The role of natural resources in financial expansion:evidence from Central Asia

Central Asian States(CAS)have diverse natural resources.This research aims to shed light on the finance–natural resource’s association in the context of CAS namely Kazakhstan,Kyrgyzstan,Tajikistan,Turkmenistan,and Uzbekistan in 1996–2020 using the cross-sectionally augmented autoregressive distributed lag technique.It seeks to examine the research question,“What is the effect of natural resource wealth on the financial expansion(FE)of Central Asia?”The results demonstrated an inverted U-shaped association between financial growth and natural resource rents.It implies that natural resources are initially a“resource blessing”that later becomes a“resource curse.”Additionally,the effect of institutional quality(INQ)and human development(HD)on financial growth is examined.The results reveal that INQ and HD positively affect FE.Moreover,a bidirectional causal relationship exists between FE and INQ.Finally,all variables contribute to a long term FE.Based on these outcomes,the major policy recommendations are that the CAS authorities diversify their financial services and products and direct the proceeds from natural resource rents to effective invest-ments particularly in HD.In addition,the social and political infrastructures in CAS must be restructured to achieve a high-quality institutional environment,which is necessary to increase the role of the private sector.

Natural Resource Governance in Unrecognized Settings: What Are Emerging Political, Legal and Fiscal Issues Affecting “Somaliland”?

Somaliland declared independence after the fall of the Central Government of Somalia in 1991. Early peace settlements and state-building efforts led to transitional government and early democratic contestations including presidential elections in a hybrid state framework. This emerging democracy in a conflict-torn region is challenged by weak accountability and power imbalances between the three government branches. Over the past few years, the current ruling party started to engage with foreign companies to carry out exploration activities in onshore blocks utilizing existing information on the distribution of natural resources of oil, and gas and to lesser extent mining. Following an informal auction of selling licenses for resource exploration among various companies, Genel Energy amongst others;Somaliland has no competent institutions in managing revenues for long-term development due to two distinctive factors: 1) absence of strong legal and political frameworks specific to governance of extractive industry;2) weak fiscal regimes across spectrum of extractive companies, the state and investors.

Reforming the natural resource auditing system from the ecological civilization perspective

Perfecting the natural resource system and auditing natural resource assets are requirements in protecting natural resources and developing an ecological civilization in practice.While the natural resource asset audit both confirms and quantifies natural resources,the nature of such resources makes it difficult to identify their ownership.Further,these resources'diversity creates complex measurement standards and activities,all of which require relevant institutional guarantees.However,the existing audit system for natural resource assets includes insufficient stock,incremental difficulties,and poor guidance,which cannot meet the requirements for environmental governance and an ecological civilization.Thus,it is necessary to define natural resource assets’rights and measurement systems and responsibility regulations,among others;construct an auditing participation system,technical regulations,and evaluation criterion for natural resource assets;amend the Audit Law in a timely manner;and enact natural resource asset legislation.Ultimately,such efforts would eliminate the bottleneck in the natural resource asset auditing system and facilitate the construction of a resource-saving,environmentally friendly society.

The Effect of Jump on Evaluating Natural Resource Investments

The evaluation of mining and other natural resource projects is made particularly difficult by the high degree of uncertainty attaching to output prices. It is shown that the techniques of continuous time arbitrage and stochastic control theory may be used not only to value such projects but also to determine the optimal policies for developing managing. This paper describes a model for evaluating natural resource investments under uncertainty from a new perspective. The previous works in this field mostly regard the movements of natural resource prices as a continuous GBM process, which pays few attentions to the shock of unexpected bad news. Our model provides the first theoretical method to analyze the impact of such 'jump' on investment decisions. It concludes that the more frequently bad news happens, the earlier a project will be invested.

GIScience and remote sensing in natural resource and environmental research:Status quo and future perspectives

Geographic information science(GIScience)and remote sensing have long provided essential data and method-ological support for natural resource challenges and environmental problems research.With increasing advances in information technology,natural resource and environmental science research faces the dual challenges of data and computational intensiveness.Therefore,the role of remote sensing and GIScience in the fields of natural resources and environmental science in this new information era is a key concern of researchers.This study clarifies the definition and frameworks of these two disciplines and discusses their role in natural resource and environmental research.GIScience is the discipline that studies the abstract and formal expressions of the basic concepts and laws of geography,and its research framework mainly consists of geo-modeling,geo-analysis,and geo-computation.Remote sensing is a comprehensive technology that deals with the mechanisms of human ef-fects on the natural ecological environment system by observing the earth surface system.Its main areas include sensors and platforms,information processing and interpretation,and natural resource and environmental appli-cations.GIScience and remote sensing provide data and methodological support for resource and environmental science research.They play essential roles in promoting the development of resource and environmental science and other related technologies.This paper provides forecasts of ten future directions for GIScience and eight future directions for remote sensing,which aim to solve issues related to natural resources and the environment.

Values of the Times of Marx's Theory of Science and Technology Progress and Utilization of Natural Resources

Marx's theory of scientific and technological progress and utilization of natural resources is an indispensable and important part of Marx's economic theory.To realize the harmonious unification of man and nature,man must correctly understand the effect of scientific and technological progress on the use of natural resources,fundamentally solve the problem that scientific and technological progress cannot replace the position of natural resources in economic development,and objectively evaluate the relationship between human power and the power of nature.Grasping and comprehending the scientific connotation of Marx's theory of scientific and technological progress and utilization of natural resources has a very important theoretical value and practical significance for saving and effectively using natural resources and building an environment-friendly society.

Characteristics,Current Status and Strategy on Exploitation of Agricultural Natural Resources in China

This paper formulated the present characteristics,current status and the problems of agricultural natural resources in China.Measures of preservation and strategy about exploitation of agricultural natural resources were put forward,which would provide a scientific basis for the government to make policies.

The Relationship between Natural Resources and Population Development in Liaocheng City

According to the relevant data about the land resources and population in Liaocheng City from 1999 to 2008, by using the research method of bearing capacity of natural resources, the thesis analyzes the relationship between natural resources and dynamic change of population in Liaocheng City. The results show that the farmland tends to diminish on the whole, and forests, garden land, urban-rural settlements and land for enterprises and mining increase slowly. Based on the analysis of the dynamic relationship between land resources and population, we conclude that the land resources still can bear the current population in Liaocheng City, but the population development inflict critical pressure on the forest resources and water resources.

Marx's Theory of Natural Resources and Economic Development

Marx theory of natural resources and economic development is an important part of Marx's economic theory. Marx not only studied the role of natural resources and revealed the characteristics of natural resources in the process of social and economic development,and also illustrated the basic ways of protecting and developing natural resources.

Guizhou's Natural Resources Awaiting Development

Guizhou is one of the concentration provinces for natural resources in China. Most outstanding of these, in particular, are energy resources, mineral resources, biological resources and tourism resources. They occupy a very important position in the country. Guizhou’s natural resources are of multiple categories, high grade, huge re-

Analysis on Change Trend and Influencing Factors of Natural Resource Utilization of Community Farmers around the Habitat of Giant Pandas

The habitat of giant pandas borders the living areas of farmers in surrounding communities. Due to the low level of economic development and resource used method, the life of community farmers depends on the natural resources of the habitat of giant pandas. Analyzing the natural resource utilization of farmers in communities around the habitat of giant pandas is conducive to formulating more reasonable management policies and protecting the habitat of giant pandas more effectively. Based on the field survey data, this paper classifies the main ways of community farmers using the natural resources of the habitat of giant pandas, counts the quantity of resources used and analyzes their change trends. On this basis, this paper selects indicators, constructs a model and analyzes the main influencing factors affecting the natural resources utilization of community farmers from three aspects: the individual characteristics of household heads, the family characteristics of community farmers and the residence characteristics of community farmers.

“Tasks”versus“Disciplines”:The Comprehensive Surveys of Natural Resources by the Chinese Academy of Sciences,and the Politics of Science Policy in the People’s Republic of China

As soon as the Chinese Academy of Sciences(CAS)was founded by the new government of the People’s Republic of China in 1949,the principles of“linking theory with practice”and“conducting research to serve the people”set the framework for its scientific studies.How to balance their obligations to facilitate national economic construction with their desires to advance disciplinary scientific developments posed a knotty problem that frustrated those who organized and engaged in scientific research across the country,and in the CAS in particular.Against this background,the slogan“let tasks lead disciplines”was proposed as an effective solution.However,how exactly to put this into practice became a pressing issue,as CAS scientists and scholars debated the relationship between tasks and advances within scientific disciplines.This paper examines these debates as they were carried out in the case of the comprehensive surveys of natural resources organized by the CAS,focusing especially on different understandings of the relationship between“tasks”and“disciplines”within the CAS in the early 1960s,and examining the impact and legacy of“letting tasks lead disciplinary developments,”with possible lessons for the formulation of scientific plans today.

Theoretical discussion and framework design of natural resources balance sheet preparation: Based on double standard goal management

"Decision-making usefulness" and "entrusted performance" are not only the goals to be achieved by natural assets statistics, but also the requirements for the state to implement the resignation of leading cadres for auditing and environmental compensation. After the 18th National Congress was convened, the integration of natural resources and the audit of departing cadres further promoted the development of natural resource balance sheet research. Based on the related theories of the development of natural resource assets, this paper starts with its composition, bases its resources on value-added information transmission, and ecological restoration, combines China's unique natural resources, and discusses the basis for the preparation of China's natural resources balance sheet based on dual objectives, goals and framework design. While investigating the report on natural resources, the new concept of natural assets and liabilities emphasizes the relative independence of assets, namely: economic value and potential ecological benefits; past and contingent liabilities, i.e., due to excessive resources Direct losses brought about by mining and potential ecological costs, remediation costs, and repair costs. Finally, referring to SEEA2012 and combining with the specific conditions of China's natural resources, we will discuss not only the physical measurement but also the value measurement for its framework design, constituent elements, and reporting methods.

A Survey of Tibet's Natural Resources

Ⅰ. Agricultural resources Agriculture, the foundation of Tibet’s economic development, demonstrates its chief superiority in the following aspects: 1. Concentrated arable land, large and varied grassland and rich waste land. The 3.36 million mu of arable land in Tibet are centered onthe valleys of "one jiang and two rivers" with abundant water and excellent temperature. According to 1990 statistics, the total areas of arable land in the 18 counties and cities situated on the middle section of the "one jiang and

Study on Process Economics of Natural Resource Utilization

Finite supply of non-regenerative resources triggers a competition between economic entities or between areas, which requires the ways regarding their utilization with higher levels in science and the standards regarding their use with higher efficiency in economics. To solve a problem of process evaluation in science and of driving force in economics during a process design or a process run for natural resources utilization, a process evaluation parameter originated from natural gas hydrate preparation from a small scale to industrialization scale and the equation of the criterion dependent are introduced to evaluate a variety of processes of natural resources utilization. The analyses indicate that the parameter is relevant to internal undeveloped resources amount change with a stable mass composition in a virtual black box model and external variable market with an implication of process efficiency in economy or of process efficiency of resource utilization and that the parameter has similar features of the thermodynamic state functions. Moreover, the equation of the criterion provided is a difference between the value of the process evaluation parameter at the final state and the value of the process evaluation parameter at the initial state in an actual process, which can be used to determine the direction of development and to judge the size of the driving force in an actual process or an economical run. The provided examples and correlative mathematical description can guide how an identification for the undeveloped resources and a real-time adjustment of dynamic production for the developing resource are done and how decisions regarding resource exploitation, the venture forecasting of capital utilization and updating technology are made. The parameter used itself and the equation of the derived criterion can help by playing a predictive role for selecting the optimal use processes and for designing new process of the natural resource utilization or capital use, and by playing a practical role for adjusting factual production status and for improving the actual process of the utilization of resource or capital in an economic society. Finally, those closed resource systems having accumulation or depletion of the resources or a variable mass such as a decomposition system, a fission system and a biological reproduction system will become possible future research objectives under the guide of this work.

Institute of Geographic Sciences and Natural Resources Research, CAS

Institute of Geographic Sciences and Natural Resources Research (IGSNRR) was established in late 1999 on the basis of the consolidation of two former CAS institutions: the Institute of Geography and the Commission for Integrated Surveys of Natural Resources. With an aim to promote the coordinated development between population, resources, economy and the environment, the IGSNRR strives to serve the nation’s major needs in resource and the

STRENGTHENING STUDIES ON NATURAL RESOURCES AND THE ENVIRONMENT

This article expounds the significance of sustainable development in the existence and progress of mankind and the policies that China should adopt. It points out that the ecology, and resource and environmental sciences are the core in the study of sustainable development. The author analyzes the achievements, contributions and problems in the studies of resources, ecology and the environment, which have been carried out at the Chinese Academy of Sciences. He also puts forward tentative ideas and suggestions in deepening the reform of systems, speeding up the construction of research bases, laying stress on regional features in study, promoting the integrating of disciplines, and giving play to the overall advantages of the Academy.

Environmental impact of energy imports:Natural resources income and natural gas production profitability in the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation Countries

Environmental degradation is a pressing global concern,with the energy sector being one of the major contributors to this issue.The environmental impact of energy imports,particularly regarding natural resources income and natural gas production profitability,cannot be ignored.Countries must assess the environmental consequences of their energy choices and take steps to minimize their impact.By transitioning to cleaner and more sustainable energy sources,countries can ensure a better future for the environment and their economies.This study examines the impact of energy imports and natural resources income on environmental degradation in the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation(APEC)countries from 1990 to 2020,using revenue minus the production cost of natural gas and electricity production from renewable sources as moderating variables.Long-run estimates are derived using the Generalized Method of Moments and robust least squares.Our findings elucidate that importing energy from countries specializing in renewable energy can help reduce reliance on fossil fuels.This diversification of energy sources decreases the overall carbon footprint and contributes to a cleaner environment.Natural gas production often involves infrastructure construction,such as drilling rigs and pipelines,which can disrupt natural habitats and wildlife corridors.This destruction of ecosystems can have long-term consequences on biodiversity and ecological balance.The environmental impact of energy imports,particularly related to natural resource income and natural gas production profitability,requires BRICS countries to take proactive measures.These nations can address the environmental challenges associated with their energy demands by implementing policies prioritizing sustainable resource management,carbon pricing,stringent regulation,and investment in research and development.By doing so,they can balance economic growth and environmental sustainability,ensuring a greener future for the BRICS countries.

Enhancing transboundary natural tourism resources governance:unveiling the spatial pattern and its influencing factors

Tourism resources that span provincial boundaries in China play a pivotal role in regional development,yet effective governance poses persistent challenges.This study addresses this issue by constructing a comprehensive database of transboundary natural tourism resources(TNTR)through amalgamation of diverse data sources.Utilizing the Getis-Ord Gi^(*),kernel density estimation,and geographical detectors,we scrutinize the spatial patterns of TNTR,focusing on both named and unnamed entities,while exploring the influencing factors.Our findings reveal 7883 identified TNTR in China,with mountain tourism resources emerging as the predominant type.Among provinces,Hunan boasts the highest count,while Shanghai exhibits the lowest.Southern China demonstrates a pronounced clustering trend in TNTR distribution,with the spatial arrangement of biological landscapes appearing more random compared to geological and water landscapes.Western China,characterized by intricate terrain,exhibits fewer TNTR,concurrently unveiling a significant presence of unnamed natural tourism resources.Crucially,administrative segmentation influences TNTR development,generating disparities in regional goals,developmental stages and intensities,and management approaches.In response to these variations,we advocate for strengthening the naming of the unnamed transboundary tourism resources,constructing a geographic database of TNTR for government and establishing a collaborative management mechanism based on TNTR database.Our research contributes to elucidating the intricate landscape of TNTR,offering insights for tailored governance strategies in the realm of cross-provincial tourism resource management.

Local perceptions of grassland change and priorities for conservation of natural resources of Banni, Gujarat, India

This study was conducted in the Banni region of the Gujarat State,India,which is located in the western-most end of the country.The main objective was to investigate the local perceptions of grassland change,regeneration potentiality,socio-economic status and fac-tors that cause degradation of the vegetation resources in Banni.Participatory Rural Appraisal(PRA)was employed to generate the socio-economic profile of interviewed villages or hamlets.Information on vegetation deteriora-tion and changes in species composition significant for sustainable management of grassland was obtained through interviews with 51 elderly maldharies(pastoral-ists)and local inhabitants living in 31 villages in Banni.Local people had observed a change in the local surrounding habitats from grassland to woodland(domi-nated by Prosopis juliflora,locally called Gando Bavar)during their lifetime and considered it primarily a result of frequent intensive drought,constructed dams on flooding rivers in Banni,and declining rainfall.The socio-economic survey showed that the Banni communities are highly dependent on the natural grassland for various purposes.In particular,nine woody species were useful for construction of the traditional house called Bhunga,four for medicine and 22 for livestock fodder.Highly preferred and declining species were characteristically large wild thorny trees with edible fruits,viz.Acacia nilotica subsp.indica(Bavar),Prosopis cineraria(Kandho),and Salvadora persica(Kharijar).Some of the locally highly preferred grass species were also considered to be declining in the local environs;they included Dichanthium annulatum(Jinjvo),Cenchrus ciliaris(Dhaman),Sporobolus fertilis(Khevai)and Chloris barbata(Siyarpuchha).The study furthermore identified a close coincidence between the interest in conserving tree species diversity nearby the natural water resources and priorities of local inhabitants,which included protection of plenty of large trees(including many fruit tress,viz.Mangifera indicia(Ambo),Cordia dichotoma(Gunda)and Pithecellobium dulce(Gora-samli)),improvement of woody fodder tree and grass species regeneration,and reduction of overgrazing pres-sure on grasslands.Focusing management strategies on increasing the populations of such declining and highly preferred tree and grass species,by active restoration and grazing policies,would enhance the natural resource value and biodiversity wealth considerably and thereby the quality of life for the local inhabitants.The implications of the results are discussed and recommendations are suggested for conservation,management,and sustainable utilization of the fragile grassland ecosystem of the Banni region.