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Environmental Impact Assessment and Sustainable Conservation of Urban Ecology

A special issue of Sustainability (ISSN 2071-1050). This special issue belongs to the section "Social Ecology and Sustainability".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 30 November 2025 | Viewed by 390

Special Issue Editors


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Guest Editor
Environmental Sciences & Engineering, Ewha Womans University, Seoul 03760, Republic of Korea
Interests: conservation; ecology; climate change; modelling; EIA

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Urbanization has been a driving force behind economic growth and societal development, but it also exerts substantial pressure on the environment. As cities expand, natural habitats are altered, biodiversity is threatened, and pollution levels rise. To mitigate these negative effects, Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) serves as a crucial tool for ensuring that urban development projects are ecologically sustainable. This paper explores the role of EIA in urban ecology conservation and the strategies necessary for achieving sustainable urban ecosystems.

This topic aims to evaluate the effectiveness of Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) in promoting sustainable urban ecological conservation. By analyzing the role of EIA in biodiversity preservation, pollution control, climate resilience, and green infrastructure integration, this research seeks to provide evidence-based recommendations for enhancing urban sustainability policies and practices. Additionally, the topic highlights the key challenges in implementing EIA and proposes strategies for improving regulatory frameworks, technological applications, and community engagement to foster long-term ecological balance in urban environments.

In this Special Issue, original research articles and reviews are welcome. Research areas may include (but are not limited to) the following:

  • Biodiversity Conservation
  • Green Infrastructure integration
  • ecosystem services
  • climate change adaptation.

We look forward to receiving your contributions. 

Prof. Dr. Sang-Don Lee
Prof. Dr. Min-Kyung Kim
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

  • biodiversity conservation
  • green infrastructure integration
  • ecosystem services
  • climate change adaptation
  • urban ecology
  • environmental impact assessment (EIA)

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Published Papers (1 paper)

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Research

20 pages, 2784 KiB  
Article
Improving Ecosystem Services Production Efficiency by Optimizing Resource Allocation in 130 Cities of the Yangtze River Economic Belt, China
by Wenyue Hou, Xiangyu Zheng, Tao Liang, Xincong Liu and Hengyu Pan
Sustainability 2025, 17(16), 7189; https://doi.org/10.3390/su17167189 - 8 Aug 2025
Viewed by 237
Abstract
China has adopted extensive restoration practices to improve ecosystem function. The efficiency of these restoration efforts remains unclear, which may hinder the supply of ecosystem services (ESs). In this context, this study first employed InVEST models to clarify spatio-temporal changes in five key [...] Read more.
China has adopted extensive restoration practices to improve ecosystem function. The efficiency of these restoration efforts remains unclear, which may hinder the supply of ecosystem services (ESs). In this context, this study first employed InVEST models to clarify spatio-temporal changes in five key ESs. The static and dynamic efficiencies of ecosystem service production in 130 cities from 2015 to 2021 in the Yangtze River Economic Belt (YREB) were then measured using the Super-SBM-Malmquist model, with ESs considered as outputs. The results indicated that water conservation (WC), water purification (WP), and soil retention (SR) exhibited overall declining trends, decreasing by 28.32%, 3.22%, and 10.00%, respectively, while carbon storage (CS) and habitat quality (HQ) remained steady. More than 70% of studied cities exhibited static efficiency levels below 50%, which were attributed to inefficient utilization of labor, capital, and technology. Significant spatial heterogeneity was observed, with high-efficiency cities mainly located in mountainous areas and low-efficiency cities concentrated in flat regions. The downward trend in dynamic efficiency has been reversed from a 39.02% decline in 2015–2018 to a 38.31% increase in 2018–2021, despite being adversely affected by technological regression. Finally, several policy implications are proposed, including optimizing resource allocation, introducing advanced technology and setting the intercity cooperation and complementarity mechanisms. Full article
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