Integration through Law in the Guangdong–Hong Kong–Macao Greater Bay Area

With global warming, coastal areas are exposed to multiple climate-related hazards. Understanding the facts and attribution of regional climate change in coastal communities is a frontier science challenge. In this study, we focus on fact analysis of multi-scale climate changes in the Guangdong–Hong Kong–Macao Greater Bay area (GBA) and around the Baltic Sea area (BSA). We selected three Asian stations from the GBA in South China (Guangzhou, Hong Kong, and Macao) and five European stations around the Baltic Sea (Stockholm, Haparanda A, Vestervig, Poznan, and Frankfurt) from four countries in the BSA as representative stations, which have more than 100- or 150-year datasets. Based on the ensemble empirical mode decomposition (EEMD) and Mann–Kendall methods, this study focuses on the multi-scale temperature and precipitation fluctuation and mutation analysis in the past. The multi-scale analyses show that there are four time-scale changes in both areas. They are the inter-annual scale, inter-decadal scale, centennial scale, and trend, but the lengths of different timescales vary in both regions, especially the inter-decadal scale and centennial scale. For temperature, the inter-annual scales show the same results, with 2–4 and 7–9 a in both the GBA and BSA. In the GBA, the inter-decadal scales are 10–14, 30–50, and 55–99 a, while in the BSA, they are 13–20, 26–50, and 66–99 a. For centennial scales, there are 143–185 and 200–264 a in the BSA and about 100–135 a in the GBA. Temperature trends in the GBA reveal that the coastal area has experienced an upward trend (Hong Kong and Macao), but in the inland area (Guangzhou), the trend fluctuated. Temperature trends in the BSA have risen since 1756. For precipitation, the inter-annual scales are 2–4 and 6–9 a in both the GBA and BSA. The inter-decadal scales are 11–29 and 50–70 a in the GBA and 11–20, 33–50, and 67–86 a in the BSA. For centennial scales, there are about 100 a in the GBA and 100–136 a in the BSA. In the GBA, the precipitation trends show stronger local characteristics, with three different fluctuation types. In the BSA, most stations had a fluctuating trend except Haparanda A and Vestervig station, which experienced an upward trend throughout the whole time range. Overall, there are no unified trends for precipitation in both areas. Temperature mutation tests show that only Vestervig in the BSA changed abruptly in 1987, while the mutation point of Macao in the GBA was 1991. Precipitation mutation points of Stockholm and Vestervig were 1878 and 1918 in the BSA, while only Macao in the GBA changed abruptly in 1917. The results reveal that the regional climate mutation of both areas is not obvious, but the temperature changes with an upward trend as a whole.

粤港澳大湾区是全球四大湾区之一，也是我国重要的战略发展区，具有极强的开放性、经济性、生态性、社会性、海洋性和系统性特征，具有重要的理论和实践研究价值。海岸带生态系统是粤港澳大湾区重要的生态系统类型之一。受快速城市化的影响，粤港澳大湾区海岸带生态系统存在诸多问题，这些问题已成为影响陆海生态安全的重要因素。海岸带生态系统修复是国土空间生态修复的重要组成部分之一。为加快促进粤港澳大湾区海岸带修复，在分析粤港澳大湾区海岸带主要类型与特征基础上，通过剖析其现状海岸带生态修复存在的主要问题，依托山水林田湖草海生命共同体和陆海统筹等系统理念，提出粤港澳大湾区海岸带生态系统修复框架设计思路。基于粤港澳大湾区海岸带生态系统受植被、湿地、水文地质、人类活动、经济发展水平、产业发展特征、香港和澳门特别行政区等影响因素，构建了粤港澳大湾区海岸带生态系统分区、分类、分级修复框架，形成了由珠三角核心区、粤港澳大湾区、珠三角滨海城市群、珠江流域构成的粤港澳大湾区"一核一区一群一流域"海岸带生态系统修复新格局。在此基础上提出了粤港澳大湾区海岸带生态系统修复"十条"。以流域作为生态修复治理的基本单元，将影响海岸带生态系统平衡的多种因素进行分类整理，从生态系统整体性和流域系统性出发，坚持水陆联动、陆海统筹，实施以水为核心的山水林田湖草海一体化修复，从而实现粤港澳大湾区海岸带生态系统修复新目标。通过优化湾区海岸带生态环境，维护湾区海岸带生态平衡，提高湾区海岸带生态安全格局，进而促进粤港澳大湾区的可持续发展和生态文明建设。;The Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area (GBA) is one of four major bay areas in the world, and it is an important strategic development area in China. The GBA has strong open, economic, ecological, social, oceanic and systemic characteristics with important research value. The coastal ecosystem is one of the most important ecosystem types in the GBA. Affected by rapid urbanization, there are many problems in the coastal ecosystem of the GBA. These problems have affected the ecological security of land and sea. Besides, coastal ecosystem restoration is one of the important components of the ecological restoration of territory and space. To promote the restoration of the GBA, this paper puts forward the design idea for the restoration of the coastal ecosystems in the GBA. The idea is based on analysis of the main types and characteristics of the coastal zone in the GBA, by analyzing the main problems in the ecological restoration of the current coastal zone, and relying on the system concepts of a community of landscapes, forests, fields, lakes, grasses (sea) and of the coordination of land and sea. Based on the influence of vegetation, wetlands, hydrogeology, human activities, economic development level, industrial development characteristics, and Hong Kong and Macao Special Administrative Regions on the coastal ecosystem of the GBA, the coastal ecosystem zoning, classification and hierarchical restoration planning framework of the GBA is constructed. A new pattern of the coastal ecological zone in the GBA is composed of the core area of the Pearl River Delta, the GBA, the Pearl River Delta Coastal City Group, and the Pearl River Basin. Under this new pattern, the ten measures of the coastal ecosystem restoration plan in the GBA are proposed. Taking watershed as the basic unit of ecological restoration and governance, the various factors that affect the balance of coastal ecosystems are classified and sorted out. This will start from the integrity of the ecosystem and the system of the watershed, by insisting on water-land linkage and land-sea coordination. Then, the integrated restoration of the landscape, forest, field, lake and grass (sea) with water as the core is implemented, so as to realize the new goals of the coastal ecosystem restoration plan of the GBA. Moreover, through the optimization of the coastal ecological environment and the maintenance of the ecological balance of the coastal zone in the GBA, the coastal ecological security pattern of the GBA can be improved. Further, the sustainable development and ecological civilization construction of the GBA will be promoted.

The creation of bay areas is one way to develop economies and culture based on natural characteristics and regional connections; successful examples include the San Francisco, New York and Tokyo Bay Areas. In 2019, China established the Guangdong–Hong Kong–Macau Greater Bay Area (GBA). As a result of historical and geographical factors, the GBA is uniquely characterised by being subject to ‘one country, two systems’, ‘three customs territories’, and ‘three legal systems’. This study offered ample empirical evidence based on qualitative methods referring to in-depth interviews with academics and managers as well as publicly available policies and literature in the GBA. A thematic analysis was used to explore the context and characteristics of developing higher education (HE) in the GBA. The study emphasised that developing GBA’s HE improved its partnerships from co-operation to strategic co-ordination to resource sharing. This research contributes to HE and its governance in the GBA, a topic on which there is limited information in the extant international research literature. It is also useful to policymakers and scholars as it provides potential strategies and insights regarding the development of regional higher education.

The Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area (GBA) is one of the most economically developed and active regions in China. Fish pond farming is the most important aquaculture model in the GBA. In recent years, climate change and the continuous interference of human activities have led to Chl-a content There are significant differences in time and space, and timely monitoring is crucial to protecting the ecosystems of inland water bodies and adjacent sea areas. Most previous studies have focused on inland lakes or adjacent sea areas, and there have been few studies on fish ponds in the GBA. Based on the BST model, this study selected Landsat image data from 2013 to 2022 to invert the Chl-a concentration of cultured fish ponds in the GBA, and analyzed the temporal and spatial differences in Chl-a contained in cultured fish ponds in the GBA. The results show that: (1) The BST model performs well in retrieving Chl-a concentration in cultured fish ponds in the GBA.(2) In the past ten years, Chl-a has declined year by year from 2013 to 2018, fluctuated slightly from 2018 to 2020, and continued to rise from 2020 to 2022. (3) Aquaculture fish ponds are mainly distributed in the central and southern areas of the GBA. Aquaculture fish ponds near the Pearl River Basin are denser and have higher concentrations. (4) Chl-a has shown an overall upward trend in the past ten years. Among them, the aquaculture fish ponds in Dongguan and Zhongshan have the largest upward trend. Dongguan has the highest increase rate and Guangzhou has the lowest increase rate. (5) Chl-a in cultured fish ponds in the GBA has obvious seasonal variation characteristics, with the highest value in summer and the lowest value in winter. Chl-a concentration in the four seasons is highly correlated with water temperature. Changes in water temperature may be the main factor causing this phenomenon. (6) The concentration of Chl-a in the water bodies of fish farming ponds in the GBA is significantly higher than that of the Pearl River water body and sea water, and the Pearl River water body near the shore is higher than that in the center of the river. This may be due to human overuse of feed and disinfectants Caused. Increasing human activities have caused a significant increase in the degree of eutrophication of water bodies in farmed fish ponds. Control of nutrients such as N and P produced by human activities should be strengthened. The results of this study are important references for water body protection in the GBA and the sustainable development of the aquaculture industry value.

Spatio-temporal evolution and gravity center change of carbon emissions in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao greater bay area and the influencing factors

In the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area (GBA), a series of natural environmental, economic, and social issues have emerged sequentially in the process of rapid economic and social development. Therefore, for the sustainable development of the GBA, how to closely integrate nature protection with economic and social development to improve the sustainable development level of the social-economic-natural compound ecosystem, and realize the coordinated development of the system is particularly important. Based on the perspective of complex network and the theory of compound ecosystem, this study proposes a set of sustainable development evaluation model based on complex network modeling to evaluate the sustainable development level of compound ecosystem in GBA from 2014 to 2018, and further analyze the coupling coordination degree. The major findings include: 1) For the sustainable development in the GBA, the development of the natural subsystem is an important foundation, and the synchronous development of the social and economic subsystems are the main driving force. 2) The sustainable development level in the GBA shows an overall steady upward trend; the average level of the compound ecosystem’s coupling coordination development is in a “good” state, and it shows an evident upward trend. 3) Whether it is within the GBA or the GBA and its surrounding regions, there are problems of unbalanced and insufficient regional development. Policy recommendations include increasing the emphasis on the sustainable development of the natural subsystem, promoting the coordinated development of the economic, social, and natural subsystems, and promoting the balanced development of cities within the GBA, as well as the GBA and surrounding regions.

Trends, Drivers, and Mitigation of CO2 Emissions in the Guangdong–Hong Kong–Macao Greater Bay Area

Status and challenges of water resources and supply in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area (GBA) of China

High-speed rail is an important transportation infrastructure that can promote regional economic growth and adjust industrial layout. To explore the impact of high-speed rail construction on the industrial spatial layout of China’s Bay Area, the effects of high-speed rail construction on industrial spatial layout of the Circum-Bohai Great Bay Area, the Circum-Yangtze Estuary Great Bay Area, and the Guangdong–Hong Kong–Macao Greater Bay Area in China were analyzed by using DID (difference-in-differences) model and quantile treatment effect based on the panel data obtained from 2005 to 2016. Results demonstrate that high-speed rail construction significantly affects industrial spatial layout of urban areas. Due to high-speed rail construction, manufacturing and real estate industries in the Circum-Bohai Great Bay Area expand greatly and show a significant diffusion effect. This diffusion promotes agglomeration of wholesale and retail, real estate, transportation, warehousing, and post industries in small cities. High-speed rail construction exhibits an agglomeration effect on financial industry in the Circum-Yangtze Estuary Great Bay Area. Highspeed rail construction facilitates clustering of manufacturing, financial, and transportation industries in small cities. The impact of high-speed rail construction on manufacturing, accommodation and catering, financial, transportation, warehousing, and post industries in Guangdong–Hong Kong–Macao Greater Bay Area shows a diffusion effect. In sum, high-speed rail construction causes an evolution of industrial agglomeration in three great bay areas in China. The conclusion provides decision references for optimization of industrial spatial layout in great bay areas.

The mutual influence of land-sea ecological security and its coordinated governance in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao greater bay area

CALIPSO-observed Southeast Asia biomass-burning influences on aerosol vertical structure in Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area

Sports Intangible Cultural Heritage (SICH) serves as both a vital testament to the shared cultural roots of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area (GBA) and a treasured resource for fostering a collaborative, culturally enriched Bay Area. Combining field surveys and GIS spatial analysis, and adopting the methods of the nearest neighbor index, geographic concentration index, imbalance index, kernel density estimation and geographical detectors, the study aims to analyze the characteristics of the spatial distribution of the 264 SICH projects in the GBA, and to explore the main factors affecting their distribution. The findings reveal that the spatial distribution of SICH in the GBA is highly concentrated, with obvious aggregation characteristics. The overall characteristics are "dense in the west, sparse in the east", forming the distribution pattern of "two cores, three belts". The "two cores" refers to the formation of a large-scale high-density agglomeration area with southwestern Guangzhou and northeastern Foshan as the core, and another small-scale high-density agglomeration area with southern Hong Kong as the core and expanding from south to north. The "three belts" refers to the formation of three areas of agglomeration density in central Guangzhou-northeastern Jiangmen, western Guangzhou-eastern Zhuhai and Dongguan-Hong Kong. The spatial distribution of the four different types of SICH varies considerably, with significant variations in density. The spatial distribution pattern of SICH in the GBA is mainly influenced by socioeconomic and history and culture, with population, social organization, urbanization level, economic development level, and policy support being the dominant factors, and the influence of physical geography being less strong. The role of influencing factors after interaction is generally strengthened, among which the interaction between urbanization level and social organization is the most obvious. The distribution pattern of SICH in the GBA is subject to the synergy effect of multiple factors. From the perspective of synergy theory, the internal mechanism of its spatial distribution is explained from the logic framework of "synergistic dynamic-synergistic structure-synergistic relationship". Finally, the study proposes suggestions for the synergistic development of SICH in the GBA in terms of promoting cross-regional cooperation, securing government support, enhancing resource allocation and digital dissemination.

A comprehensive evaluation of the eco-carrying capacity and green economy in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, China

What is the future for production-living-ecological spaces in the Greater Bay Area? A multi-scenario perspective based on DEE

The Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area (GBA) is the world’s largest bay area in terms of land area and population, which has been increasingly suffering from weather and climate extremes under global warming. It is thus desired to produce reliable high-resolution climate information at a regional scale in order to enhance resilience to climate change over the GBA. For the first time, this study develops the multi-decadal nested-grid climate projections at a convection-permitting scale for the GBA, and assesses the abilities of the Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) model with 36-, 12- and 4 km resolutions in representing precipitation, temperature and their extremes. Our findings indicate the added value of the convection-permitting WRF model for simulating the spring and summertime precipitation as well as extreme heavy rainfall events with daily amounts larger than 30 mm over the GBA. Increasing the spatial resolution of the WRF model does not necessarily lead to a significant improvement on temperature simulations. In addition, our findings reveal that the GBA is expected to have an increasing number of heavy and extreme heavy rainfall events by the end of the twenty-first century. Moreover, the GBA is projected to have a large temperature change across different seasons, and an enhanced warming will appear in autumn. The GBA is also expected to have more summer days with longer durations, thereby leading to an increasing risk of heatwaves and heat stress.