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The pursuit of the sustainable agriculture often ignores to consider the ecological benefits. To achieve this goal, it is necessary to evaluate the ecological impacts related to the sustainable development. Therefore, to assess the overall ecological impact of crop production in 31 provinces in China, this study proposes to set up a non-monetary framework and indicators based on Emergy theory. Further analysis focuses on sustainable ecosystem under three different planting scenarios to identify the driving factors. The results demonstrated that the ecosystem disservice of crop production processes is greater than the services. The total emergy inputs, fertilizers used and R%, all of these can affect the ecological benefits. Furthermore, simply changing the cultivation pattern cannot achieve a balance between ecology and economy, there is no doubt that other method needed are needed. These findings provide valuable insights for developing appropriate policies for decision makers. • Establishing a framework to calculate the agri-ecosystem services and dis-services. • Analyzing the ecological benefits of crop system in the three different scenarios. • Building three emergy-based ecosystem service indicators to assess the crop system. • Proposing some feasible advices from ecological benefits perspective. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The problem of fresh water scarcity is one of the major constraints for regional development. Rapid urbanization and rising economic prosperity has further exacerbated problems with not only water quantity, but also water quality. Hence, sustainable utilization of water resources should be a priority, especially in water stressed areas. However, most current studies on optimal water allocation models are based on physical water, which cannot fully reveal the water flows embedded in imported and exported raw materials and products throughout all production processes. Thus, they fail to achieve sustainability goals. Therefore, the objective of this study was to set up an optimal water allocation model for industrial sectors based on water footprint accounting. In this paper, first the internal and external blue and gray water footprints were evaluated. The results indicated that the external water footprint was the major contributor to Dalian's water footprint, which shared around 72.58% of the total. Among all the industrial sectors, the chemical industry and chemical production sector had the highest total WF. Second, analyses of water productivity intensity of the WF and physical water for the industrial sectors were conducted. The comparison of the results revealed that physical water productivity intensity failed to explain the embedded water inflows in the production processes among the regions and sectors. Third, an optimization model based on the water footprint accounting results was thus set up. The optimal consequences indicated that a water allocation plan could meet both the water requirements for the blue and gray water footprints of the industrial sectors, and their target output goals as well. Therefore, this optimal allocation model is both rational and applicable for sustainable water utilization in future water management strategy formulations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As the basis of urban social-economic development, water and energy resources are indivisible and interrelated in the production and consumption activities of cities. The frequent intercity trade of energy-related goods aggravates water withdrawal in neighboring cities and causes the spatial transfer of resources. The spatial correlation of water withdrawal and energy consumption is rarely considered in the city-level water-energy nexus. As one of China's most serious water shortage regions, Hebei Province is the third-largest energy consumer in China and is a major supplier of mineral resources, industrial raw materials, water resources, electricity, and agricultural products to Beijing and Tianjin. The spatial Durbin model with the two-way fixed effects is applied to explore spatial effects of water-energy nexus in cities of Heibei province. Seven influencing factors, including energy consumption, energy structure, population, GDP, water withdrawal intensity, urbanization, and agriculture structure were considered. Results showed that all factors had positive impacts on water withdrawal except energy structure. Water withdrawal intensity made the most considerable contribution to water withdrawal, followed by urbanization, energy consumption, GDP, industrial structure, and population. The urbanization level of neighboring cities exerted the most significant positive spatial spillover impact on local water withdrawal, whereas the energy consumption showed a negative impact. The exploration of city-level spatial correlation regarding water withdrawal and energy consumption provides a reference for regional cooperation to improve resource utilization efficiency, establishing sustainable energy and water systems, and promoting sustainable development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The environmental impacts of the fashion industry have been aroused wide concerns. The globalization and fragmentation of the textile and fashion system have led to the uneven distribution of environmental consequences. As denim is the fabric of jeans that is representative of fashion, this study assessed virtual carbon and water flows embodied in the global denim-product trade, and footprints of denim production were quantified by life-cycle assessment and water footprint assessment. Results indicated that virtual carbon embodied in the global denim trade increased obviously from 14.8 Mt CO 2 e in 2001 to 16.0 Mt CO 2 e in 2018, and the virtual water consumption dropped from 5.6 billion m3 to 4.7 billion m3 from 2001 to 2018. The denim fabric production and cotton fibre production respectively contribute the most of the carbon emissions and water consumption. Polyester blended denim has 5% larger carbon footprint and 72% lower water footprint than cotton denim, and contributes to increasing embodied carbon emissions (from 4% in 2001 to 43% in 2018). Increasing the utilization of polyester blended denim would save water but face more pressures on carbon emission reduction. In the past two decades, virtual carbon and water flows embodied in the global denim trade are relocating, main jean consumers (i.e., the USA, EU-15, and Japan) withdraw the denim manufacturing supply chain and developing countries (i.e., China, India, and Pakistan) with higher carbon and water footprint undertake main global denim production, facing increasing climate-related risks and water crisis. The South-South cooperation helps share successful experiences, save production cost, and lessen resource consumption and environmental emissions. The production and consumption of denim should be shifted to circular and sustainable ways and new business models are required. The analysis framework can provide the basis for exploring environmental flows of product-level trade, and results can offer a basis for environmental policies and control strategies of the fashion industry, and as well as the sustainable production and consumption of garment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]