The effects of globalization on Ecological Footprints: an empirical analysis

Whether globalization is sustainable is a contested issue. The quantitative literature on the Maastricht Globalization Index (MGI) and the KOF index of globalization shows that globalization contributes positively to economic and human development, environmental performance, mortality, gender equality and physical integrity rights. However, globalization also drives within-country income inequality, especially in developing countries. Evidence on the effects of globalization on the ecological environment does not provide clear patterns; various dimensions of globalization have different effects on various pollutants. This article analyzes the statistical relationship between the most recent MGI (2012 edition) and the ecological dimension of sustainable development. The latter will be operationalized by considering four variants of the Ecological Footprint. The relation between globalization and sustainable development will be controlled for GDP per capita as a proxy for affluence and report the results for Pearson’s correlations and multivariate regressions for up to 171 countries. We conclude that the overall index of globalization significantly increases the Ecological Footprint of consumption, exports and imports. The decomposition of globalization into different domains reveals that apart from the political dimension, all dimensions drive human pressures and demands on the environment. Globalization needs to go into new directions if it is to make a contribution toward all aspects of sustainable development.     

The effects of national culture and human development on environmental health

While there is considerable research on environmental performance of countries, there is very little that focuses on environmental health as a component of environmental performance and how environmental health is affected by national culture and human development. This study proposes and empirically tests three models that examine the effects of cultural values and human development on environmental health by incorporating different variables from Human Development Index, Hofstede’s Cultural Dimensions, and Environmental Performance Index. Multiple linear regression models were employed to test the hypotheses on a sample of 67 countries. Empirical results conclude that cultural dimensions of individualism and uncertainty avoidance, as well as human development components of life expectancy at birth, education, and income significantly influence environmental health performance of countries when we execute separate models. A combined model of the effects of national culture and human development on environmental health, however, shows only significant effects of human development components. Theoretical and policy implications are discussed.     

基于多源遥感信息和土地利用数据的中国海岸带GDP空间化模拟

目前包括GDP在内的社会经济数据大多以行政区划为统计单元,普遍存在统计单元内的数据均一化以及与其他环境数据空间不匹配等问题。以中国海岸带地区为例,利用DMSP/OLS夜间灯光数据和植被指数构建的人居指数与非农业GDP之间的线性关系建模,对非农业GDP进行了空间化模拟,基于土地利用数据建立了农业GDP空间化模型,最终得到2010年中国海岸带地区250 m×250 m空间分辨率的GDP密度图。结果显示：相比仅利用夜间灯光数据模拟非农业GDP,人居指数模型较好地改善了夜间灯光数据的像元溢出效应以及过饱和问题,提高了对非农业GDP的模拟精度。栅格尺度上的中国海岸带GDP密度图可以为沿海地区灾害风险评估、社会经济决策、区域规划和可持续发展研究提供基础数据支持。     

Sustainable nations: what do aggregate indexes tell us?

What is a ‘sustainable nation’ and how can we identify and rank ‘sustainable nations?’ Are nations producing and consuming in a sustainable way? Although several aggregate indexes have been proposed to answer such questions, comprehensive and internationally comparable data are not available for most of these. This paper quantitatively compares three aggregate indexes of sustainability: the World Bank’s ‘Genuine Savings’ measure, the ‘Ecological Footprint,’ and the ‘Environmental Sustainability Index.’ These three indexes are available for a large number of countries and also seem to be the most influential among the aggregate indexes. This paper first discusses the main limitations and weaknesses of each of these indexes. Subsequently, it shows that rankings of sustainable nations and aggregate assessments of unsustainable world population and world GDP shares vary considerably among these indexes. This disagreement leads to suggestions for analysis and policy. One important insight is that climate change, arguable the most serious threat currently faced by humanity, is not or arbitrarily captured by the indexes.     

On the possibility of sustainable development with less economic growth: a research note

The main purpose of this paper is to discuss whether it is possible to achieve human development without or with less economic growth. For this to happen, it is important that developed countries can maintain high levels of human development while reducing the scale of production and consumption so that developing countries can achieve greater economic growth. Using panel data from 118 countries aggregated in ten blocks of countries, we assess the influence of “growth” on “development”, as proxied by a transformed variable “Social Human Development Index” (SHDI), controlling for the influence of geo-economic factors. In particular, we analyse whether developed countries present a weaker statistical relation between GDP and the social dimension of HDI than their less developed counterparts. Results reveal that the GDP elasticity of SHDI is higher in blocks of countries where the concentration of developing countries occurs than in blocks dominated by the presence of developed countries. Thus, it is possible to envisage that a slowdown in economic activity in developed countries may occur without great sacrifice of human development, at least when it is measured by health and education components. We interpret the findings as meaning that at an aggregate level there are conditions for development to occur without or with less growth.     

生态足迹研究述评

自然资源是人类赖以生存的物质基础，人类活动必须限制在环境资源承载力的值范围之内，传统的资源利用评价方法存在着考虑不全面、计算复杂、可操作性差等不足，因而有必要从生态系统本身的功能出发对人类活动的可持续性进行评价，生态足迹提出于20世纪90年代，是一种新颖的资源利用评价方法，它计算简明，对地区可持续发展决策具有一定的指导性，迄今为止，人们已在不同尺度上开展了大量相关研究，本文介绍了生态足迹的基本概念和进展，度评述了该方法的优点及不足，最后对今后的研究做出了展望。     

2010 World Expo and Urban Life Quality in Shanghai in Terms of Sustainable Development

Based on sustainable development theory and the UN＇s Human Development Index, this thesis puts forward what the quality of urban life implies, makes a study of the world Expo＇s potential influences on the urban life of Shanghai and advances the strategy and measures to strengthen the life-quality-facing urban management     

经济、环境与人口健康的相互影响:基于我国省区面板数据的实证分析

经济增长造成环境变化;收入水平和环境质量共同影响着人口健康;人口健康状况又影响着经济增长.本文构建了一个描述兰者之间关系的联立方程模型,使用省区面板数据.分析了我国20世纪90年代至今省区层面上经济、环境与人口健康的相互影响.实证结果表明,工业污染是经济增长的阻碍因素;经济增长对人口健康有显著的正影响,而工业污染对人口健康有显著的负影响;人口健康对经济增长的贡献不显著;教育状况对经济增长有显著促进作用,但对人口健康没有显著的直接影响;第三产业的发展有利于减少工业污染,改善环境质量.因此,发展教育事业和第三产业,是促进经济增长和提高环境质量的有效举措.     

贵州省县域经济空间差异研究

贵州省是典型的老少边穷地区,在全国省际经济发展中属于落后省份。县域是省级区域的重要单元,县域经济是省域经济和社会发展的构成部分。以县域为单元,选取了3类10项指标,运用定量方法系统分析贵州省经济空间差异现状,借助于GIS技术将贵州省县域发展状况可视化。研究表明：贵州省内同等发展层次的县域存在一定程度的空间聚集;多数地区中心城市的经济辐射带动作用没有体现;交通通达程度与经济发展程度显著相关;少数民族区域普遍落后;旅游业还有巨大的发展空间。鉴于此,贵州省未来发展方向是对中心城市、少数民族县域给予政策上的扶持,加快区域性干道、地区性支线公路以及当地便道等次级交通道路的建设,方便物资的流通、提高旅游景区的可进入性,把旅游业作为贵州省的主导产业加以发展     

不同主体功能区农户家庭耕地利用功能对土地流转行为的影响

城乡经济转型及农村人口快速城市化促使农户家庭耕地利用功能较传统利用方式发生转变,农户家庭耕地生存依赖度弱化促进土地流转市场发育。以湖北省重点开发区、农产品主产区和生态功能区的1 146户农户调查数据为实证,运用Biprobit模型分析不同主体功能区农户家庭耕地利用功能对土地流转行为的影响。研究表明:(1)调研区域41.10%的农户家庭参与土地流转,土地流入转出租金分别为2 751.12元/hm~2、4 391.33元/hm~2,土地流转发生率较高但租金水平整体偏低,且在区域间存在显著差异。重点开发区土地流转市场发育较好,流转参与率及租金水平较高;农产品主产区流转参与率较高,但租金水平较低;生态功能区土地流转参与率及租金水平较低,流转市场发育迟缓。(2)区域间功能定位、经济发展水平的差异导致农户家庭耕地利用功能空间差异明显。其中,生态功能区农户耕地资源利用的食物生产功能弱化明显,而重点开发区和农产品主产区则明显弱化耕地资源的养老就业功能。(3)整体而言,农户家庭耕地利用功能对土地流转行为影响显著。其中,家庭耕地利用在经济贡献、养老就业及食物生产等方面承担的功能越强,其家庭做出土地转出决策的可能性愈小;而选择土地流入的可能性也越大,而家庭耕地利用所表征的选择馈赠功能越强,其家庭越倾向于留存土地,且区域差异明显。重点开发区的相关系数及显著程度较高,作用方向与整体基本一致;生态功能区的相关系数及显著程度最低,且作用方向偏离整体幅度较大。表明经济发展程度越快的地区,土地流转发育受耕地利用功能的影响越明显。     

Review on the Progress of Marine Ecosystem Management

Along with the industrial development, adverse impacts on the natural environment become more serious, and ecosystem health and ecological security have also been deteriorated. The traditional environment management focused on the shorterm and economic benefits. Such managing pattern is not accommodating to the new situation of increasingly global environment problems and large scale marine environment problems. This paper introduces the advance and definition of a new managing patternecosystem management. Meanwhile, the con- notation of ecosystem management was summarized as seven points： Sustainability; Human is an important aspect of ecosystem management; Cooperation is the foundation of ecosystem management; Maintain health and security of ecosystem; Ecological diversity protection characters ecosystem management; Maintain the integrity of ecosystem; Ecosystem management must be founded on scientific theories and precise information. Somebody said Ecosystem Management is ＂a new label of old ideas＂. However, there is an essential difference between ecosystem management and traditional environmental management. In the last part of this paper, the differences of the approaches between ecosystem management and traditional environmental management are compared.     

Monitoring and guiding development in rural Egypt: local sustainable development indicators and local Human Development Indices

This paper puts forward sustainable development indicators and an index appropriate for monitoring and guiding development planning in the villages of rural Egypt, as an improvement on the current approach which is informed by locally calculated Human Development Indices (HDI). This has two principal weaknesses. Firstly many of the issues of importance to villagers are not covered by the economic and social scope of the HDI. Secondly the HDI, along with international sustainable development indicator sets, fails to identify problems which are of importance in specific national or sub-national contexts. We have therefore worked from a simplified but holistic model of the socio-economic-environmental system of a rural Egyptian village, informed by the outputs of a participatory planning process. An indicator set based on a one-to-one correspondence between system components and indicators was created. This comprehensive set is detailed but consequently rather unwieldy, and a core set is selected and compared with the HDI indicators for a sample of villages to demonstrate the impact of considering environmental and institutional factors on establishing priority areas for government intervention. We conclude that a combination of a locally relevant index and an easily comprehended diagrammatic approach to presenting a small indicator set offers advantages to decision makers in comparison to local application of the HDI.     

Review on the Progress of Marine Ecosystem Management

Abstract

Along with the industrial development, adverse impacts on the natural environment become more serious, and ecosystem health and ecological security have also been deteriorated. The traditional environment management focused on the short-term and economic benefits. Such managing pattern is not accommodating to the new situation of increasingly global environment problems and large scale marine environment problems. This paper introduces the advance and definition of a new managing pattern—ecosystem management. Meanwhile, the connotation of ecosystem management was summarized as seven points: Sustainability; Human is an important aspect of ecosystem management; Cooperation is the foundation of ecosystem management; Maintain health and security of ecosystem; Ecological diversity protection characters ecosystem management; Maintain the integrity of ecosystem; Ecosystem management must be founded on scientific theories and precise information. Somebody said Ecosystem Management is “a new label of old ideas”. However, there is an essential difference between ecosystem management and traditional environmental management. In the last part of this paper, the differences of the approaches between ecosystem management and traditional environmental management are compared.     

Relationship between cultivated land use functions and land rental behavior of rural households: empirical evidence from different dominant functional regions in central China

This paper analyzes the relationship between the cultivated land use functions and the land rental decisions of rural households in three Dominant Functional Zones of Hubei, China. The results indicate that 41.10% of the rural households in the study areas participated in the land rental market. The land rental market in the Key Development Zone has both a higher participation rate and land rent; the Agricultural Production Zone has a higher participation rate but a lower land rent; and the land rental market in the Key Ecological Zone is underdeveloped. The difference in regional function and economic level leads to a significant difference in the spatial variation of the cultivated land use multifunction. Overall, the cultivated land function of rural households has a significant impact on their land transfer behavior. The higher the Functions of Economic Contribution, Food Production, and Pension & Employment, the more willing the rural households are to rent in the land, while the higher the Function of Inheritance and Retainment of the cultivated land use, the more likely the peasants are to retain their cultivated land resources. Furthermore, the correlation coefficient is significantly higher in the Key Development Zone than in the Key Ecological Zone.     

近20年来沙区聚落对沙漠化影响与响应

以防沙治沙效果显著的宁夏盐池县官滩村为例,基于4期TM影像(1989年、1995年、2000年、2007年),采用目视解译的方法得到其不同时期的土地利用数据,结合2008年实地调查数据、2009年快鸟影像,对聚落的内部空间布局特征及外部土地利用特征进行了研究,并分析其1989-2007年间的土地利用动态情况。结果表明:聚落内部整体布局方向、庭院组合方式及建筑特征减弱了风沙对居民生活的影响;聚落外部的空间构型进一步抵御了风沙的侵害,其外部近20年的土地利用动态变化反映了当地居民对于沙漠化的响应。官滩村内部的布局和外部的构型相结合,对沙漠化进行了积极的影响与响应,是今后沙区聚落建设的一个科学典范。     

西昌市生态空间占用及其生态系统安全评估

生态系统安全的概念应该与人类的可持续发展联系在一起,其安全的目标在于为人类的生存和发展提供持续和良好的生态服务功能,在这一意义上,生态安全就是生态系统的可持续性。生态系统安全是新兴的生态系统管理学概念,是新的环境管理和生态系统管理目标。利用生态占用分析方法,对西昌市整个生态系统的生态盈亏和生态系统安全进行评估,得出西昌市目前人均生态赤字0.6 hm2和生态安全受到挑战的结论。并进行了生态占用的敏感性分析：能源资源消耗降低10%,人均生态赤字降低5.32%;产量因子提高10%,人均生态赤字降低14.01%;能源消耗减低10%,同时产量因子提高10%,人均生态空间赤字减少降低19.33%。指出了能源循环利用、资源节约、技术革新和单位面积资源增值等为主要特征的生态产业发展对生态系统保育的意义和效应。     

生态足迹方法的理论解析

论文系统地解析了生态足迹概念，在简要介绍生态足迹账户框架建立的假设条件，计算方法的基础上，系统总结了生态足迹最近的国际研究进展。同时，重点介绍了生态足迹计算中容易引起误解和疏忽的两个问题：化石能源用地的处理，均衡因子和产量因子的计算。在此基础上，从生态足迹计算过程中化石能源的处理和“利息”的处理两个角度评价了生态足迹方法的局限性。同时从贸易的处理缺乏可持续性基础，忽视国家和区域尺度上空间地理情况的差异，忽视人类社会对自然资产“利息”流的积累和储存，忽视自然资产存量的状况四个角度，分析了生态足迹在不同尺度上应用中存在的问题，最后通过将生态足迹分析还原到IPAT等式，并从热力学和生态经济学的角度解释了现有生态足迹分析政策建议少并且雷同、及其政策建议缺乏可操作性的实质价值的原因。     

中国省际间绿色发展福利测量与评价

在绿色发展理念下,对绿色发展福利进行测量和评价比传统的GDP评价更能体现发展的质量。本文基于生态绩效理论,将绿色发展福利增长速度推导为脱钩指数与GDP增长速度的乘积。首先以人类发展指数作为绿色发展福利的判别标准,根据脱钩指数理论,以数值0和0.1为界线,将2002—2014年中国31个省份的绿色发展福利水平划分为"负福利增长"、"绝对低福利增长"、"相对低福利增长"三类。其次,利用数据包络分析(DEA)方法及Malmquist指数测度兼顾期望产出(GDP)与非期望产出(生态足迹)的绿色经济增长,并对中国省际绿色经济增长效率进行分解,将绿色全要素生产率分为技术效率变动、技术变动、纯技术效率变动和规模效率变动,以探讨影响中国绿色发展"C"模式的关键因素。实证结果表明:中国大陆31个省份的脱钩指数均小于0.6(两个省份的脱钩指数小于0),处于低福利增长状态,但是整体上省际间脱钩指数与GDP增长速度呈现正相关关系,省际间人类发展指数的差异主要表现在公平的教育机会与收入分配差距两个方面。对中国大陆31个省份绿色经济增长速度的分解表明,绿色全要素生产率的提升主要得益于技术效率变动、纯技术效率变动、规模效率变动指数的提高,且每个时期三者的贡献率均在1左右波动。检验期间,北京、上海、广东、天津四个省份作为"创新者"共同推动产出朝着最优生产前沿面外移。最后,为了构筑中国绿色发展"C"模式,认为应该以绿色发展福利水平的提升为导向,在依据绿色全要素生产率提高绿色经济增长效率的同时,应注重教育公平与收入分配差距的缩减。同时,应积极发挥创新者省份绿色发展的示范效应,带动非创新者省份共同发展。     

The impact of economic,social, and political globalization and democracy on life expectancy in low-income countries: are sustainable development goals contradictory?

The 17 Sustainable Development Goals announced by the United Nations are important guides for the development processes of developing countries. However, achieving all of these goals is only possible if the goals are consistent with each other. It has been observed in the literature that possible contradictions between these goals are ignored. Therefore, the main purpose of this study is to investigate whether two sustainable development goals (SDGs) of the UN are contradictory or supporting each other in low-income countries. These SDGs are “Good Health and Well-Being” (SDG3) and “Partnerships for the Goals” (SDG17). For this purpose, the role of globalization and democracy in life expectancy is empirically investigated in 16 low-income countries over the period 1970–2017. While globalization has been used as an indicator of the partnership between countries, democracy has been used as an indicator of accountability and cooperation between governments and societies. According to estimations of the continuous-updated fully modified (CUP-FM) and bias-adjusted ordinary least squares (BA-OLS), globalization and its subcomponents such as economic, social, and political globalization affect life expectancy positively. Democracy also increases life expectancy in those countries. The GDP per capita is also used as a control variable. Our results show that a higher level of per capita income is positively associated with higher levels of life expectancy. In conclusion, no contradiction was found between SDG3 and SDG17 in those countries. Achieving a healthier society requires economic, social, and political integration between governments and societies.

     

Exploring the energy-environment growth nexus in francophone Africa in presence of institutions

Environment, Development and Sustainability - This paper analyses the role of renewable energy, ecological footprint and institutions on economic growth (measured by per capita GDP) in Francophone...