Ecosystem health: ecological sustainability target of strategic environment assessment

Strategic environment assessment (SEA) and ecosystem health are two new ideas on environmental management. On the basis of reviewing some relevant literature, this paper made discussions on the ecological sustainability target of SEA, the content of ecosystem health as well as the interrelations between SEA and ecosystem health. For a good SEA, its ecological sustainability principles should be provided with distinct content and a general assessment system. A framework for ecosystem health assessment was established according to the content of ecosystem health, and combined into SEA as SEA抯 ecological sustainability target, we can effectively guide decision-makers to make suitable indigenous means and local solutions. , The basic principles and procedure of SEA for ecosystem health are also discussed in the paper.

STRATEGIC ENVIRONMENT ASSESSMENT ON LAND-USE PLANNING-A Case Study of Changchun Economic and Technological Zone

The study centers on the necessity,t he workflowand the synthetically in tegrated methods(Principal Compo-nentAnalysis(PCA),AndyticalHierarchy Process(AHP)andFuzzy Comprerhensive Evaluatio n(FCE))ofstrategic environ-ment assessment (SEA)on land-use planning.The whole article includes three main parts:firstly,some attribute database,graphic-base and the spatial transform matrix,which reflect the change of regional land-use pattern,can be ob-tained by GIS technique;secondly,a dopting fitting method of trend-sur face analysis will convert environm ent monitoring data from scattered spots to regular control spots,based on which we can p erform regional environment impact assess-ment;finally,Changchun Economic a nd Technological Developmen Zone is chosen as a case study on land-use pla nning.Through those efforts the results ma y be obtained as follows:1)according to transform matrix,the p ossibility of transforma-tion from one land-use to another can be obtained after the planning is carried out;2)environment quality would change as a result of the change of land-use p attern;3)the SEA on land-use plan is an effecti ve tool to make land-use pattern more reasonable.

Comprehensive Assessment of Eco-environment Vulnerability in Hebei Province Based on ArcGIS

[Objective] This study aimed to assess the vulnerability of ecological environment in Hebei Province.[Method] Based on ArcGIS,by using the dominant factor and maximum limits factor method,we established the sensitivity-reality indicator system and assessment model of the eco-environment vulnerability in Hebei Province to quantitatively evaluate its eco-environment vulnerability,and analyzed its spatial distribution.[Result] The status quo of environmental degradation was inconsistent with the sensitivity of eco-environment in Hebei Province.The area of severely vulnerable region accounted for only 4.1% of total area in Hebei Province,mainly distributed in nine counties or districts of Baxia region,Zhangjiakou,northwestern Hebei,which was covered with mountains and basins,showing bands,which resulted from the vulnerability of soil erosion and land desertification.In addition,the moderately vulnerable region made up 38.4%,having the largest proportion,and mainly distributed in the mountain and basin region in northwestern Hebei,Yanshan Mountain and the most regions of Taihang Mountain,due to the vulnerability of soil erosion.At the same time,there were also large patches of moderately vulnerable region in Bashang and Baxia of Zhangjiakou,owning to the vulnerability of land desertification.Besides,most plains were mildly vulnerable and slightly vulnerable regions,and their areas accounted for 25.1% and 32.4% respectively of total area.[Conclusion] The research could provide scientific references for safeguarding the ecological security and main functional district planing of Hebei Province.

Eco-geological environment quality assessment based on multi-source data of the mining city in red soil hilly region, China

High-intensity and large-scale resource development seriously threatens the fragile ecological environment in the red soil hilly region in southern China. This paper analyzes the eco-geological environmental problems and factors affecting Ganzhou, a mining city in the red soil hilly region,based on field survey and literature. The ecogeological environment quality(EGEQ) assessment system, which covered 11 indicators in physical geography, mining development, geological hazards,as well as water and soil pollution, was established through multi-source data utilization such as remote sensing images, DEM(Digital Elevation Model), field survey and on-site monitoring data. The comprehensive weight of each indicator was calculated through the Analytic Hierarchy Process(AHP) and entropy method. The eco-geological environment assessment map was developed by calculating the EGEQ value through the linear weighted method. The assessment results show that the EGEQ was classified into I-V grades from excellent to worse, among which, EGEQ of I-II accounted for 29.88%, EGEQ of III accounted for 32.35% and EGEQ of IV-V accounted for 37.77%;the overall EGEQ of Ganzhou was moderate. The assessment system utilized in this research provides scientific and accurate results, which in turn enable the proposal of some tangible protection suggestions.

Assessment of first-order-moment-based sample reconstruction method for design flood estimation in changing environment

Estimating the design flood under nonstationary conditions is challenging. In this study, a sample reconstruction approach was developed to transform a nonstationary series into a stationary one in a future time window (FTW). In this approach, the first-order moment (EFTW) of an extreme flood series in the FTW was used, and two possible methods of estimating EFTW values in terms of point values and confidence intervals were developed. Three schemes were proposed to analyze the uncertainty of design flood estimation in terms of sample representativeness, uncertainty from EFTW estimation, and both factors, respectively. To investigate the performance of the sample reconstruction approach, synthesis experiments were designed based on the annual peak series of the Little Sugar Creek in the United States. The results showed that the sample reconstruction approach performed well when the high-order moment of the series did not change significantly in the specified FTW. Otherwise, its performance deteriorated. In addition, the uncertainty of design flood estimation caused by sample representativeness was greater than that caused by EFTW estimation.

A climatic environmental performance assessment method for ecological city construction:Application to Beijing Yanqi Lake

In contrast to the input perspective for evaluating planning metrics, this research takes the climatic environmental output effects as the starting point for assessing ecological city construction. Based on approaches such as observation data analysis, meteorological model simulation, and remote sensing, a set of climatic environmental performance assessment methods is developed and established. These methods mainly focus on surface ventilation assessment and urban thermal environment assessment. With the Yanqi Lake ecological development demonstration area located in Huairou district, Beijing as an example, the assessment of the local climatic environment before and after the construction are conducted, and relevant policy suggestions for urban planning and construction are presented. The results show that after development, the ventilation capacity will decrease overall and the ventilation potential index will decrease from 0.53 to 0.44. While this is not a large reduction, and is still at a favorable level, the ventilation potential in some local areas will markedly decrease. Furthermore, the thermal environment will become poorer to some extent; the urban heat island(UHI) area and intensity will increase compared with the current situation;continuous heat islands may occur in local areas; the UHI potential index of the core area will rise from 0.0878 to 0.1217(still a favorable level).Therefore, urban surfaces should be carefully developed and arranged during planning. It is suggested that the negative impacts of large areas of urban construction on the local climatic environment in the Yanqi Lake could be mitigated by 1) strengthening the airflow by introducing fresh,cold, northwesterly air via constructed ventilation corridors, 2) increasing the number of ecological cold sources, particularly for water bodies and green belts to prevent the UHI in the southern region of Yanqi Lake from becoming linked with each other, and 3) considering a pre-program before sub-domain and building planning to obtain optimum building locations. Different construction standards should be developed for different ventilation potential and UHI intensity levels. For strong heat island areas, land areas should be reserved to serve as cold sources.

Eco-environmental Risk Assessment on Port Area:Taking Yangpu Port Area for Example

The environment in port area is a regional environment including marine ecological environment,land bio-environment and interlaced zone environment between them.Taking Yangpu port area for example,based on analyzing changes of risk factors(such as hydrodynamic condition and pollutant emission increment) caused by port area construction,the risks of various risk factors to aquatic ecology,terrene ecology and mangrove wetland ecosystem were studied so as to provide evidence for the planning and construction of port area and the comprehensive management of marine environment and coastal zone.

Assessment of Effects of Qinshan Nuclear Power Station on the Ecological Environment and Water Quality of its Adjacent Waters after its Running

On the basis of the data of biological and nonbiological factors collected respectively from 1989 to 1990 and from 1995 to 1996 in the waters nearby the Qinshan Nuclear Power Station, the ecological environment and water quality of the waters are analyzed and assessed in the paper. The results show: (a) the surveyed area has the typical ecological characteristics of high tidal range estuary, rich nutrients and low biological productivity, (b) tide, runoff and offshore seawater intrusion are the key factors which result in seasonal and annual changes of various biological and non-biological factors, (c) the risking of seawater eutrophication index is resulted from enormous amount of the discharges of industrial and domestic sewage, (d) because the survey area is located in a high tidal-range estuary, thermal effluent from cooling system does not induce significant temperature changes, ( e) the first stage project of Qinshan nuclear power station has no notable impacts on the ecological environment in

Energy, Environment, Economic Life Cycle Assessment of Cassava-based Ethanol Used as Automotive Fuel in Guangxi Province, China

A life-cycle assessment (LCA) was carried out to compare the energy, environmental and economic impacts of converting cassava to fuel ethanol in Guangxi Province, China. The entire life cycle is a system that includes stages from cassava farming to ethanol fuel combustion. A computer-based model was developed to assess energy, environmental, and economic (EEE) life cycle implication of cassava-based ethanol fuel. The LCA results for fuel ethanol were compared to conventional gasoline (CG) as a base-line case. On the life-cycle bases, the use of cassava-based ethanol fuel in Guangxi may consume more energy but reduce greenhouse gas, VOC, and CO emissions. Life cycle cost results indicate that although fuel ethanol currently is not competitive compared to conventional gasoline, it has great potentials when there are subsidies and/or yields of cassava planting are improved. In terms of balancing the energy, environmental and economical, the introduction form of cassava-based ethanol fuel would be E10. The assessment results generated from this study provide an important reference for Guangxi policy makers to better understand the trade-offs among energy, environmental effects, and economics for the most effective using of regional energy resources.

Landscape eco-environment risk assessment of highway in arid area of Xinjiang,China

With the aid of analyses to landscape ecology in the highway region of the arid area in Xinjiang of China, vegetation type, soil type and land-use type were ascertained as environmental factors of highway landscape ecosystem fragility, and seasonal flood, blown-wind sand and alkali-salinization as disaster factors of highway engineering. All items of these factors constitute an objective hierarchy of evaluating landscape ecosystem risk of the highway region in the arid area. The weighted values of the items were determined according to the number of occupied area or length by them against each unit. The area or length was interpreted with the aids of GIS technology and gained by measuring in the highway reconnaissance. The results of the eco-environmental risk assessment of G315 Yitunbulake-Qiemo section in Xinjiang shows that eight units of landscape ecology can be sorted into four categories according to the differences of the fragility indices (Σxiwi) and the disaster indices (Σyiwj).

Analysis and assessment of Chinese eco-environmental situation

In order to give out the correct conclusion for evaluating Chinese eco-environmental situation, in this paper, a special assessmental procedure has been used to analyse following 7 basic environmental problems: (1) Natural hazards; (2) Soil erosion; (3) Forest shrinkage and grassland degradation; (4) Water resources shortage; (5) Desertification; (6) Environmental pollution; (7) Farmland decrease. The basic strategies for improving Chinese environmental situation have been suggested.

Environmental Impact Assessment and Eco-civilization Construction of Urbanization in China

As major policy put forward by the new leadership of China, urbanization will play an irreplaceable role in improving people＇s living standards and guaranteeing sustainable growth of economy. But in the process of urbanization, there are many problems, such as environmental damage and ecological imbalance. Therefore, organic combination of eco-civilization construction and urbanization will be the key solving the problem. As one of preconditions of planning and project, environmental impact assessment will also play pivotal role in eco-civilization construction of urbani- zation in China. We detailedly introduce environmental impact assessment, and put forward how to effectively use environmental impact assessment for the eco-civilization construction of urbanization in China.

Assessment on the Vulnerability of Agricultural Eco-environment of Hilly Basin Area in the Middle of Hunan Province——A Case Study of Hengyang Basin

[Objective] The study aimed to assess the vulnerability of agricultural eco-environment of hilly basin area in the middle of Hunan Prov- ince. [ Method] Taking Hengyang basin as an example, we firstly chose 13 indicators from natural, social and economic subsystem to assess the vulnerability of agricultural eco-environment in hilly basin area in the middle of Hunan Province. Afterwards, by using principal component analysis, we calculated the weight of each indicator and the vulnerability of agricultural eco-environment of seven regions, finally analyzed the spatial distribu- tion of agricultural eco-envimnment vulnerability. [ Result] The weight of farmers＇ net income per capita was up to 0.140, followed by forest coverage （0.137）. Among the seven counties, the vulnerability of agricultural eco-environment was primarily moderate, while Hengnan County had the highest vulnerability, followed by Hengyang County, and their vulnerability was extremely serious. In addition, Leiyang City was the minimum fragile region, namely slightly fragile region. In general, the vulnerability of peripheral counties was lower than that of central counties. [ Conclusion] The research could provide scientific references for the restoration and reconstruction of agro-ecological environment as well as the establishment of agri- cultural Dreduction decisions.

A Comparative Study of Different Methods on Quality Assessment of Soil Environment Polluted by Zinc in Agricultural Production Areas——A Case Study in Shulan City of Jilin Province

[Objective] The aim was to explore evaluated precision on quality of soil environment polluted with zinc in agricultural production areas and to provide references for verification of production area.[Method] In Shulan City in Jilin Province,soils were sampled and analyzed in a laboratory using single-factor pollution index and GIS based spatial interpolation.The quality of environment polluted with zinc was assessed and related methods were compared according to Environment Quality Standard of Green Food Production Area.[Result] Spatial interpolation of zinc in soils based on GIS proved more precise than traditional methods;cokriging method with co-factors was higher in precision than common cokriging;cokriging method with zinc and organic matter was higher in precision than cokriging with zinc alone.[Conclusion] Quality assessment on environment polluted with zinc based on GIS interpolation is more scientific and reasonable than traditional methods.

STUDY ON METHOD OF QUANTITATIVE ASSESSMENT OF FRAGILE ENVIRONMENT

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Investment Environment Assessment and Strategic Policy for Subjects of Federation in Russia

Russia is the largest neighboring country of China. Between the two countries, the resources and industry are complemented, the political mutual trust is at a high level, and trade cooperation has a broad prospect. Choosing the best regions and the best industries to strengthen investment in Russia has a major strategic significance in promoting ‘the Belt and Road Initiative’ and China-Mongolia-Russia Economic Corridor Construction. However, the related researches are extremely limited. The investment environment is unclear, and the investment risk is unknown, which seriously restrict the investment in Russia and the trade cooperation with Russia. Our research team carried out scientific expedition, government visits and scientific research cooperation in Russia for several years, and obtained a great number of first-hand valuable data. According to the analysis on the data and Russian regional policies, this study constructed an investment environment evaluation model(ESI-PRA model), scientific assessed the investment environment for 83 subjects of federation in Russia, in terms of economic, social, infrastructure, policy, resource and accessibility, classified 4 types of investment regions, chose 3 investment priority regions, revealed the investment priority industries, demonstrated the main investment risks, and proposed the strategic policies. The research results provide direct scientific and technological support for strategic decisions, such as investment in Russia, bilateral economic and trade cooperation, and overseas layout of Chinese-funded enterprises. Moreover, it has an important practical and strategic significance for improving overseas geo-strategic interests of China and ensuring the construction of China-Mongolia-Russia Economic Corridor.

Risk Assessment of Marine Environments Along the South China Sea and North Indian Ocean on the Basis of a Weighted Bayesian Network

Marine environments have a considerable influence on the construction of the Chinese 21st Century Maritime Silk Road.Thus,an objective and quantitative risk assessment of marine environments has become a key problem that must be solved urgently.To deal with the uncertainty in marine environmental risks caused by complex factors and fuzzy mechanisms,a new assessment technique based on a weighted Bayesian network(BN)is proposed.Through risk factor analysis,node selection,structure construc-tion,and parameter learning,we apply the proposed weighted BN-based assessment model for the risk assessment and zonation of marine environments along the Maritime Silk Road.Results show that the model effectively fuses multisource and uncertain envi-ronmental information and provides reasonable risk assessment results,thereby offering technical support for risk prevention and disaster mitigation along the Maritime Silk Road.

Cloud Data and Computing Services Allow Regional Environmental Assessment:A Case Study of Macquarie-Castlereagh Basin, Australia

Large amounts of data at various temporal and spatial scales require terabyte(TB) level storage and computation, both of which are not easy for researchers to access. Cloud data and computing services provide another solution to store, process, share and explore environmental data with low costs, stronger computation capacity and easy access. The purpose of this paper is to examine the benefits and challenges of using freely available satellite data products from Australian Geoscience DataCube and Google Earth Engine(GEE) online data with time series for integrative environmental analysis of the Macquarie-Castlereagh Basin in the last 15 years as a case study. Results revealed that the cloud platform simplifies the procedure of traditional catalog data processing and analysis. The integrated analysis based on the cloud computing and traditional methods represents a great potential as a low-cost, efficient and user-friendly method for global and regional environmental study. The user can save considerable time and cost on data integration. The research shows that there is an excellent promise in performing regional environmental analysis by using a cloud platform. The incoming challenge of the cloud platform is that not all kinds of data are available on the cloud platform. How data are integrated into a single platform while protecting or recognizing the data property, or how one portal can be used to explore data archived on different platforms represent considerable challenges.

Development of an Indicator Scheme for the Environment Impact Assessment in the Federal District, Mexico

In this work is developed a proposal of environment indicators needed for the Environment Impact Assessment (EIA) process in Mexico’s Federal District (FD);through which are authorized the construction and realization of different work actions and activities. The methodology is based on the combination of cabinet and field work, performed in three stages. In the first, a documental review was carried out within the topic of Environment Impact (EI), the EIA and the study area, with a subsequent analysis of the environment indicators at an international, national and regional scale. In the second, the systematization of information was performed for the sixteen study cases at a local scale and the organization and analysis of a data base with the allotted information. And in the last stage, a field work was realized with participative observations in three verification sites and interview applications to the principal actors of the EIA process. These results allowed: to determine the main limitations within the EIA process (methodological, technical and operational), to propose an indicators scheme, and to formulate recommendations focused on the improvement of this Environment Public Policy instrument.