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• China's sustainable development relies on agricultural trade and carbon emissions. • Carbon emission transfer index in agricultural trade is measured. • Decoupling-recoupling model and integrated prediction model are constructed. • A unified framework for trade, environment and technology is established. Under the new development pattern of domestic and international "dual circulation" in China, studying the relationship among green technology innovation, agricultural trade deficit (ATD) and carbon emission transfer embodied in agricultural trade (ATCT) becomes crucial for achieving coordinated and unified high-quality economic development and efficient environmental protection. Based on this, the paper uses environmental input–output model, "two-stage" decoupling and recoupling model, panel vector auto-regressive model, spatial econometric model and "rolling" Grey-BP neural network prediction model to explore present status of ATD, ATCT and their relationship, driving role of green technology innovation, as well as whether that relationship will be improving in the future. The results reveal the following: (1) China's ATD and ATCT show an increasing trend year by year, and their inter-provincial differences are gradually significant over time. The overall relationship between ATD and ATCT does not display ideally, which makes it necessary to quickly transform that relationship into reasonable and ideal state. (2) Green technology innovation has significant positive "U-shaped" and inverted "U-shaped" local effects on ATD and ATCT respectively, with a reasonable range of ATD reduction while ATCT increase valuing from 0 to 0.290, and has significant positive "U-shaped" spatial spillover effect on both without any reasonable range. The short-term effect of green technology innovation on coordinated promotion between ATD and ATCT is superior to the long-term one. (3) Green technology innovation has a significant regional heterogeneity. Regional differences must be taken into consideration seriously, and the measures adapted to local conditions are crucial. The role of fundamental and progressive green technology innovation has heterogeneity, which means that targeted development and utilization of green technology products are important. (4) Regardless of the time horizon, the relationship between ATD and ATCT will improve, which can provide a key step for coordinated development of economy and environment in agricultural trade. Therefore, in order for China to implement and promote further opening-up, reduce agricultural trade dependence, ensure food security and important agricultural product supply, as well as achieve the unity of high-quality economic development and ecological efficient protection, it is necessary to reasonably reverse trade deficit and increase carbon emission transfer in agriculture. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• A conceptual framework and model of microagroecosystems were constructed. • Assessed the degree of landscape ecological risk in microagroecosystems. • The human activity gravity of microagroecosystems shifted to lower altitudes. • The ecological vitality of microagroecosystems is increasing. • Clarified micro-spatial human-land relations and development directions. Micro-spatial agroecosystem (AES) changes in karst mountain areas are a response to the human-land relationship of the human activity center. However, the changes and linkages between AESs and landscape ecological risks (LER) from a micro perspective in karst mountain areas (KMA) have not yet attracted in-depth attention from the academic community. This paper proposes the concept of microagroecosystems (MAESs) and constructs the MAES model based on the landscape development intensity (LDI) to evaluate the systematic landscape evolution rules and the LER intensity, which reflects the human-land relationship in KMA. We used the buffer ring with a 200 m cultivation range interval to categorize the MAES model into six models, namely, High-Mid-Low, High-Low-Medium, Medium-High-Low, Medium-Low-High, Medium-High-High, Low-Medium-High and Low-Medium-High, and the different models not only reflect the regional conditions but also represent the different stages of the evolution of AESs in KMAs. We found that AESs in karst mountainous areas are transforming from traditional food crop systems to economic fruit forest ecosystems, and at the same time, the gravity center of human activities is migrating from high to low altitude areas, and the ecological vitality of MAESs is showing a trend of enhancement. In addition, the regions with high altitudes and steep slopes in karst mountainous areas have a single landscape structure and are dominated by traditional food cultivation, while the regions with low altitudes and gentle slopes have a diverse landscape structure and are dominated by modern and sustainable agricultural development. Finally, we reveal that the LER in KMAs shows a trend of initial increase followed by subsequent decrease, the influence of the human-land relationship on the LER in the micro perspective is significant, and the coordination and trade-off between agricultural development and environmental protection is the key direction of development in the future. The study results can provide a reference for the rational allocation of landscape, ecological environment restoration, and optimization of regional human-land relationships in KMAs worldwide. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Public environmental concerns inhibit the market entry of polluting enterprises. • Public environmental concerns affect enterprise entry with heterogeneity. • Environmental regulation, investment and innovation are internal mechanisms. • Public environmental concerns can reduce the emission intensity of new enterprises. • Public environmental concern can encourage new enterprises to layout boundary. When constructing a multigovernance environment system, it is important to systematically study the impact of the public's environmental concern on the behavior of polluting firms. In relation to the market entry of polluting firms, this paper explores whether public concern for the environment can effectively reduce the likelihood of such firms entering the market to achieve control of pollution emissions at the source. Benchmark analysis shows that an increase in public environmental concern can inhibit the market entry of polluting firms in the region. Heterogeneity analysis shows that public environmental concerns exert a stronger effect on preventing the market entry of nonstate-owned firms and firms in developed regions than on other firm types. Mechanism analysis shows that improving the severity of environmental regulations, encouraging firms to make greater investments in environmental protection, and inducing firms to pursue additional environmental R&D innovation are effective mechanisms by which public environmental concern restrains the market entry of polluting firms in the region. Expansion analysis demonstrates that public concern about the environment can lessen the pollution emission intensity of new firms and promote certain new firms to carry out boundary layout. This research offers a scientific basis and policy reference that can serve to guide the public in actively participating in environmental governance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Highlights • A Super-SBM with undesirable output model is applied. • The environmental efficiency of 283 Chinese cities during 2003–2016 is analyzed. • The overall environmental efficiency performance across the Chinese cities is low. • China has achieved significant improvement in environmental efficiency across survey period. Abstract In the past decades, unprecedented dramatic economic development in the Chinese cities has also brought serious environmental problems. In line with this, the Chinese government has been investing great efforts and resources in addressing environmental problems. However, little previous studies have been conducted in examining whether this development is efficient from a win-win perspective balance between economic growth and environmental protection. This paper presents a comprehensive analysis on the environmental efficiency (EE) in the process of dramatic economic development in the Chinese cities. The Super-slack-based measure (Super-SBM) model is adopted to analyze the EE performance. Data used for analysis are collected from 283 sample cities in China. The research results indicate that the overall EE performance across the Chinese cities is relatively low, and the differences in EE performance among the 283 cities are significant. The top three EE performers are Shenzhen, Sanya and Erdos, and Baiyin, Xinzhou and Liupanshui are the bottom three performers. The results also suggest that the EE performance in the Eastern area, where most first-tier cities are located in, is significantly higher than that in the Central and Western areas (aggregated with fourth and fifth tier-cities). From the dynamic perspective, the results show that China has achieved significant improvement in environmental efficiency across the surveyed period of 2003–2016. The research findings provide valuable references not only for the Chinese policy-makers and practitioners to adopt measures for promoting a win-win balance between environmental protection and economic development in the Chinese context, but also for further studies on environmental efficiency in the international context. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: The sustainability of Chinese economy has attracted attentions from all over the world since China''s reform & opening up policy. This paper attempted to evaluate the relationships among Chinese economy, energy and its impact of emissions during 1991–2009 using several novel indicators based on emergy, energy and monetary units. The results show that NH3-N in wastewater has taken main responsibility for impact of emissions, the hidden environmental cost per unit economic output has been continuously reduced, education and R & D investment has cut pollutants generating intensity since 1997, and environmental protection investment has cut emission intensity since 1996. Generally speaking, the coordination degree of structure and scale of China''s economy has been improved to different degree from 1991 to 2009. However, the growth of education and R & D investment and environmental protection investment has not prevented impact of emissions from increase caused by economic aggregate growth, and the turning point has not appeared in this period. Finally, this paper discusses some related issues and puts forward the corresponding suggestions. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

• System GMM model was applied to test the mechanism of environmental regulation on the pollution-intensive industry transfer. • The transfer shows a general trend from the east to the central and western in China. • The central and the western have become "pollution paradise" for pollution-intensive industries. The pollution associated has intensified the environmental pressure within industrial transfer between the central and the western region in China. It's the key issue that how to use environmental regulations to promote the orderly pollution-intensive industries transfer and the optimization of industrial structure to realize the construction of ecological civilization during the transformation and upgrading of economic. By constructing the index of environmental regulation and industry transfer, this paper analyzed the spatial-temporal change of pollution-intensive industry transfer. We collected panel data of 30 provinces in China from 2004 to 2016 and studied the spatial differences of pollution-intensive industry transfer from the perspective of environmental regulation. This paper studied the path and mechanism of environmental regulation on the pollution-intensive industry transfer theoretically and empirically with System Generalized Method of Moments (GMM) model. The conclusions are as follows: Firstly, the pollution-intensive industry transfer in China shows a general trend from the east to the central and western regions. Secondly, there are obvious differences in environmental regulation between different regions. Thirdly, there are some differences in the impact of environmental regulation on industrial transfer. Therefore, the central and western regions should coordinate economic development and environmental protection when undertaking industrial transfer from the east, to optimize and upgrade industrial structure, and promote long-term economic development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• We analysed the influencing factors of urban eco-efficiency in Western China. • The US-SBM model and spatial econometric models were used for 84 cities' data. • Urban eco-efficiency showed a fluctuating upward trend during 2004–2017. • Economic development and urbanization had U-shaped impact on urban eco-efficiency. • Four explanatory variables showed a positive impact on urban eco-efficiency. Improving eco-efficiency can promote sustainable development. This study first evaluated the urban eco-efficiency of 84 cities in Western China from 2004 to 2017 by the undesirable-super-slack-based measure (US-SBM) and analysed their spatiotemporal characteristics, and then investigated its influencing factors using spatial econometric models. The results indicated that the urban eco-efficiency in Western China was at a relatively low level and showed a fluctuating upward trend with the highest average value of 0.65; however, capital cities of Western China have improved their eco-efficiency rapidly. Furthermore, there were obvious spatial spill-over impacts of the urban eco-efficiency in Western China. This paper also found that both the economic development level and urbanization level have "U" shaped impacts on Western China's urban eco-efficiency, which decreases at first and then rises. Similarly, increasing the proportion of secondary industry promotes urban eco-efficiency, and FDI, trade activities, improved environmental regulations as well as technological innovation capabilities have a positive impact on urban eco-efficiency in Western China. This paper also put forward corresponding policy suggestions to promote Western China's urban eco-efficiency. The present study may be helpful for policy-makers to balance economic development and environmental protection in Western China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Spatiotemporal variation in vegetation on the Loess Plateau was investigated. • Precipitation was the greatest driving factor. • There was a bivariate or nonlinear enhancement between all factors. • Key factors' adaptation range or type suitable for vegetation cover was identified. Vegetation, being a core component of ecosystems, is known to be influenced by natural and anthropogenic factors. Studying vegetation cover dynamics variation and its drivers is critical to understanding the interactions between vegetation and ecosystems. The Loess Plateau (LP) is located in a semi-arid and semi-humid region with severe soil erosion and fragile ecology. This paper used the annual maximum Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI ymax) and growing season mean NDVI (NDVI gsmean) as the vegetation cover indicator. The vegetation cover variation of LP from 2000 to 2020 was analyzed using Sen's slope and Mann-Kendall test. Then the influence of natural and anthropogenic factors on the driving mechanisms of spatial vegetation differentiation was explored by the Geodetector model. The results revealed that the growth trends of NDVI ymax and NDVI gsmean were 0.075/10 years and 0.038/10 years, respectively, and the areas with improved vegetation cover accounted for 92.67 % and 88.58 % of the total area. The vegetation cover of the southeastern and northern parts of the LP decreased significantly; however, the central, southwestern, and northeastern parts exhibited a remarkable improvement. Precipitation, vegetation type, soil type, temperature, and land use type were the key driving forces, ranked differently on NDVI ymax and NDVI gsmean. However, precipitation was the most critical factor both on NDVI ymax and NDVI gsmean. The interaction detection showed non-linear and mutual enhancement, with no independent factor. The findings of our study can assist in identifying the vegetation cover status of the LP, as well as the driving forces, which can provide theoretical support for the formulation of environmental conservation policies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As a main method for achieving environmental protection, improvement of environmental efficiency is vitally important for reducing environmental risk and level of ecological scarcity. Thus, quantitative analysis of environmental efficiency is not only an important premise for understanding the situation of regional environmental protection, but also a prerequisite for designing and adjusting relevant policies. In this paper, we treat the undesirable output in an economic activity by a linear monotonic decreasing transformation approach. We employ data envelopment analysis (DEA) technique to evaluate environmental efficiency in 30 provinces of China during the period 2001–2010, and conduct hypothesis tests on these environmental efficiencies. Furthermore, we investigate the horizontal differences of environmental efficiency in six regions of China and the vertical differences among different years. The results show that our empirical tests have a high statistical reliability that provides support for prompting environmental policies in different parts of China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The conflict between cultivated land protection and economic development has become increasingly acute in recent years. Despite, intensive researches made on this conflict, little attention has been paid to the spatial correlation of variables. In view of this, the paper introduces the spatial panel regression model to estimate, and test whether the relationship between economic growth and cultivated land conversion conforms to Kuznets curve. Research results show that the area of converted cultivated land in China exhibits strong spatial auto-correlation; the spatial panel model with time effect and fixed effect is more stable and significant than conventional panel mode, and that the relationship between economic growth and cultivated land conversion agrees with the inverted U-shape of Kuznets curve, with inflection point occurring when average per capita GDP reaches ¥31330.93 (calculated at comparable price of 1999). On the basis of analysis, it is suggested that the government, with a view to developing economy alongside protecting cultivated land, should attach more importance to land use and planning in the future, pay more attention to the spatial correlation of cultivated land planning in adjacent areas and make greater efforts to increase the input–output ratio of land. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The company's environmental management behaviors can improve the relationship between the company stakeholders, help companies to sustainably develop. But it is more seen as an obligation and cost of the company's environmental protection in developing countries. So what kind of impact the environmental protection have on the value of the company? Taking Chinese listing Corporation as a sample. This paper analyzes the impact of enterprises’ environmental management and its disclosure on corporate value. We conclude that environmental management excluding independent environment report can improve corporate value. In specific environmental management measures, producing environmental friendly products can help environmental friendly products gain recognition and improve corporate value significantly. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

[Display omitted] • The relation between urbanization and water environment in Hanjiang Basin was studied. • Coupling coordination degree model between UAWE of Hanjiang Basin was established. • The positive interaction effect of UAWE is mainly focused on the middle and lower reaches of the Hanjiang River. • Put forward feasible measures to realize the sustainable development of UAWE. The urbanization process of the Hanjiang Basin is speeding up and facing many challenges. It is necessary to take active actions to realize the balance between urbanization development and water environment protection. This paper aims to establish a comprehensive evaluation model of urbanization and water environment (UAWE) and explore the development of UAWE in the Hanjiang Basin in China from 2010 to 2018. In terms of methodology, these evaluation models are combined with the Coupling coordination degree model (CCDM), Exploratory Spatial Data Analysis (ESDA), and Geographically and Temporally Weighted Regression (GTWR) to measure and analyze the coupling degree (CD) and spatiotemporal heterogeneity of UAWE. Our findings include the following: (1) From 2010 to 2018, in all regions of the Hanjiang Basin, urbanization showed a gradual upward trend. Among Them, the comprehensive urbanization index (CUI) of Xiangyang increased by 25.37%. (2) The comprehensive water environment index (CWEI) presents a fluctuating growth, with the rate of increase in Jingmen's reaching 17.44%. (3) There is heterogeneity in time and space between cities in the Hanjiang Basin, and the positive interaction effect of UAWE is mainly focused on the middle and lower reaches of the Hanjiang River. (4) Coupling coordination degree (CCD) in the basin shows an increasing trend, and the areas with high CCD are mainly concentrated in Xiangyang and Xiantao. (5) ESDA shows that the CCD among cities in the basin has spatial correlation and heterogeneity, and the regions with similar CCD tend to be distributed centrally in space. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Considering the traditional indicator of Green GDP and EDP, which ignored the ecological content when used to assess the regional sustainable development level, we proposed a new indicator, “EcoDP”, which consists of five sub-indicators: eco-service domestic product, eco-disaster domestic product, eco-construction domestic product, eco-threat domestic product, and eco-protection cost input, to distinguish the traditional EDP; we also suggest that the “EcoDP” should rather be divided into two main types: the “EcoDP value-stocked” and the “EcoDP value-added”. An analysis is carried out of China''s “EcoDP” change from 1999 to 2008, providing the following figures for the past 10 years: eco-service domestic product rose by 0.11 trillion yuan; eco-disaster domestic product increased by ¥1.03 trillion; eco-construction domestic product dropped by ¥9.8 billion; eco-threat domestic product rose by ¥114.4 billion; eco-protection cost input grew by ¥431.1 billion; and then we discussed the reasons for this change in China''s “EcoDP” from the perspectives of ecosystem, environment, resources and energies. Finally, based on various uncertainties regarding the research methodology adopted, the paper considers how to conduct quantified research and assessment for regional sustainable development in a comprehensive way in the future, in terms of GDP, EDP and social domestic product, like HDI. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Building manufacturing creates product value like building space, and induces severe environmental influence at the same time. The idea of eco-efficiency (EE) can link a product or service value and the corresponding environmental influence together, but there has been little research that implements such idea on building manufacturing, such as the green building rating system of the comprehensive assessment system for building environmental efficiency (CASBEE) in Japan and the EcoEffect in Sweden. This paper proposes an emergy (spelled with an “m”) analysis-based methodology for EE evaluation of building manufacturing, where the building space (in cubic size) and the emergy amount of building manufacturing are selected as the indicators of product value and the environmental influence, respectively. Six residential buildings that include multi-storeys, moderate high-rises and high rises are selected averagely from two Chinese famous cities, namely Beijing and Shanghai. The evaluation results can provide directions to assess environmental influence and thus to heighten the EE of building manufacturing. The EE evaluation result can even be used as the base of a new green building (or eco-building) rating system. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

• SO 2 emissions in China have been found to exhibit spatial heterogeneity. • A random effect eigenvector spatial filtering (RE-ESF) approach is suggested to deal with spatial dependence in empirical studies. • The global and local relationships between factors and SO 2 emissions can be captured. • Centralized and province-specific policies for reducing SO 2 emissions can be developed. Sulfur dioxide (SO 2) emissions have been a great challenge in China over the last few decades due to their serious impact on the environment and human health. In this paper, a random effect eigenvector spatial filtering (RE-ESF) approach without and with non-spatially varying coefficients (SNVC) is identified to examine spatial heterogeneity and economic driving factors of SO 2 emissions in China from 2011 to 2017. Using the Moran eigenvectors to extract information on spatial dependence, the main findings of the RE-ESF approach are as follows: First, after comparing different approaches for dealing with spatial dependence, it is found that the RE-ESF approach demonstrates the best fit to the dataset. Second, the global investigation shows that SO 2 emissions are negatively determined by economic growth and government expenditure for environment protection, but are positively determined by road freight transport, coal consumption and oil consumption. Third, the local investigation indicates that the spatially varying coefficients of economic growth and coal consumption range from 0.1401 to 0.2732 with the median value of 0.2478 and from 0.2406 to 0.3611 with the median value of 0.3210, respectively, revealing significant spatial heterogeneity of SO 2 emissions driven by economic growth and coal consumption. These findings provide meaningful insights into centralized and province-specific policies for reducing SO 2 emissions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Eco-efficiency is evaluated from manufacturing and environmental protection stage. • Eco-efficiencies of two stages in most China's provinces are at a low level. • There are differences in two-stage eco-efficiency among China's provinces. • The effects of "Belt and Road" on the eco-efficiency of two stages are opposite. This paper divides the industrial eco-economic system into manufacturing stage and environmental protection stage, uses the improved metabolic GM(1,1) model and TOPSIS-DEA cross-efficiency model to evaluate the two-stage eco-efficiency of China's provinces from 2005 to 2020. On this basis, regression discontinuity is utilized to analyze the heterogeneous impact of "Belt and Road" initiative (BRI) on the eco-efficiency of industrial eco-economic system and two stages. The results show that: the eco-efficiency of industrial eco-economic system (EIES) and the eco-efficiency of manufacturing stage (EMS) have been at a relatively high level, while the eco-efficiency of environmental protection stage (EEPS) is still at a low level so far. The EIES and EMS of the provinces in eastern region are higher than those of the central, western and northeastern regions, while the EEPS of the western region is higher than that of the other three regions. The impacts of BRI on EIES and EEPS are significantly positive, while the BRI has a negative effect on EMS. In addition, there is a significant positive relationship between economic development level and EIES, EMS, and EEPS, industrial structure can promote EIES and EMS, and technological innovation has a significant positive correlation with EMS, a significant negative correlation with EEPS. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

[Display omitted] • The construction land and farmland in Jinghe County has changed dramatically. • The farmland increased significantly and expanded along with a "triangle" three sides. • The biodiversity of farmland decreased, while the fragmentation degree of forest land increased. • Human factors are the main driving force of landscape pattern change in Jinghe County. The eco-environment of the arid area is constantly fragile global-wide. The study on the spatial and temporal variation of its landscape pattern can quickly identify the driving factors, which is an effective analysis method of ecological conservation in the arid area. In this study, Jinghe County, Xinjiang, in Northwestern China, is chosen as a case study of understanding the major driving force of the oasis landscape. Landsat satellite images of 1994, 2007, and 2017 are used as the basic data sources for analysis. The moving window method, transition matrix, and factor analysis are selected as the main technical means for this paper to reveal the temporal and spatial variation of landscape pattern in Jinghe County, and to quantitatively describe its driving factors. The results of the analysis show that: (1) The landscape pattern of Jinghe County has changed dramatically, especially the construction land and farmland. Both show an increase of 351.29% and 269.01% respectively between 1994 and 2017. Farmland increased the most, with the proportion of 6.45% in Jinghe County, and expanded along with the "triangle" three sides. The area of forest land increased slightly, the area of grassland and unused land decreased, and the area of water did not change significantly. (2) The dominant obvious regional differences of landscape types in Jinghe County are mainly manifested in farmland and forest land. Taking the unused land as the boundary, the biodiversity of farmland decreased, and the aggregation degree deepened, while the fragmentation degree of forest land increased. (3) The spatial–temporal variation of landscape patterns in Jinghe County is the result of the combination of natural and human factors, but the correlation between human factors and the change of landscape area is significantly greater than that of natural factors. Thus, human factors are the main driving force of landscape pattern change in Jinghe County. The scientific management and planning of the intensity of human activities in Jinghe County should be the focus of ecological environment restoration and protection. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• The index of Urban Water Ecological Civilization (UWEC) has been introduced. • Index system and evaluation method for the UWEC level have been established. • UWEC level of three urban agglomerations increases along the Yangtze River from west to east. • Factors restricting the UWEC level of Yangtze River Economic Belt are identified. Urbanization and economic development pose a challenge to the water ecological environment of cities. "Ecological Civilization" is a term that demonstrates the strategy to achieve the win-win goal of economic development and eco-environment protection. "Water Ecological Civilization" is a vital part of "Ecological Civilization". This paper introduced a composite index to characterize the Urban Water Ecological Civilization (UWEC) and established an evaluation index system for UWEC based on a multicriteria analytical framework. The evaluation system contains 20 indicators selected from six criterion layers: water resources utilization (A, evaluating the efficiency of industrial, agricultural, domestic and public water use), water security assurance (B, evaluating the flood control, drainage and drinking water safety), water environmental protection (C, evaluating the water environment quality and water pollution prevention), water ecological restoration (D, evaluating the health of regional water ecosystem), water culture system (E, evaluating the inheritance of water culture and the popularization of UWEC awareness) and water management institution (F, evaluating the implementation of management systems). In our research, three major urban agglomerations (UAs) in Yangtze River Economic Belt (YREB) were chosen to be the study area. The results presented that the UWEC level of UAs gradually increased along the Yangtze River from west to east, showing obvious spatial differences. The main criteria restricting the UWEC level of UAs in the Yangtze River Delta were D and E, while E and F were the main restricting criteria for the UWEC level of UAs in the Middle Reaches of the Yangtze River and Cheng-Yu District. The indicator of "drainage compliance rate" got the lowest score among all indicators for three UAs. In addition, targeted measures for improving the UWEC level of UAs in YREB were proposed. Our study is supposed to provide a scientific reference to the improvement of UWEC level for UAs in YREB and trigger further research in the field of water ecological civilization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Constructed the environmental sensitivity index (ESI) system. • Providing a simple and convenient method to calculate the ESI based on Euclidean distance. • Classified protection categories into four regions and proposed environmental management measures according to the sensitivity. Identifying environmentally sensitivity regions and levels is an important aspect of resource management, especially in large arid ecosystems that exhibit sensitivity to climate change. This paper selected northwest China with complex and diverse environmental problems as the study area, and constructed the environmental sensitivity index (ESI) system including human intervention, disaster risk, land environment, biological and climate indicators, which were composed of thirteen factors. Then the environmental sensitivity was analyzed through using geographic information system (GIS) technology and spatial distance index (SDI) method. The temporal and spatial evolution characteristics of environmental sensitivity in Northwest China in the past 16 years were discussed. The results showed that: (1) the environmental sensitivity in the study area was in the medium level and its spatial heterogeneity was significant. The high and extremely sensitivity were mainly concentrated in the western and central areas, while the normal and low sensitivity were mainly distributed in the southeast of northwest China. (2) The ESI value decreased from 0.477 in 1987 to 0.429 in 2016, which reflected that the environmental conditions in northwest China have improved in the past 17 years, but not obviously. The regional sensitivity was still unstable, and the fluctuation change area was 232,136.28 km2, accounts for7.71% of the total area. This showed that local government had made some progress in environmental protection, but it still has a long way to go because of the deterioration of the regional environment in northwest China. (3) The SDI method can simply and directly inflect the environmental sensitivity distribution and change patterns, which provided management partitions with well-founded and more viable for planning and implementing effective environmental management. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Economic agglomeration (EA) was quantified based on nighttime light data. • All provinces are facing ecological overload excluding Qinghai. • A positive correlation between EA and ecological efficiency (EE) was found. As natural resources are becoming one of the factors hindering economic development, the utilization efficiency of natural resources should be improved and ecological stress should be reduced to ensure sustainable economic development. In this study, the ecological stress index and ecological efficiency were quantified using the ecological footprint model to describe the current status of sustainability and utilization efficiency of natural resources. The economic agglomeration was determined by conducting global spatial autocorrelation analysis using Defense Meteorological Program/Operational Line-Scan System (DMSP/OLS) nighttime light data. The relationship between economic agglomeration and ecological efficiency of China was then illustrated in a four-partite graph, and the results show that (1) the per-capita ecological footprints vary between the different provinces; however, the composition of the ecological footprint is similar between the provinces, and demonstrates the demand for fossil energy land is highest, while that for fishing ground is lowest. (2) All provinces are facing ecological overload, excluding Qinghai, and Shanghai, Tianjin, and Beijing are enduring the most severe ecological overload. (3) The ecological efficiency differs greatly between the different provinces of China, and the ecological efficiency values tend to decrease from the eastern coast to the inland region. (4) The economic activities in every province of China are spatially agglomerated, and the degree of agglomeration differs significantly. (5) There is a positive correlation between economic agglomeration and ecological efficiency, indicating that promoting economic agglomeration is an effective method of improving the utilization efficiency of natural resources. The relationship between economic agglomeration and ecological efficiency observed in this paper will provide a reference for optimizing the spatial distribution of economic activities and a theoretical basis for synchronizing environmental protection with economic development in China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The deterioration of high quality waters has become an issue of great concern in China. The Chinese government has implemented a series of policies, laws and regulations to control water pollution and improve the surface water quality. However, these measures cannot fundamentally change the status of surface water pollution in China. Some high quality waters have been degraded and do not obtain effective protection. In this paper, we present our views that the lack of antidegradation policy restricts the protection of high quality waters in China. The viewpoint will be beneficial in solving the problem of water pollution in China and also to support other countries in their protection of high quality waters. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]