Decomposition Analysis on Direct Material Input and Dematerialization of Mining Cities in Northeast China

Material dematerialization is a basic approach to reduce the pressure on the resources and environment and to realize the sustainable development. The material flow analysis and decomposition method are used to calculate the direct material input (DMI) of 14 typical mining cities in Northeast China in 1995–2004 and to analyze the demateri- alization and its driving factors in the different types of mining cities oriented by coal, petroleum, metallurgy and multi-resources. The results are as follows: 1) from 1995 to 2006, the increase rates of the DMI and the material input intensity of mining cities declined following the order of multi-resources, metallurgy, coal, and petroleum cities, and the material utilizing efficiency did following the order of petroleum, coal, metallurgy, and multi-resources cities; 2) during the research period, all the kinds of mining cities were in the situation of weak sustainable development in most years; 3) the pressure on resources and environment in the multi-resources cities was the most serious; 4) the petro- leum cities showed the strong trend of sustainable development; and 5) in recent years, the driving function of eco- nomic development for material consuming has continuously strengthened and the controlling function of material utilizing efficiency for it has weakened. The key approaches to promote the development of circular economy of min- ing cities in Northeast China are put forward in the following aspects: 1) to strengthen the research and development of the technique of resources’ cycling utilization, 2) to improve the utilizing efficiency of resources, and 3) to carry out the auditing system of resources utilization.

A research of material input and environmental impact for Chinese economy:1990-2005

The process of economic activities is on the basis of tremendous material inputs.China has been discharging an enormous amount of waste,giving rise to a wide range of environmental impacts.The method of economy-wide material flow analysis(EW-MFA)is one of the effective tools to examine the flow of materials entering physical economies,and recognize early environmental problems.Relevant researches are still at the early stage in China and most focus on material throughput but are rarely concerned about the utilization of recycling resource and environmental impact.Based on more than 3,000 items of data related,materials entering Chinese economy are classified into three types,and then the characteristics of material input and environmental impact are presented for the years 1990-2005 by using the indicators derived from EW-MFA.The Ratio of Recycled Material(RRM) is added as the new indicator in order to be in accordance with the need of circular economy being promoted in China.Results show that the great changes in the structure of material input cause the continuous increase of industrial solid waste emissions and the bogging down of material productivity.The RRM reveals that the utilization of recycling resources remains at a fairly low level in China.Finally,some weakness of EW-MFA is discussed according to the calculated results.

Regional diversity of agricultural labor productivity and its driving force in east China

China＇s eastern area is at middle and later stage of industrialization during which the relation between urban and rural areas, industry, and agriculture appears maladjusted. The main problems are shrinkage in agricultural comparative earning and lack of driving force of agricultural development. Based on calculating agricultural labor productivity in east China from 1996 to 2005, this paper analyzes contributing degree of motive forces of agriculture develop in ten provinces and cities of east China applying GCA （Grey correlative analysis）. The results show that there is no absolute correspondence between the level of industrialization and agricultural labor productivity in China＇s eastern area. There is no synchronous development between industry and agricultural labor productiviry in some areas. Fertilizer and agricultural machinery input had high contributing degree for ten years; however; contributing degree in land and irrigation work input was low. Non-materialization inputs became the leading role in most provinces and cities＇ increase of agricultural labor productivity. Modern agricultural development need non-materialization inputs as primary motive force, at the same time, direct material input and facility input as guaranteed function. For some reasons, agricultural development is characterized by ＂more direct material input, less facility input ＂ in east China now. Optimal driving.force model of future agricultural development in east China is that non-materialization inputs are dominant, that perfected facility input arc guarantee, and that certain substance inputs are necessary