Marine Ecological Civilization Research Articles

Evaluation of marine economic development demonstration zone policy on marine industrial structure optimization: a case study of Zhejiang, China

The marine economic development demonstration zone (MEDDZ) is the regional marine functional policy that assumes the significant tasks of innovation in the system and mechanism of the marine economy, optimization of the marine industrial structures, and the construction of marine ecological civilization. This paper constructs a panel database of 11 coastal provinces in China from 2006 to 2019, takes the Zhejiang Marine Economy Development Demonstration Zone Plan officially approved by the State Council of China in 2011 as a quasi-natural experiment, applies the synthetic control method (SCM) to evaluate the effect of implementation of the MEDDZ policy on marine industrial structure optimization in Zhejiang. The results show that: (1) The MEDDZ policy significantly promotes the structure optimization of the marine industry in Zhejiang and the existence of the policy lag phenomenon. (2) Based on the results of the robustness tests, we find that the fitted path of policy effects is better when the time of MEDDZ implementation is adjusted to 2012. (3) Government financial support and marine cargo capacity play a role in implementing the MEDDZ policy, positively affecting and optimizing the coastal marine industry’s structure. Therefore, we make some suggestions from the perspectives of strengthening the policy implementation process, focusing on the policy lag phenomenon, and broadening funding sources, thus enriching theoretical research on policies in the field of the marine industry and providing practical references for the development of other coastal demonstration zones.

Hot spots, evolutionary trends, and future prospects for the sustainable development of the marine economy in the past 30 years: a comparative bibliometric analysis based on CiteSpace

How to assess the quality of sustainable development is an important issue for the marine economy. This study examined studies on sustainable development of marine economy over the past 30 years using core databases from China National Knowledge Infrastructure and Web of Science. This study introduced bibliometric analysis methods and CiteSpace software to track and comparatively analyze the hotspots of studies from 1994 to 2023. This study showed that (1) the research on sustainable development of the marine economy has achieved extensive results. Researchers have already collaborated with those in China. (2) Hotspots for Chinese research are mainly focused on building an indicator system of marine economy's sustainable development, realizing the path of sustainable development of regional marine economy, and planning the sustainable development goals of specific marine industries. In contrast, other countries focus on protecting marine ecology and identifying the path of sustainable development of the marine industry. (3) Strengthening exchange and cooperation between institutions and scholars from various countries, and further studies on the micro-paths of blue carbon sinks, marine ecological civilization and high-quality development, low-carbon development of marine industries will become new hotspots for research.

Research on the impact of marine ecological civilization demonstration zone policies on the green development level of China's marine economy: A quasi natural experiment based on coastal cities

In the context of the current ecologicalization of social policies, the National Marine Ecological Civilization Construction Demonstration Zone led by the Chinese government is not only a carrier of marine ecological civilization construction, but also a test field for building a maritime power and promoting the sustainable development of the marine economy and society. This paper considers the establishment of the demonstration zones as a "quasi-natural experiment". Utilizing panel data from 53 prefecture-level and above cities in China from 2006 to 2020, a time‑varying difference‑in‑difference model is applied to examine whether this ecological policy can promote the elevation of green development levels of the marine economy, aiming to achieve a harmonious balance between "clear waters and green mountains" and "mountains of gold and silver". The results indicate that the establishment of the demonstration zones significantly enhances the level of green development of the marine economy. Technological innovation and industrial structure are identified as two crucial mechanisms influencing green development of the marine economy, both exhibiting positive mediating effects. The impact of the establishment of the demonstration zones on the promotion of green development of the marine economy is more pronounced in the East China coastal region and the Central-south coastal region compared to the North China and Northeast coastal regions. Additionally, this policy effectively stimulates green development of the marine economy in medium and small cities and non-resource-based cities. Finally, corresponding policy recommendations are proposed from the perspectives of differentiated strategies, industrial structure adjustments, and technological innovation mechanisms.

New developments and trends in extended continental shelf delineation practices—An analysis of China's participation and response strategies

Rights and interests concerning the continental shelf beyond 200 nautical miles (extended continental shelf, ECS) are related to important aspects of a nation's marine utilization such as marine resource development, marine technological innovation, and the construction of marine ecological civilization. China is a country with a long coastline and has the right to delineate large areas of ECS according to the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS). However, the process of confirming China's ECS rights under international law is particularly complicated owing to the complex maritime delineation disputes between China and its neighboring countries. From the perspective of international law, this study uses the method of historical analysis and case analysis to retrospectively explore the evolution of the international legal frameworks governing ECS and analyze its current characteristics and trends in practice. On this basis, the paper evaluates the major challenges of China's national practice in ECS delineation and puts forward suggested countermeasures for safeguarding its legitimate rights and interests related to ECS.

Heading towards carbon neutrality: how do marine carbon sinks serve as important handle for promoting marine ecological civilization construction?

As an efficient long-term carbon sink, marine carbon sinks and the associated carbon sink effects, technology, accounting and trading market construction warrant investigation across various disciplines. However, information on the interrelationships and their development over time with respect to the research conducted in China is limited, affecting the ability to drive research directions and optimize continued advancement in this field. Therefore, in this study, we aimed to understand the current situation of marine carbon sink research in China to promote a deeper level of scientific development based on the research literature related to marine blue carbon sinks in the core databases of the China National Knowledge Internet (CNKI) and Web of Science (WOS). We used bibliometric tools in the Citespace software to quantitatively compare and analyse the main characteristics of marine blue carbon sink research including publication volume, time, journals, authors and institutions. We also explored the popular research topics, frontier areas, and theme evolution trends through keyword clustering and emergent and co-occurring knowledge maps. The key recommended research directions for ocean carbon sinks are: (1) to promote the unified carbon sink market research of land and sea integration through multidisciplinary and cross-disciplinary research; (2) to achieve new breakthroughs in ocean carbon sinks with the support of coastal wetlands and seawater offshore aquaculture environments; (3) to explore the protection provided by ocean carbon sinks with a comprehensive eco-compensation mechanism; (4) to improve the application of marine carbon sinks by taking the theory and technological innovation research related to marine carbon sinks as the guide. Ultimately, our work helps characterise the current situation of marine carbon sink research, promote the research in this field to a deeper level of development and provide reference for subsequent scholars to carry out related research.

Marine ecological security shelter in China: Concept, policy framework, mechanism and implementation obstacles

Building a marine ecological security shelter (MESS) has become the main strategy to adapt marine ecological threats in China. As China's marine policy lacks a robust framework document, it is necessary to consider whether the policy system can effectively support the construction of MESS. However, the linkage between the construction measures of MESS and related policies is not clear. Therefore, the purpose of this paper is to clarify the concept of MESS and its connection with policy, by adopting the policy content analysis method to analyze the evolution process of MESS-related policy system. The legislative shortcomings and implementation obstacles of the MESS-related policy system are then summarized and discussed. The results show that from 1981 to 2021 the MESS-related policy system has been continuously improved. However, the policy system's support and guarantee capacity for building MESS still needs to be improved. (1) Due to the lack of basic laws and special laws, the coordination among governance subjects and among policies lacks legislative guarantee. (2) The construction of MESS continues the inter-regional and inter-department administrative barriers in collaborative governance of marine environment. To establish an effective collaborative governance model, it is essential to improve the governance structure and mechanism. (3) The government-led governance pattern faces the problem of mechanism failure. The command and control instrument accounts for more than 82%, and the public and enterprises lack strong policy guarantees to participate in marine governance. (4) The policy system's adaptability to emerging threats must be improved. Marine policies rarely involve emerging threats such as climate change and new pollutants. Meanwhile, the real-time supervision and monitoring mechanism is weak. The real-time supervision is only accounting for about 10%. Generally speaking, as a complex and long-term system engineering, the construction of MESS will inevitably encounter contradictions in politics, culture, and economy. China should deepen the construction of marine ecological civilization and form a governance concept based on ecosystems. Overall, this paper helps to understand the internal connection between MESS and policy comprehensively and provides a new perspective for improving China's marine governance capacity.

Development, hotspots and trend directions of marine ecological compensation in China: A bibliometric-based assessment

Marine ecological compensation plays a critical role in harmonizing marine ecology protection and resource utilization, serving as the key to establishing marine ecological civilization. This study constructs a knowledge framework for China's marine ecological compensation based on current research. Utilizing the China National Knowledge Infrastructure database as the main data source and employing CiteSpace software to visualize knowledge map, it showcases the hotspots and frontiers in the field of China's marine ecological compensation research over the past two decades. In additional, the study innovatively adds international literature on this topic in the Web of Science database for comparative analysis to grasp the new trends in China's marine ecological compensation research. The results show that: China's marine ecological compensation research started later than international research, with fewer publications, and a clear policy-oriented focus in the literature output. High-frequency cited literature reflect the interdisciplinary nature of marine ecological compensation research. The research hotspots in China's marine ecological compensation primarily revolve around damage assessment, standard quantification, and regional practices. In contrast, international research centers more on aspects like "Willingness to pay", "Contingent valuation", and "Blue carbon". Since 2016, the keywords that have emerged with greater intensity in China's marine ecological compensation research include "island tourism", "ecological damage", "legal path", etc. During the precipitation period of China's marine ecological compensation research, diversified compensation standards, pre-compensation methods, island ecological compensation, and performance evaluation have emerged as research focus. During the same period, marine ecosystems with carbon sequestration potential received great attention from international literature.

Revealing the Current Situation and Strategies of Marine Ranching Development in China Based on Knowledge Graphs

In recent years, marine ranching, as an emerging model of marine industry development, has become a research hotspot in the marine industries of many countries. A marine ranching is an ecological aquaculture fishing ground formed within a specific sea area to increase and restore fishery resources, combined with artificial nurseries and the construction of fish reefs. As a major maritime country, China attaches great importance to the construction of marine ranching and supports them as an important means of conserving aquatic resources, providing fishermen with jobs, and building a marine ecological civilization. Bibliometric methods are considered to be useful tools that can provide a macroscopic overview of large amounts of academic literature, identify research priorities, and track the evolution of science and technology. In this paper, a comprehensive analysis was carried out using three methods: bibliometric analysis, visual analysis with CiteSpace software, and Excel pivoting, presented in the form of visual graphs and data charts. A total of 293 and 522 academic journal papers searched in the China National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI) and the Web of Science (WoS) core databases were used, respectively, and to summarize the current status of construction of national marine ranching demonstration areas in China, this study also provides an overview of China’s policies on the development of marine ranching over the past two decades. It clarifies the current status, research hotspots and future directions of marine ranching research, and provides a reference for the evolution process and theoretical research of marine ranching in the future. At present, China is focusing on the development of modernized “all-area” marine ranching which is “ecological, precise, intelligent and integrated”. Obviously, it cannot be overemphasized that smart marine ranching will become a research hotspot in the future.

Data-driven decision-making of marine ecological civilization construction in island county of China

In the cause of assessing the construction of ecological civilization in island county accurately, an evaluation index system involving 27 single indexes under the framework of Pressure-State-Response (PSR) model is established. Because the system of island county ecological civilization development is a complex network system. This research designs an assessment method based on network analytical method to evaluate the development of island county ecological civilization. For this purpose, a Back-Propagation (BP) neural network-based decision-making model are established at the same time. Regarding the standardized data of 6 island counties from 2010 to 2020 in China as the input learning matrix, both entropy and coefficient of variation are applied to the evaluation of the “Development Index of Marine Ecological Civilization Construction” (DIMECC). More specifically, after 10,000 times of training, the error accuracy is within overhead manageable, and the island counties which are evaluated as ecological civilization level are found out and the key impacting indicator contributing to low level are identified. According to the actual evaluation result of island counties obtained by BP neural network, the ecological civilization of them is proposed as a whole under land-sea coordination. Finally, this paper suggests on the decision-making of the participants to contribute the construction of the island county ecological civilization development system.

Multilayered Helical Spherical Triboelectric Nanogenerator with Charge Shuttling for Water Wave Energy Harvesting.

As an important part of natural resources, islands support the marine economy and build a blue barrier for marine ecological civilization. However, the power supply on these islands is difficult, limiting the development of marine internet of things (IoTs). In order to break the status quo, this work applies triboelectric nanogenerators (TENGs) to island power supply and ecological monitoring. A spherical TENG with two multilayered helical units is designed to harvest water wave energy, in which the space utilization rate reaches 92.5%. Then a charge shuttling mechanism is developed to improve the electrical output. The output current and power of a single TENG without power management reach 200.3µA and 16.2mW respectively, corresponding to a peak power density of 23.2W m-3 . Moreover, a scheme of the power managed TENG is proposed for realizing large-scale wave energy harvesting. The TENG is demonstrated to successfully power a water quality detector, a Bluetooth thermo-hygrometer, and an intelligent wireless alarm system for remote environmental monitoring. This work not only proposes a new type of TENG for water wave energy harvesting with improved performance, but also provides a new strategy for intelligent ocean IoTs, which even contributes to the carbon neutralization.

Problems and Significance of Marine Environment Monitoring

At this stage, compared with developed countries, China's Water environment monitoring technology is still in a relatively backward development trend. The improvement of Water environment monitoring technology requires a long process of accumulating experience. The construction of marine ecological civilization as a new cognitive concept has been raised to a national strategy, in which marine environmental monitoring is an important technical means to cognize the current situation of marine environment and guarantee the construction of marine ecological civilization, but compared with developed countries, certain monitoring technologies in China are still immature and some monitoring systems have not been perfected. Therefore, how to improve the quality of marine environmental monitoring, integrate marine monitoring team and build a three-dimensional marine monitoring system has become an important prerequisite for the implementation of ecological civilization construction.

A Study on Policy Simulation and Emulation for the Construction of Marine Ecological Civilization in Guangdong Province Based on System Dynamics

A Study on Policy Simulation and Emulation for the Construction of Marine Ecological Civilization in Guangdong Province Based on System Dynamics

Construction and Collaborative Analysis of Marine Ecological Civilization in Jiaodong Economic Circle

The ocean has become an important field of global cooperation and development. As the vanguard of China's Marine economic development, Jiaodong has achieved remarkable results in its regional collaborative development, but there are few researches in the field of Marine ecological civilization. Based on the analysis of Marine ecological civilization construction in Qingdao, Yantai, Weifang, Weihai and Rizhao of Jiaodong economic Circle, this paper identifies the shortcomings and deficiencies of each city in the process of Marine ecological civilization construction.

A Study on the Implementation effect of the Marine Ecological Civilization Policy in the Three Major Bay Areas of China: take relevant provinces and cities in the Bay Area as examples

The implementation effect evaluation of marine ecological civilization policy is a necessary means to manage and supervise the construction of marine ecological civilization. The evaluation work needs to design a targeted effect evaluation index system for the implementation effect of marine ecological civilization policy. Based on collecting the comprehensive data of the sea areas of relevant provinces and cities in the three Bay regions of China from 2012 to 2016, Compared with the changes in marine ecological quality before and after the implementation of the policy in 2015, analyzing the comprehensive index of the Bay Area and the effect of the policy implementation, this research puts forward relevant suggestions for the improvement of China's marine ecological civilization construction system and the continuous implementation of the ecological civilization construction policy.

Total factor productivity of China’s marine economy: A meta-analysis

With the rapid development of the global economy and the depletion of land resources, the ocean has gradually become a new area for human society to seek resources and space utilization. In China, the marine economy also has become an essential part of the national economy. Therefore, it is crucial to evaluate marine productivity to understand China’s marine industry’s input-output status and development level. We conducted a meta-analysis using 622 observations from 33 primary empirical studies to quantify the discrepancies in measurement findings and identify the influencing factors of total factor productivity (TFP) growth in the marine industry. The results indicate that: (1) In the existing literature, the mean TFP growth of China’s marine economy at the provincial level is 1.002, which is lower than that at the national level (1.022); (2) The time span of the data, the estimation model, the evaluation indicator, and the journal’s rank all have a significant effect on the estimation results of the marine economic TFP growth, whereas the year of publication does not affect the estimation results; (3) The TFP growth of China’s marine economy peaked during the Ninth Five-Year Plan period, after which it began to decline year after year; (4) The TFP growth of the marine economy in the Yangtze River Delta region and Circum Bohai Sea region is significantly higher than that in the Pan-Pearl River Delta region; (5) Economic factors such as gross ocean product, level of opening-up, level of marine science and technology, and industrial structure all have an impact on the marine economic TFP growth. Accordingly, the following insights were obtained: In terms of marine economic development policies, we should continue to enhance the investment in marine environmental governance, strengthen the construction of marine ecological civilization, and pay attention to synergistic regional development, opening up to the outside world, scientific and technological innovation, and industrial structure optimization. In addition, the follow-up study should use long-period sample data as much as possible, pay attention to the parametric SFA model, and strip the negative environmental impact by constructing a green evaluation index system.

A Novel Device for the In Situ Enrichment of Gold from Submarine Venting Fluids

Gold and other metals (Cu, Zn, Ag, etc.) are enriched in vent fluids, approximately 3–5 orders of magnitude higher than those in seawater, and this leads to the formation of sulfide enrichment in Cu, Zn, Au, and Ag deposited on the mid-ocean ridge and island arcs, as well as in back-arc basins. We developed a device that can extract the elements such as Cu, Zn, Au, and Ag from the vent fluids before the formation of the hydrothermal plume, sulfide deposit, and metalliferous sediment at the seafloor over a long period, which is beneficial to collecting hydrothermal resources effectively and avoiding the damage of ecological environments caused by mining the polymetallic sulfide resources. The application of this device will have significance for the development and utilization of seafloor hydrothermal resources, the sustainable development and implementation of the blue economy, and the construction of the marine ecological civilization in the future.

Marine resource economy and strategy under the background of marine ecological civilization construction

Marine resource economy and strategy under the background of marine ecological civilization construction

Spatial-temporal evaluation of marine ecological civilization of Zhejiang Province, China

Eco-Civilization Construction has gone through 8 years since it has been included in the “five-in-one” overall layout in the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China. As an important part of Eco-Civilization Construction, Marine Eco-Civilization Construction (MECC) has also made great achievement in China. This paper was the first attempt to evaluate the performance of Marine Eco-Civilization Construction at county scale. Selecting 20 specific indicators from six subsystems, including resource, ecology, culture, governance, economy and society, we developed an evaluation system for MECC. With the combination of analytic hierarchy process (AHP) and the entropy method, we measured the MECC performance of all 32 coastal counties in Zhejiang Province from 2010 to 2016 and calculated the coordination degree among six subsystems. Temporally, the performance level of coastal districts and counties in Zhejiang was increased steadily, and spatially, the coordination degree however was relatively low in some counties indicating the spatial discordance. Our study could provide important insights for further promoting MECC in China at local scale as well as for other coastal regions’ sustainability.

Coupling research on the two-way development of marine ecological civilization and urbanization in coastal cities

Coupling research on the two-way development of marine ecological civilization and urbanization in coastal cities

Economic Spillover Effects of Industrial Structure Upgrading in China’s Coastal Economic Rims

As a vital element affecting economic efficiency, the impact of marine industrial structure upgrading on marine economy has become a hot topic, and China is not an exception. This paper analyzed the dynamic relationship of marine industrial structure upgrading and marine economy efficiency to verity the “structural bonus” and “cost disease” effects. The results confirmed the existence of cost disease in China’s marine economy, although occasionally it illustrated structural bonus effects with the improvement of the regional marine economy efficiency. The spatial Durbin model (SDM) was introduced to study the spillover effect of local marine industrial structure upgrading (MISU) on the adjacent regions’ marine economy efficiency, and this spillover effect was verified to have agglomerate characteristics in China’s coastal areas. Then several countermeasures were proposed to realize marine ecological civilization and promote regional cooperation in the development of China’s marine economy.