Assessing the sustainability of major cities in China

Rapid urbanization in the developing world calls for attention to address the issue of urban sustainability, especially in emerging countries such as China, where social equity and environmental conditions have been marginalized by the rapid economic development. In this paper, we addressed the above issue with an attempt to answer the following questions: (1) How did the sustainability of Chinese cities evolve over time? (2) What are the driving forces for the evolution? By constructing a composite index that incorporates three major aspects of sustainability, economy, environment, and social equity, we characterized the recent evolution of Chinese cities and assessed the disparity among regions in terms of the sustainability measures. Further, we analyzed the driving forces for the change of sustainability indices through a driving force-pressure-state-effect model. We substantiate our numerical analysis of Chinese cities with a detailed case study of Urumqi, the capital of Xinjiang Autonomous Region, which has experienced significant change over the past 3 decades in every aspect of sustainability. We highlight some fundamental socioeconomic driving forces that have caused spatial restructuring, reflected by land-use change, and consequently impacted the urban environment of Urumqi. A brief case analysis of Guangzhou is also provided.     

Towards institutional analysis of sustainability science: a quantitative examination of the patterns of research collaboration

This paper examines quantitatively the patterns of collaboration over geographical boundaries in the emerging field of sustainability science by empirically analyzing the bibliometric data of scientific articles. The results indicate that an increasing number of countries are engaged in research on sustainability, with the proportion of articles published through international collaboration rising as well. The number of countries engaged in international collaboration on sustainability research has been increasing, and the diversity of countries engaged in research collaboration beyond national borders is also increasing. The geographical patterns of collaboration on sustainability show that research collaboration tends to be conducted between countries which are geographically located closely, suggesting that communication and information exchange might be limited within the regional clusters. The focused fields of research activities on sustainability are significantly different between countries, as each country has its focused fields of research related to sustainability. The specialization of research activities is also observed in international collaboration. While these patterns of international collaboration within regional clusters focusing on specific fields could be effective in promoting the creation, transmission, and sharing of knowledge on sustainability utilizing the already existing regional networks, they could pose a serious obstacle to collecting, exchanging, and integrating diverse types of knowledge, especially when it is necessary to deal with problems involving large-scale complex interactions with long-term implications, such as climate change. It would be of critical importance to establish inter-regional linkages by devising appropriate institutional arrangements for global research collaboration on sustainability science.     

Factor analysis of corporate environmental responsibility

Under the current situation of environmental pollution and resources shortage, the research of corporate environmental responsibility (CER) is of great importance to promote the sustainable development of society. The article adopts the perspective of the Stakeholder Theory and environmental management to make the empirical analysis of CER. Consequently designed questionnaire investigation is carried out among 30 Shanghai enterprises during 2007 and 2008. Through the correlation analysis, principal component analysis, factor ordering, and variables reappearance of key factors, seven key indexes are identified in the original 35 variables. This article aims to provide reference for enterprise environmental management and forwards the study of Corporate Social Responsibility.     

Social and ecological facets of pest management in Honduran subsistence agriculture: implications for IPM extension and natural resource management

In subsistence farming systems of the developing world, adoption of resource-conserving practices such as integrated pest management (IPM) is often strikingly low. This has partially been ascribed to researchers’ limited understanding of how technologies develop at the interface of the systems’ social and ecological components. In Honduras (Central America), there exists concern about limited adoption and diffusion of IPM technologies in certain smallholder production systems. In this study, we determine social and ecological drivers of IPM adoption in subsistence maize production in the country’s hillside environment. Honduran small-scale maize production is typified by a key insect pest (the fall armyworm, Spodoptera frugiperda) being partly kept at bay through action of a diverse natural enemy complex, including ants, social wasps, carabid beetles, and spiders. Local agricultural landscapes, primarily shaped through shifting cultivation, provide key resources to maintain this natural enemy diversity. These local ecological conditions and related natural enemy abundance strongly influence farmers’ agroecological knowledge and pest management practices. In the meantime, farmer practices are also affected by local communication networks, which help validate and spread IPM concepts and technologies. Based on our findings, we advocate a holistic approach to improve IPM extension through mapping of agroecological opportunities, visualization of regional patterns in farmer knowledge, and associated priority setting. Local IPM capacity could be built through institutional strengthening and adaptive comanagement, while IPM training should be linked with natural resource management initiatives. These approaches may eventually improve the way IPM is delivered to small-scale farmers who operate in the ecologically diverse environments of the tropics.     

A detailed look at the three disciplines,environmental ethics,law and education to determine which plays the most critical role in environmental enhancement and protection

Campaigns to mitigate environmental degradation problems have failed in recent years due to not only the inability to identify the actual causes of the problems but also the approach followed in addressing these problems. This study gives a detailed consideration to the roles played by environmental education, ethics and law in environmental enhancement and protection with the aim of identifying the one that has made the most progress toward reducing the impact of environmental problems. Knowledge of this is necessary as it will help determine the starting point of any environmental sustainability campaign and direct efforts toward this. The findings of this study show that the importance of the three disciplines in environmental enhancement and protection cannot be over-looked, and it identifies environmental ethics as both an interconnector of the other two disciplines and the force that propels them into action.     

Distribution of radionuclides in the guano sediments of Xisha Islands, South China Sea and its implication

Several natural and anthropogenic radionuclides (²¹⁰Pb, ²²⁶Ra and ¹³⁷Cs) in guano-phosphatic coral sediments and pure guano particles collected from Ganquan, Guangjin, Jinqing and Jinyin Islands of the Xisha archipelago, South China Sea, were analyzed. The Constant Initial Concentration (CIC) model and the Constant Rate of Supply (CRS) model were applied for age calculation. The average supply rate of ²¹⁰Pb was 126 Bq m⁻² a⁻¹, very close to the flux of northern hemisphere average (125 Bq m⁻² a⁻¹). The activities of anthropogenic radionuclides in the sediments were very low, indicating that human nuclear tests did not notably impact this region. The main source of radionuclides in the sediments was from atmospheric precipitation, and the organic matter derived from plant and produced by nutrient-rich guano could further enhance them.     

Impact of urban anthropogenic pollution on seed production,morphological and biochemical characteristics of chamomile,Matricaria chamomila L.

It has been shown that the growth of technogenic dust pollution is accompanied by the accumulation of heavy metals in soil and plant phytomass, compared to the control, and that the morphometric and reproductive characteristics of Matricaria chamomila are most sensitive to the impact of these pollutants. The response of plants is manifested in increased variation in morphological characters, mobilization of compensatory protective biochemical mechanisms, and production of more viable seed progeny.     

The structure of bumblebee communities (Hymenoptera,Apidae, Bombus spp.) in some ecosystems of Kunashir Island and Southern Sakhalin (Russian Far East)

The structure of bumblebee communities has been studied in some ecosystems of Kunashir Island and Southern Sakhalin. The island taxocenes include five to eight bumblebee species. Bombus hypnorum is dominant in the majority of habitats. In geothermal areas near hot springs on Kunashir, the families of this species develop more rapidly than in areas without geothermal heating.