The case study based on Qinling Mountains in Shaanxi Province of China, in virtue of the information from TM image, classifies the land types and analyzes their spatial and temporal differential law, and puts forward three structural patterns of land types in mountainous areas, namely, spatial, quantitative and qualitative structures of mountainous land types. Furthermore, it has been noticed that the analysis of structural patterns can disclose the heterogeneity and orderliness of combination of land types, which can lay the theoretic foundation for comprehensively recognizing ecological characteristics and succession law of structure and function of land types. After the all-around comparative analysis, an optimal allocation of land use in Qinling Mountains has been put forward according to the principle of sustainable development and landscape ecology, which can lay the scientific foundation in practice for the structural adjustment and distribution optimization from the macro level to micro level.

Based on TM image data and other survey materials, this paper analyzed the spatiotemporal patterns of land use change in the Bohai Rim during 1985–2005. The findings of this study are summarized as follows: (1) Land use pattern changed dramatically during 1985–2005. Industrial and residential land in urban and rural areas increased by 643,946 hm², of which urban construction land had the largest and fastest increase of 294,953 hm² at an annual rate of 3.72%. (2) The outward migration of rural population did not prevent the expansion of residential land in rural areas by 184,869 hm². This increase reveals that construction of rural residences makes seriously wasteful and inefficient use of land. (3) Arable land, woodland and grassland decreased at a rate of –0.02%, –0.12% and –1.32% annually, while unused land shrank by 157,444 hm² at an annual rate of –1.69%. (4) The change of land use types showed marked fluctuations over the two stages (1985–1995 and 1995–2005). In particular, arable land, woodland and unused land experienced an inversed trend of change. (5) There was a significant interaction between arable land and woodland. Industrial construction land in urban and rural areas showed a net trend of increase during the earlier period, but only adjustment to its internal structure during the second period. The loss of arable land to the construction of factories, mines and residences took place mainly in the fringe areas of large and medium-sized cities, along the routes of major roads, as well as in the economically developed coastal areas in the east. Such changes are closely related to the spatial differentiation of the level of urbanization and industrialization in the region.

Based on archaeological excavations, 217 samples were collected from the Luotuodun Site. Of them 63 samples from the section plane of the site layer were used for identification analysis of foraminifera, plant debris and seed fossils, and four samples were used for 14C dating and relevant analysis. Through many kinds of experiments, we have drawn some conclusions. Firstly, benthic foraminifera, such as Ammonia compressiuscula and Ammonia cff. sobrina, are found in the 10th layer, indicating that between 7500 and 5400 BC, i.e. before the emergence of the Majiabang Culture, Luotuodun Site and its nearby regions had ever experienced a marine transgression event. Secondly, we have found 450 plant fossils in this site, such as Polygonum sp., Scripus sp., Najas sp., Physalis sp., which indicated lacustrine or swamp environment.

Major function oriented zoning (MFOZ hereafter) is the guideline for optimizing the spatial pattern of regional development in China, which entails both theoretical and methodological innovation in the academic field of economic geography. This study analyzes the basic features of territorial function and puts forward a spatial equilibrium model for regional development for the first time. It argues that there exists a trend of regional convergence in the average value which indicates the comprehensive development status of any region. Based on this finding, the study illustrates that the formation of functional zone should be conducive to the narrowing of regional gap and that free flow of resources between regions is the prerequisite to spatial equilibrium. It also investigates the impact of territorial functional evolution on the process of spatial equilibrium and suggests that the maximization of benefits derived from zoning proposal is interrelative with the method of regional division and the degree of understanding towards the temporal changes of territorial function. Furthermore, this study goes on to examine the scientific foundation of several issues concerning the reconciliation between contradictory functions of development and protection, the selection of indicators and the spatial and temporal features of MFOZ. It is then probes into the rationality of achieving dual goals of efficiency and equality simultaneously through three-dimensional flow and spatial equilibrium. The paper ends with discussions on the position, implementation and coordination of MFOZ from the perspective of institutional arrangements of spatial governance including law, planning and government policy.

Based on the data from the Cost-benefit Data of Farm Produce and the China Agricultural Yearbook, this paper divided the intensity of cultivated land use into labor intensity and capital intensity, and then analyzed their temporal and spatial change at both national and provincial levels between 1980 and 2006. The results showed that: (1) At the national level, labor intensity on food produce decreased from 398.5 day/ha in 1980 to 130.25 day/ha in 2006; and a continuous decrease with a steep decline between 1980 and 1986, a slower decline from 1987 to 1996, and another steep decline from 1997 to 2006. On the contrary, capital intensity shows an increasing trend since 1980. As to the internal composition of capital intensity, the proportion of seed, chemical fertilizer and pesticide input decreased from 90.36% to 73.44% and the proportion of machinery increased from 9.64% to 26.56%. The less emphasis on yield-increasing input and more emphasis on labor-saving input are the main reasons for a slow increase of yield per unit area after 1996. (2) At the provincial level, the developed areas have lower labor intensity and higher capital intensity. The less developed ones have higher labor intensity but lower capital intensity. From the viewpoint of the internal composition of capital intensity, labor-saving input accounts for more proportion in the developed areas than that of other areas. The main reason is that in these developed areas, labor input has become a constraint factor in food production as more and more labors engaged in off-farm work. Farmers increase the labor-saving input for higher labor productivity. However, in the less developed areas, the major constraint is the shortage of capital; food production is still depending on labor and yield-increasing inputs.

This paper presents a method of geomorphologic regionalization for Xinjiang, with the use of Srtm-DEM (resolution 90 m) and TM images for 1990 (resolution 30 m). After interpretation and classification of geomorphologic types, the present research focuses on the qualitative and quantitative distribution of different geomorphologic types based on geographical grid analysis. Then, by using system clustering analysis method, geomorphologic types are grouped into divisions. The resulting geomorphologic regionalization hierarchy of Xinjiang includes three levels, i.e., macro-landform divisions, medium-landform divisions, and micro-landform divisions, containing 6, 23 and 200 types, respectively. This method makes it possible to digitally delimit geomorphologic regions. Comparison and verification show that the spatial precision of the boundaries of geomorphologic subareas in Xinjiang is very high.

Jianglang Mountain is situated at the transitional zone of South China fold-system, Jiangshan–Shaoxing deep fracture zone and Baoan–Xiakou–Zhangcun fracture zone. The forming of the Xiakou basin was attributed to the pull-apart fault depression by the above fractures in earlier Cretaceous, afterward, series deposits such as Guantou formation (K₁g), Chaochuan formation (K₁c) and Fangyan formation (K₁f) which belong to Yongkang group, the lower Cretaceous layer accumulated in the Xiakou basin. In late Cretaceous, the above fractures occurred to extrude and the basin began to uplift, meanwhile, amounts of tension fissures and joints were produced since Cenozoic, which accelerated water-dicing into bed-rock. Consequently, landform-building processing: weathering, eroding and collapsing etc. were prevalent as finally to develop the so-called Danxia landform. The Jianglang Mountain landscape zone of the Danxia landform to apply for world natural relics are relying on unique and unparalleled peak, sky-split valley with vivid stones and reviving of platform. What is more, there is significance of study at lithology, stratigraphy and paleo-biology. According to dating for specimen of ophitic vein through-crossing the Yongkang group of Yafeng Peak by K-Ar method, this article revealed the uplift age of red-bed basin to be 77.89±2.6 MaBP (K₂) i.e. late Cretaceous, and it is the first chronological datum of Danxia landform research in China.

According to a long series of measured sediment data, the sedimentation effects of the Dongting Lake Area (DLA) were studied in light of the relationship between sedimentation characteristics and resources and environment. The result shows that the long-term deposition and the impact of human activities have led to a cycle of the evolution of sedimentation pattern, resulting in sediment disaster effects and resources effects in the DLA. The main features are as follows: 1) The water beach, silt beach, lake marsh beach, reed beach and other types of beach shaped by sedimentation effects constitute the main body of the giant lake system. 2) The disaster chains are induced, i.e., sedimentation → marshland expansion and reclamation → flood function decline, fish resource depletion, biodiversity reduction disaster chain, sedimentation → marshland expansion → floods, water pollution disaster chain, sedimentation → marshland floating vegetation rising → schistosomiasis, rodents virulence disaster chain, sedimentation → flood embankment bursting → land desertification disaster chain. 3) Sedimentation has created about 98.13×104 hm² of land in the past 55 years. Rational development and utilization of marshland resources have produced tremendous economic benefits.

According to the analysis of the climate materials including the topographic map in 1975, the TM and CBERS satellite remote sensing materials from the 1980s to 2005 as well as the air temperature, precipitation, evaporation rate, maximum depth of snow and the biggest depth of frozen soil in the past 45 years, the water level area of four lakes at the southeast of Nagqu, Tibet including Bam Co, Pung Co, Dung Co and Nuripung Co show a distinct trend of expansion in the past 30 years. In 2005, the water level area of the above four lakes increased by 48.2 km², 38.2 km², 19.8 km² and 26.0 km² respectively compared to 1975, with the respective increase rate of 25.6%, 28.2%, 16.2% and 37.6%. That is closely related to the warming and humidified climate change in the recent years such as rise of the air temperature, increase of the precipitation, decrease of the evaporation rate and permafrost degradation.

The characteristics of water vapor transport (WVT) over China and its relationship with precipitation anomalies in the Yangtze River Basin (YRB) are analyzed by using the upper-air station data in China and ECMWF reanalysis data in summer from 1981 to 2002. The results indicate that the first mode of the vertically integrated WVT is significant whose spatial distribution presents water vapor convergence or divergence in the YRB. When the Western Pacific Subtropical High (WPSH) is strong and shifts southward and westward, the Indian Monsoon Low Pressure (IMLP) is weak, and the northern part of China stands behind the middle and high latitude trough, a large amount of water vapor from the Bay of Bengal (BOB), the South China Sea (SCS) and the western Pacific forms a strong and steady southwest WVT band and meets the strong cold water vapor from northern China in the YRB, thus it is likely to cause flood in the YRB. When WPSH is weak and shifts northward and eastward, IMLP is strong, and there is nearly straight west wind over the middle and high latitude, it is unfavorable for oceanic vapor extending to China and no steady and strong southwest WVT exists in the region south of the YRB. Meanwhile, the cold air from northern China is weak and can hardly be transported to the YRB. This brings on no obvious water vapor convergence, and then less precipitation in the YRB.

In the aftermath of the global financial crisis of 2008, China witnessed gradual shrinkage of cities in the Pearl River Delta (PRD). In this study, we introduce the concept of economic resilience to analyse urban growth and shrinkage in the context of a rapidly-urbanising region. Multiple regression analysis is performed to explore the determinants of economic resilience in the PRD. By measuring resistance in the shrinking phase and recoverability in the growing phase in a group of cities in the PRD, this study distinguishes four scenarios and investigates their characteristics from a spatial perspective. The results demonstrate that the financial crisis had a severe and asymmetric influence on this area, indicating more than 15% of cities are faced with shrinking. The spatial distribution of economic resilience indicates a centre-periphery pattern, that is, high economic resilience in the inner ring and low economic resilience in the outer ring of the PRD. The service economy is found to play a significant role in promoting urban economic resilience. Results imply that sound economic policies for enhancing resilience: both poor local financial status and a high degree of export concentration adversely impact resistance, while upgrading the manufacturing economy and stimulating of industrial innovation are conducive to improve recoverability.

Urban land intensive use is an important indicator in harmonizing the relationship between land supply and demand. The system dynamics (SD) can be used to construct the feedback loop between urban construction land supply and demand and index variable function. Based on this, this study built a supply and demand system dynamic model of urban construction land for Chang-Zhu-Tan urban agglomeration. This model can simulate the change trends of supply and demand of construction land, industrial land, and residential land in 2016-2030 by three scenarios of low, medium, and high intensity modes. The results showed that the scale of construction land of urban agglomeration is expanding, with a rapid increase rate for the urban construction land. The scale and speed of land use based on the three intensity modes existed differences. The large scale and supply of construction land in the low intensity mode caused easily the waste of land resources. In high intensity mode, the scale and supply of construction land were reduced against the healthy development of new-type urbanization. In the medium intensity mode, the scale and supply of land use adapted to the socio-economic development and at the same time reflected the concept of modern urban development. In addition, the results of this study found that the proportion of industrial land in construction land ranged from 15% to 21%, which increased year by year in the low intensity mode, and decreased slowly and stabilized in medium and high intensity modes. The proportion of residential land in construction land ranged from 27% to 35%, which decreased in the low and the medium intensity modes, and maintained a high level in the higher intensity mode. This study contributes to provide scientific reference for decision-making optimization of land supply and demand, urban planning, and land supply-side reform.

Urban agglomeration is caused by the continuous acceleration of the urbanization process in China. Studying the expansion of construction land can not only know the changes and development of urban agglomeration in time, but also obtain the great significance of the future management. In this study, taking Changsha-Zhuzhou-Xiangtan (Chang-Zhu-Tan) urban agglomeration in Hunan province as a study area, Landsat images from 1995 to 2014 and Autologistic-CLUE-S model simulation data were used. Moreover, several factors including gravity center, direction, distance and landscape index were considered in the analysis of the expansion. The results revealed that the construction area increased by 132.18%, from 372.28 km ² in 1995 to 864.37 km ² in 2014. And it might even reach 1327.23 km ² in 2023. Before 2014, three cities had their own respective and discrete development directions. However, because of the integration policy implementation in 2008, the Chang-Zhu-Tan began to gather, the gravity center moved southward after 2014, and the distance between cities decreased, which was in line with the development plan of urban expansion. The research methods and results were relatively reliable, and these results could provide some reference for the future land use planning and spatial allocation in the urbanization process of Chang-Zhu-Tan urban agglomeration.

As the Rural Revitalization Strategy is gradually implemented, China’s rural areas are set to have more diverse function requirements. This paper selects the Changsha-Zhuzhou-Xiangtan region (Chang-Zhu-Tan) consisting of 23 county-level units) as a case study and looks at its economic development, agricultural product supply, social security and ecological service functions during 1996-2016. It then constructs an index system to evaluate the temporal evolution of the region’s rural functions. SPSS 19.0 and DPS 7.05 software, as well as Pearson’s correlation coefficient analysis, system clustering, optimal segmentation of ordered samples and other methods, are used to study the evolution traits, regional differentiation characteristics and driving forces of rural functions in the region. The results show, first of all, that the overall evolution trend is increasing in functions with periodic characteristics, the key nodes being 2000 and 2008. Second, there is clear geographical differentiation in the evolution of rural functions. The economic development function shows rapid growth in the urban agglomeration’s center and relatively weak growth at the periphery; the agricultural product supply function and ecological service function are concentrated in county-level units with abundant cultivated and forest land; and the social security function displays similar geographical differentiation to the economic development function. Overall, there is an obvious discrepancy in the degree of development of rural functions among county-level units of the Changsha-Zhuzhou-Xiangtan urban agglomeration; the rural functions of the agglomeration and peripheral county-level units have different development traits; and county-level units display functional differentiation. Third, rural functions have evolved as a result of interactions between various factors, such as natural resources, socio-economic conditions and local transport conditions. The new driving forces caused by urbanization are ultimately leading the evolution of rural functions toward multi-functional comprehensive development.

With the implementation of the “Going out” strategy and the Belt and Road Initiative, China’s investments have become increasingly influential in the global market. The contemporary literature has revealed how overseas Chinese networks and communities have actively promoted foreign investments into China over the past four decades. Whether this factor can help Chinese capital flow out once again is still ambiguous. This study examines this question by investigating Chinese corporate investments in Southeast Asia from 2001 to 2016. Through the discrete-selection logistic regression model, the study analyzes the correlation between overseas Chinese social networks and the location choices of Chinese corporate investments. The results show the following: (1) overall, there is a significant positive correlation between the population of overseas Chinese in Southeast Asian countries and the location choices of Chinese corporate investments; (2) in terms of the time sequence, the significance of the correlation is increasing, which implies that overseas Chinese have positive impacts on promoting the location choice of Chinese enterprises and that the impact is potentially increasing; and (3) in terms of the industrial structure and corporate functions, the impacts vary and are only significant in some industries and corporate segments.

According to the complex adaptive systems theory, tourist destinations may be regarded as complex adaptive systems formed by multiple adaptive agent interactions and composed of an agent system, tourist attraction subsystem, tourist service facility subsystem, and external environment system. This paper explores the spatial evolutionary progress of the Southern Anhui tourist area. The period 1979 to 1990 comprised the formation stage of spatial agglomerates, during which tourist attractions centering on Huangshan Scenic Area and Jiuhuashan Scenic Area were gradually exploited and formed scale agglomeration; tourism spatial structure began to show the characteristics of agglomeration development, and Gini indexes of the number of tourists and tourism revenue increased significantly from 0.26 to 0.29, and from 0.33 to 0.35, respectively. From 1991 to 2008, the system experienced a growth stage in which Huangshan Scenic Area and Jiuhuashan Scenic Area were further developed with improved tourist service facilities. Rapid development of Xidi-Hongcun Scenic Area and establishment of Fantawild Tourist Area promoted the formation of more spatial agglomerates with larger scales; Gini indexes of the number of tourists and tourism revenue presented fluctuating changes, reaching low points of 0.15 and 0.25 in 2000 and 0.12 and 0.22 in 2007, respectively. From 2009 to the present day, the system has remained in a blowout-development stage, during which non-linear interactions among agents are strengthened; various emerging development factors generate cultural tourism, vacation tourism, rural tourism and other new tourism products jointly with traditional development factors. New tourism products form a large number of new spatial agglomerates that are interconnected, accelerating the spatial flow of tourists and tourism revenue and reducing the differences in tourism development levels within the region; Gini indexes of the number of tourists and tourism revenue declined steadily from 0.17 and 0.23 in 2009 to 0.12 and 0.15 in 2016.

International and domestic circumstances have led to new opportunities and higher requirements for the development of geographic science in China. In this paper, we propose a modified disciplinary structure for geographic science in China in the new era. Geographic science in China can be categorized into four secondary disciplines, i.e., integrated geography, physical geography, human geography, and information geography, according to the current situation and expected trends. The tertiary disciplines under each secondary discipline are nearly fully developed, and a few quaternary disciplines under the tertiary disciplines are widely accepted and used in China. We hope this new disciplinary structure can play a breakthrough role in improving the branches of geographic science, promoting the development of emerging disciplines under the framework of geographic science, and supporting national and international development strategies in the new era.

Physical geography, one of the branches of geography, is the basic discipline of geographic science. And it is the scientific foundation of ecology, environmental science and other related disciplines. Physical geography focuses on spatial characteristics, evolution and regional differentiation of the earth’s surface. In the new period of rapid development of social economy, and science and technology, physical geography is more closely and widely connected with human geography and, information geography. This paper analyzed the forming process of the physical geography, expressed sub-discipline structure of integrated physical geography, sectoral physical geography, human living-environment geography, and proposed the development strategy of physical geography and its sub-branch disciplines, key priority of development goals and directions in China.

Human geography is a discipline that studies the formation and evolution of the geographical distribution pattern of human activities. The main research objects of human geography focus on human activities and human-environment relationship. The scientific questions to be answered by human geography cover both natural science and social science, and thus it has distinctive interdisciplinary features. In China, human activities’ economic and social processes play an essential role in explaining the law in human geography discipline as human society development is approaching or has entered the post-industrialization stage. The logic and methods of social science have become important tools through which human geography’s changes in processes and patterns of human geography can be reasonably discussed and adequately understood. The research methodology of human geography shows integration characteristics between natural sciences and social sciences. The outcomes of human geography research reveal scientific laws in geographical distribution patterns and the evolution of human activities. It becomes one of the primary disciplines for both the national and local governments to manage and optimize spatial development and protection patterns. It has wide applications in spatial planning, regional strategy and policy-making, and the modernization of spatial governance. The unique feature in integrating academic research and policy-making applications provides human geography discipline in China a superiority of leading the world in the discipline. Besides integrated human geography, human geography in China has five subdisciplines: economic geography, urban geography, rural geography, socio-cultural geography and political geography. Each subdiscipline has priority and critical research fields and coordinates with the rest of the subdisciplines.

The advent of the information era has resulted in exceptional advances in geographic science. The domain of geographic science has expanded from traditional physical and human geography to physical, human, and information geography, resulting in the emergence of the field of information geography. Three subdisciplines have gradually formed, i.e., geographic remote sensing science, geographic information science, and geographic data science. With a view towards preparing a description of the disciplinary structure of geographic science for the “Development Strategy of Discipline and Frontier Research in China (2021-2035)”, this article summarizes the history, definition, and disciplinary structure of information geography. The strategic layout of the discipline, along with the goals and key directions of priority development fields, are also highlighted. The insights into this new discipline provided in this paper will promote the development and application of remote sensing and geographic information within the framework of geographic science, advancing the synthesis of geographic research and the integrated development of geographic science.

The rapid expansion of China’s urban agglomerations in recent decades has resulted in over-occupied ecological spaces and increased ecological pressure that are restricting healthy regional development. This paper examines the structure and characteristics of distribution of “production-living-ecological” spaces in five mega-urban agglomerations in China: Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei (BTH), the Yangtze River Delta (YRD), Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area (GBA), Chengdu-Chongqing (CY), and the middle reaches of the Yangtze River (MYR). We analyze spatial and temporal variations in the ecological spaces and factors influencing them from 1990 to 2020, and examine the comprehensive ecological carrying capacity and status of ecological spaces in the past 30 years based on the available water resources, regulation of water and air quality, and leisure and recreation. The results show the following: (1) Urban agglomerations in different stages of formation and development represent varying area ratios of “ecological-production-living” spaces. The modes of expansion and evolution of the living spaces are dominated by multi-center combinations as well as the spatial structure of ecological spaces, including barrier, compact, discrete, and fully enveloping spaces. (2) From 1990 to 2020, the area occupied by living spaces in urban agglomerations continued to increase significantly while that of spaces for ecological production decreased. Except in the GBA, ecological spaces have exhibited a trend of increase in area, especially in the past 10 years. The area ratios and spatio-temporal variations in the “production-living-ecological” spaces indicate that the main functions of production and ecological spaces in mega-urban agglomerations have shifted from supply to regulation and culture, and reflect the transition from rapid urbanization to sustainable urbanization in China. (3) The comprehensive ecological carrying capacities of 78.6%, 73.1%, 54.5%, 56.3%, and 25.8% of cities in BTH, YRD, GBA, CY and MYR are severely overburdened. Water supply and the regulation of water quality are the main factors restricting the ecological carrying capacity of BTH and YRD while leisure and recreation services have hindered the capacities of GBA and CY. Policymakers thus need to pay attention to the conservation and rational layout of ecological spaces to reduce the ecological pressure in urban agglomerations. The work here can provide a scientific basis for the green and sustainable development of urban agglomerations as well as the optimized configuration of “production-living-ecological” spaces.

High-resolution mapping and monitoring of national land use/cover changes contribute significantly to the knowledge of the interaction between human activities and environmental changes. China’s Land Use/cover Dataset (CLUD) for 2020 and its dynamic changes in 2015-2020 were developed to extend the CLUD to over 30 years (i.e., the 1980s to 2020 at 5-year intervals) by integrating remote sensing big data and knowledge-based human-computer interaction interpretation methods. This integrating method for CLUD 2020 improved the efficiency of national land use/cover mapping and the accuracy of land use pattern change detection compared to earlier CLUD products, with an overall accuracy of 95%. The intensity of land use change decreased across China in 2015-2020 compared to 2010-2015, although both characteristics of its spatial changes were similar. The cropland area continued to shrink at national scale in 2015-2020, with two regional hotspots including the widespread conversions from dry land into paddy land in Northeast China and the coexistence of widespread land cultivation and cropland abandonment in Xinjiang of Northwest China. Built-up land area continued to expand in China, showing consistency between 2015-2020 and 2010-2015, in which hotspots transited from the surroundings of coastal megacities to the city surroundings of the central and western zones. For natural land, although the woodland and grassland decreased in 2015-2020, its magnitude expanded compared to 2010-2015. In comparison, the water body area in Qinghai-Tibet Plateau increased significantly under the continuous impact of climate change. These characteristics of land use change were closely related to the development strategy of the top-level design of the 13th Five-Year Plan (2016-2020) (e.g., ecological civilization construction and high-quality development).

Eco-environmental sustainability is the basis for sustainable development in ecologically fragile areas. Land consolidation plays an important role in coordinating human-land relationships and achieving economic growth and eco-environment protection. Taking the Loess Plateau as the study area, this paper diagnoses the associated eco-environmental problems and their chain effect. The research results show that the overall eco-environment of the region is still relatively fragile. An eco-environment multi-subject co-management model, a scale-differentiated management model, and an elements comprehensive management model are proposed to improve the eco-environmental management efficiency after implementing land consolidation in the plateau. This paper takes the Gully Land Consolidation Project in Baota district of Yan’an city in Shaanxi province as an example to illustrate the relationship between land consolidation and eco-environmental sustainability in the Loess Plateau. Policy implications for eco-environmental protection in the Loess Plateau are proposed.

The nexus exploration among land use/land cover change, ecosystem services and human well-being has been increasingly crucial in the context of Future Earth. However, the spatial heterogeneity and the entwining process among these three aspects have not yet been in-depth and systematically explored. Here we identified the spatiotemporal pattern of ecosystem services during the past 20 years in Yushu, the eco-fragile region and the centre of Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, as well as clarified its relationships with land use change and human well-being. We revealed that: (1) The structure of the ecosystem and land use in this area have been increasingly stable, and the ecological projects have exerted a positive impact. (2) Although the ecological environmental issues still need more attention, the ecosystem services of the area have been positively developing. (3) Derived by the ecosystem services increase, environmental projects and policies, the human well-beings of culture and education performed much better than other aspects. (4) It is crucial to carry out long-term ecological projects and increase educational investment for maintaining the stability of this ecologically fragile area. This study provides significant support for the regional ecological sustainability decision making, especially for the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, the roof of the world.

Analyzing long term urban growth trends can provide valuable insights into a city’s future growth. This study employs LANDSAT satellite images from 1990, 2000, 2010 and 2019 to perform a spatiotemporal assessment and predict Ahmedabad’s urban growth. Land Use Land Change (LULC) maps developed using the Maximum Likelihood classifier produce four principal classes: Built-up, Vegetation, Water body, and “Others”. In between 1990-2019, the total built-up area expanded by 130%, 132 km² in 1990 to 305 km² in 2019. Rapid population growth is the chief contributor towards urban growth as the city added 3.9 km² of additional built-up area to accommodate every 100,000 new residents. Further, a Multi-Layer Perceptron - Markov Chain model (MLP-MC) predicts Ahmedabad’s urban expansion by 2030. Compared to 2019, the MLP-MC model predicts a 25% and 19% increase in Ahmedabad’s total urban area and population by 2030. Unaltered, these trends shall generate many socio-economic and environmental problems. Thus, future urban development policies must balance further development and environmental damage.

Accurate and rapid evaluation of the regional eco-environment is critical to policy formulation. The remote sensing ecological index (RSEI) model of the Guangxi Beibu Gulf Economic Zone (GBGEZ) during 2001-2020 was established and evaluated using four indices: dryness, wetness, greenness, and heat. This paper proposes an information granulation method for remote sensing based on the RSEI index value that uses granular computing. We found that: (1) From 2001 to 2020, the eco-environmental quality (EEQ) of GBGEZ tended to improve, and the spatial difference tended to expand. The regional spatial distribution of the eco-environment is primarily in the second-level and third-level areas, and the EEQ in the east and west is better than that in the middle. The contribution of greenness, wetness, and dryness to the improvement of EEQ in the study region increased year by year. (2) From 2001 to 2020, the order of the contribution of the EEQ index in the GBGEZ was dryness, wetness, greenness, and heat. (3) The social and economic activities in the study region had a certain inhibitory effect on the improvement of the EEQ.

In tropical regions, mangrove forests are located in the inter-tidal areas between land and sea, and are at risk from both freshwater and seawater floods. Using satellite-derived Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) products, this study compared the differences in resistance and resilience of mangrove ecosystems to freshwater and seawater floods in Southeast Asia, and analyzed the spatial characteristics of the stability of mangrove ecosystems under floods in representative areas. Results show that mangroves tended to have lower mean resistance (28.24 vs. 37.32) and higher mean resilience (3.74 vs. 3.56) under freshwater floods, compared to seawater floods. Their resistance increased with the distance from rivers, such that the resistance of coastal areas to freshwater and seawater floods was lower than that of inland areas. These areas with lower resistance showed higher resilience compared to those with higher resistance. Damaged mangroves hardly fully recovered to their normal NDVI levels one year after seawater floods, especially in coastal areas. Although the occurrence of seawater floods was relatively rare in the past, it is likely to increase under more-intense climate extremes in the future, and the threat to the survival of mangroves may also increase. Thus, it is essential to evaluate the stability of mangrove ecosystems under floods.

Traditional trade routes that penetrate the natural barrier of the Himalayas are critical for connecting major Chinese and South Asian markets. Research on these trade routes can contribute significantly to facilitating the construction of the South Asian Corridor and enhancing trans-Himalayan connectivity. Combining historical literature, field surveys, and geographic information system (GIS) techniques, this study examined the spatial distribution characteristics and evolution process of the routes, focusing on transverse valleys of the Himalayan arc. The key findings were as follows. First, there are 21 traditional trade routes traversing the Himalayan region: six Sino-Nepalese routes, four Sino-Bhutanese routes, and eleven Sino-Indian routes. Second, the evolution of traditional trade routes has entailed five distinct phases: an incipient period (pre-7th century), formation (7th century-842 AD), development (842-1959), decline (1959-1962) and recovery (1962-present). Third, the incipient and formative developmental phases were prompted by the spread of Buddhism and the exchange of goods. The stability of local governments in Tibet and Central China and favourable border trade policies along with Britain’s colonial expansion and commercial interests stimulated further development of traditional trade routes. However, India’s strategic miscalculation and “Forward Policy” instigated the decline phase, while the demands of regional cooperation and development are currently the key drivers of the restoration and construction phase. Finally, to shelve disputes, promote cooperation and development, and enhance political mutual trust, governments should recover and construct traditional trade routes by replanning and constructing border trade markets, expanding border trade, developing pilgrimage and tourism, and strengthening cross-border cooperative research under global climate change.

Accounting for the gains and losses of ecological assets holds scientific significance in sustaining human well-being. Based on related research on ecological assets, we established a county-scale ecological asset accounting technology system by analyzing the temporal and spatial variations of county-level ecological assets in China from 1990 to 2018 and clarified the factors which caused the gains and losses of ecological assets. On these bases, optimization and promotion pathways were proposed. The results show that the number of counties dominated by farmland and forest ecological resources accounted for about 45% and 37% of the total counties, respectively. From 1990 to 2018, the quality of county-level ecological stock assets showed an increasing trend, while the water conservation volume decreased in nearly 70% of the counties. The number of counties with the gains (47%) and losses (37%) of ecological flow assets demonstrated spatial patterns which showed the same segmentation characteristics as the “Hu Huanyong Line”, that is, the counties in the vastness of northwest China experienced significant gains, while decreases were widespread in eastern and southern China. The change of ecological assets in more than 70% of the counties was driven by climate change and human activities. The average degree of impact of human activities driving the ecological asset gains in counties was about 80%, while that of climate change causing the ecological asset losses was about 60%. According to various ecological resource types, gain and loss status, and its driving factors, counties in China can be classified into five types: climate change mitigation, climate change adaptation, ecological resources restoration, ecological resources protection, and ecological resources management. Our results indicate that differentiated optimization and promotion pathways can be adopted to achieve desired ecological asset gains.

This essay combines the Defense Meteorological Satellite Program Operational Linescan System (DMSP-OLS) nighttime light data and the Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS) nighttime light data into a “synthetic DMSP” dataset, from 1992 to 2020, to retrieve the spatio-temporal variations in energy-related carbon emissions in Xinjiang, China. Then, this paper analyzes several influencing factors for spatial differentiation of carbon emissions in Xinjiang with the application of geographical detector technique. Results reveal that (1) total carbon emissions continued to grow, while the growth rate slowed down in the past five years. (2) Large regional differences exist in total carbon emissions across various regions. Total carbon emissions of these regions in descending order are the northern slope of the Tianshan (Mountains) > the southern slope of the Tianshan > the three prefectures in southern Xinjiang > the northern part of Xinjiang. (3) Economic growth, population size, and energy consumption intensity are the most important factors of spatial differentiation of carbon emissions. The interaction between economic growth and population size as well as between economic growth and energy consumption intensity also enhances the explanatory power of carbon emissions’ spatial differentiation. This paper aims to help formulate differentiated carbon reduction targets and strategies for cities in different economic development stages and those with different carbon intensities so as to achieve the carbon peak goals in different steps.