Search Results (6)

Under the rapid urbanization process, PM_2.5 pollution has become an increasingly critical issue. Changes in land-use types will inevitably affect PM_2.5 concentration. Meanwhile, the problem of imbalance and inadequacy of regional development remains prominent. This study took the Huaihe River Ecological Economic Belt as the research object, integrating the spatial econometric model with the Geographically and Temporally Weighted Regression (GTWR) and Multiscale Geographically Weighted Regression (MGWR) models, to investigate the spatiotemporal heterogeneity and spillover effect of the association between PM_2.5 concentration and land use from 1998 to 2021. The main findings are as follows: (1) PM_2.5 concentration in the study area from 1998 to 2021 showed an upward and then a downward trend, taking 2013 as a turning point, with respective magnitudes of 50.4% and 42.1%; (2) land use exerts a significant spillover effect on PM_2.5 pollution. Except for grassland and cropland, the direct effect of each land type on PM_2.5 pollution exceeds its indirect effect; (3) the influence of land use on PM_2.5 pollution exhibits significant spatiotemporal variations. The impact coefficient of forests remains relatively consistent across the entire region, whereas that of cropland, water bodies, and impervious surfaces varies markedly across different regions, particularly in the northeastern and southern cities of the study area. The results of this study may give new ideas for collective governance and joint environmental remediation in different cities and probably provide some basis for the formulation of air pollution control policies and urban land planning. Full article

The Huaihe River Eco-Economic Belt (HREEB) is a pivotal region in China’s national strategic planning. Land use in this region is crucial to improving ecological quality and ensuring food security. Using the PLUS model and Geodetector, we evaluated the contribution and interaction of 10 drivers to production–living–ecological land (PLEL) and performed multi-scenario simulations of PLEL. The results show that the following: (1) Ecological land is mainly affected by elevation (contribution value > 0.16 for forest, grassland, and water). Production land is influenced by topographic relief, elevation, and GDP per capita (contribution value > 0.13). Living land is driven by topographic relief, GDP per capita, elevation, and population density (contribution value > 0.13). Interaction analysis shows nonlinear or two-factor enhancement among factors. (2) Ecological land in the HREEB has a relatively stable spatial pattern. Simulation results indicate that ecological land will not exceed a 12% change in the next 50 years. (3) By 2075, simulations under various scenarios predict significant changes in land area. Compared with the natural development scenario, production land increased by 14.8% in the farmland protection scenario, and living land increased by 14.3% in the urban development scenario. This research is vital for managing and developing PLEL resources within the HREEB. Full article

The Chinese government has adopted a significant low-carbon transition strategy aimed at enhancing resource efficiency, advancing ecological conservation, and augmenting societal well-being. This research employs the super efficiency SBM model to evaluate the ecological well-being performance (EWP) within the Huaihe River Ecological Economic Belt. Subsequently, it employs the Sys-GMM model and conducts a threshold effect analysis to regressively examine the impact of the low-carbon transition on EWP. The key findings are as follows. The EWP in the Huaihe River Ecological Economic Belt is relatively low; cities with higher economic development levels tend to exhibit lower EWP scores. The impact of the low-carbon transition on EWP is contingent upon the level of regional economic development and exhibits a singular threshold effect predicated on the economic development level as the threshold variable. Specifically, when economic development is at a low level, an intensification of the low-carbon transition results in a decline in EWP within the Huaihe River Ecological Economic Belt. Conversely, when the economic development level surpasses the threshold, the low-carbon transition facilitates the enhancement of EWP. This study’s principal contribution lies in elucidating the intricate relationship between the low-carbon transition and sustainable development. Full article

Land use change has serious impacts on the structure, function, and layout of the landscape pattern, which significantly affects ecosystem service values (ESVs). Based on land use data over a 10-year interval from 1980 to 2020, this study analyzed the evolution characteristics of ESVs and landscape ecological security in the Huaihe River Eco-Economic Belt using the equivalent factor method (EFM) and landscape pattern indices. The results show that the following: (1) The ESVs of the Huaihe River Eco-Economic Belt has increased by approximately 4% in the past 40 years, primarily characterized by increases in the values of services associated with the water environment (water supply, purifying environment, and hydrological regulation) and decreases in the values of services not associated with the water environment (food production, raw material production, gas conditioning, climate control, soil conservation, nutrient cycle maintenance, and biodiversity). (2) The landscape indices of landscape division index, edge density, marginal entropy, fractal dimension index, and Shannon’s diversity index have shown increasing trends, and human activities in the study area are more widespread and fragmented. (3) Landscape fragmentation significantly reduced the values of non-water services, but the increase in the values of water-related services masked the impact of landscape fragmentation on the total ESVs. The EFM overestimated the ESVs of the water environment, such as hydrological regulation in areas with a large expansion of the water area, which may introduce uncertainties in the results. Full article

Exploring the landscape ecological security pattern and its driving mechanisms in key economic zones is of great significance for preventing and resolving landscape ecological risks and promoting regional sustainable development. This study quantitatively analyzed the land use change characteristics in the Huaihe River Eco-economic Belt from 1980 to 2020 using the land use transfer matrix and land use intensity index. Further, the evolution of ecological risks and their driving mechanisms were investigated using the landscape pattern index and hierarchical partitioning analysis. The results show that (1) in terms of absolute area, dryland, grassland, and paddy land decreased by 7075 km², 2708 km², and 1874 km², respectively, while urban–rural land and water area increased by 10,538 km² and 1336 km², respectively. In terms of change intensity, grassland, water area, urban–rural land, and unused land exhibited the most dramatic change, whereas forest land, paddy land, and dryland exhibited weaker change. (2) The conversions in the study area were primarily between dryland, paddy land, and urban–rural land. Paddy land and dryland tended to convert to urban–rural land, which is further likely to be transformed into dryland and unused land when converted. (3) The study area mainly presented medium to low ecological risk. Overall, the ecological risk remained stable throughout the study period. Nevertheless, Jining, Zaozhuang, and Bengbu show high ecological risks in the construction of the economic zone. (4) Forest land explained 40% of the variance in landscape risk, whereas urban–rural land and dryland each explained 20% of the variance. An increase in the proportion of urban–rural land and dryland will increase landscape ecological risk. However, after urban–rural land exceeds 15%, the ecological security risk does not increase significantly with increasing proportion of urban–rural land. Full article

The evaluations of resource and environment carrying capacity and territorial development suitability, also referred to as “double evaluations”, have been taken by China as an important direction in territorial space planning. Based on the evaluation of resource and environment carrying capacity, the double evaluations can contribute to protecting ecological safety and territorial safety and promoting regional sustainable development. The focus of this study was to integratedly evaluate the resource and environment carrying capacity of the Huaihe River Ecological and Economic Belt. First, the overall weights of the factors at the dimension level and the index level in the established integration evaluation system were calculated with the fuzzy analytical hierarchy process (FAHP) method; and then, using the linear weighted function, the overall resource and environment carrying capacities of 25 cities in the belt were calculated. On that basis, the resource and environment carrying capacity evaluation model was established. Through model analysis, this study comprehensively investigated the resource and environment carrying capacity of the Huaihe River Eco-economic Belt and provided a foundation for the future territorial space planning and layout of the Huaihe River Eco-economic Belt. Full article