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In most resource-based regions, their long-term economic growth is slow during the exploitation of natural resources. How to use resource advantages, get rid of resource bottlenecks, and achieve long-term stable economic development are key issues of the resourcebased regions. In view of this, this paper takes the panel data of China's key coal cities from 2000 to 2016 as a sample to explore different ways in which natural resources in resourcebased areas affect economic growth. The results show that resource-based regions benefit from the "resource bonus" in the short term. However, due to being prone to resource industry dependence behavior, these regions have a "crowding out effect" on other economic activities and resources and environment, which affects the long-term economic growth rate. At the same time, resource- based regions are likely to exhibit the "extensive growth" characteristics of relying on physical capital investment to achieve economic growth. The conclusions of this paper not only enrich the literature on the impact mechanism of natural resources on economic growth, but also have some practical enlightenment on how to achieve sustainable development in resource-based regions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Learning and borrowing Western experience and criteria played an important role in the establishment of China's modern protected area system. However, at present, after the system took shape, some insufficiency in the international standards have been exposed. For example, they lack a systematic framework for understanding the value of cultural landscapes. Under the favourable circumstances of the recent institutional reform, it is timely to reflect on the tradition of borrowing the Western- based international criteria. This paper first compares the establishment process of the international conservation system with that of China and argues that China was not able to participate in the design and criteria-formulation in the earlier stages, which led to the under-representation of its development phase and the characteristics of the cultural landscape of its protected areas. Secondly, the cultural landscape characteristics of Chinese protected areas are analysed from the perspective of the overlapping geographical distribution of population and the protected areas. It is then pointed out that there has been a distinction between the traditional Chinese concept (syncretism between people and their living environment) and that of the West (the opposition between nature and culture). Thirdly, this paper addresses the dual challenges of conservation and development that Chinese protected areas have been faced with. It challenges the rationality of applying the criteria formulated on the protected areas in a specific population and development context to others in a totally different context. Finally, a more critical view is suggested when we learn from the experience of other countries and deal with the international criteria. It is necessary to take full consideration of the comparability of the human- land relationship and to realise the political implication of international conservation careers as provided by international agreement systems. Meanwhile, it is time to devote more efforts to explore a Chinese approach of sustainable and peaceful development based on the cultural landscape characteristics and developing pressures on Chinese protected areas, which will contribute to a wider range of countries and regions that are faced with similar dual challenges of conservation and development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To understand the agricultural production dynamics and sustainability in the hilly areas of southeast China, this paper took Dehua county, a typical mountainous area in Fujian province, as an example to quantitatively analyze the changes of input, output, environmental load and sustainability of farmland-livestock systems from 2007 to 2016, and constructed the indicators of waste emergy ratio and environmental pollution emergy negative output. The results showed that the input of the farmland- livestock system in the study area was mainly based on the purchasing emergy, accounting for 68%-79% of the total emergy input, and the emergy of water resources accounted for 21%-31%. The emergy output of livestock systems accounted for more than 72% of the total output. And the emergy density fluctuated between 2.68×1012 and 3.33×1012 sej·m-2, and emergy per person increased from 1.23×1016 sej to 1.72× 1016 sej. The net emergy yield ratio decreased by 40%, and the environmental load increased significantly, which could have been maintained since 2015. The emergy sustainability index fell rapidly from 1.14 to 0.42 after a brief rise in 2007-2010. From the indicators of construction, the proportion of system waste emergy decreased, and environmental pollution emergy output decreased by about 22%. In terms of comprehensive economic benefits and waste utilization, the sustainable development of Dehua county has gradually improved in recent years. Dehua county is currently adjusting its output structure of farmland- livestock system. It should increase the amount of feedback emergy in the system, control fertilizer and feed input, and improve waste utilization to achieve sustainable development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The study of the coupling relationship and coupling path of carbon emission efficiency and industrial structure upgrade is of great practical significance to the green development of China in the new era and for the construction of a beautiful China. Firstly, the carbon emission efficiency is calculated by the super- efficient SBM model containing undesired output. Then, the coupling degree between the efficiency of regional carbon emission and the industrial structure upgrade is calculated and analyzed by the extended coupling model, and the provinces are divided into multiple layers according to their coupling degrees and coupling characteristics. Finally, the coupling path of the two factors is designed under the framework of dynamic distribution. The research found that: (1) There lies an obvious difference between the spatial and temporal pattern of carbon emission efficiency and high-grade industrial structure level. In terms of their coupling degrees, nearly half of the provinces are between 0.2 and 0.4, which can be considered as moderately and mildly imbalanced recession. Besides, according to the coupling characteristics, nearly half of the provinces belong to the coupling type of "low level coordination" with low development degree and high coordination degree. (2) There is an obvious inconsistency between carbon emission efficiency and the industrial structure upgrade in China from the aspect of reginal dynamic distribution. The former has a severer degree of cure than the latter. Therefore, China should improve the degree of coupling between regional carbon emission efficiency and industrial structure on the basis of mitigating the solidification of interregional carbon emission efficiency. (3) The paper designs the coupling path of carbon emission efficiency and the industrial structure upgrade in China on the basis of the coupling classification diagram, which can not only alleviate the dynamic incoordination of the two factors, but also effectively enhance their coupling degree among regions of China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The continuous degradation of ecosystem services is a common challenge facing human-beings, and it is the focus of global sustainable development research. The ecological environmental protection in the Middle Yangtze River region is of great significance to the construction of ecological security pattern in China. In order to deeply analyze the interference degree of land use activities to ecosystem services value (ESV) in the Middle Yangtze River region, it is necessary to evaluate the spatial-temporal distribution of ESV and the sensitivity of ecosystem services to land use change in the study region. Based on the evaluation results of ESV in the Middle Yangtze River region, this paper constructed the ecological contribution model of land use change and ecosystem services sensitivity model. The results showed that: (1) The average ecosystem service value (AESV) in this region in the years of 1995, 2005 and 2015 was 46244.29 yuan/hm2, 46484.08 yuan/hm2, and 46249.254 yuan/hm2, respectively, and the study region experienced a "first increase and then decrease" change process. The counties with higher AESV were mainly located in the mountainous areas; plain areas, urban agglomeration areas, Wuhan, Changsha, and Nanchang, and major traffic routes tended to have lower AESV; the ESV change rate presented a spatial pattern of "two horizontal and three vertical" distribution. (2) The conversion of cultivated land to forest land and cultivated land to water areas during 1995-2015 were the key factors for the improvement of regional ESV, and their ecological contribution degrees were 33.34% and 32.99%, respectively; forest land converted to cultivated land, forest land converted to construction land and cultivated land converted to construction land were important causes that induced the deterioration of the regional ecological environmental quality, and their ecological contribution degrees were 36.21%, 20.26% and 11.98%, respectively. (3) The ecosystem services sensitivity areas were mainly distributed in areas with frequent human activities, 1% increase in the integrated land use dynamics would result in 0.18% and 0.15% fluctuation in ESV in the Middle Yangtze River region during the periods of 1995- 2005 and 2005-2015, respectively; the ecological sensitivity of food production, raw material production, gas regulation, soil conservation and maintenance of biological diversity increased, and the sensitivity of other ecosystem function gradually weakened during the two study periods. The results of this study can provide scientific implications for the ecological environmental protection and the continuous supply of various sub- functions of the ecosystem services in the Middle Yangtze River region. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The remote location of resource-based cities is considered to be an important factor restricting the transformation and sustainable development of resource- based cities. With the rapid development of high-speed rail, has the location of resource-based cities been improved? In this paper, with the State Council identifying 126 resources- based cities as the case cities, taking the provincial capital cities of resources-based cities located in these provinces and three regional central cities of Beijing, Shanghai, and Guangzhou which are closely linked to resources-based cities as the reference objects, using the calculation method of time distance, the location of resources- based cities was evaluated among different development types and different regions. The research shows that: (1) From the perspective of overall sample, due to the impact of high- speed railway, the location of resource- based cities has deteriorated. Compared with D-series trains, the impact of G-series trains is even more pronounced. (2) Dseries trains and G- series trains have a consistent effect on the locations of resource- based cities. To a certain extent, D- series trains and G- series trains have an overlapping layout in spatial distribution. (3) From the perspective of resource types, the mature resource-based cities are not only the cities with the most obvious improvements of locations, but also the cities with the most obvious deterioration of locations. (4) From the perspective of different regions, the central region is the region with the most obvious improvement of locations, and the western region is the region with the most obvious deterioration of locations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Mekong River Commission is the only international intergovernmental organization in the Mekong River basin engaged in water resources development and management, but its institutional system effectiveness has been questioned. Especially the "Procedures for Notification, Prior Consultation and Agreement" concluded in 2003, which was successively applied to the Xayabury, Don Sahong and Pak Beng hydropower stations in Laos, not only failed to reconcile the differences of interest and contradictions of member countries, but also caused great controversy. As the mainstream hydropower development accelerates, the objective environment for China to participate in the development and management of water resources in the sub- regions is also changed. There is an urgent need to strengthen relevant theoretical foundation and practical research to promote basin development cooperation and sustainable development. Therefore, this paper mainly introduces the institutional framework, management mechanism and operating process of the MRC prior consultation mechanism, while objectively analyzes its achievements and problems based on the three practices, and then puts forward suggestions for improvement in four aspects, such as supplementing an explanatory document, making provisions for benefit compensation and public participation, as well as perfecting the process of prior consultation. Finally, we discuss the impact of the MRC prior consultation mechanism on China's participation in the whole basin management and effective countermeasures, which will provide reference and enlightenment for China's water resources development and cooperation policy under the Lancang- Mekong cooperation framework. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]