Improvement in vegetation ecological quality and its driving factors in China over 2001-2024.

ABSTRACT Global environmental crises pose a serious threat to sustainable development, and the integration of digital technology and ecological civilization has given rise to digital ecological civilization. This study clarifies the connotations and constructs the evaluation index for digital ecological civilization using a dataset of 256 prefectural-level cities in China from 2010 to 2023. The results show that the process of digital ecological civilization in China has been steadily promoted, and although the value of the index is low, it shows an upward trend. The development of China’s digital ecological civilization is unbalanced, showing the characteristics of a ladder distribution of east-central-northeast-west. In addition, the regional differences in the development of digital ecological civilizations mainly stem from interregional differences, which show a gradually expanding trend. The intraregional differences in digital ecological civilization in the four regions are also gradually expanding. The coupling and coordinated development of these two systems face persistent obstacles, particularly in terms of awareness of ecological civilization and support for digital policies. Promoting the coordinated development of the digital economy and green digital innovation may incur short-term adjustment costs, but in the long run, it will ultimately establish a virtuous cycle where both sectors empower each other and jointly advance ecological civilization. We developed the ‘Digital Ecological Civilization’ concept framework under the sustainable development goals, aimed to enhance the coupling between digital economy and ecological conversation.

ABSTRACT Cultural ecology and decolonial ecology are current directions in environmental literary studies whose mutual relationship has not yet been adequately addressed. The article brings cultural ecology into critical conversation with a decolonial perspective that has been gaining increasing attention in the environmental humanities. It briefly outlines some of the basic premises of a cultural ecology of literature; then argues that in spite of differences in genealogy and emphasis, there are significant affinities between key assumptions of cultural ecology and decolonial ecology; finally, it discusses a literary example that illustrates the productive collusion between cultural and decolonial ecology in the creative imagination, Amitav Ghosh’s novel Gun Island. The novel is a decolonial inversion of historical colonialism, which retraces, against the background of the planetary polycrisis, the trajectory of an indigenous epic poem from pre-colonial Bangladesh to early Enlightenment Venice for a pluriversal rewriting of prevailing narratives of the Anthropocene.

Coupling and interaction of ecological civilization subsystems in the Pearl River Delta: A "production-living-ecological" systems perspective

This work looks into the simultaneous development of rural green tourism and rural revitalization with a focus on ecological civilization construction and based on the theory of DSR. Data on rural green tourism and rural revitalization are analyzed empirically for 10 villages situated in the west of Province X during the period from 2020 to 2024. Entropy weight method and coupling coordination degree model are used for the assessment of the comprehensive evaluation index, definition of the level of coupling coordination, and identification of the development trajectory of the two systems. Besides, the construction of the index system associated with the determinants affecting the development and coordination of the two systems and examination of their mutual influence using the geographic detector analysis are provided. The practical approach for developing rural green tourism towards achieving rural revitalization goals is suggested based on the above-mentioned empirical studies. It can be concluded that the comprehensive coordination index of the rural green tourism and rural revitalization system grew from 0.0359 to 0.2101, whereas the coupling coordination degree increased correspondingly from 0.1805 to 0.4583. The development trajectories of these two indices have three distinctive features, which are fast start-up stage, bottleneck stage, and gradual advancement stage. In view of the future development of the two systems, coordination should be made in the following aspects: talent cultivation and innovation in marketing, industry integration and structure optimization, conservation and utilization of resources, and equitable distribution for achieving dual goals of rural tourism greening and rural revitalization.

Improving carbon emission efficiency (CEE) in the construction sector is crucial for achieving low-carbon buildings and ecological civilization goals. To clarify the driving mechanisms of low-carbon development, this study measures the CEE of China's construction industry using the Super-SBM model and analyzes its spatiotemporal drivers via the Geographically Temporally Weighted Regression model. Based on the analysis, the approach enabled us to analyze temporal and regional variations in CEE across regions in 30 provinces in China from 2013 to 2022. It is found that the Carbon Emissions of the Construction Industry (CECI) experienced a stage from stable growth to slowing growth. From the spatial perspective, the CECI show a typical distribution pattern, which is higher in the eastern region, lower in the western region, and middle in the central region. Regarding the driving mechanisms, technical factors and demographic factors display distinct impacts. Technological advancement serves as a pivotal positive driver, enhancing efficiency through the dissemination of green construction technologies and energy-saving processes. Conversely, demographic factors generally impose constraints on CEE across most regions. This is primarily attributed to the escalating demand for infrastructure and the intensive resource consumption associated with population agglomeration. These results suggest that accelerating industrial upgrading in the construction sector could reduce reliance on high-carbon industries. The findings provide empirical evidence and policy insights for China's low-carbon transition, including differentiated regional strategies and enhanced interprovincial collaboration.

The research aims to identify the essential characteristics and functional potential of ecological art as a significant component in the structure of ecological culture. The article examines the functional features of ecological art by analyzing artistic practices and projects by both Russian and international authors. The novelty of the study lies in its specific focus on the functional characteristics of eco-art in relation to its “eco-informational” and “eco-practical” forms. The work identifies a specific “eco-restorative” function and emphasizes the determining role of socially significant functions in the formation of ecological culture. The concept of ecological art is conceptualized within the structure of ecological culture, allowing artistic practices to be viewed as an effective tool for shaping ecological consciousness. The study concludes that ecological art serves as an instrument of complex impact: it not only initiates a transformation of the recipient’s ecological consciousness through an emotional-value response but also functions as a form of direct eco-practical activity that has a tangible impact on the state of the environment.

The recycling of pesticide packaging waste is crucial for the sustainable development of agriculture and the advancement of ecological civilization. However, the current recycling management still faces challenges. This study adopts a dynamic analytical framework of “ex-ante behavioral cognition and post-event outcome perception” to investigate the impact of digitalization on farmers’ recycling behavior of pesticide packaging waste. The analysis draws on data from the 2020 China Rural Revitalization Survey and examines two dimensions of digitalization: digital technology access and digital technology usage. The findings indicate that integrating digital technologies into farming practices significantly increases the likelihood of farmers participating in pesticide packaging waste recycling programs. These results remain robust after conducting robustness checks and addressing potential endogeneity issues. A heterogeneity analysis reveals that the promotional effect of digitalization varies significantly across different categories of rural elite status, cooperative membership, education level, pesticide spraying methods, and income structure. Mechanism testing further indicates that hazard cognition regarding pesticide packaging serves as a mediating factor in the impact of both digital technology access and usage on farmers’ recycling behavior. In contrast, farmers’ satisfaction with their living environment mediates only the effect of digital technology usage on recycling behavior. Overall, these findings provide both theoretical and empirical support for the hypothesis that digitalization can facilitate the recycling of pesticide packaging waste and enhance the ecological effectiveness of agricultural policy governance.

ABSTRACT Assessing the ecological environment quality and analysing its evolution in China’s Ecological Civilization Pilot Zones are crucial for urban ecological protection, restoration, and sustainable development. This study develops a time-series optimized Remote Sensing Ecological Index (tRSEI) by integrating the RSEI with Savitzky-Golay filtering to reconstruct greenness, wetness, dryness, and heat indicators. Using MK trend tests, the Hurst index, and spatial autocorrelation analysis, we evaluated the spatiotemporal evolution, future trends, and spatial patterns of ecological quality from 1986 to 2024.Results show that ecological quality significantly declined from 0.6069 to 0.5354 (13.35% decrease), with 53.20% of areas degrading and 43.10% improving. Over 99.76% of regions will maintain past trends, indicating strong persistence. Spatial analysis revealed a shift from ‘High-High’ to ‘low-low’ clustering in the urban core. regression and SHAP analysis show that surface temperature and drying are the main natural driving factors, while factors such as building density are the key reasons for the decline in ecological quality. Compared with RSEI, the tRSEI model effectively suppresses the interference of noise on remote sensing indicators, can achieve long-term dynamic trend monitoring, and further improves the accuracy of ecological environment quality assessment results.

ABSTRACT In response to growing concerns over environmental sustainability and urban livability, China has launched a nationwide pocket park initiative, transforming underutilized urban spaces into small green areas. This article examines the rapid proliferation of pocket parks in Liaoning Province, with a particular focus on Shenyang and Dalian, two major cities where construction has proceeded with unusual intensity. While the initiative is officially framed as a means to enhance public space, promote ecological conservation, and revitalize declining neighborhoods, this article shows that its implementation often serves performative and political ends. Drawing on the concept of the socioecological fix, the article demonstrates how micro-scale greening operates as a visible yet temporary response to intertwined crises. Although some parks have improved neighborhood environments and public life, the broader initiative reflects the logic of performative governance, producing spectacles of care and progress without achieving substantive ecological transformation. The article thus shows how environmental politics, performative governance, and urban spectacle converge in ordinary urban space, revealing how China’s ecological civilization agenda is materially enacted and symbolically staged through everyday landscapes.

Analyzes ecological and cultural traditions formed in China and their role in shaping the contemporary model of sustainable economic development. The relevance of the study is determined by the growing intensity of global environmental challenges and the increasing need to develop economic growth strategies that ensure long-term sustainability while preserving natural resources. The theoretical framework of the research is based on the principles of Confucianism and Daoism, within which harmony between humans and nature is regarded as a fundamental principle of social and economic organization. These philosophical ideas have been institutionalized in China’s state policy through the concept of “ecological civilization. The study employs a systemic and analytical approach to identify the relationship between traditional ecological values and modern economic mechanisms. The main directions of China’s environmental policy are examined, including the development of renewable energy sources, the implementation of circular economy principles, the improvement of natural resource management systems, and the promotion of green industries. Particular attention is paid to the economic outcomes of environmental reforms, which are considered an important factor in sustainable growth, structural modernization, and the enhancement of national economic competitiveness. The conclusions demonstrate that the integration of traditional ecological values into China’s economic strategy contributes to the formation of a balanced development model focused on long-term sustainability, the reduction of environmental risks, and the efficient use of natural resources. The results obtained may be used in further studies of the relationship between cultural factors and economic development, as well as in the formulation and adjustment of long-term sustainable development strategies aimed at integrating ecological values into national socio-economic planning systems.

Pastoral regions in ecologically fragile zones face a distinct urbanization trajectory that differs markedly from conventional urban settings, yet their capacity to generate new quality productive forces (NQ) under ecological constraints remains poorly understood. This study focuses on 54 county-level units in Inner Mongolia’s pastoral areas and develops a multidimensional new-type urbanization (NU) evaluation framework encompassing population and cultural development, infrastructure, public services, ecological civilization, economic environment, and science and education. Drawing on panel regression models, system dynamics simulations, and machine learning algorithms, the study examines how NU shapes NQ across pastoral and semi-agricultural-semi-pastoral areas from 2014 to 2023. Results indicate that NU exerts a significant positive effect on NQ, with investment and consumption serving as the core mediating pathways, particularly pronounced in purely pastoral areas and Western Inner Mongolia. System dynamics simulations reveal that coordinated development strategies and population-culture-oriented pathways yield superior long-term NQ outcomes compared to single-dimension interventions. XGBoost combined with SHAP analysis identifies traditional village conservation, the presence of large-scale industrial enterprises, and green coverage rate of built-up areas as the most influential determinants. These findings highlight that sustainable productivity growth in pastoral urban systems requires a people-centered, ecologically bounded development paradigm that fosters a virtuous cycle between consumption expansion, technological innovation and efficient investment, offering evidence-based guidance for urban planning and ecological governance in grassland-dominated regions.

Introduction Green total factor productivity (GTFP) is an important index to evaluate the construction of ecological civilization in China. Discussion on GTFP of prairie livestock breeding is helpful to promote the green sustainable development of animal husbandry and ensure national food security and ecological security. Methods Based on the panel data of six minority autonomous prefectures in Qinghai Province from 2010 to 2024, this paper constructs a measurement system of GTFP of grassland animal husbandry, measures and decomposes it by EBM-GML model, and then discusses the temporal and spatial evolution characteristics of GTFP of grassland animal husbandry by using kernel density estimation and Markov chain methods. Results The results are as follows:1. Although the GTFP of grassland animal husbandry in Qinghai Province shows a slow upward trend, the overall level is still low and has obvious stage fluctuation characteristics. 2. The spatial distribution of GTFP of grassland animal husbandry in Qinghai Province presents a pattern of “high in the north and low in the south, strong in the west and weak in the east”. The development among regions is unbalanced, and the main factor promoting its growth is attributed to TP. 3. The GTFP of grassland animal husbandry in Qinghai Province shows the trend of “overall slow improvement and internal accelerated differentiation” in time evolution, and there is a significant evolution feature of “club convergence” in space evolution. In addition, the promotion of GTFP is the result of many factors. Discussion In the future, we should improve the GTFP of grassland animal husbandry in Qinghai Province by implementing differentiated regional development strategies, promoting the coordinated development of scientific and technological innovation and achievement transformation machines, and strengthening inter-regional cooperation, so as to contribute Qinghai wisdom to the construction of ecological civilization in China.

Against the backdrop of global sustainable development and ecological civilization construction, tourism ecological security at cultural landscape heritage sites faces both opportunities and challenges. This study constructs a cultural landscape heritage tourism ecological security (CLHTES) evaluation system based on the Driver–Pressure–State–Impact–Response (DPSIR) framework. It dynamically assesses CLHTES in the Yangtze River Delta Integrated Demonstration Zone (YRDIDZ) from 2014 to 2023 using the entropy-weighted Technique for Order Preference by Similarity to an Ideal Solution (TOPSIS) and linear stretching transformation, identifies obstacle factors with the obstacle degree model, and predicts CLHTES trends for 2024–2030 using a radial basis function (RBF) neural network. Results show that: (1) The CLHTES index in the YRDIDZ presented a three-stage fluctuating upward trend during 2014–2023, with medium-clustered security levels and divergent evolution across the DPSIR criteria layers; (2) CLHTES obstacles feature a multi-level differentiated structure, with rising barriers in D and P layers, the R layer as the future core obstacle, and high-frequency barriers concentrated in cultural and social indicators; (3) Under the assumption of structural continuity in current trajectories, the conditional trend projection suggests that the CLHTES index of the YRDIDZ may sustain a general upward tendency during 2024–2030, with a possibility of approaching Level Ⅶ after 2028; however, these projections should be interpreted as exploratory and scenario-like rather than as robust forecasts, given the short annual series and the absence of exogenous disturbance variables. This study explores tourism-ecology interactions from a social-ecological complex system perspective, supporting synergistic tourism development and ecological protection of cultural landscape heritage.

Water pollution is one of the major environmental problems facing the world, posing a serious threat to human health and the ecosystem. The sources of water pollution mainly include industrial emissions, agricultural activities, and urban domestic sewage, and its impacts involve drinking water safety and ecosystem destruction. Rural areas are the foundation for building a "Beautiful China" and play an important role in ecological civilization construction; urban rivers are a key link in building urban ecological environments and an important part of urban ecosystems. Therefore, sufficient attention should be given to water pollution problems in rural and urban areas, and effective measures should be taken to continuously optimize the ecological environment. Based on the analysis of the existing problems and causes of water pollution in rural and urban rivers, this article explores the path of water pollution prevention and control from the perspective of sustainable development and summarizes the corresponding prevention and control measures.

The progress and spatiotemporal heterogeneity evaluation of China's ecological civilization

Against the background of the "dual carbon" strategy and ecological civilization construction, this study takes the middle reaches of the yangtze river Urban Agglomeration as the research area and uses 2020 multi-source data to construct a carbon sequestration-optimized ecological source system. We comprehensively applied Morphological Spatial Pattern Analysis (MSPA), ecological environment quality assessment and InVEST model-based carbon stock assessment, then formed an optimized resistance surface by superimposing multi-factor resistance surfaces and correcting with carbon sequestration importance. Ecological corridors and pinch points were identified via circuit theory to establish an ecological security pattern from the perspective of carbon sequestration enhancement. The results show that carbon sequestration constraints reduced ecological sources from 1344 to 377, with only a 10.7% drop in total area and more concentrated distribution in high carbon sequestration regions. High-quality ecological areas cluster in mountain forest zones with an obvious ecological gap in the Jianghan Plain, and high-value comprehensive resistance surfaces distribute around provincial capitals. We identified 895 ecological corridors and 60 ecological pinch points . Overall, this study gives a spatial basis for the agglomeration to implement the "one core, two lakes, four rivers, five screens and multiple spots" ecological pattern.

Change assessment and degradation early-warning of Key Ecosystem Services (KES) provide a vital scientific foundation for addressing ecological degradation challenges and optimizing ecological governance policies. Counties are the fundamental unit for spatial governance and ecological policy implementation in China. However, the spatiotemporal dynamics and degradation risks of KES at this scale have not been systematically assessed in the context of ecological civilization construction. Focusing on the critical stage of China’s ecological civilization construction from 2015 to 2020, this study took all counties nationwide as the basic units to systematically analyze the spatiotemporal dynamics of three KES: water conservation (WC), soil conservation (SC), and windbreak and sand fixation (WSF). Furthermore, a fact-based ecological degradation early-warning model was developed to enable the precise identification of degraded areas and their respective warning levels. The results showed that: (1) From 2015 to 2020, the three KES nationwide exhibited a trend of overall stability coupled with a slight increase. Spatially, high-value zones for WC were primarily concentrated in the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau (QTP), southern mountainous regions, and key forest zones of Northeast China. High-value zones for SC were predominantly distributed across the Loess Plateau, QTP, Yunnan-Guizhou Plateau, and southeastern hilly and mountainous regions. WSF, in contrast, were highly concentrated in the arid and semi-arid regions of Northern China and the QTP. (2) The ecological degradation early-warning results indicate that 48.96% of counties nationwide were in a “no alert” state, while the remaining counties exhibited varying degrees of functional degradation. Among these, counties under light, moderate, and severe alerts accounted for 36.97%, 12.26%, and 1.83%, respectively. Severe-alert areas were mainly distributed in the extremely arid regions of Northwest China and the karst mountains of Southwest China, largely driven by the substantial degradation of SC functions. Based on these alert types and priority regions, this study proposes tiered ecological governance policy recommendations. Our proposed early-warning framework facilitates the intuitive and efficient identification of county-level KES degradation risks. Thus, the findings offer a scientific foundation for formulating targeted strategies for ecological conservation and restoration in territorial spatial planning.

Tropical forest tree genetic breeding is a fundamental course within forestry disciplines, crucial to sustainable forestry development and the promotion of ecological civilization. However, graduate education in this field faces persistent challenges, including prolonged breeding cycles, the complexity of multi-omics data analysis, and the necessity for deep interdisciplinary theoretical understanding. The integration of artificial intelligence (AI) in higher education offers promising solutions to these challenges. This paper systematically examines the application of AI technologies in graduate teaching of tropical forest tree genetic breeding by focusing on three key approaches: employing AI-driven analysis of genetic big data to enhance students’ ability to interpret complex datasets; utilizing AI-driven virtual simulation experiments to overcome temporal and spatial constraints through accelerated breeding models; and developing AI-based personalized learning and assessment systems tailored to diverse research emphases. To address core obstacles such as insufficient model specialization, limited interpretability of biological processes, and underdeveloped teaching support systems, we propose collaborative strategies including academia-industry partnerships for dedicated system development, interdisciplinary faculty training programs, establishment of standardized resource databases, and the adoption of progressive implementation frameworks. Results indicate that the deep integration of AI with tropical forest tree genetic breeding education can streamline instructional processes, improve the quality of talent development, and provide both theoretical and practical foundations for constructing intelligent educational ecosystems, thereby advancing the cultivation of high-level innovation professionals in forestry.

This paper take Chinese auspicious patterns' cross-cultural spread and local adaptation in Malaysia as core research topic. It bases on the long history of China-Malaysia cultural integration and Malaysia's unique multi-racial social context. We use case analysis, cross-cultural communication theory and empirical survey method. It combines chart statistics and specific cases to systematically sort out the cultural foundation and realistic conditions of cross-regional spread of auspicious patterns. It deeply analyzes typical application cases in local diverse scenes, sums up their spread evolution features and existing practical dilemmas. Finally, it put forward targeted spread optimization paths that fit Malaysia's local cultural ecology. This paper aims to provide practical reference and theoretical support for the overseas living inheritance and cross-cultural innovative spread of Chinese traditional decorative art.