Cold and humid climates enrich soil carbon stock in the Third Pole grasslands

As a unique geographic unit,the Third Pole is globally recognized as the largest and highest mountainous region.Enormous amounts of soil organic carbon(SOC)are stored in this region,whose top layer is active in biochemical processes and highly sensitive to environmental changes.The warming intensity in the Third Pole has been predicted to be at least 0.3℃ higher than the global average by the end of the 21^(st) century.1 Therefore,it is essential to understand the underlying mechanisms,especially the hydrothermal factors,controlling the top layer SOC in the Third Pole.This may help to predict the dynamics of soil carbon stock in future climate scenarios.

Overlooked uneven progress across sustainable development goals at the global scale: Challenges and opportunities

Differences in progress across sustainable development goals(SDGs)are widespread globally;meanwhile,the rising call for prioritizing specific SDGs may exacerbate such gaps.Nevertheless,how these progress differences would influence global sustainable development has been long neglected.Here,we present the first quantitative assessment of SDGs’progress differences globally by adopting the SDGs progress evenness index.Our results highlight that the uneven progress across SDGs has been a hindrance to sustainable development because(1)it is strongly associated with many public health risks(e.g.,air pollution),social inequalities(e.g.,gender inequality,modern slavery,wealth gap),and a reduction in life expectancy;(2)it is also associated with deforestation and habitat loss in terrestrial and marine ecosystems,increasing the challenges related to biodiversity conservation;(3)most countries with low average SDGs performance show lower progress evenness,which further hinders their fulfillment of SDGs;and(4)many countries with high average SDGs performance also showcase stagnation or even retrogression in progress evenness,which is partly ascribed to the antagonism between climate actions and other goals.These findings highlight that while setting SDGs priorities may be more realistic under the constraints of multiple global stressors,caution must be exercised to avoid new problems from intensifying uneven progress across goals.Moreover,our study reveals that the urgent needs regarding SDGs of different regions seem complementary,emphasizing that regional collaborations(e.g.,demand-oriented carbon trading between SDGs poorly performed and well-performed countries)may promote sustainable development achievements at the global scale.

Water resource conservation promotes synergy between economy and environment in China’s northern drylands

Water resource availability is the major limiting factor for sustainable development in drylands.Climate change intensifies the conflicting water demands between people and the environment and highlights the importance of effective water resource management for achieving a balance between economic development and environmental protection.In 2008,Inner Mongolia,typical dryland in northern China,proposed strict regulations on water exploitation and utilization aimed at achieving sustainable development.Our study is the first to investigate the effectiveness and performance of these long-standing water conservation regulations.Our analyses found that the regulations drove industrial transformation,evidenced by the decreasing proportion of environmentally harmful industries such as coal and steel,and the increasing proportion of tertiary industries(especially tourism).Following industrial transformation,economic development decoupled from industrial water consumption and subsequently led to reduced negative environmental impacts.Based on these results,adaptive strategies were developed for 12 cities by revealing and integrating their development pathways and relative status in achieving sustainable development.Integration and cooperation between cities were proposed,e.g.,a water trade agreement between eastern Inner Mongolia(an economically underdeveloped region with relatively abundant water resources)and central Inner Mongolia(an economically developed region with high water stress).Such an agreement may enable the holistic achievement of sustainable development across regions.By integrating the findings of our research,our study presents a reproducible framework for water-management-based sustainable development strategies in drylands.