Land carrying capacity is a fundamental representation of relationship between human and land. Forecasting and evaluating land carrying capacity will bring benefits to agricultural spatial governance, population strategies and agriculture policy-making. Taking the Tibet Autonomous Region as an example, this study evaluates and predicts the actual land carrying capacity and its changes based on the daily calorie, protein and fat of regular human needs. Through analysis, it is found that: (1) The land carrying index of Tibet remained between 80.66% and 89.84% from 2004 to 2016 in a tight balance level. (2) In the future, the land carrying index of Tibet will continue to remain above 87.5%, with a trend of rising first and then falling, and then reaching a peak around 2032, with the proportion of more than 92.56%; it will continue to decline thereafter, with the proportion of less than 90% in 2050. Therefore, based on the evaluation of land carrying capacity and according to the changes in future food consumption and the natural conditions of this region, there is no need to increase the intensity of agricultural and livestock development, but it is matter to reduce the occupation of cultivated land and grassland, such as urban and rural construction, and maintain the current total production space of both agriculture and animal husbandry. Some suggestions are also proposed, including gradually increasing investment in science and technology of agricultural and livestock products to improve the production efficiency, implementing ecological restoration and land remediation. It is necessary to optimize agricultural production structure of Tibet in accordance with these changes in residents' food consumption structure, which includes moderately reducing the area planted with grain, expanding the cultivation of vegetables, fruits and fruits in suitable areas, and developing the economy of grassland and animal husbandry.
"Food nutrition safety" is an important component of "food safety". At present, the evaluation index of "grain" as the carrying capacity of land resources can only reflect part of the carrying capacity, and the assessment from the perspective of dietary nutrition is more in line with the actual land resource carrying status. Based on the dynamic balance between supply and demand, this paper selects calorie and protein as key parameters to construct the land resource carrying capacity (LCC) calculation and land resource carrying index (LCCI) evaluation model, and the land resource carrying capacity of Tibet Autonomous Region at county level in 2015. Quantitative evaluation of the land resources carrying status provides a scientific basis for the realization of the balance of calorie and protein supply and demand in Tibet, and lays the foundation for the study of the changes, mechanisms and countermeasures of the nutritional needs of residents in the region. The results show that: (1) The land resource carrying capacity of Tibet is generally surplus. The land resources of the "Yarlung Zangbo River and its two tributaries" basin in the southeastern part of Tibet have high carrying capacity, while those in the counties of Naqu and Ali in the northwest of the study area have low carrying capacity. (2) According to the evaluation results of land carrying capacity based on the actual consumption of calorie and protein, in farming counties, semi-farming and semi-pastoral counties, and pastoral counties, the carrying capacity of protein indicators is 8.83%, 22.51% and 67.78% more than that of calorie indicators, respectively, and there are 13 pastoral counties and farming and pastoral areas with calorie overloaded and without protein overloaded. The reason is that the animal food calorie supply ratio is high in the pastoral counties and the farming and pastoral counties, and the food protein supply capacity is stronger than the calorie supply capacity. (3) According to the per capita calorie and protein intake standards recommended by residents' dietary pagodas, the carrying capacity of land resources based on calorie and protein demand in farming counties, semi-farming and semi-pastoral counties and pastoral counties is higher than the actual nutrient intake of residents, or carrying 35.22% and 12.5% more of the population, respectively. The assessment results reflect the differences in the carrying capacity and carrying status of each county under the actual consumption and dietary standard scenarios and between different nutritional indicators. It is possible for us to seek to improve the regional human food balance and the dietary nutrition level of residents by adjusting population structure and dietary structure.
Shortage of water resources has become an important factor that restricts economic and social development. It is of great theoretical and practical significance to examine the current situation of water resources utilization and explore the effective driving force for sustainable development of water resources. Based on the water footprint perspective, this paper calculates the water footprint intensity of 31 provinces in China from 2006 to 2015 respectively. The spatial data analysis (ESDA) is used to examine the evolution of space-time pattern. Considering the rough nature of the spatial description of the method, the spatial Dubin model is introduced to refine and with the help of the model, we analyse the influencing factors. The result shows that the spatial agglomeration effect of water footprint intensity in China is significant and with transition, however, it is mainly based on type VI, and its spatial structure has a certain path dependence. Currently, population quantity is still a major driving factor of water footprint intensity in China, while the urbanization rate and the degree of opening to the outside world play an active role in reducing the water footprint strength. There is an "inverted N" Kuznets curve in China's water footprint intensity In most provinces, the intensity of water footprint is between the first and second inflection points. Beijing, Tianjin, and Shanghai have crossed the second inflection points, and they are in the stage of the decline of footprint intensity, while some of the underdeveloped areas in the western region have not crossed the first turning point.
Based on the input-output table of 31 provinces (autonomous regions and municipalities) in China in 2012, the water footprint and water footprint trade structure of the provinces in China were calculated and analyzed by establishing the I-O model of water resources expansion, and the spatial transfer pattern of the provinces was analyzed based on the interprovincial trade. The results showed that: (1) In 2012, the total amount of internal water footprint, the net input water footprint of international trade, and the net export water footprint of interprovincial trade were 4819.3×108 m3, 261.3×108 m3, and 801.6×108 m3, respectively. Inter-provincial trade played a leading role in the national water footprint trade. (2) In terms of the provincial-level region, 19 were net output provinces, such as Hebei and Heilongjiang, 12 were net input provinces, such as Beijing and Tianjin. In the view of the industry, the net output water footprint of the primary industry, the net input of the secondary industry, and the net output of the tertiary industry were 757.9×108 m3, 222.2×108 m3, and 4.6×108 m3, respectively. (3) The inter-provincial water footprint spatial transfer has the inconsistency between the source and the destination provinces, the geographical proximity of provincial transfer, and the phenomenon was obvious in resources-rich provinces and economically developed areas.
Inadequate farmland resources and reducing agricultural labors resulting from urbanization are main factors restricting the agricultural development of China. Farmland transfer is one of the most important ways to enlarge farmland scale, improve agricultural productivity and increase farmers' income in China. Thus, it is important to understand the effects of farmland transfer on the use efficiencies of farmland and labor resources, especially under the background of rapid development of farmland rental markets. To solve the selection bias problem of survey data, the propensity score matching (PSM) method was employed to estimate the effects of renting-in land and renting-out land on farmland, agricultural labor, off-farm labor and total labor use efficiencies. The results showed that, farmland transfer significantly improved the total labor use efficiency of households renting-in land and renting-out land, while renting-out land significantly reduced farmland use efficiency. Renting-in land significantly increased the agricultural labor use efficiency and total labor use efficiency by 4844.289 yuan per labor and 2026.153 yuan per labor, respectively, but it had no significant effect on farmland use efficiency. Renting-out land significantly increased the off-farm labor use efficiency and total labor use efficiency by 2581.883 yuan per labor and 3315.577 yuan per labor, respectively, but it significantly decreased the farmland use efficiency by 466.488 yuan per mu. Therefore, farmland transfer is not necessary to improve farmland use efficiency, while it is beneficial to specialization of agricultural labors and off-farm labors, and consequently improve labor use efficiency. The farmland transfer policy in China should continue to give great benefit to improving rural labor use efficiency, and some other ways such as breeding new crop varieties and reducing input costs should focus on improving the output of farmland.
Research on the land use change in the Yihe River Basin is of great significance to the comprehensive management of regional ecological environment, rational exploitation of land resources and conservation of soil and water. Based on spatial data of land use covering three periods (1995, 2005, 2015) in the Yihe River Basin, this paper used geo-information TUPU methods to build transition TUPU and fluctuation TUPU of land use at two stages (1995-2005, 2005-2015) supported by 3S technology. Then the spatial-temporal change characteristics, laws and development process of land use in recent 20 years in the study area are discussed. The results showed that: (1) From 1995 to 2015, the land use structure in the Yihe River Basin was dominated by cultivated land and forest land, among which the decrease in cultivated land and grassland and the increase in forest land and construction land were the main change trends. (2) The transition TUPU of land use was dominated by the conversion of cultivated land, forest land and grassland, and the occupation of cultivated land by construction land. The conversion of forest land and grassland to cultivated land mainly occurred in the plains of the central part of Feixian county and Pingyi county. The conversion of cultivated land to forest land and grassland was mainly found in the mountainous areas where soil erosion was more serious in the north and southwest of the study area. The conversion of cultivated land to construction land was mainly concentrated in the regions with relatively developed economy around the urban areas of counties and cities. Between the two stages, there were significant differences in the types and areas of the main TUPU units that have changed. The space of land use conversion between 2005 and 2015 was further expanded. (3) In the rising TUPU of land use, the area of newly added cultivated land was the largest, accounting for 33.87% of the newly added area. Moreover, in the falling TUPU of land use, the area of decreased cultivated land was the largest, accounting for 51.38% of shrinking area. In the two sequential elements, there were significant differences in the changes in the rising TUPU and falling TUPU of each county. This study can provide a scientific basis for the sustainable utilization of land resources and ecological construction in the Yihe River Basin.
Eco-compensation is an important policy of ecological construction and environmental protection in China. Targeted poverty alleviation is also a significant measure to promote regional coordinated development and ensure that impoverished people can get rid of poverty on schedule. There are some coupling points between the two, such as objects, subjects, carriers, standards, ways and means. China has put forward "a set of poverty alleviation through eco-compensation". Many regions, in light of their actual situations, have also carried out relevant works by combining eco-compensation with targeted poverty alleviation. At present, there are some connections and coupling developments between targeted poverty alleviation and eco-compensation in China. The five typical coupling developments are shown in the following. (1) Coupling development between poor population and eco-compensation object. For the poor people with labor capacity, the government will employ them as forest rangers. As for the targets of poverty alleviation, they will be directly included in the scope of preferential policies of eco-compensation funds and receive subsidies under eco-compensation policies. (2) Coupling development between poverty alleviation region and eco-compensation area. In China, most of the poverty-stricken areas, such as concentrated areas with special difficulties, key counties for poverty alleviation and development, and poverty stricken villages, are distributed in ecologically fragile areas whose ecosystems are sensitive and need to be protected. (3) Coupling development between poverty alleviation industry and eco-compensation measure. The local governments guide the poor to realize green transfer of production, help the impoverished villages to adjust and optimize their industrial structure and transform the mode of economic development, train the impoverished households in planting and raising, and help them to develop special industries such as rural forest tourism, famous and special cash crops, farm recreation, and under-forest economy. (4) Coupling development between poverty intensity and eco-compensation standard. In China, we have implemented regional differential compensation policies, such as appropriately raising eco-compensation standards for poverty stricken villages and poor households, raising subsidies for ecological public welfare forests, and increasing the salaries of forest rangers, etc. In some regions, when determining the key poverty alleviation targets, we, in addition to considering poverty factors such as economic income, should also figure out whether these poverty alleviation targets undertake ecological construction tasks, such as ecological public welfare forest protection, and finally determine the corresponding compensation standards based on their ecological contribution. (5) Coupling development between poverty alleviation policy and eco-compensation requirement. In defining the object of poverty alleviation, priority should be given to the impoverished population who bear the task of public forest protection. In the arrangement of poverty alleviation funds and development funds, such as subsidies for returning farmland to forests and subsidies for under-forest economy arranged by various sectors, are preferentially inclined to the poorer households under the same conditions. In the key areas of poverty alleviation, priorities should be given to the fields of ecological environment construction and protection, the ecological industry development, and some other aspects which are closely related to eco-compensation policies. Each has its own connotation and characteristics. In order to further promote the coupling development between targeted poverty alleviation and eco-compensation in China, we can take measures in many aspects, such as strengthening theoretical researches, clearing the direction and focus of coupling, consolidating the public foundation, and innovating the development model.
It is of great practical significance to carry out the assessment of land use carbon budget in functional areas and construct a carbon offset zoning optimization framework to formulate low carbon strategies for each functional area, specify compensation flows, and promote coordinated regional development. When taking Wuhan Urban Agglomeration as the basic analysis unit, this paper analyzes the spatial differentiation characteristics of land use carbon budget under the MFOZ, and the classification and conducts optimization of carbon compensation types in Wuhan Urban Agglomeration with the help of some methods, such as the Normalized Revealed Comparative Advantage Index method, the SOM-K-means model, and the two-dimensional correlation matrix. The results show that there are significant regional differences in the total amount of carbon emissions in different counties of Wuhan Urban Agglomeration, and display the spatial distribution characteristics that the total amount of carbon emissions is lower in the west and higher in the east, and the highest in the center. The land use carbon emission and carbon absorption in the MFOZ have obvious spatial differentiation characteristics, which shows a certain degree of relative spatial distribution trend. Wuhan Urban Agglomeration has been divided into 16 carbon compensation payment areas, 11 carbon compensation obtaining areas and 12 carbon compensation balance areas. In combination with the strategic objectives of the MFOZ, 7 types of carbon offset space optimization areas are eventually formed, and corresponding low-carbon development directions and strategies are proposed for each type of area.
This paper aims to determine whether the new rural social pension insurance could promote farmland transfer or not based on the China Health and Pension Tracking Survey (CHARLS) database. Fixed-effect model was established by using three waves panel data of households information. The results indicate that the averaged rent out rate and rent in rate of farmland in China was only 14% and 6% (2015), respectively. The rent out rate of farmland increased and the rent in rate decreased, which highlights the phenomenon of farmland centralization in China. There is a wide disparity among regional land transfer in China. The order of rent out in farmland is: Northeast China, Eastern China, Central China, Northwest China, and Southwest China. The rent out rate of farmland is relatively high in the northwest region (9% in 2015) than other regions, of which the rent out rate is about 5%. The new rural social pension insurance plays a significant role in promoting the rent out of farmer over 60 years old. Policy implications can be drawn from the results. Firstly, the rural insurance should be improved to weaken the security function of land, thereby promoting rural land transfer. Secondly, the farmland management system should be reformed in the context of farmland centralization and designed to cultivate a group of new type of farmers. Thirdly, the regionally differentiated farmland management policies should be developed, so as to promote the implementation of land transfer trading platform for the region with more land transfer potential.
The research on performance of industrial carbon emission is of great significance to the implementation of carbon emission reduction commitment, the improvement of carbon trading system and the promotion of low-carbon development. Based on the basic data of 181 industrial enterprises in Zhengzhou in 2013, the comprehensive performance evaluation and quota allocation simulation of different industries were carried out by constructing the comprehensive performance index system and quota allocation model of carbon emission. The conclusions are as follows: (1) The distribution of carbon emission intensity of different industries is extremely uneven and is associated to the total carbon emission to some extent, yet the types of associations are different. The carbon emission intensity of electric power, thermal power production and supply industry was the highest (5.4115 t/10000 yuan), while the carbon emission intensity of tobacco manufacturing industry was the lowest (0.0046 t/10000 yuan). (2) Carbon emission of per unit land and per unit labor varies greatly among different industries. The carbon emission per unit land and per unit labor of the electric power and thermal power production and supply industry is obviously higher than that of other industries. (3) The comprehensive performance of carbon emission shows that the lowest carbon emission performance is for electric power, thermal production and supply industries, and the highest for the automobile manufacturing industry. (4) Due to the difference in comprehensive performance of different industries, the quota with different proportions of increase or decrease of carbon emission in the base year is obtained. Electric power, thermal power production and supply industry take the most proportion of quota, while chemical fiber manufacturing industry gets the least. Through carbon quota allocation simulation, we found that the overall emission reduction of Zhengzhou is 182.06 million t, accounting for 5.56%. (5) It is suggested to improve the scheme of industry quota allocation and implement industry quota allocation experimentally based on the comprehensive performance evaluation of carbon emission, so as to achieve the coordination of resource conservation, environmental protection and carbon emission reduction.
Wind erosion is an important soil degradation process that takes place in arid and semiarid environments, and the sand-fixing service has been used as one of the key indicators of the ecological restoration effects in the Beijing-Tianjin sandstorm source region. Over the past few decades, some studies have focused on the sand-fixing service at local areas in the Beijing-Tianjin sandstorm source region, but few researchers explored the entire changes and regional differences of sand-fixing service. The inadequate information on the sand-fixing service heterogeneity has hindered the implementation of the diversified measures for land management. This paper investigated the dynamic changes and regional differences of the sand-fixing service in the Beijing-Tianjin sandstorm source region from 2000 to 2015 through multi-period RS data and GIS spatial statistical technologies. The annual amount of fixed sand and average amount of fixed sand per hectare of land served as two indicators for the changes and differences of sand-fixing service. The results indicated that, the annual amount of fixed sand nearly reached 2.90 billion tons in the study region, the average capacity of sand-fixing was 68.24 t/hm2, and the two indexes annually increased by 1.10% and 0.71%, respectively. The average sand-fixing ability in the northwest of sandstorm source region has a significantly higher level than the southeast part. Approximately 49.06% of the Beijing-Tianjin sandstorm source region generated the sand-fixing capacity higher than 70 t/hm2, and nearly 54% presented an obvious increase in the sand-fixing ability from 2000 to 2015. The Hunshadake sand subzone, the typical grassland subzone and the desert grassland subzone provided 88% of the total amount of fixed sand in the sandstorm source region, whereas the sand-fixing ability in the Jinbei mountain-hill subzone and the Yanshan mountain-hill-water source protection subzone showed higher annual increase rates. In addition, the accumulated amount of fixed sand in Xilin Gol, Chifeng and Ulanqab exceeded 77% of the total amount of sand-fixing service, however, those regions with higher sand-fixing ability are mainly located in Shuozhou and Baotou, and the lands in Beijing and Tianjin showed higher increase rates in sand-fixing abilities. Therefore, we should take differential strategies in different sand-fixing service restoration zones, and pay more attention to the improvement of sand-fixing service in the western and northern parts of the Beijing-Tianjin sandstorm source region.
In this study, Maduo county, the source region of the Yellow River, was selected as the research area. In 2017, UAV aerial survey was used to estimate the population of the blue sheep (Pseudois nayaur) and its distribution. The effective area of aerial surveys was 326.6 km2, and 23784 images were acquired. The population in the survey transect was 203, which was identified visually on computer monitors by human observers, and the density was 0.6215/ km2. A total of 12 groups of blue sheep were found in the transects, of which 6 groups had a cluster size of 2-10, accounting for 50% of the total. Estimation of population of blue sheep in Maduo county was 8968, which was based on the relationship of different types of grassland area between transects and the whole county. In this way, the area of non-vegetation types (such as bare stone gravel, water bodies, glaciers, towns, high-speed and national roads) is deducted, and the influence of human disturbance is considered. This avoided overestimation of the blue sheep population. The relationship between the distribution density of blue sheep and ecological factors of habitat was analyzed. Results show that blue sheep preferred an area within 1 km from rural settlements, 3 km away from roads, 1-3 km from water sources, within 200 m from the cliff and with an elevation of 4100-4200 m, vegetation coverage of 0-0.4, slope over 5°, vegetation type of Stipa purpurea + Subordinate grass and Kobresia pygmaea. The environmental factors of the blue sheep habitat may have a correlation with each other, in order to identify the environmental factors that have a major impact on the choice of habitat, and describe the preference more accurately, principal component analysis was carried out. The results showed that altitude, distance from the road and distance from the cliff were the main environmental factors affecting the choice of habitat of blue sheep. In this study, a UAV aerial sampling survey was conducted to estimate the population and density of the blue sheep in the study county. Aided by ArcGIS, the habitat was analyzed. The combination of 3S technology and wildlife surveys provides a new idea for the research on wildlife in the Tibetan Plateau.
The detailed spatiotemporal dynamic description of landscape pattern can lay a solid foundation for the data analysis of the coupling mechanism between landscape pattern and ecological process. The current analysis of landscape pattern is in urgent need of developing from the description of static pattern to the quantification of dynamic pattern, so as to link the landscape pattern and ecological process more precisely in detailed time scale. In this study, we regard the change of landscape pattern tracking in the semi-arid region of China as the scientific objective. As the Landsat time series data can capture the detailed information of land use/cover, we constructed the landscape pattern sequence of Yanchi county from 1988 to 2017, defined the rule of landscape pattern change, and explicated the evolution of landscape compositions and configurations based on the Landsat time series remote images in this study. The results show that: (1) Landscape experienced a significant increase of 33.53% in vegetation during the research period, and a significant decrease of 35.78% in bare soil; (2) The four landscape configuration indexes showed that the edge complexity of the landscape patches has been strengthened in recent years, and the agglomeration degree of other landscape types is relatively stable except for the increasing agglomeration degree of vegetation; (3) 35.08% of he pixel changed, among which the pixel changes once or twice accounted for 54.63% and 28.60%, respectively, and the pixel with a three-year interval between the first and last changes accounted for 12.39%. The determination of landscape change trajectories in the semi-arid region over continuous years can improve a powerful support for the long-term monitoring of ecological restoration.
Rape is the fifth largest crop type and an important oil crop in China. Obtaining the distribution information of rape is of great significance to the development of edible oil market and food security. Jianghan and Dongting Lake Plain are important production bases of grain, cotton and edible oil in China. The crop rotation and intercropping are very common due to the fragmented cropland fields and diversity of landscape. Traditional remote sensing monitoring methods are difficult to assess the spatial distribution and interannual variation of planting areas. In this paper, an Artificial Neural Network-based method for extracting winter rape from sub-pixels was proposed, and the MODIS and GF-1 high resolution data were combined to obtain winter rape abundance on the JPDLP. First, the Sequential Forward Selection algorithm was used to select phenological feature from the MODIS time series dataset. Then an ANN model fusing multi-source data was built to estimate winter rape abundance. The results showed that the distribution information of winter rape obtained by this method has high accuracy (the extraction accuracies of ANN modeled versus GF-1 and census data were 91.54% and 74.70%, respectively). This method showed that there is a great potential in the large-scale winter rape mapping using coarse resolution images. The results of this paper can provide technical methods for the spatial pattern evolution and spatial-temporal dynamics analysis of winter rape in China.
Under the influence of global climate change and human activities, the problems of grassland grazing overload and grassland degradation in the Mongolian Plateau have become increasingly prominent. How to reveal the human-land relationship of grassland ecosystem from the perspective of the intensity of animal husbandry production to grassland utilization is very important for the sustainable utilization of grassland resources. Based on the balance relationship between supply and consumption of grassland ecosystem, using satellite remote sensing data and livestock statistics, the ecological carrying status of grassland ecosystem in Mongolian Plateau was analyzed, and the regional differences of carrying pressure of grassland ecosystem under different policy backgrounds and resource endowments were studied. The results show that: (1) Different policies and customs in Mongolia and Inner Mongolia of China profoundly affect the way herdsmen use the grassland, which caused significant differences in the livestock production structure of the two areas. The composition of livestock types in Inner Mongolia of China has great regional differences and the total amount is relatively stable, while the number of livestock in Mongolia has increased significantly, and the composition of livestock types is more uniform in the region. (2) The consumption of grassland resources in Mongolia and Inner Mongolia of China showed an obvious upward trend. The total consumption of grassland resources in the Mongolian Plateau exceeded its supply in 2014. Specifically, consumption of grassland resources in Inner Mongolia of China exceeded its supply in 2005, and the consumption of grassland resources in Mongolia has gradually approached the supply in recent years. (3) From 2000 to 2016, the carrying pressure of grassland in Mongolian Plateau has been increasing, and the overall situation has changed from surplus state to critical overload state. Continuous serious overload areas mainly occur in desert grassland areas, and gradually advance to typical grassland and agro-pastoral ecotone. Since 2003, Mongolia's rich and surplus areas have gradually decreased and the serious overload areas have gradually increased, while the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region has been fluctuating under the influence of ecological protection policies. The spatial and temporal differences of grassland carrying capacity in Mongolia and Inner Mongolia of China were quantitatively analyzed. The changes of livestock structure and intensity under different social and economic backgrounds could provide scientific basis for grassland resource management.
In recent years, the haze weather has caused a negative impact on inbound tourism industry, which cannot be ignored. However, the temporal and spatial relationship between haze pollution and inbound tourism and their interaction remain to be discussed. Taking 174 prefecture-level cities in central and eastern China where haze pollution and the development of inbound tourism are typical as an example, this study explored the spatiotemporal dynamic correlation characteristics of haze pollution and inbound tourism from 1998 to 2016 using the methods of Granger Causality Test, Impulse Response Function, Center of Gravity Model and bivariate Local Indicators of Spatial Association (LISA) Model. The results show that: at the temporal level, there is a long-term equilibrium relationship between haze pollution and inbound tourism, and the haze pollution is in the Granger causality with the inbound tourism growth. Although the development of inbound tourism is highly dependent on its own structure, haze pollution still has a significant impact on the stability of inbound tourism growth in a short term, with the impact tending to ease from a long-term perspective. At the spatial level, the centers of gravity of haze pollution and inbound tourism tend to shift to the northeast and northwest, respectively. Although the space-overlaps improved slightly during the study period, there were still obvious spatial dislocations between the centers of haze pollution and inbound tourism. On the whole, both haze pollution and inbound tourism growth in central and eastern China have significantly negative spatial autocorrelation with an increasing trend. The bivariate local spatial correlation patterns are dominated by the High-Low and Low-High agglomeration types among cities. The areas where haze pollution curbs the inbound tourism growth seriously are mainly located in eastern Henan, northern Anhui and central Hubei, showing a certain spatial dependence. This study contributes to the knowledge gap regarding the spatiotemporal relationship between haze pollution and inbound tourism demand on the scale of prefecture-level cities. The findings have implications for local governments and departments related to regional inbound tourism industry to properly cope with the haze weather so as to achieve high-quality development.
With the transformation of international and domestic socio-economic environment, the new phenomenon of urban shrinkage has emerged in some urban areas of China, and become one of the new challenges in new-type urbanizing China. Based on a brief review of the literature on urban shrinkage, this paper focuses on land use simulation and its policies, vacant land and urban ecosystem services under the shrinkage scenarios. The research indicates that: (1) The current research on urban shrinkage in China has mainly concentrated on the dimensions of urban population loss and economic development while less attention is focused on land use and urban ecosystem changes. (2) Land use simulation has great value in analyzing and predicting urban land use change under shrinkage scenarios, but different models are applicable to different research scenarios, and compound models will have better explanatory power. (3) The formulation and implementation of land use policies should fully consider all aspects of economy and society; The green space storage system is a powerful instrument to promote the sustainable development of shrinking cities. (4) The vacant land generated by urban shrinkage provides space for the development of ecosystem services; an ecosystem service assessment method that is suitable for urban shrinkage in China should be developed. (5) In the context of China's urbanization entering the "stock model" or even the "reduction model", research on land use and ecosystem dimensions under urban shrinkage scenarios should be concerned. It is necessary to actively learn from and integrate research methods of related disciplines such as resource science, geography, ecology, management science and urban planning, and closely combine the practical problems faced by China's current urban development and spatial planning, thus promoting the innovation of urban shrinkage research methods and the sustainable development of the shrinking cities.
