Cities hold a critical responsibility for achieving the Sustainable Development Goals(SDGs)due to their high population density,extensive resource consumption,and significant economic contributions.To examine the pres...Cities hold a critical responsibility for achieving the Sustainable Development Goals(SDGs)due to their high population density,extensive resource consumption,and significant economic contributions.To examine the present state of understandings regarding urban sustainability(SDG 11:Sustainable Cities and Communities)within Chinese research communities,this study collected 15950 papers from 1994 to 2022 on the 12 indicators of SDG 11,from the China National Knowledge Infrastructure(CNKI),a hub of Chinese academic papers,that directly relate to policymaking.Significant research topics on SDG 11 were identified for each indicator using bibliometrics analysis approaches.The high-frequency keywords and clusters of keywords over the last three decades reveal that existing studies primarily concentrated on the physical aspects,such as transportation and environment,while there is a lack of consideration of societal aspects.This indicates a limited and biased understanding of the urban sustainability within the Chinese academic community.Hence,it is crucial to prioritize the societal aspects in order to develop a research agenda that further advances urban sustainability.展开更多
Winter jujube(Ziziphus jujuba'Dongzao')is greatly appreciated by consumers for its excellent quality,but brand infringement frequently occurs in the market.Here,we first determined a total of 38 elements in 16...Winter jujube(Ziziphus jujuba'Dongzao')is greatly appreciated by consumers for its excellent quality,but brand infringement frequently occurs in the market.Here,we first determined a total of 38 elements in 167 winter jujube samples from the main winter jujube producing areas of China by inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometer(ICP-MS).As a result,16 elements(Mg,K,Mn,Cu,Zn,Mo,Ba,Be,As,Se,Cd,Sb,Ce,Er,Tl,and Pb)exhibited significant differences in samples from different producing areas.Supervised linear discriminant analysis(LDA)and orthogonal projection to latent structures discriminant analysis(OPLS-DA)showed better performance in identifying the origin of samples than unsupervised principal component analysis(PCA).LDA and OPLS-DA had a mean identification accuracy of 87.84 and 94.64%in the testing set,respectively.By using the multilayer perceptron(MLP)and C5.0,the prediction accuracy of the models could reach 96.36 and 91.06%,respectively.Based on the above four chemometric methods,Cd,Tl,Mo and Se were selected as the main variables and principal markers for the origin identification of winter jujube.Overall,this study demonstrates that it is practical and precise to identify the origin of winter jujube through multi-element fingerprint analysis with chemometrics,and may also provide reference for establishing the origin traceability system of other fruits.展开更多
The world is facing dramatic challenges related to environmental sustainability at an accelerating pace.In this context,the field of economic geography(EG)has been playing an important role in understanding both the s...The world is facing dramatic challenges related to environmental sustainability at an accelerating pace.In this context,the field of economic geography(EG)has been playing an important role in understanding both the socioeconomic and technological dimensions of these challenges,as it deals with a variety of complementary notions and perspectives.Departing from this lens,our aim is to explore a conceptual framework that can help us to understand environmental changes relating to multi-dimensional territorial development,notably in eco-nomic contexts where inequality is high,and stratification based on hierarchies regulate social and economic life.Based on the territory concept,we propose the original notion of a hierarchical regional innovation system(HRIS)that emphasises the pervasive role of hierarchies(powers)in regional innovation systems and illustrate its value with evidence and case studies from extant literature on sustainability transitions.The HRIS can help us understand and promote development paths considering the contribution of inclusive eco-innovations(another original conceptual amalgam).Through some empirical cases from other studies in low-carbon transitions,we show the application of the HRIS(and inclusive eco-innovation)framework.In conclusion,we provide incen-tives to explore new regional innovation systems,alongside the HRIS,adapted to different regions worldwide and centred on the inclusiveness of people and places.展开更多
Plants with bioactive properties are greatly useful in preventing and controlling blood-sucking and disease-vector invertebrates, particularly in developing countries and low-income communities. Their application is a...Plants with bioactive properties are greatly useful in preventing and controlling blood-sucking and disease-vector invertebrates, particularly in developing countries and low-income communities. Their application is a promising alternative to synthetic compounds whose use remains a health, environmental, and economic challenge. However, many are still unknown and unvalued, while others are becoming ignored and threatened. The main objective of this ethnobotanical study is to identify and characterize indigenous and locally grown plants against blood-sucking and disease-vector insects. Salient opportunities and challenges of using these plants are documented and discussed. Semi-structured interviews, using a prepared questionnaire, were conducted with 228 informants. The consensus index (CI) was calculated to analyze the reliability of the collected information. The identified 31 anti-insect plant species belong to 20 botanical families, four morphological categories, and six habitat types. They can be categorized as insecticidal plants (42% of the total), insect repellent (42% of the total), and both insecticidal and insect repellent (16% of the total). More than 54% of these are still abundant in the study area, while about 35.5% have become rare and difficultly accessible. Based on the numerical importance of related anti-insect plant species, the seven targeted blood-sucking insects range in the following decreasing order: Jiggers (16 species) > Fire Ants (9 species) > Flies (8 plants) > Mosquitoes (4 species) > Fleas (2 species) > Bedbugs (1 species) > lice (0 species). The three most commonly used plants, with the highest confirmation indices, are Tetradenia riparia (ICs = 0.712), Eucalyptus globulus subsp. maidenii (ICs = 0.302), and Solanum aculeastrum (ICs = 0.288). The antimicrobial role of many locally grown anti-insect plants and the multiple other associated valorization possibilities are ignored by most informants. Domesticating, propagating, protecting, and promoting the sustainable use of these plants would be an appropriate route for their conservation and continued availability.展开更多
The Anthropocene era is characterized by the escalating impact of human activities on the environment,as well as the increasingly complex interactions among various components of the Earth system.These factors greatly...The Anthropocene era is characterized by the escalating impact of human activities on the environment,as well as the increasingly complex interactions among various components of the Earth system.These factors greatly affect the Earth's evolutionary trajectory.Despite notable strides in sustainable development practices worldwide,it remains unclear to what extent we have achieved Earth sustainability.Consequently,there is a pressing need to enhance conceptual and methodological frameworks to measure sustainability progress accurately.To address this need,we developed an Earth Vitality Framework that aids in tracking the Earth sustainability progress by considering interactions between spheres,recognizing the equal relationship between humans and nature,and presenting a threshold scheme for all measures.We applied this framework at global and national scales to demonstrate its usefulness.Our findings reveal that the current Earth Vitality Index is 63.74,indicating that the Earth is in a"weak"vitality.Irrational social institutions,unsatisfactory life experiences and the poor state of the biosphere and hydrosphere have remarkably affected the Earth vitality.Additionally,inequality exists between high-income and low-income countries.Although most of the former exhibit poor human-nature interaction,all of them enjoy good human well-being,while the opposite is true for the latter.Finally,we summarize the challenges and possible options for enhancing the Earth vitality in terms of coping with spillover effects,tipping cascades,feedback,and heterogeneity.展开更多
Recycling waste frying oils for the synthesis of flotation reagents presents a promising avenue for sustainable waste management.Moreover,it offers a cost-effective solution for crafting a specialized collector design...Recycling waste frying oils for the synthesis of flotation reagents presents a promising avenue for sustainable waste management.Moreover,it offers a cost-effective solution for crafting a specialized collector designed to efficiently remove carbonates and enhance phosphate enrichment in froth flotation processes.This study focuses on the synthesis of an anionic collector using the saponification reaction of a frying oil sample,subsequently applied to the flotation of calcite and dolomite.To elucidate the adsorption mechanisms of the frying oil collector(FrOC)and sodium oleate,a reference collector,on fluorapatite,calcite,dolomite,and quartz surfaces,comprehensive experiments were conducted,including zeta potential measurements and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy.Results revealed diverse adsorption affinities of the molecules towards these minerals.To assess the practical performance of the collector,flotation tests were conducted using a natural phosphate ore mixture,employing a BoxBehnken experimental design.Notably,under optimized conditions(pH 9,1000 g/t of FrOC,3.5 min of conditioning,and 6 min of flotation),FrOC exhibited excellent performance,with calcite and dolomite recoveries exceeding 80%,while apatite recovery in the concentrate fraction remained below 10%.This work exemplifies both circular economy practices and the distinctive approach to sustainable mineral processing.展开更多
Sustainable rural development is predicated on a delicate balance between rural territorial functions and eco-logical constraints.While various functions can catalyze economic growth in rural settings,aligning them wi...Sustainable rural development is predicated on a delicate balance between rural territorial functions and eco-logical constraints.While various functions can catalyze economic growth in rural settings,aligning them with inherent ecological variables is essential.An exhaustive analysis of Beijing’s Pinggu District elucidated specific supply-demand thresholds and evaluated the adaptability of current utilization within these boundaries,culmi-nating in a novel optimization strategy.Notably,while locals place significant emphasis on production functions,the area’s topography and soil characteristics present palpable challenges to achieving these goals.We discov-ered that‘shackle type’predominantly characterize individual rural territorial functions,while‘diversified weak function optimization type’define multifunctional aspects,showcasing varied development paths and uncov-ering potential strategies for sustainable improvement.This study contributes a groundbreaking perspective to sustainable rural development,offering key insights and strategic recommendations for policy formulation.展开更多
A field experiment was carried out at Ismailia Research Station, Ismailia Governorate from 2020-2022 to improve the growth of Khaya senegalensis and Swietenia mahagoni by using a combination of mineral fertilizer (NPK...A field experiment was carried out at Ismailia Research Station, Ismailia Governorate from 2020-2022 to improve the growth of Khaya senegalensis and Swietenia mahagoni by using a combination of mineral fertilizer (NPK) and biological fertilizer (Azotobacter chroococcum, Bacillus megatherium, and Bacillus circulant) as recommended dose under new sandy soils conditions. Split plot designed with four treatments (Control, (50% Mineral fertilizer (M.) + 50% Biological fertilizer (Bio.)), 100% M. and 100% Bio.) of each species. Vegetative growth, leaf area, tree biomass, stored carbon, basal area, tree volume, and in the soil both of microbial account and mineral content were determined. The experimental results showed no significant differences between studied species among the most studied parameters except for Khaya senegalensis which gave the highest significant difference in root biomass and below-stored carbon than Swietenia mahagoni. Evidently, the highest significant growth parameters were 100% mineral fertilizer followed by (50% M. + 50% Bio.) as compared with control. No significant difference between 100% M. and (50% M. + 50% Bio.) of shoot dry biomass (15.19 and 12.02 kg, respectively) and above-stored carbon (0.28 and 0.22 Mt, respectively). Microbial account and mineral content in soil were improved after cultivation of tree species compared to before planting and control, especially with 50% mineral fertilizer and 50% bio-fertilizer treatment. In conclusion, a treatment containing 50% mineral fertilizer and 50% bio-fertilizer has led to the ideal Khaya senegalensis and Swietenia mahagoni growth in sandy soil for cheaper and sustainable.展开更多
This study evaluated the effectiveness of donor supported agricultural value chain development projects in sustainably narrowing yield gaps for banana smallholder farmer producers in Manicaland, Zimbabwe. The study us...This study evaluated the effectiveness of donor supported agricultural value chain development projects in sustainably narrowing yield gaps for banana smallholder farmer producers in Manicaland, Zimbabwe. The study used a mixed methods research design that relied on farmers records for the quantitative analysis and focus group discussion and in-depth interviews for key experts for the qualitative aspects. A mix of regression analysis, t-tests, Pearsons’s correlation and analysis of variance statistical methods were used for the quantitative analysis while thematic response analysis was used for the qualitative engagements. The findings showed that by the end of the activity, the project had successfully narrowed the banana yield gaps to 18.66 tons per hectare working with a potential yield base of 40 tons. However, 5 years after the project closure the yield gap had fallen to 24.7 tons indicating a lack of sustainability of yield gap reduction. However, the yield gap slump does not override the fact that farmers on average were still able to sell approximately 5 tons per every 6 months after 5 years from the project closure which is beyond any poverty threshold. This suggests genuine upward economic mobility. Additionally, in analyzing what factors had the greatest influence on yield gap reduction, the access to fertilizer ranked highest where genetics, irrigation and improved agronomy followed in that respective order. The study further showed that farmers who receive value chain development support whilst at an already commercialized state tend to maintain productivity thresholds higher in comparison to those who are at a pre commercial state. This is evidenced by the fact that the pre commercial farmers had a yield reduction of 30.83 percent after 5 years of the project closure whereas the former realized a productivity growth of 7.84%. In conclusion, whilst the intervention was successful in transitioning farmers out of poverty, more investment should be made towards transitioning smallholder farmers to integrated soil fertility management practices and improvement of agronomic efficiency through stronger on field collaboration between research institutions, the government and development institutions.展开更多
Climate change is the phrase used to describe long-term changes in temperatures and weather patterns. Changes in the atmosphere and their interactions with diverse geologic, chemical, biological, and geographic variab...Climate change is the phrase used to describe long-term changes in temperatures and weather patterns. Changes in the atmosphere and their interactions with diverse geologic, chemical, biological, and geographic variables are the main contributors to this cyclical adjustment of the Earth’s climate. Such changes may be induced purposefully, because of burning fossil fuels, clearing forests, and raising animals, or they may be natural, brought on by significant volcanic eruptions or variations in the sun’s activity. By significantly increasing the amount of greenhouse gases already in the atmosphere, this heightens the greenhouse effect and contributes to global warming. This work includes several additional theoretical and practical explanations of sustainable development. The theoretical work encompasses hundreds of researches that identify requirements for how development routes might satisfy sustainable development (SD) criteria using economic theory, complex systems approach, ecological science, and other techniques. The agreements made by the Parties in various nations across the world will consider a wide range of perspectives about what would be considered undesirable effects on the environment, the climate system, sustainability, economic growth, or food production.展开更多
The phrase“health and well-being”includes various aspects such as social,psychological,and physical factors.The way we design,construct,and operate buildings greatly affects people and their experiences.Costs associ...The phrase“health and well-being”includes various aspects such as social,psychological,and physical factors.The way we design,construct,and operate buildings greatly affects people and their experiences.Costs associated with employees make up a significant part of expenses,and enhancing the well-being of those in the workplace can boost productivity.Optimizing buildings offers benefits,but it also presents challenges,particularly regarding energy consumption,material usage,and environmental impact.Eco-friendly buildings provide a solution to balance our comfort with the requirements of the environment.This article examines the impact of buildings on people and the environment,suggesting a framework for a“health performance indicator”to improve the research and practice of sustainable buildings,ultimately aiming to enhance both human and ecological well-being.展开更多
Corporate ethics and sustainable development are receiving increasing attention in today’s society.More and more companies are realizing that ethical and sustainable development is not only a requirement for fulfilli...Corporate ethics and sustainable development are receiving increasing attention in today’s society.More and more companies are realizing that ethical and sustainable development is not only a requirement for fulfilling social responsibility but also a key factor for achieving long-term growth and sustainable competitive advantage.As a result,companies are integrating ethics and sustainability into their strategies,decisions,and operations to achieve both business success and social benefit.However,some companies shout sustainability and environmental protection slogans;the actual practice differs from the claim.This paper combined the planning and actual data of the Coca-Cola Company and found that the Coca-Cola Company was suspected of greenwashing.While Coca-Cola does contribute to the environment,there is a difference between what it does and what it says.As for the possibility of this problem,the article also makes a relative solution and assessment.展开更多
The Safe Schools Declaration of 2015 is an inter-governmental political agreement signed by several countries designed to protect the schooling of the school-aged population during armed conflicts.Yet,in countries whe...The Safe Schools Declaration of 2015 is an inter-governmental political agreement signed by several countries designed to protect the schooling of the school-aged population during armed conflicts.Yet,in countries where civil war erupted,schools were demolished.Several school-aged children were either forcibly recruited by governments or coerced by rebel groups to serve in armed fights.As a result,several children were deprived of their education and have remained suffering from deep psychological scars.The central question of the study is:What kind of sustainability-driven school buildings can be initiated in countries that are now enduring peace so that the learning environments are more comfortable and improve the well-being of the war-impacted children and school employees?After reviewing the literature,a strategic conceptual framework that incorporated the synergistic relationship between economic,social,and environmental aspects of sustainability was initiated to map out sustainable school buildings.In short,the conceptual framework proposed to construct school buildings in some of the war-affected developing countries includes assembling cost-efficiency and eco-effectiveness inputs,using renewable energy sources powered by natural sunlight,collecting rainwater in mud cisterns,reducing emissions of carbon oxides,and empowering the local community to be the main actors to design sustainable buildings during the preconstruction,construction,and post-construction stages to serve as learning spaces for the war-affected occupants and their neighborhoods.展开更多
Refugee settlements face several challenges in transitioning from a temporary planning approach to more sustainable settlements. This is mainly due to an increase in the number of forcibly displaced people over the la...Refugee settlements face several challenges in transitioning from a temporary planning approach to more sustainable settlements. This is mainly due to an increase in the number of forcibly displaced people over the last few decades, and the difficulties of sustainably providing social services that meet the required standards. The development of refugee settlements assumed that forcibly displaced people would return to their places or countries of origin. Unfortunately, displacement situations are prolonged indefinitely, forcing these people to spend most of their lives in conditions that are often deplorable and substandard, and therefore unsustainable. In most cases, the establishment of refugee settlements is triggered by an emergency caused by an influx of forcibly displaced people, who need to be accommodated urgently and provided with some form of international assistance and protection. This leaves little or no time for proper planning for long-term development as required. In addition, the current approach to temporary settlement harms the environment and can strain limited resources with ad hoc development models that have exacerbated difficulties. As a result, living conditions in refugee settlements have deteriorated over the last few decades and continue to pose challenges as to how best to design, plan, and sustain settlements over time. To contribute to addressing these challenges, this study proposes a new methodology supported by Model-Based Systems Engineering (MBSE) and a Systems Modeling Language (SysML) to develop a typical sustainable human settlement system model, which has functionally and operationally executed using a Systems Engineering (SE) approach. To assess the sustainability capacity of the proposed system, this work applies a matrix of crossed impact multiplication through a case study by conducting a system capacity interdependence analysis (SCIA) using the MICMAC methodology (Cross-impact matrix multiplication applied to classification) to assess the interdependency that exist between the sub-systems categories to deliver services at the system level. The sustainability analysis results based on capacity variables influence and dependency models shows that development activities in the settlement are unstable and, therefore, unsustainable since there is no apparent difference between the influential and dependent data used for the assessment. These results illustrate that an integrated system could improve human settlements’ sustainability and that capacity building in service delivery is beneficial and necessary.展开更多
My career as a scientist has been a passionate pursuit of knowledge,objective knowledge devoid of ideology,that could prove useful in understanding and transforming the world.As an engineer,I aimed to produce planning...My career as a scientist has been a passionate pursuit of knowledge,objective knowledge devoid of ideology,that could prove useful in understanding and transforming the world.As an engineer,I aimed to produce planning solutions which would be economically feasible,technically viable,and socially acceptable.Disappointed by the ineffectiveness of methodology and planning initiatives to attain sustainability,I turned to the history of science to find answers,and finally to physics,searching for an explanation of gravity.I traced a path from social to natural sciences.My attachment to my values and ideals,my commitment to my goals costed me dearly.It led me to quit applied research,to move to a desert island in the Atlantic Ocean,to be consumed for years by a Galileo-like obsession.“I must create a system,or be enslaved by another man’s.I will not reason and compare:my business is to create”(Blake,2002,p.210),has been my life’s motto.Have I succeeded in my self-appointed task or have I just wasted valuable years of creative research building sand castles?I don’t have the answer to this question.What I know for sure is that I do not regret hanging to what I thought to be right.展开更多
Economic cycles are not economic evils but rather healing agents for returning to equilibrium,just as inflation and deflation are not economic misfortunes but the sign of bad governance and a bitter medicine for retur...Economic cycles are not economic evils but rather healing agents for returning to equilibrium,just as inflation and deflation are not economic misfortunes but the sign of bad governance and a bitter medicine for returning to calm monetary.Unfortunately,signs of poor governance are mistaken for unfortunate events,but are instead tools offered to restore economic systems.Politics seeks consensus and does not accept the bitter cure of recession.Monetary policy is therefore called into question even if monetary anomalies also depend on errors in the management of the economy;the result is the gradual increase in interest rates.Is the idea that we can achieve the goal of complete neutrality with nature acceptable in a global economic framework pervaded by inflation and denunciation?Can we similarly argue that economic problems can coexist once the goal of neutrality has been achieved?The answer is negative.We must correct these anomalies and dysfunctions of the economy,which cannot coexist in the new context of complete and indefinite equilibrium of tomorrow.And not even the idea that conflicts can be resolved with war seems to find a place in the renewed scenario of neutrality.In this regard we can remember that,when we have reached the economic optimum of complete neutrality,or at least we are close to it,the most socially and economically advanced territories and continents will benefit from an acceleration of productivity and development.Scarcity itself will give way to the new,long-awaited reality.A condition that approaches the state of abundance and which will produce surpluses to be allocated to countries and territories that are struggling towards the condition of neutrality.The acceleration of lagging continents and the recovery of altered economic systems are therefore preconditions that can allow us to access the state of global neutrality.As we get closer to the great objective,it is to be believed that the pretense of regulating conflicts through war will also disappear.With the new reality of abundance,the economic reason for war disappears,while the aspiration of peoples-inscribed in their DNA-for solidarity and peaceful aggregation towards substantial unity becomes clear.展开更多
Analyzing agricultural sustainability is essential for designing and assessing rural development initiatives.However,accurately measuring agricultural sustainability is complicated since it involves so many different ...Analyzing agricultural sustainability is essential for designing and assessing rural development initiatives.However,accurately measuring agricultural sustainability is complicated since it involves so many different factors.This study provides a new suite of quantitative indicators for assessing agricultural sustainability at regional and district levels,involving environmental sustainability,social security,and economic security.Combining the PressureState-Response(PSR)model and indicator approach,this study creates a composite agricultural sustainability index for the 14 mainstream agro-climatic regions of India.The results of this study show that the Trans-Gengatic Plain Region(TGPR)ranks first in agricultural sustainability among India's 14 mainstream agro-climatic regions,while the Eastern Himalayan Region(EHR)ranks last.Higher livestock ownership,cropping intensity,per capita income,irrigation intensity,share of institutional credit,food grain productivity,crop diversification,awareness of minimum support price,knowledge sharing with fellow farmers,and young and working population,as well as better transportation facilities and membership of agricultural credit societies are influencing indicators responsible for higher agricultural sustainability in TGPR compared with EHR.Although,the scores of environmental sustainability indicators of EHR are quite good,its scores of social and economic security indicators are fairly low,putting it at the bottom of the rank of agricultural sustainability index among the 14 mainstream agroclimatic regions in India.This demonstrates the need of understanding agricultural sustainability in relation to social and economic dimensions.In a nation as diverse and complicated as India,it is the social structure that determines the health of the economy and environment.Last but not least,the sustainability assessment methodology may be used in a variety of India's agro-climatic regions.展开更多
Landslide disasters reflect the conflict between human society and the natural environment,posing challenges to the sustainable development of mountain regions.Identification of potential landslides,estimation of the ...Landslide disasters reflect the conflict between human society and the natural environment,posing challenges to the sustainable development of mountain regions.Identification of potential landslides,estimation of the degree of damage and potential losses of elements at risk,and control of the loss are the major tasks of landslide risk management.Resilience is defined as a social system’s comprehensive abilities to cope with disasters,including the abilities to prepare,anticipate,preserve,absorb,respond,resist,recover,mitigate,learn,and adapt.As an indispensable role,resilience enables more rational landslide risk management for social sustainability.However,quantitative landslide risk management does not pay sufficient attention to the role of resilience.Hence,in this paper,the role of resilience in a landslide risk management framework is systematically discussed.A quantita-tive landslide risk management framework consists of hazard analysis,exposure analysis,risk estimation,risk evaluation,and risk control.In hazard analysis,resilience assessment could help identify potential landslides that could cause significant damage due to the poor resilience of the elements at risk.Resilience assessment in exposure analysis might aid in identifying the most vulnerable elements or regions to certain landslides.Consid-eration of resilience in risk estimation aids in the calculation of indirect losses and improves the results of direct losses analysis.In risk evaluation,resilience as a disaster-coping ability will impact the social system’s landslide risk tolerance threshold.Enhancing resilience is an essential strategy to reduce the vulnerability of social sys-tems.We also proposed that the efficient use of risk information will increase the accuracy of landslide resilience assessments.展开更多
With the pace of global sustainable development,China has improved significantly in tackling environmental problems such as carbon emissions,climate change,air,water,and soil pollution,and wildlife extinction.Our stud...With the pace of global sustainable development,China has improved significantly in tackling environmental problems such as carbon emissions,climate change,air,water,and soil pollution,and wildlife extinction.Our study shows that despite China’s economic policy reform,several issues persist,including inequality between society and region,depletion and waste of resources,and damage to the natural environment.The study ob‐served that China shuts low-level oil and coal-based power plants to prevent air pollution,promote a zero carbon world,and reduce carbon intensity to 18.8%.The country also increased forest coverage by nearly 23.4%,declared five national parks in 2021,cleaned 98%of polluted water bodies,and improved the air qual‐ity in many big cities.A country like China has shown deep concern for environmental sustainability and has formulated many policies,laws,and regulations to prevent and conserve the environment and biodiversity and ensure sustainable economic development.This study argues that the Chinese concept of ecological civili‐zation construction adheres to global sustainable development as both pursuits of achieving sustainable conser‐vation of natural resources and improving the livelihoods of the people.Therefore,this paper reviews China’s policies toward ecological civilization(EC),which aim to create a beautiful China by 2035 on the outline of the UN Sustainable Development Goals 2030.The present study also addresses the issues the Chinese govern‐ment faces while implementing environmental sustainability.展开更多
Sustainable agriculture plays a crucial role in meeting the growing global demand for food while minimizing adverse environmental impacts from the overuse of synthetic pesticides and conventional fertilizers.In this c...Sustainable agriculture plays a crucial role in meeting the growing global demand for food while minimizing adverse environmental impacts from the overuse of synthetic pesticides and conventional fertilizers.In this context,renewable biopolymers being more sustainable offer a viable solution to improve agricultural sustainability and production.Nano/micro-structural supramolecular biopolymers are among these innovative biopolymers that are much sought after for their unique features.These biomaterials have complex hierarchical structures,great stability,adjustable mechanical strength,stimuli-responsiveness,and self-healing attributes.Functional molecules may be added to their flexible structure,for enabling novel agricultural uses.This overview scrutinizes how nano/micro-structural supramolecular biopolymers may radically alter farming practices and solve lingering problems in agricultural sector namely improve agricultural production,soil health,and resource efficiency.Controlled bioactive ingredient released from biopolymers allows the tailored administration of agrochemicals,bioactive agents,and biostimulators as they enhance nutrient absorption,moisture retention,and root growth.Nano/micro-structural supramolecular biopolymers may protect crops by appending antimicrobials and biosensing entities while their eco-friendliness supports sustainable agriculture.Despite their potential,further studies are warranted to understand and optimize their usage in agricultural domain.This effort seeks to bridge the knowledge gap by investigating their applications,challenges,and future prospects in the agricultural sector.Through experimental investigations and theoretical modeling,this overview aims to provide valuable insights into the practical implementation and optimization of supramolecular biopolymers in sustainable agriculture,ultimately contributing to the development of innovative and eco-friendly solutions to enhance agricultural productivity while minimizing environmental impact.展开更多
基金National Natural Science Foundation of China(No.42171449)。
文摘Cities hold a critical responsibility for achieving the Sustainable Development Goals(SDGs)due to their high population density,extensive resource consumption,and significant economic contributions.To examine the present state of understandings regarding urban sustainability(SDG 11:Sustainable Cities and Communities)within Chinese research communities,this study collected 15950 papers from 1994 to 2022 on the 12 indicators of SDG 11,from the China National Knowledge Infrastructure(CNKI),a hub of Chinese academic papers,that directly relate to policymaking.Significant research topics on SDG 11 were identified for each indicator using bibliometrics analysis approaches.The high-frequency keywords and clusters of keywords over the last three decades reveal that existing studies primarily concentrated on the physical aspects,such as transportation and environment,while there is a lack of consideration of societal aspects.This indicates a limited and biased understanding of the urban sustainability within the Chinese academic community.Hence,it is crucial to prioritize the societal aspects in order to develop a research agenda that further advances urban sustainability.
基金This work was supported by the Scientific Research Foundation for High Level Talents of Qingdao Agricultural University,China(665-1120015)the National Program for Quality and Safety Risk Assessment of Agricultural Products of China(GJFP2019011)the National Natural Science Foundation of China(42207017).
文摘Winter jujube(Ziziphus jujuba'Dongzao')is greatly appreciated by consumers for its excellent quality,but brand infringement frequently occurs in the market.Here,we first determined a total of 38 elements in 167 winter jujube samples from the main winter jujube producing areas of China by inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometer(ICP-MS).As a result,16 elements(Mg,K,Mn,Cu,Zn,Mo,Ba,Be,As,Se,Cd,Sb,Ce,Er,Tl,and Pb)exhibited significant differences in samples from different producing areas.Supervised linear discriminant analysis(LDA)and orthogonal projection to latent structures discriminant analysis(OPLS-DA)showed better performance in identifying the origin of samples than unsupervised principal component analysis(PCA).LDA and OPLS-DA had a mean identification accuracy of 87.84 and 94.64%in the testing set,respectively.By using the multilayer perceptron(MLP)and C5.0,the prediction accuracy of the models could reach 96.36 and 91.06%,respectively.Based on the above four chemometric methods,Cd,Tl,Mo and Se were selected as the main variables and principal markers for the origin identification of winter jujube.Overall,this study demonstrates that it is practical and precise to identify the origin of winter jujube through multi-element fingerprint analysis with chemometrics,and may also provide reference for establishing the origin traceability system of other fruits.
基金support from the Centre of Studies in Geography and Spatial Planning(CEGOT)funded by national funds through the Foundation for Science and Technology(FCT)under the reference UIDB/04084/2020.
文摘The world is facing dramatic challenges related to environmental sustainability at an accelerating pace.In this context,the field of economic geography(EG)has been playing an important role in understanding both the socioeconomic and technological dimensions of these challenges,as it deals with a variety of complementary notions and perspectives.Departing from this lens,our aim is to explore a conceptual framework that can help us to understand environmental changes relating to multi-dimensional territorial development,notably in eco-nomic contexts where inequality is high,and stratification based on hierarchies regulate social and economic life.Based on the territory concept,we propose the original notion of a hierarchical regional innovation system(HRIS)that emphasises the pervasive role of hierarchies(powers)in regional innovation systems and illustrate its value with evidence and case studies from extant literature on sustainability transitions.The HRIS can help us understand and promote development paths considering the contribution of inclusive eco-innovations(another original conceptual amalgam).Through some empirical cases from other studies in low-carbon transitions,we show the application of the HRIS(and inclusive eco-innovation)framework.In conclusion,we provide incen-tives to explore new regional innovation systems,alongside the HRIS,adapted to different regions worldwide and centred on the inclusiveness of people and places.
文摘Plants with bioactive properties are greatly useful in preventing and controlling blood-sucking and disease-vector invertebrates, particularly in developing countries and low-income communities. Their application is a promising alternative to synthetic compounds whose use remains a health, environmental, and economic challenge. However, many are still unknown and unvalued, while others are becoming ignored and threatened. The main objective of this ethnobotanical study is to identify and characterize indigenous and locally grown plants against blood-sucking and disease-vector insects. Salient opportunities and challenges of using these plants are documented and discussed. Semi-structured interviews, using a prepared questionnaire, were conducted with 228 informants. The consensus index (CI) was calculated to analyze the reliability of the collected information. The identified 31 anti-insect plant species belong to 20 botanical families, four morphological categories, and six habitat types. They can be categorized as insecticidal plants (42% of the total), insect repellent (42% of the total), and both insecticidal and insect repellent (16% of the total). More than 54% of these are still abundant in the study area, while about 35.5% have become rare and difficultly accessible. Based on the numerical importance of related anti-insect plant species, the seven targeted blood-sucking insects range in the following decreasing order: Jiggers (16 species) > Fire Ants (9 species) > Flies (8 plants) > Mosquitoes (4 species) > Fleas (2 species) > Bedbugs (1 species) > lice (0 species). The three most commonly used plants, with the highest confirmation indices, are Tetradenia riparia (ICs = 0.712), Eucalyptus globulus subsp. maidenii (ICs = 0.302), and Solanum aculeastrum (ICs = 0.288). The antimicrobial role of many locally grown anti-insect plants and the multiple other associated valorization possibilities are ignored by most informants. Domesticating, propagating, protecting, and promoting the sustainable use of these plants would be an appropriate route for their conservation and continued availability.
基金supported by Science Fund for Creative Research Groups of the National Natural Science Foundation of China(Grant No.42121001)Major Program of National Natural Science Foundation of China(Grant No.41590840).
文摘The Anthropocene era is characterized by the escalating impact of human activities on the environment,as well as the increasingly complex interactions among various components of the Earth system.These factors greatly affect the Earth's evolutionary trajectory.Despite notable strides in sustainable development practices worldwide,it remains unclear to what extent we have achieved Earth sustainability.Consequently,there is a pressing need to enhance conceptual and methodological frameworks to measure sustainability progress accurately.To address this need,we developed an Earth Vitality Framework that aids in tracking the Earth sustainability progress by considering interactions between spheres,recognizing the equal relationship between humans and nature,and presenting a threshold scheme for all measures.We applied this framework at global and national scales to demonstrate its usefulness.Our findings reveal that the current Earth Vitality Index is 63.74,indicating that the Earth is in a"weak"vitality.Irrational social institutions,unsatisfactory life experiences and the poor state of the biosphere and hydrosphere have remarkably affected the Earth vitality.Additionally,inequality exists between high-income and low-income countries.Although most of the former exhibit poor human-nature interaction,all of them enjoy good human well-being,while the opposite is true for the latter.Finally,we summarize the challenges and possible options for enhancing the Earth vitality in terms of coping with spillover effects,tipping cascades,feedback,and heterogeneity.
基金financially supported through the research program between OCP Group and UM6P under the specific agreement AS34-flotation project
文摘Recycling waste frying oils for the synthesis of flotation reagents presents a promising avenue for sustainable waste management.Moreover,it offers a cost-effective solution for crafting a specialized collector designed to efficiently remove carbonates and enhance phosphate enrichment in froth flotation processes.This study focuses on the synthesis of an anionic collector using the saponification reaction of a frying oil sample,subsequently applied to the flotation of calcite and dolomite.To elucidate the adsorption mechanisms of the frying oil collector(FrOC)and sodium oleate,a reference collector,on fluorapatite,calcite,dolomite,and quartz surfaces,comprehensive experiments were conducted,including zeta potential measurements and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy.Results revealed diverse adsorption affinities of the molecules towards these minerals.To assess the practical performance of the collector,flotation tests were conducted using a natural phosphate ore mixture,employing a BoxBehnken experimental design.Notably,under optimized conditions(pH 9,1000 g/t of FrOC,3.5 min of conditioning,and 6 min of flotation),FrOC exhibited excellent performance,with calcite and dolomite recoveries exceeding 80%,while apatite recovery in the concentrate fraction remained below 10%.This work exemplifies both circular economy practices and the distinctive approach to sustainable mineral processing.
基金funding of the National Natural Science Foundation of China(Grants No.42077434,41771560)the Taishan Scholar Foundation of Shandong Province(Grant No.2023).
文摘Sustainable rural development is predicated on a delicate balance between rural territorial functions and eco-logical constraints.While various functions can catalyze economic growth in rural settings,aligning them with inherent ecological variables is essential.An exhaustive analysis of Beijing’s Pinggu District elucidated specific supply-demand thresholds and evaluated the adaptability of current utilization within these boundaries,culmi-nating in a novel optimization strategy.Notably,while locals place significant emphasis on production functions,the area’s topography and soil characteristics present palpable challenges to achieving these goals.We discov-ered that‘shackle type’predominantly characterize individual rural territorial functions,while‘diversified weak function optimization type’define multifunctional aspects,showcasing varied development paths and uncov-ering potential strategies for sustainable improvement.This study contributes a groundbreaking perspective to sustainable rural development,offering key insights and strategic recommendations for policy formulation.
文摘A field experiment was carried out at Ismailia Research Station, Ismailia Governorate from 2020-2022 to improve the growth of Khaya senegalensis and Swietenia mahagoni by using a combination of mineral fertilizer (NPK) and biological fertilizer (Azotobacter chroococcum, Bacillus megatherium, and Bacillus circulant) as recommended dose under new sandy soils conditions. Split plot designed with four treatments (Control, (50% Mineral fertilizer (M.) + 50% Biological fertilizer (Bio.)), 100% M. and 100% Bio.) of each species. Vegetative growth, leaf area, tree biomass, stored carbon, basal area, tree volume, and in the soil both of microbial account and mineral content were determined. The experimental results showed no significant differences between studied species among the most studied parameters except for Khaya senegalensis which gave the highest significant difference in root biomass and below-stored carbon than Swietenia mahagoni. Evidently, the highest significant growth parameters were 100% mineral fertilizer followed by (50% M. + 50% Bio.) as compared with control. No significant difference between 100% M. and (50% M. + 50% Bio.) of shoot dry biomass (15.19 and 12.02 kg, respectively) and above-stored carbon (0.28 and 0.22 Mt, respectively). Microbial account and mineral content in soil were improved after cultivation of tree species compared to before planting and control, especially with 50% mineral fertilizer and 50% bio-fertilizer treatment. In conclusion, a treatment containing 50% mineral fertilizer and 50% bio-fertilizer has led to the ideal Khaya senegalensis and Swietenia mahagoni growth in sandy soil for cheaper and sustainable.
文摘This study evaluated the effectiveness of donor supported agricultural value chain development projects in sustainably narrowing yield gaps for banana smallholder farmer producers in Manicaland, Zimbabwe. The study used a mixed methods research design that relied on farmers records for the quantitative analysis and focus group discussion and in-depth interviews for key experts for the qualitative aspects. A mix of regression analysis, t-tests, Pearsons’s correlation and analysis of variance statistical methods were used for the quantitative analysis while thematic response analysis was used for the qualitative engagements. The findings showed that by the end of the activity, the project had successfully narrowed the banana yield gaps to 18.66 tons per hectare working with a potential yield base of 40 tons. However, 5 years after the project closure the yield gap had fallen to 24.7 tons indicating a lack of sustainability of yield gap reduction. However, the yield gap slump does not override the fact that farmers on average were still able to sell approximately 5 tons per every 6 months after 5 years from the project closure which is beyond any poverty threshold. This suggests genuine upward economic mobility. Additionally, in analyzing what factors had the greatest influence on yield gap reduction, the access to fertilizer ranked highest where genetics, irrigation and improved agronomy followed in that respective order. The study further showed that farmers who receive value chain development support whilst at an already commercialized state tend to maintain productivity thresholds higher in comparison to those who are at a pre commercial state. This is evidenced by the fact that the pre commercial farmers had a yield reduction of 30.83 percent after 5 years of the project closure whereas the former realized a productivity growth of 7.84%. In conclusion, whilst the intervention was successful in transitioning farmers out of poverty, more investment should be made towards transitioning smallholder farmers to integrated soil fertility management practices and improvement of agronomic efficiency through stronger on field collaboration between research institutions, the government and development institutions.
文摘Climate change is the phrase used to describe long-term changes in temperatures and weather patterns. Changes in the atmosphere and their interactions with diverse geologic, chemical, biological, and geographic variables are the main contributors to this cyclical adjustment of the Earth’s climate. Such changes may be induced purposefully, because of burning fossil fuels, clearing forests, and raising animals, or they may be natural, brought on by significant volcanic eruptions or variations in the sun’s activity. By significantly increasing the amount of greenhouse gases already in the atmosphere, this heightens the greenhouse effect and contributes to global warming. This work includes several additional theoretical and practical explanations of sustainable development. The theoretical work encompasses hundreds of researches that identify requirements for how development routes might satisfy sustainable development (SD) criteria using economic theory, complex systems approach, ecological science, and other techniques. The agreements made by the Parties in various nations across the world will consider a wide range of perspectives about what would be considered undesirable effects on the environment, the climate system, sustainability, economic growth, or food production.
文摘The phrase“health and well-being”includes various aspects such as social,psychological,and physical factors.The way we design,construct,and operate buildings greatly affects people and their experiences.Costs associated with employees make up a significant part of expenses,and enhancing the well-being of those in the workplace can boost productivity.Optimizing buildings offers benefits,but it also presents challenges,particularly regarding energy consumption,material usage,and environmental impact.Eco-friendly buildings provide a solution to balance our comfort with the requirements of the environment.This article examines the impact of buildings on people and the environment,suggesting a framework for a“health performance indicator”to improve the research and practice of sustainable buildings,ultimately aiming to enhance both human and ecological well-being.
文摘Corporate ethics and sustainable development are receiving increasing attention in today’s society.More and more companies are realizing that ethical and sustainable development is not only a requirement for fulfilling social responsibility but also a key factor for achieving long-term growth and sustainable competitive advantage.As a result,companies are integrating ethics and sustainability into their strategies,decisions,and operations to achieve both business success and social benefit.However,some companies shout sustainability and environmental protection slogans;the actual practice differs from the claim.This paper combined the planning and actual data of the Coca-Cola Company and found that the Coca-Cola Company was suspected of greenwashing.While Coca-Cola does contribute to the environment,there is a difference between what it does and what it says.As for the possibility of this problem,the article also makes a relative solution and assessment.
文摘The Safe Schools Declaration of 2015 is an inter-governmental political agreement signed by several countries designed to protect the schooling of the school-aged population during armed conflicts.Yet,in countries where civil war erupted,schools were demolished.Several school-aged children were either forcibly recruited by governments or coerced by rebel groups to serve in armed fights.As a result,several children were deprived of their education and have remained suffering from deep psychological scars.The central question of the study is:What kind of sustainability-driven school buildings can be initiated in countries that are now enduring peace so that the learning environments are more comfortable and improve the well-being of the war-impacted children and school employees?After reviewing the literature,a strategic conceptual framework that incorporated the synergistic relationship between economic,social,and environmental aspects of sustainability was initiated to map out sustainable school buildings.In short,the conceptual framework proposed to construct school buildings in some of the war-affected developing countries includes assembling cost-efficiency and eco-effectiveness inputs,using renewable energy sources powered by natural sunlight,collecting rainwater in mud cisterns,reducing emissions of carbon oxides,and empowering the local community to be the main actors to design sustainable buildings during the preconstruction,construction,and post-construction stages to serve as learning spaces for the war-affected occupants and their neighborhoods.
文摘Refugee settlements face several challenges in transitioning from a temporary planning approach to more sustainable settlements. This is mainly due to an increase in the number of forcibly displaced people over the last few decades, and the difficulties of sustainably providing social services that meet the required standards. The development of refugee settlements assumed that forcibly displaced people would return to their places or countries of origin. Unfortunately, displacement situations are prolonged indefinitely, forcing these people to spend most of their lives in conditions that are often deplorable and substandard, and therefore unsustainable. In most cases, the establishment of refugee settlements is triggered by an emergency caused by an influx of forcibly displaced people, who need to be accommodated urgently and provided with some form of international assistance and protection. This leaves little or no time for proper planning for long-term development as required. In addition, the current approach to temporary settlement harms the environment and can strain limited resources with ad hoc development models that have exacerbated difficulties. As a result, living conditions in refugee settlements have deteriorated over the last few decades and continue to pose challenges as to how best to design, plan, and sustain settlements over time. To contribute to addressing these challenges, this study proposes a new methodology supported by Model-Based Systems Engineering (MBSE) and a Systems Modeling Language (SysML) to develop a typical sustainable human settlement system model, which has functionally and operationally executed using a Systems Engineering (SE) approach. To assess the sustainability capacity of the proposed system, this work applies a matrix of crossed impact multiplication through a case study by conducting a system capacity interdependence analysis (SCIA) using the MICMAC methodology (Cross-impact matrix multiplication applied to classification) to assess the interdependency that exist between the sub-systems categories to deliver services at the system level. The sustainability analysis results based on capacity variables influence and dependency models shows that development activities in the settlement are unstable and, therefore, unsustainable since there is no apparent difference between the influential and dependent data used for the assessment. These results illustrate that an integrated system could improve human settlements’ sustainability and that capacity building in service delivery is beneficial and necessary.
文摘My career as a scientist has been a passionate pursuit of knowledge,objective knowledge devoid of ideology,that could prove useful in understanding and transforming the world.As an engineer,I aimed to produce planning solutions which would be economically feasible,technically viable,and socially acceptable.Disappointed by the ineffectiveness of methodology and planning initiatives to attain sustainability,I turned to the history of science to find answers,and finally to physics,searching for an explanation of gravity.I traced a path from social to natural sciences.My attachment to my values and ideals,my commitment to my goals costed me dearly.It led me to quit applied research,to move to a desert island in the Atlantic Ocean,to be consumed for years by a Galileo-like obsession.“I must create a system,or be enslaved by another man’s.I will not reason and compare:my business is to create”(Blake,2002,p.210),has been my life’s motto.Have I succeeded in my self-appointed task or have I just wasted valuable years of creative research building sand castles?I don’t have the answer to this question.What I know for sure is that I do not regret hanging to what I thought to be right.
文摘Economic cycles are not economic evils but rather healing agents for returning to equilibrium,just as inflation and deflation are not economic misfortunes but the sign of bad governance and a bitter medicine for returning to calm monetary.Unfortunately,signs of poor governance are mistaken for unfortunate events,but are instead tools offered to restore economic systems.Politics seeks consensus and does not accept the bitter cure of recession.Monetary policy is therefore called into question even if monetary anomalies also depend on errors in the management of the economy;the result is the gradual increase in interest rates.Is the idea that we can achieve the goal of complete neutrality with nature acceptable in a global economic framework pervaded by inflation and denunciation?Can we similarly argue that economic problems can coexist once the goal of neutrality has been achieved?The answer is negative.We must correct these anomalies and dysfunctions of the economy,which cannot coexist in the new context of complete and indefinite equilibrium of tomorrow.And not even the idea that conflicts can be resolved with war seems to find a place in the renewed scenario of neutrality.In this regard we can remember that,when we have reached the economic optimum of complete neutrality,or at least we are close to it,the most socially and economically advanced territories and continents will benefit from an acceleration of productivity and development.Scarcity itself will give way to the new,long-awaited reality.A condition that approaches the state of abundance and which will produce surpluses to be allocated to countries and territories that are struggling towards the condition of neutrality.The acceleration of lagging continents and the recovery of altered economic systems are therefore preconditions that can allow us to access the state of global neutrality.As we get closer to the great objective,it is to be believed that the pretense of regulating conflicts through war will also disappear.With the new reality of abundance,the economic reason for war disappears,while the aspiration of peoples-inscribed in their DNA-for solidarity and peaceful aggregation towards substantial unity becomes clear.
文摘Analyzing agricultural sustainability is essential for designing and assessing rural development initiatives.However,accurately measuring agricultural sustainability is complicated since it involves so many different factors.This study provides a new suite of quantitative indicators for assessing agricultural sustainability at regional and district levels,involving environmental sustainability,social security,and economic security.Combining the PressureState-Response(PSR)model and indicator approach,this study creates a composite agricultural sustainability index for the 14 mainstream agro-climatic regions of India.The results of this study show that the Trans-Gengatic Plain Region(TGPR)ranks first in agricultural sustainability among India's 14 mainstream agro-climatic regions,while the Eastern Himalayan Region(EHR)ranks last.Higher livestock ownership,cropping intensity,per capita income,irrigation intensity,share of institutional credit,food grain productivity,crop diversification,awareness of minimum support price,knowledge sharing with fellow farmers,and young and working population,as well as better transportation facilities and membership of agricultural credit societies are influencing indicators responsible for higher agricultural sustainability in TGPR compared with EHR.Although,the scores of environmental sustainability indicators of EHR are quite good,its scores of social and economic security indicators are fairly low,putting it at the bottom of the rank of agricultural sustainability index among the 14 mainstream agroclimatic regions in India.This demonstrates the need of understanding agricultural sustainability in relation to social and economic dimensions.In a nation as diverse and complicated as India,it is the social structure that determines the health of the economy and environment.Last but not least,the sustainability assessment methodology may be used in a variety of India's agro-climatic regions.
基金This study was supported by the National Natural Science Founda-tion of China(Grants No.42041006,41941019)the Strategic Priority Research Program of Chinese Academy of Sciences(CAS)(Grant No.XDA23090301)the Second Tibetan Plateau Scientific Expedition and Research(STEP)Program(Grant No.2019QZKK0904).
文摘Landslide disasters reflect the conflict between human society and the natural environment,posing challenges to the sustainable development of mountain regions.Identification of potential landslides,estimation of the degree of damage and potential losses of elements at risk,and control of the loss are the major tasks of landslide risk management.Resilience is defined as a social system’s comprehensive abilities to cope with disasters,including the abilities to prepare,anticipate,preserve,absorb,respond,resist,recover,mitigate,learn,and adapt.As an indispensable role,resilience enables more rational landslide risk management for social sustainability.However,quantitative landslide risk management does not pay sufficient attention to the role of resilience.Hence,in this paper,the role of resilience in a landslide risk management framework is systematically discussed.A quantita-tive landslide risk management framework consists of hazard analysis,exposure analysis,risk estimation,risk evaluation,and risk control.In hazard analysis,resilience assessment could help identify potential landslides that could cause significant damage due to the poor resilience of the elements at risk.Resilience assessment in exposure analysis might aid in identifying the most vulnerable elements or regions to certain landslides.Consid-eration of resilience in risk estimation aids in the calculation of indirect losses and improves the results of direct losses analysis.In risk evaluation,resilience as a disaster-coping ability will impact the social system’s landslide risk tolerance threshold.Enhancing resilience is an essential strategy to reduce the vulnerability of social sys-tems.We also proposed that the efficient use of risk information will increase the accuracy of landslide resilience assessments.
文摘With the pace of global sustainable development,China has improved significantly in tackling environmental problems such as carbon emissions,climate change,air,water,and soil pollution,and wildlife extinction.Our study shows that despite China’s economic policy reform,several issues persist,including inequality between society and region,depletion and waste of resources,and damage to the natural environment.The study ob‐served that China shuts low-level oil and coal-based power plants to prevent air pollution,promote a zero carbon world,and reduce carbon intensity to 18.8%.The country also increased forest coverage by nearly 23.4%,declared five national parks in 2021,cleaned 98%of polluted water bodies,and improved the air qual‐ity in many big cities.A country like China has shown deep concern for environmental sustainability and has formulated many policies,laws,and regulations to prevent and conserve the environment and biodiversity and ensure sustainable economic development.This study argues that the Chinese concept of ecological civili‐zation construction adheres to global sustainable development as both pursuits of achieving sustainable conser‐vation of natural resources and improving the livelihoods of the people.Therefore,this paper reviews China’s policies toward ecological civilization(EC),which aim to create a beautiful China by 2035 on the outline of the UN Sustainable Development Goals 2030.The present study also addresses the issues the Chinese govern‐ment faces while implementing environmental sustainability.
基金support provided by the UKRI via Grant No.EP/T024607/1Royal Society via grant number IES\R2\222208.
文摘Sustainable agriculture plays a crucial role in meeting the growing global demand for food while minimizing adverse environmental impacts from the overuse of synthetic pesticides and conventional fertilizers.In this context,renewable biopolymers being more sustainable offer a viable solution to improve agricultural sustainability and production.Nano/micro-structural supramolecular biopolymers are among these innovative biopolymers that are much sought after for their unique features.These biomaterials have complex hierarchical structures,great stability,adjustable mechanical strength,stimuli-responsiveness,and self-healing attributes.Functional molecules may be added to their flexible structure,for enabling novel agricultural uses.This overview scrutinizes how nano/micro-structural supramolecular biopolymers may radically alter farming practices and solve lingering problems in agricultural sector namely improve agricultural production,soil health,and resource efficiency.Controlled bioactive ingredient released from biopolymers allows the tailored administration of agrochemicals,bioactive agents,and biostimulators as they enhance nutrient absorption,moisture retention,and root growth.Nano/micro-structural supramolecular biopolymers may protect crops by appending antimicrobials and biosensing entities while their eco-friendliness supports sustainable agriculture.Despite their potential,further studies are warranted to understand and optimize their usage in agricultural domain.This effort seeks to bridge the knowledge gap by investigating their applications,challenges,and future prospects in the agricultural sector.Through experimental investigations and theoretical modeling,this overview aims to provide valuable insights into the practical implementation and optimization of supramolecular biopolymers in sustainable agriculture,ultimately contributing to the development of innovative and eco-friendly solutions to enhance agricultural productivity while minimizing environmental impact.