and awns, Tagetes minuta L., is easy to spread and has a high seed germination rate, with 20% of the reproductive investment. The plant is tolerant of barrenness and drought and adapts to climates with large diurnal temperature differences and strong light conditions. Rich in aromatic substances and essential oils, the leaves and flowers serve medicinal, food, flavoring, health care and cosmetic purposes. Thiophene in the roots and bioactive components in the essential oil have anti-inflammatory, sterilizing, insect-repellent, and fly control effects, with significant allelopathy on native species. The biological and ecological characteristics of Tagetes minuta L. lay the material basis for its population spread. According to Tibetan folklore, we suggest using physical methods or biological control techniques for ecological control and strengthening the research of development and application to guide its economic benefits in Tibetan Buddhist supplies.

The spatial cluster effect of productive service industry agglomeration and the urban productivity level in 286 prefecture level cities in China during 2008-2018 were analyzed by using the Moran index and the Lisa cluster diagram. The results show that the spatial correlation between productive service industry agglomeration and urban productivity is high, as the high-value areas of producer services agglomeration are generally the high-value agglomeration areas of China’s urban productivity level, while the low-value areas of producer services agglomeration are generally the low-value agglomeration areas of China’s urban productivity level. Furthermore, the spatial econometric model was used to test the effect of producer services agglomeration on urban productivity in China. The results show that producer services agglomeration can effectively improve urban productivity in China, but its impact on the productivity in different cities is quite variable. The producer services specialization agglomeration on urban productivity in eastern China is more obvious, while the positive effect of the diversification agglomeration of producer services on urban productivity is more obvious in the West, the Central and the Northeast, but the promotion of eastern cities is less apparent.

The development of a city is not only a long-term process of material environment construction, but also a long-term process of cultural development and civilization accumulation. The essence of a city is that the city can provide people with a high-quality lifestyle: “valuable, meaningful, tasteful, dignified and dreamy”. When a city’s material civilization is built to a certain extent, the excessive materialization needs cultural harmony to be more perfect. The Capital of Culture in East Asia has rich cultural resources, and also excellent tourist cities. The core task of building the Capital of Culture in East Asia is to protect and utilize cultural resources fully, and promote the regeneration of urban cultural resources and cultural development. This study used research data derived from the relevant statistics officially released by the cities, and mainly using the case study with the Capital of Culture in East Asia in China as the example. Previous studies have shown that the realization of a city’s cultural value is first to promote the regional development of the urban culture, so as to allow the residents to establish “Asian awareness” and “Asian vision”, promote the development of urban culture in life, and increase opportunities for host and guest participation. On this basis, the spatial carrier of urban culture production, trade and consumption is built through the construction of urban culture space and the production of space. Finally, through the implementation of a brand strategy for the Capital of Culture in East Asia, the city’s cultural space, cultural taste and consumption level will be improved, the city brand based on local culture and regional culture will be built, and its competitiveness will be achieved on both regional and global levels.

Improving the management system of state-owned natural resource assets (SONRAs) plays an important role in the institutional reform of ecological civilization in China. It is of great significance for promoting the protection of natural resources and effectively safeguarding the owner’s equity in their SONRAs. Guizhou Province is one of the first ecological civilization pilot sites in China. In this study, we used field investigation methods and the method of historical documents to obtain materials and data about the management of SONRAs in Guizhou Province, and then systematically analyzed the practices in SONRAs management. On this basis, some remaining problems were identified, such as the uncertainty regarding the amount of SONRAs, poorly-defined ownership of property rights and an imperfect revenue system. In response to these problems, countermeasures and suggestions are proposed for the effective maintenance of the owner’s equity in their SONRAs, including establishing an inventory and statistics system to complete the task of comprehensive inventory, establishing an evaluation and accounting system and exploring the path for value realization of ecological products, establishing the principal-agent system and figuring out the asset management listing and agency system, perfecting the income management system to standardize asset income management and improving the asset allocation system to promote the efficiency of resource allocation. The results of this study will provide a reference for strengthening and improving the management of SONRAs in Guizhou Province.

Forests are major sources of energy, timber and non-timber forest products, medicinal and aromatic plants, hydrological functions, biodiversity conservation, and also fundamental sources of revenue collection to the nation. Studies indicate that forests could significantly enhance economic growth and create employment opportunities for local communities under intensive management. This paper aims to predict the contribution of the forest sector to the national economy. The economic facets of forestry considered in this paper are revenue generated from timber, non-timber forest products (NTFPs) and medicinal and aromatic plants (MAPs), and protected areas. The ARIMA model was used to forecast the economic contribution of the forestry sector. The study found that the total revenue generated from the selling of timber and fuelwood (USD 50.19 million) was higher than the total revenue collected from protected areas (USD 37.58 million) and NTFPs/MAPs (USD 6.9 million) in the past 15 years. The model projected that the mean revenue for the timber and fuelwood sale will USD 3.5 million for the next ten years. Similarly, the mean revenue will be generated about USD 0.5 million and USD 6.2 million from NTFPs/MAPs and protected areas, respectively, for the next ten years. The study limits to take account the in-kind use of forest products such as timber, fodder, fuelwood, etc., as used by community people within a forest users’ groups. Thus, practicing sustainable forest management, enabling policy documents, establishing forest-based industries, establishing forestry nurseries, conducting agroforestry practices, and tenure security could enhance the forestry sector's economic aspects.

The catering industry is an important industry related to the growth of the national economy and the needs of daily life. After 2012, the central government has successively introduced and implemented a series of policies to limit the official consumption and catering waste. These policies have had a huge impact on China's catering industry, especially the development of high-end catering. Based on expert scoring and interviews with government managers, the catering industry organizations, catering enterprises, researchers and consumers, this paper studies the impacts of the policies before and after 2012 on the sustainable development of the catering industry. The results show that: (1) Policies after 2012 have been very strong in their strength and duration, and this can ensure that the policies can effectively perform their restraint and management functions in the long term. (2) As affected by policies after 2012, the frequency and amounts of public expenditures in China have dropped significantly, and mass consumption is developing faster. (3) The impact of policies on income is quite controversial. On the whole, the policies have continued to promote the increasing of catering income after 2012, and have played a significant role in optimizing the catering structure and reducing food waste. However, the policies have had little effect on the improvement of industry standards and environmental protection. (4) The sustainable development of the catering industry requires the efforts of the government, industry organizations, restaurants and consumers. Steady income growth, a reasonable and healthy industry structure, sound industry standards, and low food waste are important standards and goals for the sustainable development of the catering industry.

The degradation of the eco-environment has been a challenge for sustainability in resource-based cities around the world. Although much attention has been drawn to this issue, few insights have been acquired regarding the spatial differentiation and mechanism of the factors influencing habitat quality in resource-based cities from the perspective of the interactions of natural and human factors. Using Tangshan City as a case study, this paper evaluates habitat quality by integrating Ecosystem Service Value Assessment and the InVEST-HQ model, identifies the spatial distribution of Tangshan’s habitat quality with spatial auto-correlation, and explores the influencing factors and their mechanism of influence on the spatial differentiation with the geographical detector model and Space production theory. The results show that: (1) The total value of the habitat quality in Tangshan City in 2019 was 3.45×10 ¹⁰ yuan, and the habitat quality value was 24435.05 yuan ha ^?1. The habitat quality value presents a clustered distribution pattern of “hot in the north and the south, cold from the center to the west”. (2) On the county scale, Qianxi County had the best habitat quality and Lubei District had the worst habitat quality; Shangying Township had the highest average habitat quality and Kaiping Street had the lowest average habitat quality in the township unit. (3) The results of geographical detectors show that natural environmental conditions are the important basic factors affecting the spatial differentiation of habitat quality in Tangshan City, while urbanization and industrialization factors are the most important external forces driving the spatial differentiation of habitat quality. The contributions of average elevation, average slope, raw material industrial density, and population density to the spatial differentiation of habitat quality are all above 0.40. The interactions of any two factors on habitat quality are enhanced. Areas with concentrated populations, rich industrial resources, and convenient transportation become low-value habitat quality areas; while areas with beautiful landscape patterns, abundant precipitation, and a comfortable climate become high-value habitat quality areas. Space production theory can be used to explain the mechanism of the formation of the spatial differentiation of habitat quality.

Kuancheng Traditional Chestnut Cultivation System is located in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei Water Containment Function Area. The Traditional Chestnut Cultivation System is characterized by agroforestry compound, and some studies have shown that the compound planting of chestnut has better ecological benefits than the single chestnut planting mode. However, most of the local farmers in Kuancheng are mainly engaged in single chestnut cultivation. Through ecological compensation, farmers are being encouraged to change their chestnut planting mode, which can achieve the purpose of inheriting China’s important agricultural heritage and improving the ecological benefits. This paper introduces preference coefficients to correct for opportunity costs, and through interviews and questionnaires, we obtained the input and output of the single chestnut cultivation, chestnut-maitake, chestnut-millet, and chestnut-chicken and the income of laborers working outside the home in the Kuancheng area. Through analysis and calculation, we obtained the following results: (1) Although the net income of the three chestnut composite modes is higher, their economic input is higher than that of a single chestnut planting mode, and the return on unit investment is lower. (2) The average income of young and middle-aged workers who work outside is higher than that of the local farming industry, so the local chestnut agroforestry plantation has a higher opportunity cost. (3) The final calculation shows that the chestnut-chicken agroforestry operation mode needs no compensation, the chestnut-maitake plantation mode is compensated at least 1608.5 USD ha^-1 yr^-1, and the minimum compensation for the chestnut-millet plantation mode is 198.3 USD ha^-1 yr^-1, which can guarantee that farmers receive the full value of their creations. Ultimately, farmers are incentivized to revive the traditional agroforestry production mode to achieve both economic and ecological benefits while inheriting agricultural heritage.