China's Shale Gas Geological Investigation and Prospecting Have Made Significant Progress

Since 2015, the China Geological Survey has implemented a major program of ＂Geology Survey of Land Energy Mineral Resources＂. Till now, a total of billions of RMB have been invested and seven engineering projects have been established, all of which has greatly enhanced the geological survey and exploration of China＇s continental shale gas in an attempt to overcome the oil and gas shortage.

Beyond Biochar-Soil, Plant and Environment: Research Progress and Future Prospects

Since industrial revolution, the atmospheric CO2 concentration has kept a continuous increase by more than 2.2 ppm yr^-1, and approaches to almost 400 ppm at present （Jouzel 2012）. China has become the largest country of greenhouse gas emission （GHG）, and confronts with great challenge to mitigate GHG.

Research progress and prospect of interaction between rock engineering and geo-environments

In recent years, a large number of geotechnical engineering projectshave been completed or under construction in China, such asthe Three Gorges Dam Project, Expressway Network Plan, South-to-North Water Diversion Project, West-to-East Gas Pipeline Project,etc. （Wang, 2003; Li, 2010; Huang, 2011; She and Lin, 2014）. Theconstruction of large-scale geotechnical engineering not onlybrings huge economic benefits, but also causes large interferenceto the lithosphere and hydrosphere that we rely on for survival（Wang et al., 2005）. This paper focuses on the interaction mechanismof rock engineering and geo-environments in the fields of urbanunderground space utilization, natural gas hydrate exploitationand high-level radioactive waste disposal.

Recent research progress and prospects in tourism geography of China

Based on a large number of domestic literature reviews with related research abroad, academic standards and issues awareness have been intensified in domestic tourism geography, disciplinary consciousness and innovation enhancement. Hence, some valuable achievements have been made in the areas of tourism resources, tourism regional system, the spatial structure of tourism, tourism flow, ecotourism, tourism industry, tourism planning and tourism impacts, which strengthened the traditional advantages of research, expanded new areas of research and made research trends diverse. Meanwhile, with innovation of research methods, tourism geography in China is getting more and more internationally-oriented and reflecting Chinese characteristics. Research trends of China＇s tourism geography are prospected： 1） Catering to national strategic needs, persisting problem-oriented, strengthening the metatheoretical research, and building Chinese ＂localization＂ of theory of tourism geography and method system. 2） Introducing and assimilating foreign theories and research methods, while focusing on explaining new tourism phenomena and problems in the domestic socio-economic background. 3） Concerning about the new regional spatial processes of demographic process, social process, and spatial process in new tourism trend. 4） Exploring interactive process and mechanism of man-land relationship and new models to develop territorial space under the tourism impacts. 5） Exploring important research issues of tourism geography in global, national, regional and local scales, from the point of view of spatial differentiation, scale transformation, interaction of man and nature, creating tourism geography interpretation system based on ＂process-structure-mechanism＂ of China. 6） Building theoretical system actively, while strengthening application-oriented research, and focusing on tourism poverty alleviation, tourism and heritage protection, national parks＇ construction and other hot issues. Faced with econometrics research boom, we should return to rational thinking, using big data scientifically, while paying attention to the important role of qualitative evaluation in future research.

International progress and evaluation on interactive coupling effects between urbanization and the eco-environment

Global urbanization is exerting severe stress and having far-reaching impacts on the eco-environment, and yet there exists a complex non-linear coupling relationship between the two. Research on the interactive coupling effect between urbanization and the eco-environment will be a popular area of study and frontier in international earth system science and sustainability science in the next 10 years, while also being a high-priority research topic of particular interest to international organizations. This paper systematically collates and summarizes the international progress made in research on interactive coupling theory, coupling relationships, coupling mechanisms, coupling laws, coupling thresholds, coupling models and coupling optimization decision support systems. The research shows that urbanization and eco-environment interactive coupling theories include the Kuznets curve theory, telecoupling theory, planetary boundaries theory, footprint family theory and urban metabolism theory; most research on interactive coupling relationships is concerned with single- element coupling relationships, such as those between urbanization and water, land, atmosphere, climate change, ecosystems and biodiversity; the majority of research on interactive coupling mechanisms and laws focuses on five research paradigms, including coupled human and nature systems, complex social-ecological systems, urban ecosystems, social-economic-natural complex ecosystems, and urbanization development and eco-environment constraint ring; the majority of interactive coupling simulations use STIRPAT models, coupling degree models, multi-agent system models and big data urban computer models; and research has been carried out on urbanization and eco-environment coupling thresholds, coercing risk and optimal decision support systems. An objective evaluation of progress in international research on interactive coupling between urbanization and the eco-environment suggests that there are six main research focal points and six areas lacking research： a lot of research exists on macroscopic coupling effects, with little research on urban agglomeration and scale coupling effects; considerable research exists on sin-gle-dimension coupling effects, with little on multiple-dimension coupling effects; a great deal exists on ＂one-to-one＂ dual- element coupling effects, with little on ＂many-to-many＂ multiple-element coupling effects; a lot exists on positive feedback coupling effects, and little on negative feedback coupling effects; a great deal exists on empirical coupling effects, and little on theoretical coupling effects; a great deal exists on the use of simple quantitative methods, and little on using integrated simulation methods. Future studies should focus on coupling effects between urbanization in urban agglomerations and the eco-environment, spatial scale coupling effects, multi-dimensional coupling effects, telecoupling effects, ＂one-to-many＂ and ＂many-to-many＂ element coupling effects, and positive and negative feedback coupling effects. There is also a need to strengthen the development and application of dynamic models for multi-element,-scale,-scenario,-module and-agent integrated spatiotemporal coupling systems and further improve theoretical innovations in coupling effect research and integrate and form complete and diverse coupling theoretical systems.

Progress and prospects of atmospheric environmental sciences in China: Preface

Anthropogenic emissions impact significantly the atmospheric environment which human being relies on, e.g., global warming, stratospheric ozone depletion, photochemical smog, acid rain, haze and so on. Although clean air actions have been legislated by many nations to mitigate pollutants＇ emission with the aim of protecting the atmospheric environment, serious air pollution events are frequently observed in different regions, especially in developing countries. To best evaluate the effect of various control measures as well as the influence of various pollutants on the atmospheric environment, the levels, sources and sinks of the pollutants are needed to be comprehensively investigated. Since atmospheric environment involves multidisciplinary approach, scientists with different disciplines together can provide profound understandings about the atmospheric environmental problems. Sino-French Workshop on Atmospheric Environment is just one of such platforms to join scientists together for collaboration, exchange of experience and ideas.

Global understanding of farmland abandonment： A review and prospects

Since the 1950s, noteworthy farmland abandonment has been occurring in many developed countries and some developing countries. This global land use phenomenon has fundamentally altered extensive rural landscapes. A review of global farmland abandonment under the headings of ＂land use change - driving mechanisms - impacts and consequences - policy responses＂ found the following： （1） Farmland abandonment has occurred primarily in developed countries in Europe and North America, but the extent of abandonment has varied significantly. （2） Changing socio-economic factors were the primary driving forces for the farmland abandonment. And land marginalization was the fundamental cause, which was due to the drastic increase of farming opportunity cost, while the direct factor for abandonment was the shrink of agricultural labor forces. （3） Whether to abandon, to what extent and its spatial distributions were finally dependent on integrated effect from the physical conditions, laborer attributes, farming and regional socio-economic conditions at the village, household and parcel scales. With the exception of Eastern Europe, farmland abandonment was more likely to occur in mountainous and hilly areas, due to their unfavorable farming conditions. （4） A study of farmland abandonment should focus on its ecological and environmental effects, while which is more positive or more negative are still in dispute. （5） Increasing agricultural subsidies will be conductive to slowing the rate of farmland abandonment, but this is not the only measure that needs to be implemented. Due to China＇s rapid urbanization, there is a high probability that the rate of abandonment will increase in the near future. However, very little research has focused on this rapid land-use trend in China, and, as a result, there is an inadequate understanding of the dynamic mechanisms and consequences of this phenomenon. This paper concludes by suggesting some future directions for further research in China. These directions include monitoring regional and national abandonment dynamics, analyzing trends, assessing the risks and socio-economic effects of farmland abandonment, and informing policy making.