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Environmental Assessment and Management: Based on Footprint Methods and Ecosystem...
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Environmental Assessment and Management: Based on Footprint Methods and Ecosystem Approaches

A special issue of International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health (ISSN 1660-4601). This special issue belongs to the section "Environmental Earth Science and Medical Geology".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (23 March 2023) | Viewed by 7878

Special Issue Editors

Dr. Wenjun Jiao

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Institute of Geographic Sciences and Natural Resources Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100101, China
Interests: footprint methodology; ecosystem service valuation; natural resource management; environmental impact assessment
Dr. Lingen Wang

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Institute of Geographic Sciences and Natural Resources Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100101, China
Interests: food waste; environmental impact; tourist consumption
Dr. Viachaslau Filimonau

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
School of Hospitality and Tourism Management, University of Surrey, Stag Hill, Guildford GU2 7XH, UK
Interests: carbon footprint assessment; food supply chain; food waste; environmental management

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

The ecological footprint is a method that has been applied across various geographical regions, spatial scales and time series, being widely acknowledged as one of the most effective sustainability evaluation tools. Numerous variations in footprint methods have since emerged, such as the carbon footprint, water footprint, nitrogen footprint, and energy-based footprint, to mention a few. As the family of footprint methods has grown, the role of footprint methodology in environmental assessment and management has received increasing recognition, as it effectively helps to assess the manifold anthropogenic impacts on natural resources, ecosystems and the environment. Furthermore, with the development of ecosystem approaches, footprint methods have been increasingly combined with other assessment methods, such as ecosystem services valuation, or incorporated into new analytical frameworks, such as the social–ecological system, prompting the conjoint use of different methodologies to address environmental assessment and management issues.

This Special Issue will focus on the application of various footprint methods and ecosystem approaches to address the challenges of environmental assessment and management. Both conceptual studies and empirical investigations are encouraged, and both researchers’ and managers’ contributions are welcome. We call for papers focusing on the conjoint use of footprint methods with other assessment methods or analytical frameworks. However, papers only related to footprint methods or ecosystem approaches are also welcomed, as these can provide the basis for future collaboration.

Dr. Wenjun Jiao
Dr. Lingen Wang
Dr. Viachaslau Filimonau
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2500 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • footprint methods
  • ecosystem approaches
  • ecological footprint
  • carbon footprint
  • ecosystem services valuation
  • social–ecological system
  • environmental impact assessment
  • environmental management and planning
  • natural resources management
  • ecosystem management

Published Papers (4 papers)

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Research

15 pages, 2662 KiB  
Article
Assessment of Urban Agglomeration Ecological Sustainability and Identification of Influencing Factors: Based on the 3DEF Model and the Random Forest
by Zhigang Li, Jie Yang, Jialong Zhong and Dong Zhang
Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2023, 20(1), 422; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph20010422 - 27 Dec 2022
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1893
Abstract
The evaluation of ecological sustainability is significant for high-quality urban development and scientific management and regulation. Taking the Chengdu urban agglomeration (CUA) as the research object, this paper combined the three-dimensional ecological footprint model (3DEF) and random forest to evaluate the ecological sustainability [...] Read more.
The evaluation of ecological sustainability is significant for high-quality urban development and scientific management and regulation. Taking the Chengdu urban agglomeration (CUA) as the research object, this paper combined the three-dimensional ecological footprint model (3DEF) and random forest to evaluate the ecological sustainability of the study area and identify the influencing factors. The study results indicate that: (1) From 2000 to 2019, the ecological sustainability of Chengdu urban agglomeration was divided into four types, and the overall ecological sustainability of this region showed a downward trend. The areas with higher ecological sustainability were mainly distributed in the northern part of the urban agglomeration (Mianyang City) and the southern part (Leshan City and Ya’an City), while the cities in the central region (Chengdu City, Meishan City, and Ziyang City) had lower ecological sustainability. (2) The main factors affecting the ecological sustainability of urban agglomerations are industrial wastewater discharge, industrial smoke (powder) dust discharge, and green coverage of built-up areas, followed by urbanization and population size. Through this study, we have two meaningful findings: (a) Our research method in this paper provides a new way to study the factors affecting the ecological sustainability of urban agglomerations. (b) The results of the identification of influencing factors might be the reference for urban environmental infrastructure construction and urban planning. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Environmental Assessment and Management: Based on Footprint Methods and Ecosystem Approaches)
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20 pages, 4293 KiB  
Article
Analysis of the Green Development Effects of High-Speed Railways Based on Eco-Efficiency: Evidence from Multisource Remote Sensing and Statistical Data of Urban Agglomerations in the Middle Reaches of the Yangtze River, China
by Xiangjing Zeng, Yong Ma, Jie Ren and Biao He
Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2022, 19(24), 16431; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph192416431 - 7 Dec 2022
Cited by 2 | Viewed by 1123
Abstract
As part of the modern transport infrastructure, high-speed railways (HSRs) have been considered an important factor affecting eco-efficiency (EE). This study used multisource remote sensing and statistical data from 185 counties representing urban agglomerations in the middle reaches of the Yangtze River (UAMRYR) [...] Read more.
As part of the modern transport infrastructure, high-speed railways (HSRs) have been considered an important factor affecting eco-efficiency (EE). This study used multisource remote sensing and statistical data from 185 counties representing urban agglomerations in the middle reaches of the Yangtze River (UAMRYR) in China from 2009 to 2018. The study integrated ArcGIS analysis, the Super-SBM (super slack-based measure) model, and the DSPDM (dynamic spatial panel Durbin model) to explore the spatial effects of HSRs on EE. The results showed that the coordinates of the interannual centers of gravity for EE and HSRs both fell in the same county, possessing similar parameter values for the standard deviation elliptical, a negative spatial mismatch index, and obvious spatial mismatch characteristics. In different spatially dislocated areas, the spatial effects of HSRs on EE are variable. Overall, the short-term effects are more intense than the long-term effects, and both the long-term and short-term effects are dominated by the effects of spatial spillover. A new perspective is proposed to explore the green development effects of HSRs, with a view to providing policy implications for the enhancement of EE and the planning of HSRs. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Environmental Assessment and Management: Based on Footprint Methods and Ecosystem Approaches)
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24 pages, 14786 KiB  
Article
Green Development Performance Evaluation Based on Dual Perspectives of Level and Efficiency: A Case Study of the Yangtze River Economic Belt, China
by Rui Zhang, Yong Ma and Jie Ren
Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2022, 19(15), 9306; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph19159306 - 29 Jul 2022
Cited by 9 | Viewed by 1919
Abstract
In the context of continuing to promote the construction of an ecological civilization, it is of great significance to explore green development performance. However, most of the literature is based on a single perspective of level or efficiency, lacking a comprehensive examination of [...] Read more.
In the context of continuing to promote the construction of an ecological civilization, it is of great significance to explore green development performance. However, most of the literature is based on a single perspective of level or efficiency, lacking a comprehensive examination of both. It is not scientific to explore how to promote green development only from a single perspective, which may be a new advancement by breaking the conventional thinking focusing only on level or efficiency. On this basis, we first established evaluation index systems of green development performance based on a theoretical framework. Furthermore, green development performance was measured with the entropy weight technique for order preference by similarity to ideal solution (TOPSIS) and super-EBM models, and finally, we analyzed the spatial and temporal evolution patterns of green development performance using the ESDA method and examined its influencing factors with a geographic detector (GD) and econometric models. The main results were as follows: (1) The trend of the green development level in the Yangtze River Economic Belt from 2004 to 2017 had an inverted “N” shape, while the overall average green development efficiency continuously increased. (2) In terms of spatial and temporal patterns, both the green development level and green development efficiency showed “high in the east and low in the west” spatial divergence characteristics. In terms of the spatial and temporal evolution pattern of the green development level, the L-L clusters were mainly distributed in the western region. However, for green development efficiency, the L-L clusters were mostly distributed around the H-H clusters. (3) The results of the influencing factor analysis indicated that industrial structure and people’s welfare are still important factors of the green development level. The improvement of green development efficiency was mainly driven by economic development, and the inhibiting effect of energy consumption is significant. In addition, the effect of opening up has not yet changed from a “pollution paradise” to a “pollution halo”. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Environmental Assessment and Management: Based on Footprint Methods and Ecosystem Approaches)
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19 pages, 3826 KiB  
Article
Exploring the Regional Coordination Relationship between Water Utilization and Urbanization Based on Decoupling Analysis: A Case Study of the Beijing–Tianjin–Hebei Region
by Ruihua Shen and Lei Yao
Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2022, 19(11), 6793; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph19116793 - 1 Jun 2022
Cited by 7 | Viewed by 1798
Abstract
Understanding the potential association between the urbanization process and regional water shortage/pollution is conducive to promoting the intensive utilization of local water resources. In this study, the water footprint model was used to estimate water utilization status in terms of both water quantity [...] Read more.
Understanding the potential association between the urbanization process and regional water shortage/pollution is conducive to promoting the intensive utilization of local water resources. In this study, the water footprint model was used to estimate water utilization status in terms of both water quantity (virtual water footprint (VWF)) and water quality (grey water footprint (GWF)) in the Beijing–Tianjin–Hebei region (China) during 2004–2017. Their potential coordination relationship with the local urbanization process represented by the gross domestic product (GDP), population (POP), and built-up area (BA) was examined using the Tapio decoupling model. The results showed that from 2004 to 2017, (1) VWF in Beijing and Tianjin showed non-significant decreasing trends, with reductions of 1.08 × 109 and 1.56 × 109 m3, respectively, while that in Hebei showed a significant increasing trend, with an increase of 5.74 × 109 m3. This indicated a gradually increasing water demand in Hebei and decreasing demand in Beijing and Tianjin. In all three regions, the agricultural sector accounted for a relatively high proportion of VWF compared to other sectors. (2) GWF in Beijing, Tianjin, and Hebei all showed declining trends, with reductions of 2.19 × 1010, 2.32 × 1010, and 1.66 × 1011 m3, respectively, indicating considerable local water quality improvement. The domestic sector contributed as the main component of GWF in Beijing, while agriculture was the main contributor in Hebei. The major contributor in Tianjin transitioned from the domestic (before 2015) to the agricultural sector. (3) We found good coordination between VWF and GDP in all three regions, as their local economic development was no longer overly dependent on water consumption. However, the expansion of urban built-up area or population would bring about accelerated depletion of water resources. (4) GWF in the three provinces showed good coordination with GDP, POP, and BA in most years, implying that the development of urbanization no longer strongly caused the pollution of water resources. In sum, policymakers should focus on improving agricultural irrigation efficiency and residents’ awareness of water conservation, so as to gradually achieve sustainable water resource management in the BTH region. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Environmental Assessment and Management: Based on Footprint Methods and Ecosystem Approaches)
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