Ecosystem assets, as an important part of the natural resource assets to support human socio-economic development, are the basis for the provision of ecosystem products and services to humans, and consequently for the generation of ecological benefits and gross ecosystem product, including natural ecosystems such as forests and grasslands, artificial ecosystems based on natural ecological processes such as farmland and urban green space, as well as wildlife resources. Ecosystem asset quality is the synthesis of structural and functional characteristics of ecosystems, reflecting the capacity to provide ecosystem services sustainably. Assessing the ecosystem asset quality is one of the most complex parts in ecosystem asset accounting. As a new perspective of ecosystem accounting, ecosystem asset quality emphasizes both natural and socio-economic attributes of ecosystems, which is highly significant in promoting ecosystem valorization, ecosystem asset management and the realization of the value of ecosystem products. In this review, we systematically summarize the concepts, assessment methods and indicators of ecosystem asset quality, and also provide an overview of global relevant cases. Issues, such as the improvement of the indicator system and the comprehensive assessment, and suggestions for the assessment of ecosystem asset quality are proposed to establish a framework for future research, and to promote global ecosystem assessment and accounting with its application in ecological and environmental protection policymaking.

Land system science is dedicated to addressing complex socio-economic and ecological challenges and developing sustainable land use solutions. Food inherently serves as a critical link between human societal systems and natural systems. Ensuring food security is not only a key component of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals but also a crucial task for China's agricultural production transformation and people's livelihoods improvement. This study systematically analyzes the research topics and key advancements in land system science related to food security goals. The findings reveal that, due to the land's position at the intersection of multiple interests associated with sustainable social development, the non-linear transformations and complex feedback mechanisms within land systems endow land system science with four prominent characteristics: interdisciplinarity, systematicity, sustainability, and complexity. In the realm of food security, land system science has achieved notable successes, encompassing five core research areas: land use strategies, land use transitions, land use telecoupling mechanisms, land use demand modelling, and the optimization of land management systems. These studies present the transformative trend towards emphasizing the significance of cross-spatiotemporal spillover effects, adopting systematic and holistic perspectives, and underscoring the sustainable development goals. Future research should be grounded in the logical foundation of food "flow spaces" and the food value chain, employing systems thinking to develop sustainable land use solutions and strengthen land system science in the areas of integrated research on multi-element coupling and interdisciplinary theoretical innovations, so as to contribute to the realization of food security goals.

The high-quality development of the supply-demand relationship in urban living space is related to the well-being of urban residents, but the imbalance and insufficiency of supply and demand contradictions still exist in the New Era. Based on this, combined with the shift towards humanization and intelligence in the field of research, and by drawing on the theories of spatio-temporal behavior and flow space, a diverse, dynamic, and interconnected perspective of activities is introduced to deepen the exploration of the supply and demand relationship of urban living space. By analyzing the connotation of the supply and demand relationship of urban living space, a conceptual model of the bottom-up translation and representation of the interactive relationship between "man and land" composed of the daily activities and the environment of urban residents is constructed. And combined with the support of multi-source geographic big data, a research framework covering key content and analysis ideas such as comprehensive evaluation, pattern recognition, mechanism revelation, and optimization mechanism is proposed. This research constructs a conceptual model and research framework from the perspective of activities, actively responding to the diverse forms of real life scenarios supported by elements such as "time, space, place, flow, virtuality, and entity". It improves the deconstruction and organizational reconstruction of the origin of the supply-demand relationship in living spaces, enriches the analysis path and comprehensive judgment of unilateral, bilateral, and systemic relationships inside and outside the supply and demand system, which provides useful insights and references for the transformation of urban living space services and governance.

The energy conservation and emission reduction fiscal policy is a major institutional innovation in China's green finance sector and is crucial for achieving the "dual carbon" goals. This paper takes the pilot comprehensive demonstration cities for this policy as the exogenous policy impact, and analyzes its effects on energy and industrial structure transformation using a difference-in-differences model and a dual machine learning model. The results indicate that establishing comprehensive demonstration cities significantly enhances the optimization of energy structure and the upgrading of industrial structure in the region. These conclusions remain robust after a series of tests, including parallel trend and heterogeneous treatment effects. Mechanism analysis shows that the policy pilot can improve energy and industrial structures by promoting energy- and environment-oriented technologies and capacity utilization. Heterogeneity analysis reveals that the implementation effect of the pilot policy is more prominent in core large cities, non-industrial base cities, highly market-oriented cities, and cities with low financial pressure. Further research demonstrates that constructing demonstration cities offers obvious advantages in promoting the realization of six tasks initially set by the policy, including industrial decarbonization, clean transportation, green building, service intensification, reduction of major pollutants, and large-scale utilization of renewable energy. The findings of the study provide valuable insights for designing and implementing more comprehensive green fiscal policies in China in the future.

As urbanization dynamics transform and dominant social challenges change, population migration in China has exhibited distinct new trends. Understanding the regional opportunity factors that shape migration is crucial for uncovering the driving forces behind these changes. This study builds on the theoretical framework of regional opportunity structures, developing an evaluation system that uses the entropy weight method, the Decision-Making Trial and Evaluation Laboratory method, and self-organizing map neural network techniques to assess and categorize the regional opportunity levels of China's prefecture-level cities. Using data from CMDS 2017, the research explores how regional opportunity levels affect both the mobility-stickiness of population migration. The main findings are as follows: (1) By introducing the geographical concept of "regional opportunities" into population migration research, this study creates a "mobility-stickiness" analytical framework. This framework investigates how spatial differences in regional opportunities shape migration behavior, focusing on four key dimensions: economic development opportunities, life service opportunities, institutional and cultural opportunities, and natural environment opportunities. (2) The overall regional opportunity levels in China are generally aligned with the levels of regional economic development and can be categorized into seven distinct clusters. (3) Major urban agglomerations and provincial capital cities are the primary destinations for population migration. Economic opportunities remain a key driver of migration from a mobility perspective, while differences in migration destinations and motivations shape the diverse impacts of various opportunity dimensions from a retention perspective. Individual characteristics also play a significant role in moderating how regional opportunities impact migration decisions. (4) Based on the influence of the dominant and limiting factors of regional opportunities on population migration, the study identifies four types of regional opportunity models: hard-factor dominant zones, hard-factor constrained zones, soft-factor dominant zones, and soft-factor constrained zones. Targeted strategies are suggested to address the unique challenges and strengths of each type. The framework for analyzing regional opportunities proposed in this study offers broad applicability beyond China, providing valuable insights for designing population management and regional development policies in other contexts.

Neo-endogenous development is an important way to realise the modernization of agriculture and rural areas, and the reform of the land property rights system plays an important role in activating the internal and external development momentum of agriculture and rural areas. Based on the multi-period double-difference method, the study analyses and examines the impact of "Three Rights Separation" of agricultural land on the neo-endogenous development of agriculture and rural areas and its mechanism of action using balanced panel data of 206 prefecture-level cities in China from 2008 to 2022. The study finds that: (1) "Three Rights Separation" of agricultural land significantly improves the level of neo-endogenous development in agriculture and rural areas. (2) Promoting land scale and attracting capital investment are two important channels through which we can exert the policy effect of "Three Rights Separation" of agricultural land. (3) "Three Rights Separation" of agricultural land has significantly raised the level of neo-endogenous development in agriculture and rural areas. (4) "Three Rights Separation" of agricultural land will enhance the level of neo-endogenous development of agriculture and rural areas to a greater extent in areas with a lower degree of deepening of agricultural capital and better scientific and educational environments, and the policy effect will not be significantly different due to the loss of rural labour and the differences in natural resource endowment. This paper provides more theoretical support and empirical evidence for the use of land property rights reform to accelerate agricultural and rural development and thus achieve agricultural and rural modernization.

Agricultural ecosystem accounting is an important support for understanding the sustainability of agricultural production, the health of the ecological environment, and the quality and safety of agricultural products. Currently, there are three international standards for agricultural ecosystem accounting: the System of Environmental-Economic Accounting for Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (SEEA-AFF), the System of Environmental-Economic Accounting-Ecosystem Accounting (SEEA-EA2021), and The Economics of Ecosystems and Biodiversity for Agriculture & Food (TEEB-AgriFood). Based on these three international standards, some countries have carried out agricultural ecosystem accounting. This article first reviews the development process of the three international standards, and compares them from six aspects: theoretical basis, accounting perspective, accounting object, accounting scope, classification standard, and account expression. Secondly, the international practices of agricultural ecosystem accounting are summarized from the overall situation and practical experience. Finally, combined with the current situation of agricultural ecosystem accounting in China, policy recommendations for agricultural ecosystem accounting in China are proposed.

The institution of territorial spatial governance for 'integrated mountains, rivers, forests, fields, lakes, grassland and deserts' is a direction for exploring ecological civilisation and is crucial for China to modernise its governance systems and capacity. This paper analyses the core concepts and theoretical logic of territorial spatial governance and analyses its governance problems and realisation bases. It explores the appropriate ways forward for the specific institutional construction. The main conclusions are as follows: (1) The current governance problems are that the ecological feedback of the governance object needs to be taken seriously, the coordination and linkage of the governance subject is still a problem, along with the fact the synergy and empowerment of the governance system is not yet in place. (2) It is necessary to respond to the demand for modernisation of the national governance system and capacity in the context of China's natural ecology, taking into account fairness and efficiency, and integrating security and development, yet to define the basis of the realisation of the governance subject and the governance system. (3) We should carry out the construction of territorial spatial governance institutions for 'integrated mountains, rivers, forests, fields, lakes and grasses' in three aspects, namely, the governance object, governance subject and governance system.

The greater food approach sets forth elevated requisites and novel benchmarks for the advancement of conceptualization, expansion of connotations, transformation of objectives, and evolution of strategies in the governance of non-grain conversion of cultivated land. A reevaluation of "Non-grain Conversion" of cultivated land governance through the greater food approach not only aids in rectifying the imbalance in food supply and demand, but also establishes a fundamental underpinning for national security assurance. Findings reveal that: (1) The crux of "Non-grain Conversion" of cultivated land under the greater food approach lies not in the dichotomy of "grain" versus "non-grain" but rather in the judicious allocation of diverse food categories within the framework of the greater food approach. (2) The greater food approach and "Non-grain Conversion" of cultivated land governance in the theoretical logic of the fundamental goal and value orientation consistency, theoretical origin and practice to follow the same origin, determines the two in the practical logic of interaction and linkage, embracing the greater food approach serves as the guiding ethos for "Non-grain Conversion" of cultivated land governance, constituting the bedrock and avenue for enacting the greater food approach. (3) Governance of "Non-grain Conversion" of cultivated land under the greater food approach encounters challenges such as lagging adjustments in planting structures, an inverted significance of grain and income gradients, simultaneous existence of production bottlenecks and wastage, as well as incongruences between universally applicable rectification measures and localized idiosyncrasies. (4) Proposals encompass five overarching strategies for systematized governance of "Non-grain Conversion" of cultivated land oriented towards the greater food approach, focusing on the preservation of grain within land, crops, techniques, losses, and policies. Grounded in the multifaceted demands and holistic outlook of the greater food approach, the optimization of governance strategies proffers invaluable insights for the theoretical refinement and practical exploration of "Non-grain Conversion" of cultivated land governance amidst the backdrop of a multidimensional transformation in the agricultural and food system.

Territorial ecological restoration (TER) is vital for China to address land degradation challenges, achieve its carbon neutrality strategy, and build the Beautiful China. However, the current TER planning system needs enhancement in its systematic, holistic, and integrated approach to support the unified conservation and restoration of mountains, rivers, forests, farmlands, lakes, and grasslands. This paper draws on the Land Degradation Neutrality (LDN) concept proposed by the United Nations Sustainable Development Goal 15.3 to establish a logical framework for LDN-oriented TER planning in China, highlighting key research questions to achieve LDN. The findings are: (1) The evolution of LDN reflects the global shift from fragmented to integrated ecological restoration projects. Its conceptual framework and implementation logic offer foundational and universal aspects that can guide the exploration of systematic TER planning in China. (2) LDN-oriented TER planning focuses on addressing land degradation through a singular metric (the proportion of degraded land) to achieve one goal (LDN), following a planning logic of "status analysis-degradation identification-setting LDN goals-identifying LDN pattern-implementing LDN measures-monitoring LDN". (3) Key research questions for achieving LDN in TER include diagnosis of ecological problems, identification of ecological restoration priority area, delineation of TER implementation units, and design of TER monitoring mechanisms. To promote the localization of the LDN concept, it is recommended to establish a balancing mechanism for ecosystem degradation and restoration, targeting the avoidance, alleviation, and restoration of quantity, quality, and productivity degradation across all land-use types, so as to coordinate planning formulation and project implementation.

Whether and how the "dual-carbon" goals could be included in the territorial spatial planning law (TSPL) is a crucial issue in the construction of the rule of law for territorial spatial planning (TSP). By reviewing the existing legal documents and the practice of TSP, the legislative mode of "systematic integration+special embedding" can be adopted to integrate the "dual-carbon" goals into the TSPL in a comprehensive way. By clarifying the principles of periodicity and spatiality of the "dual-carbon" goals, a specialized system of "dual-carbon" regulations will be constructed. By proposing a legislative optimization plan that emphasizes both procedural and substantive aspects, improving the allocation of administrative powers of the relevant departments, scientifically setting up legal responsibilities, and making sure that the TSPL is well connected with energy legislation, the codification of ecological and environmental codes. The above measures provide a guarantee of TSP for the realization of the "dual-carbon" goals.