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Regional Resources and Environment Management and Urban–Rural Green Development

A special issue of Sustainability (ISSN 2071-1050). This special issue belongs to the section "Resources and Sustainable Utilization".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 October 2023) | Viewed by 6377

Special Issue Editors


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Guest Editor
School of Management, Chongqing University of Technology, Chongqing 400054, China
Interests: resource and environment efficiency and security; regional sustainable development
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

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Guest Editor
School of Geography and Tourism, Chongqing Normal University, Chongqing 401331, China
Interests: farmer household's livelihood and rural sustainable development

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Guest Editor
School of Management, Shandong University, Jinan, China
Interests: rural green development; green service innovation; sustainable tourism development

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Guest Editor
School of Economics, Zhejiang University of Finance and Economics, Hangzhou 310018, China
Interests: resources; environment; sustainable development

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Resources are the material basis for human development, while the environment is the fundamental condition for human development. The exploitation and utilization of resources will lead to a change in the environment; and the change of environment, in return, will have an impact on resources. At present, due to the increase in population and the increasing scale of human production activities, how address the trade-off between resources and the environment has become an important issue for human sustainable development. Green development is a model of economic growth and social development that aims at efficiency, harmony, and sustainability. It can realize the coordination and sustainability among population, economy and social development, resources and environment, and is a promising means to solve the current problems associated with resources and environment.

In this Research Topic, we mainly focus on the state and problem analysis of resources and environment in urban and rural areas, and how to realize the coordination between population, economy, social development, resources and environment and the sustainable development of urban and rural areas through green lifestyle and development mode. This is a critical and fundamental issue in the field of sustainable development, especially in the current global carbon neutrality and carbon peak strategy implementation critical period.

Furthermore, Given the importance and urgency of the above issues, topics of interest for this Special Issue include:

  1. Resources and environment management
  2. Coupling coordination among resources, environment, and population-economy-social development
  3. Ecological civilization construction
  4. Energy-saving, environmental protection, and low carbon concept
  5. Urban and rural green development
  6. Urban Green lifestyle
  7. Sustainable development and high-quality growth of tourism
  8. Environmental protection and economic development
  9. Ecological economy, circular economy, and low carbon economy

Prof. Dr. Fengtai Zhang
Prof. Dr. Junyi Zhang
Prof. Dr. Fengzeng Xu
Prof. Dr. Xiaojun Deng
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. Sustainability is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly 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 2400 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

  • resources and environment management
  • sustainable development
  • environmental protection
  • green development
  • ecological civilization
  • ecological economy
  • circular economy
  • low carbon economy
  • carrying capacity and efficiency
  • coupling coordination

Published Papers (4 papers)

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Research

20 pages, 932 KiB  
Article
Can Rural Industrial Convergence Improve the Total Factor Productivity of Agricultural Environments: Evidence from China
by Gantian Zheng, Weiwei Wang, Chang Jiang and Fan Jiang
Sustainability 2023, 15(23), 16432; https://doi.org/10.3390/su152316432 - 30 Nov 2023
Cited by 2 | Viewed by 917
Abstract
The convergence of rural industries has brought about significant changes in the traditional small-scale farmer management model, as well as new requirements for the quality and skills of agricultural practitioners in China. Meanwhile, it has inevitably affected the agricultural environmental total factor productivity [...] Read more.
The convergence of rural industries has brought about significant changes in the traditional small-scale farmer management model, as well as new requirements for the quality and skills of agricultural practitioners in China. Meanwhile, it has inevitably affected the agricultural environmental total factor productivity (AETFP). This paper endeavors to assess the impact of industrial convergence on AETFP, striving to clarify their inherent connection and furnish insightful guidance for policymaking. Utilizing inter-provincial panel data from China spanning 2008 to 2021, this paper applies the SBM-GML model for measurement purposes and employs the entropy method to evaluate the extent of industrial convergence in rural areas. It delves into the mechanism through which industrial convergence influences AETFP, utilizing the intermediary effect model and incorporating two mediating variables: rural human capital and agricultural scale operations. The findings of this research reveal that industrial convergence exerts a direct positive influence on AETFP, while rural human capital and agricultural scale operations serve as partial mediators in this process. Additionally, the stability of the transmission mechanism receives further validation via the application of interaction terms. Consequently, it is possible to enhance AETFP via the expedited convergent development of industries, coupled with the strategic utilization of rural human capital and agricultural scale operations as catalysts for further improvements in AETFP. Full article
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28 pages, 4134 KiB  
Article
Evaluation and Differentiation Analysis of China’s Construction of Ecological Civilization from the Perspective of Collaboration: Using China’s Representative Region as an Example
by Xue Zhou and Jiapeng Wang
Sustainability 2023, 15(18), 13403; https://doi.org/10.3390/su151813403 - 7 Sep 2023
Cited by 2 | Viewed by 941
Abstract
The construction of ecological civilization is an important part of the cause of Chinese socialism, and the evaluation of the construction of ecological civilization and the differentiated analysis of its synergistic development will guide the coordinated development and coordinated ecological governance and protection [...] Read more.
The construction of ecological civilization is an important part of the cause of Chinese socialism, and the evaluation of the construction of ecological civilization and the differentiated analysis of its synergistic development will guide the coordinated development and coordinated ecological governance and protection in China. Synergistically, an evaluation index system was constructed based on the social–economic–natural multisystem, and the deviation coefficient coupling coordination model was used to evaluate the construction of the ecological civilization of 83 cities in the region from 2000 to 2020. The spatial and temporal development characteristics were explored using the spatial autocorrelation index and standard deviational ellipse, and the urban–rural differences were quantitatively analyzed by using the Thiel index. The results show that from 2000 to 2020, the degree of coordinated development of the social–economic–natural multisystem in different cities was low, and there are different reasons for cities with different urban–rural divisions. In this study region, the spatial distribution of the social–economic–natural coordinated development of cities is becoming increasingly discrete, and the center of urban distribution, which has a higher level of coordinated development, is gradually shifting to the southwest. In 2020, the level of coordinated social–economic–natural development in the study area was significantly different in urban and rural areas. Full article
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26 pages, 5748 KiB  
Article
Study on the Spatiotemporal Evolution Characteristics of the “Production–Living–Ecology” Space in the Yellow River Basin and Its Driving Factors
by Guangliang Zhou, Di Zhang, Qian Zhou and Tao Shi
Sustainability 2022, 14(22), 15227; https://doi.org/10.3390/su142215227 - 16 Nov 2022
Cited by 2 | Viewed by 1232
Abstract
In the 21st century, China’s economic development has made great achievements, and at the same time, it has brought about the problem of distribution of production–living–ecology space (PLES). As an important region of population activity and economic development in China, the Yellow River [...] Read more.
In the 21st century, China’s economic development has made great achievements, and at the same time, it has brought about the problem of distribution of production–living–ecology space (PLES). As an important region of population activity and economic development in China, the Yellow River Basin (YRB) is rich in resources but fragile in ecology, and its ecological protection and high-quality development was elevated to a national strategy in 2021. It is crucial to examine the spatiotemporal evolution traits and driving forces of this PLES. Based on the classification system of PLES, the spatiotemporal evolution characteristics and driving factors of the PLES of 73 prefecture-level cities in the YRB from 2005 to 2020 were analyzed by using the land use transfer matrix, land use dynamic degree, and geographically and temporally weighted regression (GTWR) model. The results show that the conversion rate of PLES in the YRB is gradually slowing down, and the frequency of spatial interconversion is in the form of “high-bottom-high”. The conversion types are mainly production space (PS) to living space (LS), PS to ecology space (ES) and ES to PS, and the comprehensive dynamic degree decreases significantly and then shows a slight upwards trend. The impact of each influencing factor on the evolution of PLES varies, and there are different heterogeneous characteristics in time and space. Based on the above analysis, this paper proposes policy recommendations for rational planning of the PLES in the YRB in four dimensions: government governance, social economy, population restriction and industrial structure. Full article
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22 pages, 10273 KiB  
Article
The Spatial Network Structure of Tourism Efficiency and Its Influencing Factors in China: A Social Network Analysis
by Guangming Yang, Yunrui Yang, Guofang Gong and Qingqing Gui
Sustainability 2022, 14(16), 9921; https://doi.org/10.3390/su14169921 - 11 Aug 2022
Cited by 15 | Viewed by 2261
Abstract
Although tourism has gradually become a popular form of leisure and entertainment in China, the quality of China’s tourism development remains unclear. Through the panel data of 30 provinces in China, an SBM-DEA model and a social network analysis are used to explore [...] Read more.
Although tourism has gradually become a popular form of leisure and entertainment in China, the quality of China’s tourism development remains unclear. Through the panel data of 30 provinces in China, an SBM-DEA model and a social network analysis are used to explore the quality of tourism development, and a spatial econometric regression is used to identify the relevant factors affecting tourism efficiency. The study found that the level of tourism efficiency in Southwest China is high and stable. The northwest region has a low level of tourism efficiency, but a slow growth trend. The rest of the regions show fluctuating trends of tourism efficiencies. The spatial correlation network of provincial tourism efficiency is gradually complicated. Regarding influencing factors, the number of patents granted, traffic levels, financial development, and government macro-control all have positive effects on tourism efficiency. The study uncovered some useful management insights and implications for the travel industry. Full article
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