Vegetation and carbon sequestration and their relation to water resources in an inland river basin of Northwest China

In the Heihe River Basin in the arid inland area of northwest China, the distribution of water resources in vegetation landscape zones controls the ecosystems. The carbon sequestration capacity of vegetation is analyzed in relation to water resources and vegetation growing conditions. During the last 20 years, the vegetation ecosystems have degenerated in the Heihe River Basin. Simulation using the C-FIX model indicates that, at present, the total amount of NPP of vegetation accounts for about 18.16 TgC, and the average value is 106 gC/m(2)/yr over the whole basin. NPP has generally the highest value in the upperstream mountain area, middlestream artificial oases area, downstream river bank area, alluvial fan and the terminal lake depression where vegetation grows relatively well. The lowest value is found in the vast downstream desert and Gobi area. Protection of vegetation ecosystems and enhancement of carbon sequestration require such inland river basins as the Heihe River Basin to be brought under management in a comprehensive way, taking water as a key, to carry out a rational and efficient allocation and utilization of water resources.     

Water Hyacinth in China: A Sustainability Science-Based Management Framework

The invasion of water hyacinth (Eichhornia crassipes) has resulted in enormous ecological and economic consequences worldwide. Although the spread of this weed in Africa, Australia, and North America has been well documented, its invasion in China is yet to be fully documented. Here we report that since its introduction about seven decades ago, water hyacinth has infested many water bodies across almost half of China’s territory, causing a decline of native biodiversity, alteration of ecosystem services, deterioration of aquatic environments, and spread of diseases affecting human health. Water hyacinth infestations have also led to enormous economic losses in China by impeding water flows, paralyzing navigation, and damaging irrigation and hydroelectricity facilities. To effectively control the rampage of water hyacinth in China, we propose a sustainability science-based management framework that explicitly incorporates principles from landscape ecology and Integrated Pest Management. This framework emphasizes multiple-scale long-term monitoring and research, integration among different control techniques, combination of control with utilization, and landscape-level adaptive management. Sustainability science represents a new, transdisciplinary paradigm that integrates scientific research, technological innovation, and socioeconomic development of particular regions. Our proposed management framework is aimed to broaden the currently dominant biological control-centered view in China and to illustrate how sustainability science can be used to guide the research and management of water hyacinth.     

Application of cavitational reactors for water disinfection: current status and path forward

Cavitational reactors are a novel and promising form of multiphase reactors, based on the principle of release of large magnitude of energy due to the violent collapse of the cavities. An overview of cavitational reactors in the specific area of water disinfection, in terms of the basic mechanism, different reactor designs including recommendations for optimum operating parameters and applicability of the cavitation phenomena for disinfection of different micro-organisms have been presented. A design of a pilot scale sonochemical reactor has been presented, which forms the basis for development of industrial scale reactors. Economic analysis for comparison of cavitation phenomena with other conventional techniques of disinfection has been discussed. It appears that though cavitation is quite successful in treatment of water at laboratory scale operations, comparatively higher cost of treatment as compared to the conventional chemical methods is a hindrance in its industrial scale application. Intensification of cavitational activity and efficient design of industrial scale hydrodynamic cavitation reactors is required for ensuring successful application of cavitational reactors at industrial scale operation.     

Assessment of the Water Quality and Ecosystem Health of the Great Barrier Reef (Australia): Conceptual Models

Run-off containing increased concentrations of sediment, nutrients, and pesticides from land-based anthropogenic activities is a significant influence on water quality and the ecologic conditions of nearshore areas of the Great Barrier Reef World Heritage Area, Australia. The potential and actual impacts of increased pollutant concentrations range from bioaccumulation of contaminants and decreased photosynthetic capacity to major shifts in community structure and health of mangrove, coral reef, and seagrass ecosystems. A detailed conceptual model underpins and illustrates the links between the main anthropogenic pressures or threats (dry-land cattle grazing and intensive sugar cane cropping) and the production of key contaminants or stressors of Great Barrier Reef water quality. The conceptual model also includes longer-term threats to Great Barrier Reef water quality and ecosystem health, such as global climate change, that will potentially confound direct model interrelationships. The model recognises that system-specific attributes, such as monsoonal wind direction, rainfall intensity, and flood plume residence times, will act as system filters to modify the effects of any water-quality system stressor. The model also summarises key ecosystem responses in ecosystem health that can be monitored through indicators at catchment, riverine, and marine scales. Selected indicators include riverine and marine water quality, inshore coral reef and seagrass status, and biota pollutant burdens. These indicators have been adopted as components of a long-term monitoring program to enable assessment of the effectiveness of change in catchment-management practices in improving Great Barrier Reef (and adjacent catchment) water quality under the Queensland and Australian Governments’ Reef Water Quality Protection Plan.     

城乡空置住房的识别、特征与成因——基于华北平原X县用电量等多源数据

对空置住房进行精准感知在国土空间规划中具有重要意义。基于华北X县2019年全县居民用电大数据构建了一种精准的空置识别和空置率计算模型。结果显示：该县出现过空置的住房占比高达33.81%,年空置率为21.64%;月空置率在一年中随月份小幅规律波动,波谷出现在2月和8月,波峰出现在5月和11月;村空置率具有空间自相关属性,县城为空置率高值集聚区;全年性空置为1931种空置节律模式中最主要的一种。将空置成因归纳为举家迁移和入城团聚等新流动模式促使全年空置和春节空置增多;扩展家庭内部住房过滤引发老旧住房空置;县城住房城镇化导致中心城区出现空置。应重视空置识别在国土空间规划中的基础作用,客观看待乡村住房空置现象,高度警惕县城的高空置率问题。     

中国冰雪资源高质量开发：理论审视、实践转向与挑战应对

推动冰雪资源高质量开发,是实现联合国可持续发展目标的新路径与新模式,是践行“两山理论”的重要环节,也是落实全民健身国家战略、助力体育强国建设的重要手段。在实际建设的理论指导层面,社会学所倡导的幸福感理论明确了冰雪资源高质量开发的终极目标,资源经济学的资源价值理论为冰雪资源的价值认识及价格核算提供了科学工具,地理学的人地关系理论是探究空间分异规律及人地系统耦合路径的理论基石。基于我国冰雪资源开发实践的系列转变及现实挑战,提出我国冰雪资源高质量开发的实现路径,即坚持观念创新的发展方式、多重协调的发展要求、积极开放的发展理念以及主客共赢的发展目标。     

长三角区域一体化高质量发展：问题与出路

长三角一体化高质量发展对于中国经济行稳致远有着不言而喻的重要意义。为了科学全面认识新时代长三角一体化高质量发展中存在的问题,厘清未来的发展出路,邀请来自不同领域的相关专家就长三角一体化高质量发展中的区域协调、产业协同、交通组织、城镇体系演变、跨区合作、要素配置、流域统筹、一体化路径、绿色低碳发展等研究前沿进行访谈。访谈结果表明：长三角作为我国经济发展最活跃、开放程度最高、创新能力最强的区域,其发展中仍然存在内部发展不平衡、区间交通割裂、行政壁垒尚存、流域生态协作不健全、产业协同发展不足、绿色经济体系较弱等突出问题。长三角在中国乃至世界发展格局中的战略地位,需要综合各学科各专业的理论知识,从不同视角持续关注长三角一体化高质量发展的重大科学命题。紧扣“一体化”和“高质量”,长三角一体化首先要创新机制缩小区域内部发展差异,强化综合交通一体化的基础支撑,更要突破行政边界的制约;其次要创新机制体制来保障生产要素的有效流动与配置,通过价值链、产业链、创新链的融合发展来夯实一体化;再次要促进土地要素向长三角集中使用,提高长三角地区土地承载能力,为长三角区域一体化高质量发展提供充足的土地要素保证;然后要优化人口就业空间结构,加强城际间环境污染联防联治,强化大江大河等重大流域的省际统筹与合作,共同提升长三角的生态系统服务功能,推动绿色一体化发展;最后更要贯彻五大新发展理念,通过科研突破与市场机制来实现低碳发展,在创新驱动引领下打造流空间世界级枢纽,以实现长三角区域一体化高质量发展的新局面。以上观点为长三角区域一体化高质量发展提供科学可行的理论和决策支持。     

基于安全格局理论的国土空间规划冲突协调途径

为解决国土空间面临的城市蔓延、乡村空心化、环境退化等系统性问题,国土空间规划需要整合出于各部门利益最大化制定的、时常是相互冲突的规划方案,实现“多规合一”。基于安全格局理论提出协调规划冲突的途径,包括：（1）在认识层面,将国土空间规划视为理性过程,利用最小—最大约束途径制定可辩护的规划方案,通过空间博弈协调对有限土地的竞争、寻求各方均可接受的结果;（2）在操作层面,首先识别作为保障自身目标、协调各方利益依据的安全格局,然后据此对空间用途进行谈判。实践中需要建立协调规划冲突的制度机制,并在多方博弈中优先考虑处于劣势的生态和自然资产,通过建立生态安全格局和生态基础设施提供综合生态系统服务,再造秀美河山。     

生态文明时代国土空间规划理论与技术方法创新

国土空间规划是现代国家实施国土空间治理的重要手段,是为实现特定战略意图而进行的理性设计,规划的编制实施理念会随时代的发展而变化。为了解生态文明时代国土空间规划理论与技术方法创新,特邀请本领域的五位知名专家就国土空间规划和治理的价值导向、目标追求、重点任务、实施路径和主要领域等开展访谈。专家认为：（1）国土空间规划需要用更高的整体利益原则去处理个体利益之间的失衡,在整体利益的指引下提升特定利益的最大化和保证其他利益的最起码满足。（2）国土空间规划和治理的目标不是单纯追求“地理的普遍繁荣”,而是需要重视追求“人民的普遍幸福”,营造宜居宜业的高品质国土空间。（3）国土空间规划需要统筹安全与发展,合理适度开发利用自然资源,推动实现人与自然和谐共生。（4）需要以核心都市圈为支点,主要城市群为平台,打造宜居城市、韧性城市、智慧城市,建立高质量的城市生态系统和安全系统,重塑中国经济地理格局。（5）城市,特别是大城市是国土空间规划和治理的重点地区,需要通过拓展对城市多元属性的认知、系统研判大城市空间治理的问题与成因,完善大城市治理的逻辑。通过专家访谈,可以看出国土空间规划本质上是对空间关系的重建与重构,需要协调人地关系,推动实现人与自然和谐共生;需要处理好多元主体的利益关系,实现社会和谐;还需要尊重山水林田湖草沙生命共同体、城市有机体等不同层级国土空间单元的运行规律,维护和修复各要素之间的联系和作用机制。     

英国机遇区规划对中国国土空间规划的启示

随着中国城镇化步入中后期发展阶段,以及空间规划改革与高质量发展的时代背景下,城市更新是存量时代城市空间可持续发展的关键议题。但目前还存在着城市更新在国土空间规划体系中定位不清晰等问题,如何更好地推动新时代国土空间规划衔接和融入城市更新,作为解决城市病、进行城市空间治理的有效手段亟待探索。简要梳理城市更新研究进展,以英国伦敦的大型城市更新规划—机遇区规划作为典型案例,分析机遇区规划的概念内涵、演变过程及不同类型,重点解析以金融和创新产业为重点的商业发展型、以维护和延续历史风貌为重点的文化旅游型、以棕地修复和发展绿色产业为重点的工业发展型等三种具有代表性典型机遇区规划项目。在此基础上,提出英国伦敦机遇区更新规划对中国国土空间规划的启示：在五级三类国土空间规划体系中明确城市更新的定位及编制要求与标准;以城市更新为抓手,促进城市存量空间人居环境质量与社会公平和谐;对不同类型城市以及城市不同类型地块,均需因地制宜地构建差异化的城市更新策略;借鉴基于自然的解决方案,尊重城市区域的自然资源本底和地理属性特征;延续城市历史文脉,挖掘打造地方性、有特色的城市精神。