Analysis of Ecosystem Service Trade-Offs and Synergies in Ulansuhai Basin

Quantifying the trade-offs and synergies among ecosystem services (ESs) and exploring their spatial scale effects are essential to guide sustainable and diversified ecosystem management. This study systematically analyzed the trade-offs and synergies between seven ESs, including water purification (WP), carbon storage (CS), habitat quality (HQ), net primary productivity (NPP), soil conservation (SC), water conservation (WC), and water yield (WY) using self-organizing feature map methods. Further, we used geographically weighted regression to quantify the effect of spatial scales (county and sub-watershed) on the trade-offs and synergies (bundles) of ESs and their spatial distribution in the Huaihe river basin from 2000 to 2020. The results indicated that (1) from 2000 to 2020, WP, NPP, and WC showed an upward trend, with the most significant increase in WC (an average increase of 15.03 mm). CS and HQ showed a downward trend. (2) The relationship between CS, HQ, NPP, SC, and WC was synergistic at both County and sub-watershed scales, and there was a substantial trade-off between WP and WY. from 2000 to 2020, the average correlation coefficients at the county scale and the sub-watershed scale were − 0.546 and − 0.434 respectively (p < 0.001). the synergy between CS, HQ, NPP, SC, and WC mainly occurred in mountainous and hilly areas, while the trade-off between WP and other ESs mainly appeared in the central plains. The relationship between WP and other ESs developed in the trade-off direction, and the other ES optimized in the collaborative direction. In terms of spatial distribution, the synergy area between most ESs is larger than the trade-off area, and the synergy area between HQ-NPP and WC-WY at the county scale is significantly larger than that at the sub-watershed scale. The average synergy area of each ES pair at the county scale is 20.48% larger than that at the sub-watershed scale. (3) Different ecosystem combinations provided six and eight ES bundles that differed in ES composition and quantity at the county and sub-watershed scales. The key synergetic bundle in the Southern Tongbai Dabie mountain is shrinking, which is more evident at the sub-watershed scale. the discovered spatial patterns, dynamics, and scale effects of ecosystem services provide helpful baseline information for exploring sustainable ecosystem management and cross-scale planning strategies in the Huaihe river basin.

The commercial residential industry has high added value and comprehensive economic benefit so the commercial residential industry is naturally a hot-spot issue. The core issue of the commercial housing is the price. This thesis conducts the descriptive statistic analysis of residential real estate prices, urban resident income and other relevant data in China’s 30 provinces (excluding Tibet) from 1998 to 2006. The change trend and the difference feature of both the residential real estate price and the urban resident income in those regions are revealed, which is expected to make a contribution to the macro-control in China’s real estate. In recent years, the real estate market in China is growing rapidly. On the one hand, it plays a vital role in both promoting the national economic growth and improving the living standards of urban residents. On the other hand, some problems in the development of China’s current real estate market have been fully exposed, such as the overheated investment, the unbalance in supply and demand, insufficient financing channels, soaring property prices and so on. In particular, the rapid growth in the housing price has brought challenges to the sound development in both China’s real estate market and the whole national economy and it has also become a hot-spot and difficult issue in the current academia. Such relevant research as whether the rapid growth of China’s housing prices has become disjointed with resident income seriously or not and what the rules of the changes in income and housing prices in China’s different regions are is realistically significant for guiding the micro-control in China’s real estate. I. Index Selection and Disposal of Comparability The samples selected in this thesis are composed of the fluctuating residential real estate prices in China’s 30 provinces (excluding Tibet) from 1998 to 2006, urban resident income and other relevant panel data that are from various years of China Statistical Yearbook. The data of the real estate prices adopts the real estate prices in urban areas. The income indexes adopt the annual per capita disposable income of urban residents. In order to remove the impacts of the price and make indexes of various types had comparability in time series, the disposal of comparability has been conducted in indexes of different types in the thesis and their present value has been turned into the value of the constant price, namely, on the basis of the constant price in 1998, the concrete calculation method is that the housing price is deflated by the housing sales price index and the disposable income is deflated by the consumer price index of urban residents. II. Analysis of Commercial Housing Price Variance among Provinces According to the average housing prices and their growth rates in provinces from 1998 to 2006, thirty provinces, cities and autonomous regions across the country can be divided into three types in accordance with the mean and the growth rate of their average housing prices. It’s found that the provinces, cities and autonomous regions of the three types also have common in geographic areas so they can be divided into such three regions as the eastern region, the central region and the western region on the basis of their geographic areas. For the regional division of the average housing price in China, Figure 1 compares the changes in the average housing prices in the central, western and eastern regions from 1998 to 2006. It’s found that the average housing price in the east is prominently higher than those in the western and International Conference on Education Technology, Management and Humanities Science (ETMHS 2015) © 2015. The authors Published by Atlantis Press 1100 central regions and the trend of its average housing prices is on the rise. In particular, the rising trend of the average housing prices is obvious after 2004. The changes in the average housing prices in eastern and western regions are comparatively similar. However, the average prices in the central region are rising slowly while for the western region, a small decline also appears in its slightly rising process. Besides, the average housing prices in the eastern region surpass those in the western region after 2004. III. Analysis of the Differences in the Income Change among Regions Figure 1: Changes in the housing prices in the central, eastern and western regions Figure 2: Changes in the income in the central, eastern and western regions For the regional division of the average housing price in China, Figure 2 compares the changes in the income in the central, western and eastern regions from 1998 to 2006. It’s found that the per capita income in the east is prominently higher than those in the western and central regions and its trend is uniformly on the rise.

Based on the cost-benefit data (1980–2002) of farm products and China Agriculture Yearbooks, this paper studies the regional disparity in the changes of the agricultural land use in China during the period 1980–2002 from three aspects such as the degree of intensity, the sown area and the abandoned farmland. The results show that: (1) The degree of intensity of land use in the western region during 1980–2000 has a strong uptrend, but in the eastern and central regions the degree of intensity descends obviously and has shown a continuous downtrend since 1997. (2) The total sown area shrinks notably in the eastern region, while it enlarges constantly in the western region. (3) The sown area in the eastern, central and western regions has gone through a similar cyclic process: down (1980–1985)-up (1985–1991)-down (1991–1994)-up (1994–1999)-down (1999–2002). However, there are obvious differences in amplitude variation and tendency among them. The sown area has shrunk in the eastern region and expanded in the central and western regions especially before 1999. (4) The most cases of abandoned farmland are reported in the central region, the second in the eastern region and the least in the western region. The abandonment phenomena chiefly occurred during 1992–1995 in the eastern region, and during 1998–2002 in the central region.

The changes and interrelationships of ecosystem services at different global and regional scales have been actively investigated. Clarifying the trade-offs and synergies between ecosystem services from a multi-scale scientific perspective is vital to improve the coordinated and sustainable development of the watershed and ecological protection. As an important ecological barrier region of the Yellow River Basin, the Henan section provides a variety of important ecosystem services. This study analyzes the characteristics of land use changes in the Yellow River Basin (Henan section) from 1990 to 2020. Based on the InVEST model, four ecosystem services-water production, soil conservation, carbon storage and food supply have been evaluated. The Spearman correlation coefficient was used to further reveal the spatial and temporal characteristics of the trade-offs and synergies at different levels of each service. The results showed that: (1) From 1990 to 2020, the basin was dominated by farmland conservation. The construction land area mainly exhibited an inflow behavior, while other land use types were mainly related to outflow. (2) From 1990 to 2020, the water yield, soil conservation and carbon storage first increased and then decreased, while food supply gradually increased. The spatial distribution of these ecosystem services was lower in the southwest and slightly higher in the northeast and farmland had the highest capacity of water production and food supply, while woodland had the highest capacity for soil conservation and carbon storage. (3) The Spearman rank correlation coefficient indicated that the trade-offs for the ecosystem services in the Yellow River Basin (Henan section) dominated before 2000, and the synergies gradually strengthened after 2000. (4) There were clear spatial heterogeneities in the ecosystem services of the basin; for instance, the functions in the middle and lower reaches of the Yellow River Basin (Henan section) were mainly trade-offs, while the higher elevations in the middle reaches exhibited synergistic relationships. This study aims to clarify the trade-offs and synergies between ecosystem services at the different levels. Based on our findings, countermeasures and suggestions for ecological protection and management are proposed to promote the coordinated development of social economy and ecological protection.

This research measures the green economic efficiency (GEE) of 30 regions in China from 2009 to 2021 and verifies the financial agglomeration and environmental regulation impacts on GEE with the Tobit model. The conclusions are as follows: (1) The average GEE value in China is 0.596—which is still at a low level—and is highest in the eastern region and lowest in the western region. (2) Financial agglomeration can promote GEE in the whole country, in both the eastern and western regions; however, the western region effect is very low. In the central region, due to the “siphon effect” produced by the eastern region, the financial resources concentrated in the east thus suppress GEE. Environmental regulation inhibits GEE nationally and in the western region while showing a promotion effect in the eastern and central regions, but it is not significant in the central region. (3) Industrial structures inhibit GEE nationally and in the central and western regions, while industrial structures promote GEE in the eastern region; the GDP (gross domestic product) per capita also inhibits GEE nationally and in the central and western regions and promotes GEE in the eastern region. Government intervention inhibits green economic development in all regions, and urbanization inhibits GEE nationally and in the central and western regions while promoting GEE in the eastern region.

This paper adopts the super-efficient DEA (data envelopment analysis) model to measure the forestry eco-efficiency (FECO) of 30 Chinese provinces and cities from 2008 to 2021, and then introduces the Tobit model to explore the influencing factors of FECO to better understand the sustainable development level of forestry. It draws the following conclusions: (1) The average value of FECO in China is 0.504, which is still at a low level, and the FECO of each region has significant regional heterogeneity; the provinces with higher FECO are mainly concentrated in the eastern region, while the FECO of the central and western regions is lower; (2) In terms of the main factors affecting FECO in China, the regression coefficients of market-based environmental regulations are significantly positive in the national, eastern and central regions, while they are significantly negative in the western region. The coefficient of impact of scientific research funding investment on forestry industry eco-efficiency is negative and shows a significant promotion effect in the eastern region, but the elasticity coefficient in the central and western regions is negative but not significant. Economic development has a positive but insignificant effect on FECO, with the eastern region showing a positive correlation, while the central and western regions are insignificant. Industrial structure has a significant negative effect on FECO in the national, eastern and central regions, but the effect of industrial structure on FECO in the western region is not significant. The effect of foreign direct investment on FECO was negative for the national, central and western regions, but the central region did not pass the significance test, while the eastern region reflected a significant promotion effect.

Global warming caused by greenhouse gas emissions seriously threatens a region’s sustainable environmental and socioeconomic development. Promoting industrial restructuring and strengthening technological innovation have become an important path to achieving pollution and carbon reduction as well as the green transformation of economic structure. This paper explored the mechanism of the mediating effect of technological innovation on industrial restructuring and carbon reduction while accounting for the direct effect of industrial restructuring on carbon emissions. Then, based on China’s provincial panel data from 2001 to 2019, we estimated the carbon emission intensity using the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC)’s methods and analyzed its spatiotemporal evolution characteristics. Finally, we constructed a fixed-effect model and a mediating effect model to empirically analyze how industrial restructuring and technological innovation affect carbon emission intensity. The results are as follows: (1) From 2001 to 2019, China’s carbon emission intensity showed a continuous downward trend, with a pronounced convergence trend; there were obvious differences in carbon emission intensity between eastern, central, and western regions (western region > central region > eastern region) due to the unbalanced industrial structure. (2) In terms of direct effects, industrial restructuring can significantly reduce carbon emission intensity. The intensity of the effect is inversely proportional to the level of industrial restructuring, and the results of sub-regional tests are similar. Nevertheless, there is an obvious regional difference in the size of the carbon emission reduction effect of industrial restructuring in the east, central, and western regions. (3) In terms of indirect effects, industrial restructuring can reduce carbon emission intensity by enhancing technological innovation, and it acts as a mediating variable in the process of industrial restructuring to reduce carbon emission. Finally, we put forward recommendations for promoting industrial restructuring, strengthening green technological innovation, and properly formulating carbon reduction measures to provide a reference for countries and regions to achieve the goals of carbon neutrality, carbon peaking, and high-quality economic development.

从多尺度科学地研究流域各生态系统服务间的权衡与协同关系，对流域实现经济发展与生态保护双重目标具有重要研究意义。运用InVEST模型模拟评估产水量、水质净化、土壤保持、碳存储、生物多样性维持和授粉等6类区域关键生态系统服务，并通过热点分析、相关分析和主成分分析，定量分析自改革开放以来（1980-2018年）这些生态系统服务的时空变化及其在不同尺度上的权衡关系。结果表明：（1）南四湖流域产水服务呈上升趋势，而水质净化、土壤保持、碳储存、生境质量、授粉等服务则总体呈下降趋势。（2）研究区东部林地和草地广布，是碳存储、生境质量和授粉服务的高值区，而建设用地分布的地区是产水量和土壤保持服务的高值区。（3）产水量与水质净化服务之间呈权衡关系，水质净化与生境质量、碳存储与授粉之间则存在较强的协同关系。（4）在子流域尺度上主要是存在着供给服务（产水量）与调节服务（水质净化和土壤保持）、供给服务（产水量）与支持服务（生境质量）之间的空间权衡关系；在县域尺度上，供给服务、调节服务与支持服务（产水量、水质净化、碳存储、生境质量和授粉）之间主要是空间协同关系，两个尺度之间具有较大差异。研究结果可为管理者在合适的空间尺度上制定相应的政策提供科学支撑，促进南四湖流域生态环境和社会经济协同发展。;It is important to create a win-win situation on both economic development and ecological protection. For better ecological management and protection in the future, it is essential to identify the trade-offs and synergies of multiple ecosystem services (ESs) at differently spatial scales. The relationships of ESs varied over time and spatial scales, it is important to study the spatio-temporal dynamics of relationships to realize the trends of ESs change and determine appropriate scale to manage. However, the spatio-temporal dynamics of ESs relationships in the Chinese large basin remain a challenge, as information on adaptable unit to ESs management is often insufficient. Therefore, the purpose of this research is to identify relationships of ESs on sub-watershed and county scales. Six key ESs in Nansihu Basin were selected to simulate and evaluate by InVEST (Integrated Valuation of Ecosystem Services and Tradeoffs) model since the reform and opening-up (1980-2018), which included water yield (WY), water purification (WP), sediment delivery ratio (SDR), carbon storage (CS), habitat quality (HQ), and crop pollination (CP). In this paper, the spatial distributions of six ESs were analyzed and the hotspots of each ES were identified by hot spot analysis in ArcGIS 10.2. Moreover, the spatial and temporal dynamics of relationships among six ESs were analyzed through correlation and principal component analyses via the correlation and principal component analyses. And further analyses were performed on different scales to the relations. The results displayed as follow:(1) in the Nansi Lake Basin, the WY was increasing from 1980 to 2018, while WP, SDR, CS, HQ and CP were decreasing during this periods. (2) The land use types in eastern basin were mainly forest and grassland, which possessed high levels of CS, HQ and CP. The areas with construction land suggested high levels of WY and SDR. (3) There was a significant trade-off relationship between WY and WP, as well as strongly synergetic relationships between WP and HQ, CS, CP occurred in the basin. (4) There was a great difference in relationships between sub-watershed and county scale. Trade-offs mainly occurred between the provisioning service (such as WY) vs the regulating services (such as WP and SDR) and provisioning service (such as WY) vs the supporting service (such as HQ) on sub-watershed scale. While on the county scale, there was a synergetic relationship between the provisioning service and regulating services vs supporting services (such as WY, WP, CS, HQ, CP). Our research provided an assessment framework to spatio-temporal dynamics of ESs relationships, which suggested that sub-watershed unit was suitable for ecological management. Based on the results of different spatial scales, this research provided scientific support for managers to formulate corresponding strategies at appropriate spatial scale and promote eco-economic coordinated development in the Nansihu Lake Basin.

Objective: To assess the mortality attributable to low fruit intake among people over 25 years old in China, 2013, and its effect on life expectancy. Methods: Based on data collected from China Chronic Disease and Risk Factor Surveillance in 2013, the average fruit intake in different genders and areas were calculated. Potential impact fraction (PIF) was used to examine the impact on deaths, mortality and life expectancy. Results: The average daily fruit intake was (113.3±168.9) g among people over 25 years old, with (103.6±160.1) g for men and (122.7±176.6) g for women, in China in 2013. Fruit intake for urban residents was significantly higher than that in rural residents and higher in eastern regions than that in central or western regions. Scores that attributable to low fruit intake accounted for 15.21% of the total deaths and the population attributable fraction of inadequate intake of fruits to associated diseases was 35.00%. PIF for all the deaths in rural residents (16.50%) appeared higher than that of the urban residents (13.88%), and higher in the residents living in the eastern region (15.48%) than that in the central (16.27%) or western (13.75%) regions. Number of deaths that attributable to low fruit intake was 1.348 4 million. Deaths caused by related diseases appeared as: ischemic heart disease (472.5 thousands), hemorrhagic stroke (338.8 thousands), ischemic stroke (259.0 thousands), lung cancer (208.4 thousands), esophageal cancer (60.7 thousands), laryngeal cancer (5.4 thousands) and oral cancer (3.6 thousands). Numbers of all deaths and related diseases for urban residents were lower than that of the rural residents, with central regions (452.7 thousands) higher than that in the eastern (531.1 thousands) or western (364.6 thousands) regions. The average life expectancy loss caused by low fruit intake was 1.73 years, 1.80 years for men and 1.58 years for women, in this country. Loss of life expectancy in the rural residents was higher than that of the urban residents, and higher in central regions than that in the eastern or western regions. Conclusions: The intake of fruit was far lower than the recommended standard set for the Chinese people. Population attributable fraction was related to the associated diseases caused by inadequate intake of fruits which also made serious impact on life expectancy.

Ecosystem services are directly related to human well-being. Previous studies showed that management policies and human activities alter the trade-offs and synergies of ecosystem services. Taking effective measures to manage the trade-offs and synergies of ecosystem services is essential to sustain ecological security and achieve a “win-win” situation between society and ecosystems. This study investigated the spatiotemporal changes of water yield, soil conservation, and carbon sequestration in the Jiulianshan National Nature Reserve from 2000 to 2020 based on the InVEST model. We distinguished spatial patterns of trade-offs and synergies between ecosystem services using the correlation relationship analysis. Then we analyzed the response of ecosystem services relationships among different vegetation types and elevation bands. The results showed that water yield and carbon sequestration presented an overall upward trend, while soil conservation remained a marginal degradation. Rising ecosystem services were mainly in the central, western, and southeastern regions, and declining areas were mainly distributed in the midwestern and northeastern fringes. Synergies spatially dominated the interactions among water yield, soil conservation, and carbon sequestration, and the trade-offs were primarily concentrated in the northern, southern, and southwestern fringes. Among the different vegetation types, synergies dominated ecosystem services in broad-leaved forests, coniferous forests, mixed forests, and Moso bamboo forests and in grass. The trade-offs were gradually reduced with elevation. This study highlighted that trade-off of ecosystem services should be incorporated into ecological management policies, strengthening the effectiveness of nature reserves in protecting and improving China’s ecosystem services.

With the continuous development of the economy and society, the demand for land space for human survival has also increased, which means that the pressure on ecosystem services has also been unprecedentedly high, leading to serious problems such as ecological environment deterioration and system function decline, resulting in fierce conflicts between ecological environment protection and human social development. Therefore, the relationship between ecosystem services and economic and social development has become a hot research topic in the field of land ecology. Jiaozuo City is also facing the problem of ecological degradation. In order to achieve coordinated development of ecology, society, and economy, this article analyzes the spatiotemporal changes in land use/cover in Jiaozuo City from 1995 to 2020. The InVEST model is used to evaluate four types of ecosystem services in Jiaozuo City: water production, carbon storage, soil conservation, and nutrient output; Summarize and summarize the spatiotemporal distribution characteristics and evolution laws of ecosystem services, and explore the trade-off and synergistic relationships between ecosystem service functions and their driving factors. The research results indicate that: (1) The main types of land use/cover in Jiaozuo City are arable land (64.5%), forest land (approximately 9.9%), grassland (1.1%), water area (0.6%), and construction land (23.8%). The changes in land use types are relatively small. (2) From 1995 to 2020, the biomass and spatial distribution evolution of the four ecosystem services in Jiaozuo City varied. There are significant interannual differences in water production services, and the spatial distribution of water production in the western region is lower than that in the eastern region. The southern region is lower than the northern region. The interannual variation of nutrient (phosphorus) output is relatively small, and the spatial distribution pattern varies greatly, showing a high and low value clustering distribution pattern. The interannual difference in soil conservation is relatively small. The interannual differences in carbon storage are small, and the annual spatial distribution is irregular. (3) Each ecosystem service is influenced by different natural and social influencing factors, and the contribution rate of natural factors is higher than that of social factors. There is a significant difference in the output capacity of ecosystem services among different land uses/covers, which directly affects the total amount and spatial distribution of ecosystem services. The ecological status of Jiaozuo City is worrying. In the future socio-economic development process, reasonable planning of land use should be carried out to vigorously ensure the parallel and healthy development of social economy and ecological environment.

To analyze the intakes of main food among the children of 6-17 years in different regions of China from 2019 to 2021, and to provide a scientific basis for evaluation and guiding Chinese children to make reasonable diet. Multistage stratified random sampling method was used to collect data in east China, north China, central China, south China, southwest, northwest and northeast seven areas of each random two provinces, randomly selected from each province one urban survey site and one rural survey site, 28 sites of the 13th Five Year National Science and Technology Basic Resources Survey Project-Chinese children aged 0-18 investigation and application of nutrition and health system in 14 provinces of China. The study included 6413 children aged 6 to 17. Three consecutive 24-hour recalls method combined with weighing were used to collect the information of food intake. According to the food classification in the standard version of the food composition list, the food was divided into cereals, tubers, fresh vegetables, fresh fruits, meat and poultry, fish and shrimp, eggs, milk, etc. , and the intake of various foods was calculated for boys and girls aged 6-8, 9-11, 12-14 and 15-17 in different regions. Compared with the average daily food intake of children of the same sex and age in the urban and rural, The average daily intake of cereals and tubers for boys aged 9-17, cereals for girls aged 9-17, tubers for girls aged 12-17, and fish and shrimp for boys of edible population aged 15-17 were higher in rural areas than in urban areas. There were differences in the average daily food intake and consumption rate of fresh vegetables, fresh fruits, meat and poultry, eggs and milk of the same sex and age, which were higher in urban than in rural areas(P&lt;0.05). Compared with the average daily food intake of children of the same sex and age in the south and the north, the average daily intake of cereals and eggs for boys aged 9-14, cereals for girls aged 6-8, and fresh fruits for boys and girls of edible population aged 6-17 were higher in the north than in the south. There were differences in average daily intake and consumption rates of tubers, fresh vegetables, meat and poultry, milk and fish and shrimp of the same sex and age, which were higher in the south than in the north(P&lt;0.05). Compared with the average daily food intake of children of the same sex and age in the eastern, central and western regions, the average daily intake of cereals for boys aged 6-14, cereals for girls aged 6-17, fresh fruits for boys and girls of edible population aged 6-17, and fish and shrimp for boys and girls of edible population aged 15-17 were lower in the eastern region than in the central and western regions. The average daily intake of tubers for boys aged 9-11 and 15-17, for girls aged 9-17 were higher in the western regions than the eastern and central regions. The average daily intake of eggs for boys and girls aged 12-17 was lower in western regions than the eastern and central regions. There were differences in average daily intake and consumption rates of fresh vegetables, meat and poultry and milk of the same sex and age, which were higher in the eastern region than in the central and western regions. (P&lt;0.05). The proportion of coarse grains to cereals was low, between 3.7% and 10.1%. The proportion of pork to meat and poultry was high, between 56.1% and 71.4%. In China, there are differences in daily intake of main food for children aged 6 to 17 years old in urban and rural areas, north and south areas, east, central and west areas.

Promoting green development and promoting harmonious coexistence between humans and nature are strategic tasks for the construction of ecological civilization in China in the new era. Currently, the growing environmental governance investment in China has not performed well, and the low efficiency of environmental governance has become the main problem facing the development of ecological civilization in China. Therefore, it is of great practical significance to scientifically measure the efficiency of environmental governance and improve the efficiency of environmental governance input factors to achieve green development and overcome the difficulties in the construction of ecological civilization. In this study, an improved three-stage SBM model and cloud model combined with the Theory of production, life, and ecology were used to measure the environmental governance efficiency of 27 provinces in China from 2003 to 2020 and conduct in-depth analysis and evaluation. The results show that: First, the influence of random error factors and external environmental conditions on the efficiency of rural domestic sewage treatment in China is significant. Their existence will underestimate the environmental governance efficiency in the central and western regions of China and overestimate the environmental governance efficiency in the eastern regions of China, except for Hainan Province. Second, after excluding the influence of random errors and external environment conditions, the adjusted efficiency mean value of the central and western regions significantly increases, while the environmental governance efficiency of most provinces in the eastern region, except for Hainan Province, decreases significantly. Third, the overall environmental governance efficiency of the 27 provinces in China still presents a situation wherein the western region is ranked first in efficiency, the eastern region ranks second, and the central region ranks third. The environmental governance efficiency of the 27 provinces shows a “large at both ends, small in the middle” and “low efficiency in the eastern and central regions, and instability in the western region” state, and there is a large difference in the degree of environmental governance efficiency among the various provinces. In this regard, for the eastern and central regions, special attention should be paid to their government’s transformation of development thinking, placing greater emphasis on balanced and coordinated development between urbanization, industrialization, and the environment. As for the western region, due to its harsh environmental conditions, it attaches more importance to environmental governance. However, efforts should be made to strengthen its economic development to ensure sufficient provision of material conditions such as infrastructure and equipment required for environmental governance in order to achieve stable environmental governance efficiency in the western region. For the central region, both the economy and the environment need to be further strengthened.

The establishment of national parks is a critical measure for natural ecological protection in China, significantly contributing to biodiversity conservation and regional sustainable development. However, the analysis of temporal-spatial variations in ecosystem services within national parks, along with the factors influencing these variations, remains largely overlooked. This gap limits the effectiveness of ecological protection and refined management in these parks. Using Hainan Tropical Rainforest National Park (HTRNP) as a case study, this study integrates geospatial analysis ArcGIS with the InVEST model to evaluate the regulating ecosystem services (RESs) from 2000 to 2020 at 5-year intervals. The analysis examines the temporal evolution patterns and spatial distribution of RESs, utilizing LightGBM to identify the primary driving factors of these services. The findings reveal the following: (1) Temporally, the RESs exhibit significant fluctuations, with a trend of “initial decline followed by a subsequent rise”. Climate regulation services accounted for the highest proportion at 61.4%, followed by water conservation and soil retention. (2) Spatially, the RESs in the eastern and central regions are slightly higher than those in the western region, demonstrating consistency across different years. The RESs in HTRNP show a strong spatial clustering effect (Moran’s I &amp;gt; 0.5, Z &amp;gt; 2.58), with spatial hotspots (H-H) in the eastern and central regions, and spatial cold spots (L-L) in the western and northern regions. (3) In terms of driving factors, natural factors, including annual precipitation (PRE) and annual potential evapotranspiration (PET) alongside socio-economic factors such as land use and land cover (LULC) and the Human Footprint Index (HFI), make the highest marginal contributions to RESs. Specifically, RESs demonstrate the strongest correlation with LULC, a positive correlation with PRE, and negative correlations with PET and HFI. This study explores the dynamic changes and influencing factors of RESs, providing a scientific guideline for future ecological planning and effective management decisions within HTRNP.

Informal green spaces (IGS) such as overgrown vacant lots and urban brownfields constitute a considerable amount of green resources in the city. Given that the increasingly competitive land use of the urban area, enhancing the potential ecosystem services (ES) of IGS through design and management practices is of critical importance. This literature review paper provides an overview of ES delivered by urban IGS: What types of IGS have been discussed? Which ES have been identified in IGS, what interrelationships among different types of ES have been identified, and how can the potential of IGS be enhanced by urban design practices? 112 scientific papers were analyzed for their 1) IGS terms applied, 2) ES studied, 3) current or potential ES discussed, 4) ES trade-offs, and 5) ES assessment methods. Through the review, we found that although different types of ES have been identified in IGS, most studies did not consider ES synergies and trade-offs. The few studies assessing trade-offs of ES in IGS mostly focused on large-scale IGS such as urban brownfields rather than on small-scale IGS such as vacant lands/lots. The literature review highlights two knowledge gaps for future research: the first one is to explore the design and management knowledge that integrate multiple ES in small-scale IGS based on the assessment of potential ES trade-offs and synergies; the second one is to develop the spatial assessment of ES trade-offs and synergies, which is the key to envision design and management interventions that optimize the benefits of IGS. The literature review promotes the acknowledgement of the term IGS through highlighting their value in ES provisioning and further outlines future research directions on small-scale IGS such as vacant lands/lots and patches of spontaneous vegetation.