Effects of Enclosure on Grassland Ecological and Economic Benefits in Northern China

Grasslands in northern China serve the country as both an ecological barrier and a livestock production base.There,installing enclosures has been becoming the major grassland restoration measure adopted by many local governments.However,the effects of restoration on both ecological and production benefits of grassland remain unclear for implemented grassland restoration policies.Therefore,a representative rangeland in northern China,the Maodeng pasture in Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region was selected as the study area,and remote sensing monitoring analyses were carried out to quantify the ecological benefits and economic benefits from 2015 to 2021.The results showed that:1) in terms of ecological benefits,the grassland area with a grassland coverage rate of more than 60% accounts for 32.3% of the regional area,and 86.4% of its grassland grew significantly better than the same period in2015,showing a significant improvement in grassland growth.Using the average amount of carbon per unit area as the ecological benefit evaluation index,it increased by 27.1% to 32.48Tg C/yr from 2015 to 2021.2) In terms of economic benefits,both theoretical grass production and livestock carrying capacity increased from 2015 to 2021.Compared to 2015,the theoretical grass production in 2021 increased by 24.8% to 71 900 t.The livestock carrying capacity reached 52 100 sheep units in 2021,nearly 11 000 sheep units more than that in 2015.During the study period,multiple economic indicators(on a per capita basis of permanent residents) for the pastoral area of Xilinhot City to which the Maodeng pasture belongs,have grown steadily.Per capita total income rose from 29 630 yuan(RMB) in2015 to 62 859 yuan(RMB) in 2021.Relying on grassland resources to develop the pastoral ecology also broadens the potential economic development space.Overall,the establishment of the reserve and the experiment of implanting an enclosure policy have had a significant and positive impact on Maodeng pasture’s development from both an ecological and economic perspective.With the support of scientific evidence,enclosure policy can be extended to more than 110 000 km~2 of grasslands in northern China with similar precipitation and temperature conditions,enhancing the productive and ecological potential of grasslands.The above research results will contribute to the scientific formulation of grassland pasture quality improvement plans in northern China.

The coordinated evolution of ecological environment,public service,and tourism economy along the Silk Road Economic Belt,using the Dual-Carbon Targets

Carbon peak and carbon neutrality(dual-carbon)are important targets for the international response to climate change.The Silk Road Economic Belt is a strategic resource region and is important for future ecological environment and tourism development.Based on the“dual-carbon”targets,the Single index quantification,Multiple index synthesis,and Poly-criteria integration evaluation model were used in this study to measure the coordinated development index of the ecological environment,public service,and tourism economy along the Silk Road Economic Belt and to analyze its spatial and temporal evolution.Further,it explores the dynamic evolution and development trend of the three systems using the Kernel Density and Grey Markov Prediction Model.The results show that the coordinated development index along this region needs to be improved during the study period.Furthermore,the coordinated development index of the Southwest region is relatively higher than that of the Northwest region.From the development trend of the three systems,all of them develop in a stable manner;however,the tourism economy system is easily affected by external disturbances.The coordinated development index of the three systems changes dynamically and tends to be in a good state of coordination.There is a certain spatial and temporal heterogeneity.The gravity center of the coordinated development index has been in the Southwest region.During the forecast period,the coordinated development index along this region will improve significantly,while insufficient and unbalanced development will continue.

Optimization of water-urban-agricultural-ecological land use pattern:A case study of Guanzhong Basin in the southern Loess Plateau of Shaanxi Province,China

Extensive land use will cause many environmental problems.It is an urgent task to improve land use efficiency and optimize land use patterns.In recent years,due to the flow decrease,the Guanzhong Basin in Shaanxi Province is confronted with the problem of insufficient water resources reserve.Based on the Coupled Ground-Water and Surface-Water Flow Model(GSFLOW),this paper evaluates the response of water resources in the basin to changes in land use patterns,optimizes the land use pattern,improves the ecological and economic benefits,and the efficiency of various spatial development,providing a reference for ecological protection and high-quality development of the Yellow River Basin.The research shows that the land use pattern in the Guanzhong Basin should be further optimized.Under the condition of considering ecological and economic development,the percentage change of the optimum area of farmland,forest,grassland,water area,and urban area compared with the current land use area ratio is+2.3,+2.4,-6.1,+0.2,and+1.6,respectively.The economic and ecological value of land increases by14.1%and 3.1%,respectively,and the number of water resources can increase by 2.5%.

Ecological Economic Analysis of the Ecological Turn in the Development of Modern Civilization

During the primitive civilization and agricultural civilization periods,the functions and structures of various elements within the ecological and economic system were able to develop synergistically.But humans were always passive in the face of nature and cannot yet break free from its constraints and oppression.During the period of industrial civilization,the contradiction between the unlimited expansion of economic system demand and the relative reduction of ecosystem supply became increasingly severe.Its development model had obvious non ecological economic characteristics,which posed a great threat to the sustainable development of human society.The ecological turn in the development of human civilization is an inevitable trend,and the gradual replacement of industrial civilization by ecological civilization will become an objective fact.Ecological civilization has overcome the non ecological economic nature of industrial civilization and established an ecological economic operation mode that promotes and transforms economic and ecological systems in both directions.It has achieved a perfect combination of ecological operation of social and economic systems and economic operation of natural ecosystems,and harmonious,coordinated,and win-win development of economic society and natural ecology.

Temporal and spatial responses of ecological resilience to climate change and human activities in the economic belt on the northern slope of the Tianshan Mountains, China

In the Anthropocene era,human activities have become increasingly complex and diversified.The natural ecosystems need higher ecological resilience to ensure regional sustainable development due to rapid urbanization and industrialization as well as other intensified human activities,especially in arid and semi-arid areas.In the study,we chose the economic belt on the northern slope of the Tianshan Mountains(EBNSTM)in Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region of China as a case study.By collecting geographic data and statistical data from 2010 and 2020,we constructed an ecological resilience assessment model based on the ecosystem habitat quality(EHQ),ecosystem landscape stability(ELS),and ecosystem service value(ESV).Further,we analyzed the temporal and spatial variation characteristics of ecological resilience in the EBNSTM from 2010 to 2020 by spatial autocorrelation analysis,and explored its responses to climate change and human activities using the geographically weighted regression(GWR)model.The results showed that the ecological resilience of the EBNSTM was at a low level and increased from 0.2732 to 0.2773 during 2010–2020.The spatial autocorrelation analysis of ecological resilience exhibited a spatial heterogeneity characteristic of"high in the western region and low in the eastern region",and the spatial clustering trend was enhanced during the study period.Desert,Gobi and rapidly urbanized areas showed low level of ecological resilience,and oasis and mountain areas exhibited high level of ecological resilience.Climate factors had an important impact on ecological resilience.Specifically,average annual temperature and annual precipitation were the key climate factors that improved ecological resilience,while average annual evapotranspiration was the main factor that blocked ecological resilience.Among the human activity factors,the distance from the main road showed a negative correlation with ecological resilience.Both night light index and PM2.5 concentration were negatively correlated with ecological resilience in the areas with better ecological conditions,whereas in the areas with poorer ecological conditions,the correlations were positive.The research findings could provide a scientific reference for protecting the ecological environment and promoting the harmony and stability of the human-land relationship in arid and semi-arid areas.

Relationship between ecological economics and circular economy,eco-industry,cleaner production,and other relevant categories

Eco-industry, circular economy, cleaner production, industrial ecology or industrial ecosystem and other subjects are all categories related to sustainable development. This paper studies the relations and differences between the four categories and sustainable development as well as ecological economics. Circular economy, eco-industry, industrial ecosystem and cleaner production were put forward during the revolution in “end treatment pattern” of traditional industrial society. Industrial ecology, eco-industry and circular economy theory are three content expansions of cleaner production. Ecological economics is of instructive function theoretically and methodologically for circular economy, eco-industrial, cleaner production and industrial ecology. Circular economy theory is easier to be accepted, compared with ecological economics theory. And circular economy in nature is the complete application of ecological economics theory.

Establishment and development of Ecological Economics in China over the past three decades

The establishment of China's Ecological Economics was proposed by the famous economist Prof. XU Dixin in 1980. Over the past 34 years since its establishment, Ecological Economics has developed into an interdisciplinary subject combined with natural sciences and social sciences. Its emergence met the demand of human society for entering the Ecological Epoch. The past three decades has witnessed the foundation of eco-economic theories and the emergence of various guiding thoughts and policy suggestions which have made great contributions to China's modernization and reform. The guiding ideology of "coordination between ecology and economy" has been widely acknowledged by governments and people, and the concept of "ecological economy" has enjoyed popular support among the general public, which both play increasingly important roles in guiding practice and have major infl uences around the world.

Ecological and socioeconomic effects of China's policy for grassland eco-compensation

To reverse the continuous deterioration of grassland ecology and to improve the well-being of herders, China has been formulating many national policies on payments for grassland ecological conservation. One of them, the Grassland Eco-compensation Policy(GEP), is the biggest program for grassland protection in China since 1949. The GEP conserves natural grassland by paying herders cash subsidies. It also has worldwide significance because it can increase vegetative cover, improve the ecological balance, increase carbon sequestration and lessen the amount of dust reaching other countries through inhibiting soil erosion. Overall, we find that its ecological and socioeconomic effects are beneficial and further benefits may be observed in the future because while the socioeconomic effects usually appear quickly, ecological effects may take longer to manifest. 2015 is the last year for the first round of the GEP policy implementation and the extended policy for the GEP will be approved and continued by the central government. To make the policy more successful, we suggest coordinated planning, a comprehensive overview, higher compensation and collaborative study. Efficient implementation of the GEP could also provide valuable experience for other eco-compensation programs in China and numerous other regions of the world.

The essence of ecological economics theory based on the“objectprocess-subject”model

The internationally currently recognized ecological economics with strong sustainability significance has transformed the economic growth research paradigm into the well-being promotion research paradigm,fundamentally reflecting on the theories and methods of neoclassical economics.Starting from assumptions,analytical tools,and goals orientation and action principles,the research reconstructs a new systematic and overall development theory.Based on the“object-process-subject”model,this article combs and reviews the essence of ecological economics.From the perspective of the object,ecological economics pursues sustainable prosperity within the ecological threshold;from the perspective of the process,it focuses on the prevention and control of the symptoms and root causes;from the perspective of the subject,it advocates a cooperative governance model that contains flexibility and diversity.The orientation of ecological economics theory lies in the creation of ecological civilization.

The outline on Ecological Marxism Economics

Ecological Marxism Economics is a new economics formation of Marxism. The article, for the first time, putsforward the scientific proposition of establishing Ecological Marxism Economics with distinct Chinese characteristics,and has primarily discussed its theoretic frame and basic contents. Realizing the historic task is the historic mission ofcontemporary Chinese Marxism economists.

《Forest Policy and Economics》刊发中国林业经济论文追溯分析

以国际权威期刊《Forest Policy and Economics》为例,选取其2007—2017年刊发的与中国林业经济问题相关的文献,从国际视角对中国林业经济问题进行梳理与总结。基于统计分析,刊发的文献总体呈现数量波动增长、内容多样化、合作形式国际化,研究区域具体化,定量分析为主等特点。从林产品贸易、森林资源经营管理、森林转型等主题展开对中国林业经济研究的论述,以期为我国相关学者全面把握中国林业经济前沿研究进展和发展趋势提供参考与借鉴。

Adaptive economic and ecological forest management under risk

Background： Forest managers must deal with inherently stochastic ecological and economic processes. The future growth of trees is uncertain, and so is their value. The randomness of low-impact, high frequency or rare catastrophic shocks in forest growth has significant implications in shaping the mix of tree species and the forest landscape. In addition, the fluctuations of wood prices influence greatly forest revenues. Methods： Markov decision process models （MDPs） offer a rigorous and practical way of developing optimum management strategies, given these multiple sources of risk. Results： Examples illustrate how such management guidelines are obtained with MDPs for combined ecological and economic objectives, including diversity of tree species and size, landscape diversity, old growth preservation, and carbon sequestration. Conclusions： The findings illustrate the power of the MDP approach to deal with risk in forest resource management. They recognize that the future is best viewed in terms of probabilities. Given these probabilities, MDPs tie optimum adaptive actions strictly to the state of the forest and timber prices at decision time. The methods are theoretically rigorous, numerically efficient, and practical for field implementation.

Study on Ecological Compensation Policy among the Micro Subjects on Water Energy Resources Development

The subjects of ecological compensation involve the nation, society, development enterprises of wa-ter-energy resources, as well as the location of resource itself. This paper systematically studies on how to make “water energy sources market compensation policy”, “the economic compensation policy for relevant interest subjects” and “the ecological compensation policy of basin ecological water.” So, it is necessary to exert the complementary function between market compensation and government compensation by the means of economic compensation and to establish the ecological compensation policy of basin ecological water, which is beneficial to coordinating the stakeholders’ interests of cross-region or inter-basin. And it is important and significant to establish constantly perfected ecological compensation policy among the micro subjects on water energy resources development, so as to coordinate interest relationships among various subjects and finally reach the aim of sustainable use of water energy resources and environmental protection as possible.

Decoupling scenario of economic growth and ecological environment pressure and influence factors of carbon emissions in Shandong Province

Based on the panel data of 17 prefecture-level cities in Shandong Province from 2007 to 2016,this paper studies the decoupling relationship between economic growth and ecological environment pressure in different prefecture-level cities in Shandong Province,and analyses the influencing factors by using decoupling model and LMDI decomposition model.It concludes that the economic growth of the main cities in Shandong Province is relatively decoupled from the pressure of ecological environment;the population and economic factors are the main factors leading to the increase of carbon emissions,and the energy efficiency is constantly improving in China,which contributes to carbon emissions reduction in those areas.On the side,it demonstrates the basis and realistic possibility of the transformation of new and old kinetic energy.

Contrastive Research on Domestic and Foreign Ecological Agriculture Policies

In the first place,the definitions of ecological agriculture defined by scholars both at home and abroad are introduced.In the second place,the domestic and foreign ecological agriculture policies are expounded.Through contrastive research on the domestic and foreign ecological agriculture polices,the problems in the development of ecological agriculture in China are found.By mirroring the western experiences in developing ecological agriculture,the countermeasures and relevant suggestions are put forward from the perspective of government.The first one is to increase the subsidies from the government to ecological agriculture.The second one is to clarify the standard of ecological agriculture construction.The third one is to promote the industrialization of ecological agriculture.The fourth one is to strengthen the construction of ecological demonstration region and ecological village.

A STUDY ON STRUCTURAL ANALYSIS OF SUBURBAN ECOLOGICAL AND ECONOMIC SYSTEM ─Taking Tianjin Suburbs and Counties for Example

Along with the development of urban economy. the growth of urban population and the increase of needs of urban society, the suburban ecological and economic system changes constantly and profoundly in its structure and function.Intensifying the research on structural analysis of suburban ecological and economic system is of great significance for grasping light the laws governing the development and evolution of the suburban ecological and economic system and leading this system onto a path of sound circle. By making comprehensive use of the cluster analysis and latent structural analysis the author attempts to explore a new avenue of revealing the structure of suburban ecological and economic system, taking Tianjin suburbs and counties as an example. The results obtained from the above-stated analyses show that it is entirely possible and extremely effective to study the structure and function of suburban ecological and economic system and provide scientific evidence for control of this system by using mathematical methods and statistical analyses.

Effect of regional ecological carrying capacity on economic transformation

Combined with the actual situation of the western region city of Zunyi, the three subsystems including social, economic and natural environment evaluation index systems of ECC have been built based on the theory of ecological carrying capacity(ECC). In addition, the factor analysis method has been used and the influence factors on the ECC in the economic transition have been gained. The results show that factors of ECC in the three subsystems have different influence: 1) the natural subsystem, which contains factors on the ECC, has obvious limitation, and it has the greatest influence on industrial waste discharge per capita; 2) the social subsystem has a restriction on the ECC, which affects the traffic environment mostly; 3) the economic subsystem has a certain restriction on ECC, which has a large effect on the consumption level per capita.

Study on Ecological Compensation for Coal Mining Activities Based on Economic Externalities

The development and exploration mode of coal resource activities in China result in tremendous waste of resources and ecological environment pollution problems. This article analyzed the use of economic theory of externalities of coal mining activities from the point of environmental economics principles, proposed the ecological compensation connotation of coal mining activities, and analyzed the feasibility of the implementation of ecological compensation from economic viewpoint.

External Costs and Optimum Use of Nitrogen Fertilizer Based on the Balance of Economic and Ecological Benefits in the Paddy Field System of the Dongting Lake Area, China

The external costs and the optimum use of nitrogen fertilizer based on the balance of economic and ecological benefits was studied with the paddy field system of Dongting Lake area, one of the main food production regions in China. The environmental impact was economically evaluated using methods of the environmental impact economical evaluation. The optimum use of nitrogen fertilizer was calculated based on the exterior diseconomy theory and by using the production function model. Both ecological benefits and farmers＇ economic benefits were considered. It was calculated on the data from 2002 that the losses caused by inappropriate utilization of nitrogen fertilizer in the process of food production were fishery, 0.1 × 10^7 RMB yuan; water treatment, 1.02 × 10^8 RMB yuan; tour business, 0.11 ×10^8 RMB yuan, and habitation environment, 0.3 × 10^7 RMB yuan, totally equivalent to 0.41 RMB yuan kg^-1 N. The economically satisfactory and the ecological agronomic nitrogen fertilizer dose for current production was 138 and 137 kg ha^-1, respectively. The research showed that the actual nitrogen fertilizer application amount in the paddy field system of the Dongting Lake area already reached or exceeded the farmers＇ economic satisfaction and the ecological agronomic nitrogen fertilizer dose for current production. An environmental tax is suggested to impose on over-use of nitrogen fertilizer.