Green Belt Research Articles

Uneven Progress Toward Sustainable Development Goals Reveals Urgency and Potential for Green Belt and Road Initiative

The “Green Belt and Road Initiative” (GBRI) is China’s international cooperation strategy aimed at expanding international collaborations between China, Asia, and Europe through regional trade, policy dialogue, and cultural exchange in order to promote the achievement of sustainable development goals (SDGs). Identifying the development characteristics and deficiencies of Belt and Road countries is critical to investment and policymaking decisions. Here, we incorporated progress evenness across SDGs based on biodiversity measurements to establish a comprehensive assessment system and evaluated the sustainable development status and trajectory of Belt and Road countries from 2017 to 2021. Our results suggest that, although most countries have experienced progress toward SDGs, disregarding evenness among goals tended to result in the overestimation of the current achievements and ignore regional gaps. Economically developed member countries in the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) were more successful in achieving SDGs, but they also faced development bottlenecks owing to uneven development among the 17 goals, with particular shortcomings in goals related to climate actions. However, many countries with relatively poor economies, mostly in Central and Southeast Asia, performed well on eco-environment-related SDGs. Therefore, complementary collaboration among countries may provide a green development pathway to rapidly promote the achievement of SDGs in the Belt and Road region, which emphasizes the urgency and potential for the GBRI. In essence, while uneven development is a tremendous challenge for Belt and Road countries, it presents an opportunity to enhance regional cooperation in support of the GBRI.

Analysis of Tuojiang River Basin’s Green Development Level and Difference Based on PSR Model

Since the the policy that, building a beautiful Sichuan and Tuojiang River green development economic belt has been launched, the Tuojiang River Basin has become one of the most important river basins in Sichuan. Building the Tuojiang River Basin as a pioneer area for green development is of vital significance. This paper selected five cities as the research objects, which are Zigong, Luzhou, Deyang, Neijiang, and Ziyang. Firstly, the paper analyzed the factors affecting the green development of the Tuojiang River Basin, and then combined the PSR model with the “economy-society-resources-nature” indicators to construct a green development indicator system suitable for the Tuojiang River Basin. After that, the entropy weight-grey relational analysis and spatial autocorrelation analysis were used to analyze the green development evaluation system. The results show that average green development levels of Zigong, Luzhou, Deyang, Neijiang and Ziyang are 0.7263, 0.8498, 0.4357, 0.6890 and 0.6856 respectively. Through the spatial analysis, the Moran’s I is 0.104, indicating a significant positive spatial correlation of green development in the Tuojiang River Basin. And the green development level of Ziyang belongs to the high-low agglomeration type. The rest of the areas are not significantly aggregated, and finally suggestions were proposed for improvement.

A Strategy for preventing coastal degradation due to mangrove logging on the coast of Bintan Island, Indonesia to prevent shallowing of the strait by applying international principles: The common heritage of mankind

Mangroves are important as a green belt for coastal areas. Mangrove logging is causing coastal degradation due to logging mangroves for land clearing. This study employs a qualitative and empirical legal method to analyze the issues that need addressing in this study on law enforcement in preventing coastal degradation caused by mangrove cutting in coastal Bintan, Indonesia, to prevent siltation of waters and straits through the application of the principle of the common heritage of mankind, so that marine and coastal sustainability can be realised. From the national data, the distribution of mangrove forests in Riau Islands Province is 68,417 ha, 37.000 hectares have been damaged, and at least 37 thousand ha have been destroyed. In addition, mangrove degradation, including logging, leads to problems of sea silt, which can negatively impact upstream agriculture and estuarine agriculture. The principle of shared heritage of mankid must be implemented in the mangrove region. Therefore, coastal mangrove must be conserved in order to prevent destruction and the shallowing of the sea or strait.

Distribution, Population Status, Ecology, and Conservation of Eastern Imperial Eagle in Thrace Ecoregion (Bulgaria and Turkey)

The Thrace geographical region comprises territories of three states and covers an area of about 70,000 km2. At the end of the 19th century, the Eastern Imperial Eagle (Aquila heliaca) was widespread throughout the region, occupying a variety of habitats. The mid-20th century marked the beginning of its dramatic decline, and in the latter half of the century the birds breeding in Northern Thrace amounted to 15–20 pairs, Eastern Thrace harbored scattered pairs along the lower reaches of the Maritsa River, while in Western Thrace the population was estimated at 6–10 pairs only. Since 2005, the intensive conservation activities implemented in Bulgaria have improved the status of the Eastern Imperial Eagle in Northern Thrace. At the same time, in Western Thrace (the Greece), only one pair was confirmed in Dadia National Park. Since 2008, intensive field research in European Turkey identified an abundant and stable population of the species. 63 different breeding territories were established in Bulgaria, while in European Turkey the number of identified breeding territories was 64. Most of the pairs were distributed in the European Green Belt area, along the former Iron Curtain, where human access had been strictly limited, thus preserving extremely rich biodiversity. Based on a long-term population survey of this species in Bulgaria and European Turkey, we estimated this subpopulation of the species at about 110–120 breeding pairs. Breeding of several pairs in Greece, in the Greece-Turkey border area, along the Evros River, is also possible. The Thracian sub-population of the Eastern Imperial Eagle is gradually increasing. The main threats are electrocution, poisoning, habitat destruction, shooting, disturbance, and food depletion. In Bulgaria the main conservation actions include: insulation of hazardous electric poles, purchase of land plots and their subsequent management as pastures, construction of artificial nests, restoration of breeding habitats through Poplar planting, supplementary feeding of pairs during the breeding and the wintering periods, guarding of nests at risk, satellite tracking, implementation of educational programs with children and local communities. Actions are needed to mitigate the limiting factors in European Turkey, as well as to study the status of the species in Northern Greece. International cooperation would guarantee the stability of the Thracian sub-population of the Eastern Imperial Eagle.

Land Use and Urban Sprawl in the Case of the City of Rabat in Morocco: An Integrated Approach Using Remote Sensing, Geospatial Modeling, and Machine Learning

This document is produced as part of a project of mapping, monitoring and prediction of urban sprawl in the city of Rabat, using algorithms of machine Learning, remote sensing and geographic information system. It therefore aims to determine and monitor the urban sprawl of the city of Rabat, using new Geo-spatial technologies, this socio-economic mechanism is theoretically based on the increase in the horizontal area of the city, and a decrease in population density. On the contrary, the city of Rabat is characterized by a negative growth rate between the years 2004-2014 at about -0.79% different from 1.2% at the national level, and defined by a higher population density of 255 inhabitants per km2, these statistics were directed to a hypothesis that indicates a horizontal confinement of the city of Rabat and reverse immigration to per-urban territories. In addition, this project is mainly aimed at the implementation of a computerized simulation model for the characterization and prediction of the urban expansion of the city of Rabat for 40 years (1990, 2000, 2010, 2020, 2030). To conclude, the city of Rabat has experienced a very slow urban sprawl, thanks to the green belt put in 1971, and the modernization strategy that has been adapted in recent years to eliminate informal housing, in addition to the development of roads and the new TGV railway line, and also to the lack of land use, of which many large villas of several hectares were built. Although this mechanism is moving very slowly, the city of Rabat has had negative consequences on the territory and the environment. So, local authorities need a creative, innovative and intelligent urban planning programme to both eliminate the effects of this mechanism, and build the pillars of the functional city (smart city).

Analysis of the Influence of Sponge Bus Bay Stop on Stormwater Runoff

The traditional bus bay stops are prone to ponding, with reduced waiting comfort, low traffic efficiency and easily damaged pavement structure. Given the problem, based on the sponge design of the bay stop in northern China, the rainstorm flood management model under the traditional and sponge modes is constructed, and the runoff condition of the bus stop is analyzed. The results show that the combination design of LID facilities, such as permeable pavement and the recessed green belt has a good control effect on rainwater runoff in the stop section. The larger the range of LID measures adopted in the stop section, the more pronounced the runoff control effect. The combined design of sponge facilities can effectively control rainwater runoff. However, with the increase in rainfall intensity, the control effect of sponge measures on rainwater runoff at the bus stop gradually decreases.

Translocal Implications of the Green Belt and Road Initiative: The China-Pakistan Economic Corridor Case

Since its inception in 2013, the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) has been surrounded by doubts and fears. Some were confirmed, and some were dismissed, because they were groundless or due to adjustments. One of the most critical adjustments was the environmental dimension in the BRI projects, reflecting China’s internal environmental concerns. The enactment of the constitutional rule pursuing ecological civilization can translate to increasing environmental security within the investments in the recipient countries. The hypothesis in the study is that adopting the green BRI incorporates the ecological civilization concept, which refers to a myriad of transnational efforts by China to increase environmental security within its partners. In addition, it includes a constructivist perspective that considers ideational factors that do not happen at the level of the current neoliberal international institutions. Finally, this paper deploys the content analysis technique to seek sufficient empirical evidence to confirm the hypothesis and point out new research directions and limitations.

Методические подходы к установлению границ лесопаркового зеленого пояса

The article discusses methodological approaches to the problems of performing work in relation to the forest-park green belt of territorial entities and the procedure for establishing its boundaries. The analysis of the legal support of the work is carried out, the most problematic aspects are formulated and possible ways of their solution are given. It has been established that the existing problems are based on the inconsistency of the relevant regulatory documents and the lack of unified methodological and technological approaches to the implementation of such work. To eliminate the established negative aspects that significantly affect the quality of the work performed, a technological scheme is proposed. This scheme has successfully passed adaptation in the territorial formation of the Russian Federation. The result of the implementation was the entry into the Unified State Register of Real Estate of information on the formed boundaries of the forest-park zone of the city of Tomsk.

Food-energy-water (FEW) nexus: Sustainable food production governance through system dynamics modeling

The transition challenge to sustainability is the governance of common use and property resources the commons. Climate change, as the prime mover of that transition processes, directly affects all sectors of society. Food production, and its relative resources – energy and water - is a relevant sector in the transition to sustainability, since it makes direct use of commons. Food production systems present different configurations and interrelations with the environment; however, they have as a similar character: the complexity regarding the interrelations with commons and with society. This complexity addresses the demand on understanding the dynamics of food, energy and water nexus (FEW Nexus) interrelated dimensions. In this context, this article models FEW Nexus using a System Dynamics Modelling (SDM) approach. The study was developed in the green belt of the peri-urban region of the city of São Paulo, located at the edge of the Atlantic Forest, a high-biodiversity forest in the south-eastern Brazil. The simulation of this complex system aims to support the sustainable governance policy of conventional and agroecological production systems. The innovative pattern of different food sustainable systems could be foresighted, from a set of socioeconomic and environmental multi-criteria ensemble of relevant indicators, as Water Footprint, Trophic State Index, Land Social Development Index, Carbon Footprint, Land Use Earnings. Policy tools, as Community Supported Agriculture strategies and Payment for Environmental Services are used to understand the different levels of sustainability under new innovative policies like them. The SDM tool enabled addressing predictive scenarios - seeing the interrelations and causalities of the set of indicators. The multi-criteria set of indicators modelling permits to understand the FEW Nexus sustainability level of the different food production systems. The results are strong guides to implementing strategies that lead to the dynamics of sustainable food systems, concerning FEW Nexus. SDM tool prove to be useful and effective in decision-making sustainable policy design processes and efficient alternatives in governance for sustainability and its transition process.

Spatial and temporal structure of the fish assemblage in Akanda National Park (Gabon), an equatorial mangrove estuary

Marine spatial planning and management processes are important tools for environmental and resource management, providing effective frameworks for considering environmental, social, cultural, institutional and economic variables within a common biogeographic context. The Akanda National Park (ANP) in Gabon, almost exclusively constituted by mangroves, is part of a green belt of protected areas around the capital city of Libreville. The creation of the ANP is considered as an essential tool for the ecosystemic management of fisheries in Mondah Bay, playing nursery function for several exploited fish species. However, this role has never been documented in the mangroves of Gabon. The aim of this study is to describe the spatial and seasonal variability of fish assemblages, to assess ANP mangrove role as a nursery for fish juveniles. Fish sampling was carried out at four different sites in the four hydroclimatic seasons in Gabon using trammel gillnets with different mesh size (10, 27 and 40 mm). Fifty-nine fish species mainly estuarine and marine, first and second level predators were collected whatever the season and the site. The numerically dominant species were Pseudotolithus elongatus, Pellonula leonensis and Parachelon grandisquamis (48% of the total number of individuals), whereas P. elongatus, Chrysichthys nigrodigitatus and Plectorhinchus macrolepis represented the main biomasses (55%). The predominance in the catches of immature individuals of many species of commercial interest and in particular, P. elongatus, P. grandisquamis, C. nigrodigitatus, Eucinostomus melanopterus, Neochelon falcipinnis and Polydactylus quadrifilis, which dominate the community, highlights the importance of Akanda mangrove as a nursery for the juveniles of these species. The results of our study are a first step in understanding the fish communities of a Gabon marine protected area, which can support the decision making management plans, zonation and initiate a monitoring program for the estuarine and marine protected ecosystems.

Gender Mainstreaming in Coastal Zoning and Its Effect on the Economic Resilience of Coastal Communities

Women’s contributions and roles in coastal communities are frequently overlooked. Through a gender-based empowerment strategy, gender-based coastal zoning can result in an integrated and long-lasting implementation of coastal area management and increase coastal community resilience. This paper aims to emphasize the need of considering the demands and behaviors of women and to determine the effect of gender mainstreaming in coastal zoning on coastal area resilience. The method used in this paper is descriptive research as to conduct the potential for conducting analysis related to the role of women in coastal areas, the tools used by researchers is zoning method based on the results of the literature study, the trend of gender involvement in coastal and marine areas is still dominated by men (64%) and women (36%). The findings in this study shows Both women and men have different roles and it is undeniable that they are still interrelated in exploring fishery and marine resources. The economic resilience of coastal communities (fishers) is highly dependent on the presence of fish. The existence of fish is highly dependent on the presence of coral reefs, mangrove forests, and non-mangrove forests or coastal forests as green belts. There is a causal relationship between fish and their environment, the role of women in coastal areas is mostly found in inland coastal areas with the types of activities of production, product processing, marketing, and resources collection, the efforts to close the gap are to use the use of marine spatial planning by defining the use of space and traditional user rights through the participation of women to make them more empowered.

Prospects for green infrastructure development to improve the living comfort for the population of Odesa

The paper is aimed at identification of the prospects for development of green infrastructure as an element of the comfort of living for the urban population of Odesa.
 The authors briefly described the natural and climatic characteristics of the city. An overview of the research into the development of green infrastructure in urban areas and its connection with the comfort of living for the population in the latest papers of Ukrainian and foreign scientists, such as Bonetskyi, Carter, Cuthbert, Fisher, Henriquez, Huang, Liu, Martins, Nazaruk, Newell, Ocheretnyi, Pryshchepa, Rendekova, Rahman, Sakieh, Sholok, Vasylieva, Zheng, Zibtseva, etc., was performed.
 The percentage of the city's green space area per resident was calculated and compared to the normative value, a map of the provision of Odesa residents with green spaces was given, and the city districts with maximum and minimum green areas were identified.
 The paper characterized the species composition of the city’s flora, including the species of native woody, shrubby and herbaceous plants and those imported from other countries and continents.
 During identification of promising ways to develop green infrastructure within the territory of Odesa, the authors found that for improvement of the comfort of living in the city it is necessary to increase the share of green infrastructure, in particular, to form the green belt of Odesa and create green roofs and walls.
 The authors gave recommendations for the future expansion of the existing project on formation of the green belt of Odesa, which provides for a system of ecological corridors around the historical centre of the city, to all city districts and the outskirts.
 The main functions and advantages of green roofs and walls are indicated in terms of improvement of the quality of life of the urban population. In view of rather rapid climate change, when creating new green areas, the authors recommended to give attention to drought-resistant bushy trees, shrubs and perennial tall grasses, primarily of local origin.
 The paper also mentions the main possible directions of further research regarding identification of the optimal set of plantations and efficient approaches to the introduction of green infrastructure elements.

A CASE STUDY ON THE IMPLEMENTATION OF LEAN SIX SIGMA IN MALAYSIA PLANTATION COMPANY

Lean Six Sigma (LSS) is a method focused on continuous improvement of quality, elimination of waste and minimization of defects in an organization and has been widely applied in Multinational corporations (MNC) in western countries. However, few studies have been found in developing countries, particularly in the plantation industries. Underpinning with Actor-Network Theory (ANT), this study aims to explore the process of implementation of LSS in one of the Malaysia Plantation Companies. In this study, the data was collected through face-to-face interviews with 13 executives and non-executives, document reviews, and direct observations. The finding indicates that the LSS implementation improves the cost-saving of RM967 million in business operations in the 2016/ 2017 financial year and trained 16 Black Belt practitioners and 184 Green Belt practitioners within five years. In addition, the implementation of LSS also increases revenue contribution and brings the focus of the company towards sustainability. Overall, this study offers some insight to the company especially the board of directors and Plantation Sustainability Quality Management committee into the implementation of LSS particularly the plantation company that can strategies the LSS in their business operation.

Left-turn-across-path-from-opposite-direction accidents in China: CIDAS accident study

Abstract Left-turn-across-path-from-opposite-direction (LTAP/OD) conflicts are one of the most common crash types at intersections. The research aims to reveal the general and dynamic information about the conflict for the most relevant street layouts for each conflict configuration of the LTAP/OD accidents involving passenger cars, motorcycles and Ebikes. The analysis was based on 276 LTAP/OD accidents collected by the China in-depth accident study (CIDAS 2011–2019). The LTAP/OD accidents include 44 car-to-car conflicts, 157 car-to-motorcycle conflicts and 75 car-to-Ebike conflicts. Most accidents belonging to the three types were observed at the W0 street layout without a green belt separating the oncoming lane and no offset lane between the turning car and the oncoming traffic, the main distance between both vehicles in the beginning of the critical situation being about four metres, occurring in the clear day with no rain and at junctions lighted either because of daylight or based on street lighting. In terms of the turning car initial speed, the range is 15–30 km/h for most car-to-car and car-to-motorcycle accidents, but 30–40 km/h for most car-to-Ebike accidents. As for the collision speed, this range is between 10 km/h and 20 km/h for car-to-car and car-to-Ebike accidents and between 10 km/h and 25 km/h for car-to-motorcycle crashes. Based on the distributions of objective motorcycles’ and Ebikes' positions in collisions with passenger cars, the maximum longitudinal distance is 60 m for both types of accidents and the maximum lateral distance ranges from −20 m to 20 m and from −15 m to 15 m, respectively.

Characterization of Lean Six Sigma projects in healthcare settings: empirical research

PurposeThis paper aims to characterize a sample of Lean Six Sigma (LSS) projects in healthcare settings and discuss some specificities of operational excellence (OPEX) initiatives in hospitals and healthcare organizations in the USA.Design/methodology/approachA content analysis involving a sample of 23 documents shared by US hospitals was performed in order to achieve the research objectives. Such analysis was based on a conceptual framework developed from the literature review. It was also applied to a quantitative approach, including descriptive statistics, hypothesis testing and correspondence analysis that supported the research.FindingsMost LSSH projects were focused on business transformation and strategic improvements. Simple techniques and tools were predominant such as descriptive statistics, process mapping, 5S and spaghetti charts, usually implemented by Green Belts and Black Belts through the define, measure, analyze, improve and control (DMAIC) method. In addition to the expressive findings reported, these projects' results have been aligned with lead time and operational cost reduction, quality improvement and capacity increase.Research limitations/implicationsThe study adds knowledge to the OPEX literature by analyzing the Lean Six Sigma healthcare (LSSH) in hospitals and healthcare institutions in the USA. It also demonstrates that different approaches, such as the kaizen event and DMAIC project show different results according to some techniques and tools applied in the hospital environment.Originality/valueThe empirical evidence presented in this study provides scenery of the LSS practices in the healthcare settings, highlighting the implementation areas, outcomes, tools and techniques mostly used in the North American healthcare institutions.

Assessing the visibility of urban greenery using MLS LiDAR data

Given the ecological, cultural and psychological functions of urban vegetation, a growing number of studies have focused on daily accessible greenery visibility. Mobile laser scanning (MLS) can rapidly obtain dense point clouds that can be used to extract vegetation. To address this issue, we propose a novel method for calculating the green view index (GVI) based on MLS three-dimensional (3D) point clouds. In our study, the GVI was specified as the ratio of greenery viewing angles to the total number of viewing angles in view. The GVI calculation procedure was as follows. First, the vegetation points were extracted using the density-based spatial clustering of applications with noise (DBSCAN) algorithm and the PointNet++ deep learning algorithm. Second, based on the GVI specification, a virtual camera was constructed in a 3D point scenario to estimate greenery viewing angles in view and generate depth images, and then, the GVI value was calculated. This method is flexible and can be used to calculate the GVI at any site with any direction where 3D point scene data are available, and thus, it is suitable for evaluating various types of urban greenery. We conducted a case human-centered assessment of road greenery in a partial area of Jinshan District in Fuzhou, China, based on MLS point clouds, evaluating visible greenery and analyzing the relations among the GVI, greening pattern, and road green belt mode. The results showed that the overall visible greenery in the study area was good and that the GVI value of most road sections was more than 15 %. The method has potential for urban green space planning and management.

TOURISM SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT CONCEPT: ECONOMY CONCILIATION, SOCIAL AND ENVIRONMENTAL DEVELOPMENT

Beratan Lake tends to be changed negatively even various benefits are still there. If there is no attention and stakeholders contribution, this tourist destination will be forgotten by the future generations. Lake Beratan is one of natural resources which are really important to Bali as a water source which has a tight relationship with the religious because in each lake there are several temples in it to praise the God for the prosperity of the universe. Tourism brings the positive benefit for the local people and local government because tourism can generate the job opportunities, and also for the agricultural sector. Most the domestic tourists were interested to visit Lake Beratan for enjoy the water attraction which is offered around the lake. It is contrary with mostly the international tourists come to Lake Beratan for the natural, watch the religious ceremony at the temples in around the lake. Most respondents say that the environment of Lake Beratan extremely dirty, where there are a lot of rubbish everywhere. In addition, there are several pollutions that caused of the boating, parasailing activities and the expansion of parking area on the green belt of Lake Beratan. All stakeholders should concern immediately on the green belt of the lake, because the green belt of the lake is a part of the tourism area which should be protected to keep its sustainability. We can say that this tourism destination has the magnificent combination between nature and heritage. Thus, it could become a good place to develop sustainable development. Thanks to the tourism, it brings the valorization in the economic, social, and environment aspects. Nevertheless, in its development, all stakeholders should be involved together in each activities of tourism. And keep aware of the all effects that probably occurred by the tourism activities.

1210. A Lean Six Sigma Approach to Improving Accuracy of Manual Hand Hygiene Observations

Abstract Background Hand hygiene (HH) is widely regarded as the most important factor in preventing transmission of infections. Since 2012 our health system has utilized unit-based direct observation to measure HH compliance. Although direct observation is widely used and considered gold standard, the discrepancy between unit-based HH compliance (UB-HH) and Infection Prevention validation HH audits (IP-HH) was increasing over time. To understand the drift in HH compliance, we began a Lean Six Sigma (LSS) Green Belt project to improve UB-HH observation accuracy. Methods The IP LSS Green Belt team included nursing, respiratory care, and human factors, and analyzed factors leading to inaccurate UB-HH using LSS tools including the Voice of the Customer, process mapping, fishbone diagrams, and failure modes and effects analysis. We updated HH observer web-based education; implemented a new process to ensure observer training; and eliminated unit report card penalties for poor UB-HH. We implemented a new, more accessible observation tool, which provides a dashboard for real-time access to HH results by all staff. IPs began weekly validation HH audits. Results Baseline data revealed a 34% discrepancy between UB-HH and IP-HH compliance (95% vs 61%) over 4 different monthly validation events; only 27% of observers had completed web-based training. Goal conflicts were discovered: units were penalized for poor HH, yet the observations were unit level self-report. These results prompted design changes to the online tool and the process flow of UB-HH observation; units implemented the new program sequentially between 9/20 and 12/20. These changes resulted in 99% of observers being web-trained; however, between 10/21-3/22, UB-HH compliance averaged 98% (n=19,940), while IP-HH compliance averaged 53% (n=579) (difference, 45%). Conclusion Using multidisciplinary process improvement, we enhanced our manual HH observation processes; however, no improvement in HH accuracy was observed. Unit-based staff, who lack dedicated time for HH observation, are biased to document HH compliance over non-compliance, even with recent re-training in non-biased HH observation processes and elimination of penalties. To improve HH accuracy, we recommend either dedicated neutral HH observers or automated systems. Disclosures All Authors: No reported disclosures.

China’s Green Belt and Road Initiative: transnational environmental governance and causal pathways of orchestration

ABSTRACTThe Green Belt and Road Initiative was proposed by the Chinese government to address the environmental challenges related to the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). The BRI International Green Development Coalition (BRIGC), a flagship initiative of the Green BRI, aims to promote the BRI’s environmental performance through transnational governance measures. In this study, we analyzed the BRIGC from the perspective of orchestration theory. We developed a model of causal pathways to understand the micro-steps linking orchestrators, intermediaries, and targets. Furthermore, drawing on first-hand evidence collected through participatory observation, interviews, and focus groups, we identified four key pathways of green orchestration: green consumerism, green infrastructure, green finance, and green governance. We found that the orchestration processes were hampered by the lack of substantial input from the BRIGC, which undermined the intermediary-target relationship. We concluded with recommendations for the BRIGC to strengthen its orchestration capacity.

Modeling the Relationship between the Land Use/Land Cover Change and Land Surface Temperature in Ibadan, Oyo State, Nigeria

This study was designed to model the spatio-temporal pattern of Land Use/Land Cover (LU/LC) indices and its relationship with Land Surface Temperature (LST) in Ibadan Metropolis from 1988 to 2018. Four Landsat images of Ibadan metropolis for 1988, 1999, 2013 and 2018 were used in this study. Land surface temperature values of vegetation, open surfaces and built-up Land Use/Land Cover (LU/LC) analysis was carried out using ERDAS IMAGINE 9.2 in order to ascertain the areas covered by each land use type. The results of the study revealed that as the size of Builtup land use type increases and the size of the vegetation land use type decreases, the value of land surface temperature increases in relation to the increase in the size of built-up land use type and the decrease in the size of vegetation land use type from 1988 to 2018 in Ibadan Metropolis. This study can be useful in designing Urban Green Belts (UGB) and parks within the metropolis in order to mitigate problem of urban thermal discomfort in Ibadan, the state capital of Oyo State, Nigeria.