Seize the Opportunity and Meet the Challenge to Push China''''s Sustainable Development Strategy to a New Stage

Since China set the sustainable development strategy, positive progress has been made in implementing the strategy, and active contributions have been made to the sustainable development of mankind. Currently, profound changes are taking place in China's internal and external situation. A new era has begun in the implementation of the sustainable development strategy. We should take full advantage of this opportunity and make use of all favorable conditions and chances to further promote the implementation of the sustainable development strategy.     

Is the degrowth debate relevant to China?

In industrialized countries, the idea of degrowth has emerged as a response to environmental, social, and economic crises. Realizing environmental limits to and failures of more than half a century of continual economic growth in terms of social progress and environmental sustainability, the degrowth paradigm calls for a downscaling of consumption and production for social equity and ecological sustainability. The call for economic degrowth is generally considered to be delimited to rich countries, where reduced consumption can save “ecological space” enabling people in poor countries to enjoy the benefits of economic growth. China, as one of the economically most expanding countries in the world, has dramatically improved its living standards, particularly along the Eastern coast, over the latest 30 years. However, China is absent from the international debates on growth. This article discusses the implications of the Western degrowth debates for China. Given the distinctive features of China’s development, the paper aims to enrich the degrowth debates, which have hitherto been dominated by Western perspectives. Based upon reflections on social, environmental, and moral dimensions of economic growth, the paper argues that limited natural resources may not continuously support universal affluence at the current level of the rich countries, a level that China is likely to reach within a few decades. Priority for growth in China should therefore be given to the poor regions of the country, and future growth should be beneficial to social and environmental development.     

Using the Framework for Integrated Sustainability Assessment (FISA) to expand the Multiregional Input–Output analysis to account for the three pillars of sustainability

Decision makers interested in promoting sustainable development must simultaneously consider the environmental, economic and social implications of any action. This article proposes the Framework for Integrated Sustainability Assessment (FISA), a methodological framework for conducting a sustainability impact assessment of any investment project. Based on a Multiregional Input–Output (MRIO) framework, FISA links the extended MRIO results with social risk data from the Social Hotspots Database (SHDB) in order to integrate the social with the environmental and economic pillars. Resulting impacts are simultaneously considered and reported by means of FISA charts, making it possible to assess the different impacts within the three sustainability pillars across countries involved in the whole supply chain of investment projects. This methodological framework can be applied not only to compare the sustainability impacts of two alternative projects, but also to derive specific recommendations aimed at minimizing the harmful social, environmental and economic effects along the whole project supply chain.     

From the shop to the drain — Volatile methylsiloxanes in cosmetics and personal care products

Organosiloxanes are widely used in the formulation of a broad range of cosmetic and personal care products (PCPs), including creams and lotions, bath soaps, shampoo and hair care products to soften, smooth, and moisten. In fact, the intensive and widespread use of organosiloxanes combined with their lipophilic nature, makes them interesting targets for future research, particularly in the toxicology area.This study focused on determining the concentration levels of these compounds in the bestselling brands of PCPs in the Oporto region (Portugal), allowing the estimation of dermal and inhalation exposure to siloxanes and the evaluation of the quantities released to the environment “down-the-drain” and to air. To accomplish this task, a QuEChERS technique (“Quick, Easy, Cheap, Effective, Rugged, and Safe”) was employed to extract the siloxanes from the target PCPs, which has never been tested before. The resulting extract was analysed by gas chromatography–mass spectrometry (GC–MS). The limits of detection varied between 0.17 (L2) and 3.75 ng g^− 1 (L5), being much lower than any values reported in the literature for this kind of products. In general, satisfactory precision (< 10%) and accuracy values (average recovery of 84%) were obtained.123 PCPs were analysed (moisturizers, deodorants, body and hair washes, toilet soaps, toothpastes and shaving products) and volatile methylsiloxanes were detected in 96% of the samples, in concentrations between 0.003 μg g^− 1 and 1203 μg g^− 1. Shampoo exhibited the highest concentration for cyclic and aftershaves for linear siloxanes. Combining these results with the daily usage amounts, an average daily dermal exposure of 25.04 μg kg_bw^− 1 day^− 1 for adults and 0.35 μg kg_bw^− 1 day^− 1 for baby/children was estimated. The main contributors for adult dermal exposure were body moisturizers, followed by facial creams and aftershaves, while for babies/children were body moisturizers, followed by shower gel and shampoo. Similarly, the average daily inhalation exposure was also estimated. Values of 1.56 μg kg_bw^− 1 day^− 1 for adults and 0.03 μg kg_bw^− 1 day^− 1 for babies/children were calculated. An estimate of the siloxanes amount released “down-the-drain” into the sewage systems through the use of toiletries was also performed. An emission per capita between 49.25 and 9574 μg day^− 1 (mean: 1817 μg day^− 1) is expected and shampoo and shower gel presented the higher mean total values (1008 μg day^− 1 and 473.3 μg day^− 1, respectively). In the worst-case scenario, D5 and D3 were the predominant siloxanes in the effluents with 3336 μg day^− 1 and 3789 μg day^− 1, respectively. Regarding the air emissions per capita, values between 8.33 and 6109 μg day^− 1 (mean: 1607 μg day^− 1) are expected and D5 and D6 were the predominant siloxanes.     

Economic and Political Factors that Lead to the Budget Deficit in Hong Kong from 1998 to 2003

Despite the adverse impact of the budget deficit in Hong Kong has been alleviated since the economic recovery from 2003, the fiscal deficit may return when there is another downturn in the economy if the problem is not handled fundamentally.Based on the economic and political situation from 1998 to 2003,the factors that lead to the budget deficit in Hong Kong are analyzed in four perspectives,including(a)increase in public expenditure;(b)decrease in public revenues;(c)poor management of public money and(d) weak administration.With a better understanding on these factors, possible solutions to the fiscal problem faced by the government may be developed.     

Study of the Optimization and Adjustment ofthe IndustrialStructure Subjected to Water Resource in the Drainage Area of the Yellow River

Since the 1990s, the Yellow River stream has been temporarily interrupted for several years, which affects the development of society, the economy and human life, limits the economic potential of the drainage areas, and especially causes great harm to regions on the lower reaches. Based on the analysis of the relationship between the development of society and economy and water scarcity, the author thinks it is necessary to optimize and adjust the industrial structure that has extravagantly consumed enormous amounts of water, and to develop ecological agriculture, industry and tourism which are balanced with the ecological environment. Finally, the author puts forward several pieces of advice and countermeasures about how to build the economic systems by which water can be used economically.     

Bridging the Maghreb’s water gap: from rationalizing the virtual water trade to enhancing the renewable energy desalination

The debate about the water resources shortages and finding appropriate solutions to close the water gap in many regions is still not finished. The Mediterranean region is among the most arid regions in the world and hosts more than the half of the world’s water-poor population. The situation is more severe in the southern shore of the Mediterranean, in particular, the Maghreb countries. In this region, water resources are very limited and polluted and most countries rely on groundwater yet overexploited. On the other hand, several factors, including rapid economic growth, expanding populations and changing climate, are driving up demand for water. This pushes forward the Maghreb countries to more and more rely on non-conventional and costly water resources such as wastewater treatment and desalination. Obviously, this bears a heavy burden on the economic growth within these countries. In this paper, rationalizing the virtual water trade and enhancing desalination using renewable energy are presented as two promising options to bridging the Maghreb’s water gap.     

Ecological Approaches to Urban Migration of the Three Gorges Reservoir Region

As a global developing tendency, the general viewpoint has been reached in the construction of the ecocities, which has produced widespread influence in the international society. Cities must enable people to live in harmony with nature and achieve sustainable development. Although more and more cities in the world are being designed and built to the ecological ones, the construction is also theoretical questions and arduous tasks. People oriented, ecocity development requires the comprehensiv…     

On the Process of Peasant Workers’ Transformation to Urban Residents

The unique two-stage ＂Chinese path＂ of China＇s rural-urban migration, which cannot be fully explained by classical theories of economic development, makes us to give peasant workers＇ transformation to urban residents a top priority. On the basis of fully explaining peasant workers＇ transformation to urban residents, a method for measuring its process has been advanced and then confirmed with the data of March in 2005 from surveys to peasant workers in Wuhan. Finally, the suggestions of accelerating peasant workers＇ transformation to urban residents to promote the construction of a harmonious society have been drawn from the analysis.     

Users’ Perspectives About the Potential Usefulness of Online Storylines to Communicate River Research to a Multi-disciplinary Audience

ABSTRACT

Effective communication practices are needed to support adaptive, collaborative and integrative environmental management. We propose the use of online storylines to communicate scientific outcomes in a way that is captivating, easily understood and accessible. Based on 20 interviews, we identified important attributes for the storyline content, structure and user interaction. We designed a storyline example about stakeholders’ perceptions of a river management intervention with consequences on the landscape. The intended audience consists of multi-disciplinary researchers and practitioners that could consider or apply research solutions outside their field of expertise in river management. We introduced the example in a workshop with 14 participants from research and practice. Our findings highlight the importance of including narrative elements via images, interactive figures and timelines to illustrate the research context. Moreover, storylines should explicitly state benefits as well as the limitations of the river research and include a glossary to clarify specific terms.     

Using Multi-destination ZTCM to Evaluate the Recreational Values of Cultural Sights：an Application to Jiayuguan,China

This study explained the importance of environmental protection in tourism development and illustrated the relationship between recreational resource valuation and environmental consideration. We compare different models of travel cost method and reiterates long-time existing problems of multi-destination and treats of time opportunity cost (TOC). Taking Jiayuguan's cultural sights as an example, we establish an updated method called multi-destination zonal tourism cost method to evaluate the recreational values (RVs) of selected three cultural sights. We divide trip packages of Jiayuguan's tourists into 11 portfolios. Each portfolio can be seen as a separate commodity, and each commodity has its own demand curve. According to demand curves we can calculate consumer surplus (CS) of different portfolios of tourist destinations and later we sum up the total travel costs (including travel expenditure and TOC) and CS to come to the RVs of each portfolio. We then apply suitable proportions to calculate the RVs between different destinations in the portfolio. In the end, we add up all the RVs calculated for the objective destination. Using this method, we draw conclusions that Jiayuguan's RV in 2006 includes national and international values, summing up to 738.4762 million yuan. The tourist expenditure, CS and TOC of Jiayuguan is proportionating 62.96, 32.28 and 4.76%, respectively. This study is also an example of non-market valuation of cultural tourism resources.     

Beyond the Choir? The Need to Understand Multiple Publics for Science

ABSTRACT

Understanding different publics for science communication is more important than ever before. The articles in this special issue lay important groundwork for our field to develop a better understanding of how audience segments differ or overlap across issues, cultural contexts, stages of the issue cycle, and different analytic and methodological approaches. The long-term goal of this work should be to enable more effective communication with publics whose demographic, socio-structural, or value-based characteristics position them squarely outside of the proverbial choir that science communication is often preaching to.     

Seeing the Wind (Farm): Applying Q-methodology to Understand the Public’s Reception of the Visuals Around a Wind Farm Development

This research investigates the reception of the visual representations of a wind farm (WF) development by local stakeholders. Using non-verbal Qmethodology, residents of Lesvos’ island, Greece, sort images according to how these images represented their opinion about the proposed Aegean Link WF project. We found three opinion types. The “Risk Averter” type is focused on the various risks of constructing and operating the Aegean Link wind development. The “Green Developer” type believes that the renewable energy project will benefit both their local community and the environment. The “Realist” type defers to expert knowledge to make decisions about project outcomes and is sceptical of media bias. While the former two types seem to form their visual opinions based on whether they are in favour or against (respectively) of the WF development, the Realist opinion is rather guided by carefully considering whether the visual stimuli are representative of the project’s actual characteristics.