Coupled Urbanisation and Ecological Protection along the Yellow River Basin in the Context of Dual Carbon

Round 1

Reviewer 1 Report

You conducted a study of urban development and ecological coupling using case study of settlement (Luoyang City) on Yellow River.  As I understand it, you found high coupling, intimating that future development pathway needs to be more finely balanced to preserve ecological system.

Please consider the following (as needed referenced to lines # in manuscript) 

Some further contextualisation re Luoyang City e.g. 8hr drive S.W. Beijing or ~116km west of Zhengzhu?, 30km S. of Yellow River on tributary

38 - Clarification of term 'double carbon' target

60 yyw A et al?

105 e city of Luoyang in Henan Province has an important strategic position (no authority, evidence or explanation for assertion)

385 Table 3 ecological system - seems counter-intuitive that GDP/capita is included as positive? state variable since, presumably more output impacts negatively on environment?

385 No indicator of flora/fauna or forest/swamp cover?  (Should at lease mention the limitation in these key ecological indicators)

398 Fig 6 seems to imply that ecological system is improving when this is unlikely?

Author Response

You conducted a study of urban development and ecological coupling using case study of settlement (Luoyang City) on Yellow River.As I understand it, you found high coupling, intimating that future development pathway needs to be more finely balanced to preserve ecological system.

 

Please consider the following (as needed referenced to lines # in manuscript)

 

1. Some further contextualisation re Luoyang City e.g. 8hr drive S.W. Beijing or ~116km west of Zhengzhu?, 30km S. of Yellow River on tributary

Reply: Thank you very much for your valuable advice. Now, more details about Luoyang city was added in the Introduction of the revised paper. As follows:

Luoyang is located in the west of Henan Province, straddling the middle and lower reaches of the Yellow River. With an area of 15230km², it is the second largest city in Henan Province. Luoyang in Henan Province was identified as one of the first eight key industrial cities after the founding of the People's Republic of China, and eight projects in the First Five Year Plan were settled in the city. In addition, this city is the most influential city among the two provincial capitals of Zhengzhou and Xi 'an, which can maximize the advantages of sub-central cities and radiate the economic development of the surrounding areas^[5].

2. 38 - Clarification of term 'double carbon' target

Reply: Thank you very much for your comments.Thank you very much for your comments.The 'double carbon' target was clarification in the Introduction of the revised paper. As follows:

The two-stage carbon reduction targets are "carbon peaking" and "carbon neutrality" proposed by China. Peaking of carbon refers to a time inflection point when CO₂ emissions change from increasing to decreasing, and peaking target includes the year of peaking and the peak. Carbon neutrality is to make carbon dioxide emissions "break even", that is, to achieve CO₂"zero emissions"^[2].

3. 60 yyw A et al?

Reply: I am very sorry for this error. It should be the reference as follows:

Yw, A.; Xz, B.; Wg, C.; Fq, C. The spatial characteristics of coupling relationship between urbanization and eco-environment in the Pan Yangtze River Delta - ScienceDirect. Energy Procedia. 2018,152: 1121-1126. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.egypro.2018.09.136

Now, it was corrected in therevised paper. Please see the sentence ss follows:

Yw A et al. used theCC degree and spatial auto-correlation for the spatial characteristics of the coordination degree of UEE in the Yangtze River Delta region, and the research results have important implications. The conclusion implicated for achieving coordinated development of UEE^[8].

4. 105 e city of Luoyang in Henan Province has an important strategic position (no authority, evidence or explanation for assertion)

Reply: Thank you very much for your valuable advice. Now, more details about Luoyang city was added in the Introduction of the revised paper. As follows:

Luoyang is located in the west of Henan Province, straddling the middle and lower reaches of the Yellow River. With an area of 15230km², it is the second largest city in Henan Province. Luoyang in Henan Province was identified as one of the first eight key industrial cities after the founding of the People's Republic of China, and eight projects in the First Five Year Plan were settled in the city. In addition, this city is the most influential city among the two provincial capitals of Zhengzhou and Xi 'an, which can maximize the advantages of sub-central cities and radiate the economic development of the surrounding areas^[5].

5. 385 Table 3 ecological system - seems counter-intuitive that GDP/capita is included as positive? state variable since, presumably more output impacts negatively on environment?

Reply: Thank you very much for pointing out the problem. The analysis of the results of GDP/capita in Table 3 has now been reinterpreted to show the negative impact of GDP/capita on the environment. As follows:

Among them, GDP/capita contributes the most, accounting for 17.8%, indicating that the city's output is higher, which indirectly leads to the increase of environmental pressure.

6. 385 No indicator of flora/fauna or forest/swamp cover? (Should at lease mention the limitation in these key ecological indicators)

Reply: Thank you very much for your comments. Now the index of forest coverage rate has been added to the index of ecological environment status in Table 3.

7. 398 Fig 6 seems to imply that ecological system is improving when this is unlikely?

Reply: Thank you very much for your comments. Now Figure 6 has been modified and the result description below Figure 6 has been combed out. The result shows that the governance of ecosystem needs to be improved. As follows:

From Figure 6, the comprehensive development index of ecological environment in Luoyang City during 2016-2021 ranged from 0.7512-0.8266, decreased rapidly during 2016-2018, and picked up slightly during 2019-2021, with a stable overall change trend. From the three indicators of the ecological environment system, the index of the ecological environment pressure changed greatly in this period, and the other indicators remained stable. Pressure index as a negative indicator, the smaller the starting and ending number, the greater the emissions of industrial pollutants. It can be seen that the state of industrial pollutant discharge in Luoyang is relatively stable. The results show that the management level of ecological environment in Luoyang still needs to be improved.

 

Reviewer 2 Report

Thanks a lot for the opportunity to review the manuscript entitled "Coupled urbanization and ecological protection along the Yellow River Basin in the context of dual carbon" (sustainability-2267991). This study constructed a coupling model to measure the coupling and coordination between urbanisation and ecological environment for Luoyang City. The paper could make a potential contribution, there are, however, a few questions to be clarified:

 1. The contributions need more work to be highlighted and clarified based on specific gaps, and suggesting that contributions can be elaborated in the section of Introduction.

2. Except for the strategic position, why did the authors select Luoyang city as a research region, whether is its representative or not for the Yellow River Basin. Besides, there is Nanyang city written in this paper (eg.,Table 2, Figure 5....), please clearly clarify.

3. How did this paper establish the evaluation index system for urbanisation and ecological environment systems in Luoyang, and how did this paper or evaluation index system reflect the context of dual carbon, please explain their theoretical evidence.

4. Although the paper constructed a coupling model with the equation 14, the specific computing results failed to be listed in the manuscript

5. The discussion (including theoretical and practical implications) of the findings and limitations were not pointed out in the paper.

Author Response

Thanks a lot for the opportunity to review the manuscript entitled "Coupled urbanization and ecological protection along the Yellow River Basin in the context of dual carbon" (sustainability-2267991). This study constructed a coupling model to measure the coupling and coordination between urbanisation and ecological environment for Luoyang City. The paper could make a potential contribution, there are, however, a few questions to be clarified:

 

1. The contributions need more work to be highlighted and clarified based on specific gaps, and suggesting that contributions can be elaborated in the section of Introduction.

Reply: Thank you very much for your comments. Now the specific work of this research and corresponding contributions have been added in the Introduction of the revised paper. As follows:

Therefore, the research firstly analyzes the coupling and coordination (CC) evolution mechanism of urbanization and ecological environment protection under the two-carbon background and then extracts the corresponding evaluation indexes of urbanization and ecological environment. Based on the present situation of urban development in Luoyang, Henan Province, the corresponding index system is constructed from the two dimensions of time and space. Finally, through the coupling model, the coupling degree between urbanization and ecological environment of Luoyang city is calculated, and corresponding guidance suggestions are put forward. The aim is to analyze the urbanisation andecological environment in Luoyang, and find ways for harmonious development of urbanisation and the ecological environment, and to accelerate the achievement of the strategic goals of carbon peaking and carbon neutrality.Improve the competitiveness of urban development, while improving the quality of people's lives, and promote the harmonious coexistence between man and nature.

2. Except for the strategic position, why did the authors select Luoyang city as a research region, whether is its representative or not for the Yellow River Basin. Besides, there is Nanyang city written in this paper (eg.,Table 2, Figure 5....), please clearly clarify.

Reply: Thank you very much for your kind comments. Nowthe reason for choosing Luoyang in Henan Province as the research area was added in the Introduction of the revised paper. The mistake of"Nanyang City" in Table 2 and Figure 5 was changed to "Luoyang City".

As follows:

Luoyang is located in the west of Henan Province, straddling the middle and lower reaches of the Yellow River. With an area of 15230km², it is the second largest city in Henan Province. Luoyang in Henan Province was identified as one of the first eight key industrial cities after the founding of the People's Republic of China, and eight projects in the First Five Year Plan were settled in the city. In addition, this city is the most influential city among the two provincial capitals of Zhengzhou and Xi 'an, which can maximize the advantages of sub-central cities and radiate the economic development of the surrounding areas^[5].

3. How did this paper establish the evaluation index system for urbanisation and ecological environment systems in Luoyang, and how did this paper or evaluation index system reflect the context of dual carbon, please explain their theoretical evidence.

Reply:Thank you very much for your comments.The introduction has now been supplemented with details on the objectives of the two-carbon strategy. As follows:

The two-stage carbon reduction targets are "carbon peaking" and "carbon neutrality" proposed by China. Peaking of carbon refers to a time inflection point when CO₂ emissions change from increasing to decreasing, and peaking target includes the year of peaking and the peak. Carbon neutrality is to make carbon dioxide emissions "break even", that is, to achieve CO₂"zero emissions"^[2].

The dual-carbon target is conducive to promoting urban environmental governance and is of great significance to the urban ecosystem. Therefore, based on the dual-carbon strategic target and the corresponding index selection principle, the paper constructs the evaluation index system of Luoyang urbanization and Eco-environment system. As follows:

According to the coupled and coordinated evolution mechanism of urbanization and ecological environment protection under the background of double carbon, the corresponding evaluation indexes of urbanization and ecological environment are extracted, and according to the current situation of urban development in Luoyang area, Henan Province, the corresponding index system is constructed from the two dimensions of time and space.

The dual-carbon target is conducive to promoting urban environmental governance and is of great significance to the urban ecosystem. Therefore, based on the dual-carbon strategic target and the corresponding index selection principle, the paper constructs the evaluation index system of Luoyang urbanization and ecological environment system.

4. Although the paper constructed a coupling model with the equation 14, the specific computing results failed to be listed in the manuscript.

Reply: Thank you very much for the shortcomings of the paper you pointed out. I am sorry that the specific calculation process is not shown due to the excessive complexity of the statistical data. The final calculation result of the coupling model is expressed as the coupling correlation coefficient between urbanization and ecological environment.The calculation results are shown in Figure 7.

5. The discussion (including theoretical and practical implications) of the findings and limitations were not pointed out in the paper.

Reply: Thank you for your valuable advice. Now, the deficiency of this study was added in the conclusion part of the revised paper. As follows: Due to the complex interaction between urbanization and ecosystem, the study only considered the relationship between the integrated system and subsystems, and did not carry out in-depth discussion on the interaction between the subsystems.Due to the complex interaction between urbanization and ecosystem, the study only considered the relationship between the integrated system and subsystems, and did not carry out in-depth discussion on the interaction between the subsystems.Therefore, it is hoped that the comprehensive and accurate assessment will continue to be improved in future study.

Reviewer 3 Report

Dear editor,

The manuscript "Coupled urbanization and ecological protection along the Yellow River Basin in the context of dual carbon" was submitted to Sustainability. It's a nice research about urbanization and ecological protection, but I have some concerns and my decision is major revision. Finally I recommend to authors that improve the quality of this nice paper as following:

1.       The results should be stated more accurately in the abstract. This will be of great help to the readers in the future and has an effective role in attracting the readers.

2.       Please talk more about the results and conclusions in the abstract to improve the quality.

3.        There are repeated words between the title and keywords, please revise them, please be careful.

4.      In the introduction, try to write more related to the necessity and background of the research.  It’s very important.

5.      Please mention methodology, results and discussion sections in the text.

6.       One of the significant concerns is that the authors should carefully develop a discussion section to talk about the significance, shortages or advantages of the methods you proposed, the reliability and meaning of your results (compared to other related studies) etc.

7.      I checked plagiarism detection of this research and the similarity is 28% and there are some concerns; please check the attached file.

8.       I am very concerned about the similarities in this article. Be sure to correct the highlighted items in the attached file.

9.       In the references, it is recommended to use new and updated research. At least 40% of them should be related to the last four years.

10.  Please be sure that all the references cited in the manuscript are also included in the reference list and vice versa with matching spellings and dates.

Regards

Comments for author File: Comments.pdf

Author Response

The manuscript "Coupled urbanization and ecological protection along the Yellow River Basin in the context of dual carbon" was submitted to Sustainability. It's a nice research about urbanization and ecological protection, but I have some concerns and my decision is major revision. Finally I recommend to authors that improve the quality of this nice paper as following:

 

1. The results should be stated more accurately in the abstract. This will be of great help to the readers in the future and has an effective role in attracting the readers.

Reply: Thank you very much for your valuable comments. Now the description of the results has been added in the abstract. As follows:

However, the contribution of the city's population to urbanization is the lowest, only 5.231%. Therefore, it is suggested that the government and other institutions should pay more attention to coordinating the human-land relationship when planning urban development. The integrated ecological environment development index ranges from 0.7512-0.8266. The contribution ratio of ecological environment state and pressure to ecological environment is relatively high, which is 27.9% and 48.7% respectively. Therefore, Luoyang city should reduce the emission of industrial pollutants and improve the environmental level.And the coupling coordination degree of urbanisation and ecological environment of Luoyang City ranges from 0.8131-0.9296 during 2016-2021, with an overall trend of steady increase, and the coupling correlation coefficient of R2 = 0.9335, with a good overall coupling effect.

2. Please talk more about the results and conclusions in the abstract to improve the quality.

Reply: Thank you very much for pointing out the shortcomings of the article. Now the detailed explanation of the results and conclusions has been added in the abstract. As follows:

The results show Luoyang needs to further accelerate industrial transformation and upgrading, spatial development strategy, and strive to become an environment-optimized city. This study provides scientific and practical suggestions for the CC development of urbanization and environment in Luoyang City, Henan Province, and has reference value for accelerating the realization of the two-carbon strategy.

3. There are repeated words between the title and keywords, please revise them, please be careful.

Reply: Thank you very much for your comments.Now the keywords have been modified as follows:

Two-carbon strategy; Luoyang City; Urbanization system; Ecological environment system; Coupling coordination degree.

4. In the introduction, try to write more related to the necessity and background of the research. It’s very important.

Reply:Thank you very much for your valuable advice. Now the background of the research object as well as the method and significance of the research have been added in the introduction. As follows:

The two-stage carbon reduction targets are "carbon peaking" and "carbon neutrality" proposed by China. Peaking of carbon refers to a time inflection point when CO2 emissions change from increasing to decreasing, and peaking target includes the year of peaking and the peak. Carbon neutrality is to make carbon dioxide emissions "break even", that is, to achieve CO2 "zero emissions"

Luoyang is located in the west of Henan Province, straddling the middle and lower reaches of the Yellow River. With an area of 15230km², it is the second largest city in Henan Province. Luoyang in Henan Province was identified as one of the first eight key industrial cities after the founding of the People's Republic of China, and eight projects in the First Five Year Plan were settled in the city. In addition, this city is the most influential city among the two provincial capitals of Zhengzhou and Xi 'an, which can maximize the advantages of sub-central cities and radiate the economic development of the surrounding areas.

5. Please mention methodology, results and discussion sections in the text.

Reply: Thank you very much for your valuable advice. More specific research methods have been added in the introduction, please review (please see line 66-73). The results and discussion sections are added to the article (see line 457-487). As follows:

In Introduction Section:

Therefore, the research firstly analyzes the coupling and coordination evolution mechanism of urbanization and ecological environment protection under the two-carbon background and then extracts the corresponding evaluation indexes of urbanization and ecological environment. Based on the present situation of urban development in Luoyang, Henan Province, the corresponding index system is constructed from the two dimensions of time and space. Finally, through the coupling model, the coupling degree between urbanization and ecological environment of Luoyang city is calculated, and corresponding guidance suggestions are put forward.

In Discussion Section:

The comprehensive urbanization development index of Luoyang City from 2016 to 2021 ranged from 0.7571 to 0.9497. During this period, the economic scale was expanding and the land use scale maintained a steady rising trend in the process of the city's urbanization. As far as the urbanization subsystem is concerned, the trend of economic, spatial, social urbanization and comprehensive urbanization is the same, which indicates that the economy of Luoyang city is continuously rising, the industrial structure is optimized, and the scale of land use is also expanding. However, the contribution of population urbanization in this city is the lowest, only 5.231%, and population and space resources are not coordinated. Therefore, it is suggested that the government and other institutions should pay more attention to control the number of manholes and coordinate the relationship between man and land when planning urban development.

Eco-environment state and pressure are the main factors leading to the evolution of eco-environment comprehensive system in Luoyang City, accounting for 27.9% and 48.7% respectively. This shows that reducing industrial pollutant emissions and improving the environmental level are the key to ensuring a virtuous cycle of the whole ecosystem in Luoyang. In addition, the coupling correlation coefficient between economic urbanization and ecological environment is the highest, which is 0.936, indicating that the correlation between the two is the highest, and the economic city is the main reason for the change of Luoyang. The key to sustainable urban development in this city is to reduce the environmental pressure generated by each unit of economy.

The coupling coordination degree between urbanization and ecological environment in Luoyang city ranged from 0.8131-0.9296, showing a steady rising trend on the whole. The coupling correlation coefficient R2 of the two was 0.9335, indicating a good coupling effect. The internal performance of the system is highly coupled, and the coordination level is "highly coordinated - ecological environment stagnation" stage. To sum up, in order to realize the coordinated and sustainable development of urbanization and ecological environment in Luoyang city, it is necessary to further optimize the city's spatial development strategy and solve the contradiction between human and space. At the same time, we need to speed up industrial transformation and upgrading and adjust the economic structure. It is more important to strengthen ecological protection and strive to become an environment-optimized city.

6.One of the significant concerns is that the authors should carefully develop a discussion section to talk about the significance, shortages or advantages of the methods you proposed, the reliability and meaning of your results (compared to other related studies) etc.

Reply:Thank you very much for your valuable comments and the Discussion Section has been added to the article (see line 457-487).

The shortcomings of the research method are added in the conclusion as follows: Due to the complex interaction between urbanization and ecosystem, the study only considered the relationship between the integrated system and subsystems, and did not carry out in-depth discussion on the interaction between the subsystems. Therefore, it is hoped that the comprehensive and accurate assessment will continue to be improved in future studies.

7. I checked plagiarism detection of this research and the similarity is 28% and there are some concerns; please check the attached file.

Reply:Thank you very much for your kind comment. We have checked and revised the whole paper and now thesimilar parts of the article was reduced. It can meet the requirements of the journal.

8.I am very concerned about the similarities in this article. Be sure to correct the highlighted items in the attached file.

Reply: Thank you very much for your kind comment. We have checked and revised the whole paper and now thesimilar parts of the article was reduced.It can meet the requirements of the journal.

9.In the references, it is recommended to use new and updated research. At least 40% of them should be related to the last four years.

Reply: Thank you very much for pointing out the shortcomings of the article. Now I have tried to add some newer references, such as [1], [2],[5],[25],[27],[29],[30],[33],[35] and [40].

10.Please be sure that all the references cited in the manuscript are also included in the reference list and vice versa with matching spellings and dates.

Reply: Thank you very much for your valuable suggestions. The references in the manuscript have been combed and checked and confirmed.All the references cited in the manuscript are also included in the reference list

 

 

 

Round 2

Reviewer 2 Report

According to the revised version, the authors have made much more efforts to well improve and address the concerns mentioned the reviewer’s report. However, there are also some errors in this version, for example, 15.% should be 15.6% in line 388 on page 11, please carefully check them. 

Author Response

According to the revised version, the authors have made much more efforts to well improve and address the concerns mentioned the reviewer’s report. However, there are also some errors in this version, for example, 15.% should be 15.6% in line 388 on page 11, please carefully check them. 

Reply: Thank you very much for your kind comments. 15.% was changed to 15.6%. In addition, we carefully checked the whole paper and corrected minor errors that may exist. Grammar and spelling errors were also corrected. All corrections are marked in red in the revised paper.

And the English language and style have been checked.

Reviewer 3 Report

Dear editor, 

It is my pleasure to announce that the research is eligible for publication in Sustainability journal. Congratulations to the authors.

Regards

Author Response

Thank you for your approval of the manuscript, and I have checked and modified the English language and style