Western Development Strategy Research Articles

DIRECTION OF MAQASHID SHARIAH AS A POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY OF DEVELOPMENT AND MULTICULTURALISM IN INDONESIA

This research is motivated by the thought that most of the development in Muslim countries adopt western development strategy that is not the same characteristics of the ideological and economic situation. The mistake often made ​​is what Muslim countries face very difficult economic problems it faces. From the analysis, and then concluded that: First, the failure of development theories in the wake of the Western conception is caused due to the approach used partially. This approach implies the logical consequences that are often neglected, namely: (a) the emphasis on growth ignores the equitable distribution; (b) does not reflect a policy priority; (c) there is no strategy that touches economic problems directly, (d) policies that are run out of balance, so often leads to inequality and injustice. Secondly, one of the approaches used in assessing the performance of the construction of the Islamic perspective using maqashid analysis is an approach that uses concept development and a holistic approach in dealing with and touch all the existing problems and is one of the alternative approaches as a form of revision of the economistic approach to development. Third, using the live view system in formulating a political policy of economic development in Indonesia will open new perspectives in the list to the involvement of maqashid development priorities and multiculturalism. The implication is that the conception of economic development may no longer shut away from the public space in which there are a variety of needs analysis and involves a multicultural society.

A hybrid method for PM2.5 source apportionment through WRF-Chem simulations and an assessment of emission-reduction measures in western China

© 2019 Elsevier B.V. To alleviate air pollution in western China, experiencing rapid economic growth following national western development strategies, an accurate and compressive assessment of PM2.5 sources is critical. Here, we firstly investigated the spatiotemporal variation in PM2.5 and analyzed its association with weather conditions and emission changes. Then, WRF-Chem simulations were conducted for an entire year to obtain various emission sectors' contributions to the PM2.5 mass by a hybrid method, which considers both the proportions of various components as well as each sector contributing to these components. The results showed that residential emissions had the largest contribution to PM2.5 because of its dominating contribution for primary components of PM2.5 (BC and POA), which can explain >70% of PM2.5. Seasonally, the residential contributions to PM2.5 were higher in the non-monsoon period than in the monsoon period because of the higher contribution ratios to primary components. Regionally, as an essential source of the gaseous precursors, the industrial and transportation sectors were the second-largest contributors to PM2.5 in the highly populated urban (HP) and remote background (RM) regions, respectively. Further assessment of emission reduction measures indicated that eliminating 50% of residential emissions induced a 29.4% and 33.1% decrease in the annual PM2.5 mass of the HP and RM regions, respectively, with higher decrease proportions in non-monsoon. By comparison, eliminating 50% of industrial emissions caused a significantly lower decrease in PM2.5 for both HP (10%) and RM (4.6%). Eliminating 50% of transportation emissions led to PM2.5 concentrations to decline by 9.3% in RM, which was greater than the 4.6% reduction caused by eliminating 50% of industrial emissions. Therefore, in addition to focusing on the residential sector, especially in non-monsoon in western China, the transportation sector should be a focus to alleviate PM2.5 pollution on the Tibetan Plateau. The outcome of this study provides valuable information for policy-makers to make strategies to mitigate air pollution in western China.

Impacts of the grain for Green Program on the spatial pattern of land uses and ecosystem services in mountainous settlements in southwest China

The Grain for Green Program which is an important part of the strategy of Western development was initiated to protect the ecological environment and mitigate disasters. The upper reaches of the Min River basin is one of the key pilot regions for Grain for Green Program implementation in the mountainous areas of Sichuan Province, southwestern China. Therefore, monitoring the effect of the Grain for Green Program on the ecosystem services (ESs) in the montainous areas is important. Especially, several authors have emphasized the need to quantify spatial characteristics and evaluate ES values of land uses in mountainous areas from spatial and temporal perspectives. In this study, we firstly analyzed the spatial pattern of land uses in mountainous settlements before and after implementation of Grain for Green Program in the upper reaches of Min River, Sichuan Province of China. Based on lacunarity analysis, we explored the spatial characteristics of land uses including spatial heterogeneityand cluster. The results suggested that the spatial characteristics of land uses occurred at different scales, and there is strong relationship between spatial characteristic scales and the different distribution pattern of land use. We then quantified the relationships between geometrical features for land use pacthes and vegetation habitat suitability by multilevel Bayesian model. We found that the vegetation habitat suitability significantly affected on spatial location, size, and complexity of different land use patches in mountainous settlements. Based on assignment method of ES value per unit area, we finally quantitatively analyzed and compared the changes in ES values of land uses in mountainous settlements caused by Grain for Green Program from spatial and temporal scales. It is an important indicator for defining ecological potential by quantifying the change in ES value. After implementation of Grain for Green Program, the total ES value dramatically increased because of increase in forest and pasture areas. It suggests that the Grain for Green Program could bring effectively ecological benefit on protecting ecosystem functions in some degree. Application of spatial characteristics analysis of land uses and ES valuation in mountainous settlements to study the spatial structure of land use and service supplies should provide a better understanding of service provision and enable evaluation of the ecological integrity of land uses in mountainous areas.

Analytical Elasto-plastic Solution for Frost Force of Cold-Region Tunnels considering Anisotropic Frost Heave in the Surrounding Rock

There is an increasing trend of tunnel infrastructure construction in cold regions due to the advance of a western development strategy. To reduce the frost damage sustained by a tunnel, it is important to consider the mechanical properties of frost heave in the surrounding rock by analyzing the anisotropic frost heave of a cold-region tunnel. This paper elaborates on the behavior of anisotropic frost heave in the rock surrounding a cold-region tunnel, and the coefficient of displacement relief is adopted to indirectly quantify the influence of the tunnel construction process. The analytical elasto-plastic solutions of the stress and deformation in the surrounding rock are derived with Drucker-Prager criteria (hereinafter referred to as the D-P criteria) by modifying the constitutive equation for the frozen surrounding rock. Finally, an example is given to obtain the influence law of the distribution of stress and deformation in the surrounding rock. The results indicate that the plastic radius and frost force calculated by considering isotropic frost heave are greater than those obtained by considering anisotropic frost heave. The influence of the related parameters also analyzed. Some useful insights are provided for future numerical simulations and the design and construction of cold-region tunnels.

Spatial variation of the relationship between transport accessibility and the level of economic development in Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, China

As an important component of China' transportation systems, for a long time, the insufficient performance of transport in Qinghai- Tibet Plateau (QTP) was a bottleneck restricting the economic growth and social development in this area. Nevertheless, the implementation of the western development strategy has accelerated the preliminary construction of comprehensive transport network since 2000. Due to the large area and significant geographical heterogeneity, there is a growing need to understand the relationship between transportation and economic development based on the perspective of spatial difference. By using GIS-based raster analysis and Geographically Weighted Regression (GWR) model, we investigated the spatial-temporal distribution of highway, railway and airport accessibility, respectively, and estimated the correlation and heterogeneity between transport accessibility and the level of economic development. Results revealed that: (1) Transport accessibility in the QTP improved by 53.38% in the past 15 years, which is specifically embodied in the improvement of both highway and railway. (2) Accessibility presented prominent differentiation in the space, increasing from west to east and reducing with the rise of elevation, specifically, the best accessibility area of the highway is below 4000m above sea level, while the area with an altitude of over 4000 m has the lowest aviation time cost. (3) In general, the long weighted average time cost to critical transport facilities posed significantly negative effect on county economic growth in QTP, more positively, the adverse effect gradually weakened over time. (4) Obvious heterogeneity exists at the influence of different transport accessibility factors on the level of economic development, reflecting both in the horizontal space and altitudinal belt. Therefore, region-specific policies should be addressed for the sustainable development of transport facilities as well as economy in the west mountain areas.

Pembangunan Ekonomi Islami Menurut Fahim Khan Dan Umer Chapra: Sebuah Kajian Komparatif

Every economic system in the world is the ultimate goal of creating a prosperous, just and equitable life. The effort to achieve this goal is economic development. The highest achievement in the Islamic economic system is the fulfillment of fala>h}, while fala>h} can be achieved by fulfilling the concept of maqa>s}id shari>ah, meaning say, preservation of beliefs, soul, spirit, heredity and property. Some theories about economic development strategies are often formulated by conventional economists framed by the ideology of capitalism and socialism. But the idea can not be separated from the critical projector. In the ranks of contemporary Islamic economic thinkers, criticism of Western development strategies is accompanied by an alternative offer. The object of this research is the reflection of Fahim Khan and Umer Chapra on economic development. This research uses qualitative method, with comparative descriptive analysis technique. From the existing data, the author tries to describe the two objects of research and analyze it, then compare the results of two research objects. After knowing the location of equations and differences, the authors analyze the factors that underlie it. The results show that there are similarities with the problems faced by developing countries. This is the high rate of unemployment or overwork. Fahim Khan also proposes economic development strategies for surplus countries by opening up and animating entrepreneurship as well as institutional support based on a partnership with the system (profit and loss sharing). If the theory of Chapra has nothing to do with the strategy it proposes, it is only the result of the criticism of capitalist and socialist existence that has failed to overcome the problems facing the developing countries. Its strategy focuses on four important elements: moral filters, correct motivation, socio-economic restructuring and the role of the state. There are 5 characteristics that influence the factors that cause the differences and similarities between Fahim Khan's and Umer Chapra's theories on economic development: action, context, history, power, and ideology. Keywords: Fahim Khan's Theory, Umer Chapra's Thoughts, Islamic Economic Development

Effect of China's western development strategy on carbon intensity

China's western development strategy has led to the relocation of traditional industries from the east to the west, promoting China's economic growth. However, this transition has had complicated impacts on carbon dioxide emission reductions. To evaluate the impact of this development strategy on carbon intensity, we used a propensity score matching (PSM) technique and applied a difference-in-differences (DID) approach. The results highlighted three key points. First, while the impact of western development strategy on carbon intensity varies across different provinces, the strategy generally has no help to the reduction of carbon intensity in west region that has been increasing at an annual rate of 12.2 tons per million yuan. Second, the impact of western development strategy on carbon intensity has a hysteresis effect, which means the strategy deteriorates the carbon intensity of west region before improving it. Third, four intermediate factors: industrialization level, the capital intensity, the degree of urbanization, and strengthen of environmental regulation, strategically improved the carbon intensity of west region. Foreign direct investment (FDI) intensity was an important factor that indirectly helped the strategy to reduce carbon intensity.

Remote Sensing Detection of Vegetation and Landform Damages by Coal Mining on the Tibetan Plateau

In order to satisfy the needs of constant economic growth, the pressure to exploit natural resources has been increasing rapidly in China. Particularly with the implementation of the National Western Development Strategies since 1999, more and more mining activities and related infrastructure constructions have been conducted on the Tibetan Plateau (TP). Mining activities are known to have substantial impacts on plant dynamics and hence the water and energy cycles. Identifying mining activities and quantifying their effects on vegetation cover are critical to the monitoring and protection of the pristine TP environment. Thus, this study aims to develop an automated approach that detects the timing of initial mining development and assess the spatial distribution of mining-ruined vegetation. The Breaks for Additive Seasonal and Trend (BFAST) algorithm was used to decompose the signal in the normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) time series derived from high-frequency MODIS images, and to detect abrupt changes of surface vegetation. Results show that the BFAST algorithm is able to effectively identify abrupt changes in vegetation cover as a result of open-mining development on the studied alpine grassland. The testing study in Muli Town of Qinghai Province shows that the mining development began in 2003 and massive destructions of vegetation cover followed between 2008 and 2012. The integrated use of Landsat imagery and multi-temporal DEMs further reveals detailed areal and volumetric changes in the mining site. This study demonstrates the potential of applying multi-mission satellite datasets to assess large-scale environmental influences from mining development, and will be beneficial to environmental conservation and sustainable use of natural resources in remote regions.

Regional policy and tourism: A quasi-natural experiment

China’s Western Development Strategy (WDS) has generated stark differences in policy environments for tourism development. Considering the WDS as a quasi-natural experiment, the paper applied an increasingly important regression discontinuity design method to tourism studies and explored the causal effect of the WDS on tourism by comparing treated and untreated cities proximal to the geographic boundary of the WDS. We prove that the WDS has caused a significantly positive effect on tourism development and is estimated to be up to 6% and vary from 5.9% to 6.7%. The mechanism analysis indicates that the WDS can affect tourism development through infrastructure construction and tax incentives.

The effects of China's western development strategy implementation on local ecological economic performance

In this paper, we try to investigate the effects of China's Western Development Strategy (WDS), carried out since 2000, on local ecological economic performance. We first construct an eco-productivity index that incorporates economic growth, inputs saving, and emissions reduction within an integrated analysis framework. Then the eco-productivity scores of 30 administrative provinces in China's over 1996–2015 are evaluated with sequential data envelopment analysis technique. The results indicate the eco-productivity score in the east and central area (ECA) declines continuously over the whole study period, while that in the west area (WA) increases persistently since 2000 when the WDS was launched. We infer from the narrowing gap of eco-productivity scores between the two areas that China's WDS implementation has promoted local ecological economic development to a certain extent. In subsequent, this preliminary inference is further verified by conducting an empirical test.

The drivers of air pollution in the development of western China: The case of Sichuan province

Abstract China has implemented the “Western Development Strategy” to support the socioeconomic development of its western region since 2000. The development progress, however, appears to come at the cost of air quality. Reversing this trend is imperative for both the public and the Chinese government, which has frequently emphasized its commitment to not repeat the “pollution first and then treatment” experience of developed countries. With official statistical information and data from peer-reviewed literature, this study estimates the fine particles (PM2.5), sulfur dioxide (SO2), and nitrogen oxide (NOX) emissions of the economic sectors of Sichuan province, which is the largest economy in western China, and uses structural decomposition analysis to measure the contribution of different socioeconomic driving forces to the emissions change from 2002 to 2012. The results show that, the efficiency gains of PM2.5 and SO2 have prevailed over the emissions-increasing effect of economic expansion, while for NOX, the efficiency contribution still lags behind the impact of economic scale. The large-scale infrastructure investment and the rapid expansion of the real estate sector boosted Sichuan's economy but exacerbated regional air pollution. Overall, a more emissions-efficient, material-efficient and structurally-optimized production system is the overarching pollution reduction strategy. In addition, the GDP structure should be optimized to more adequately meet the changing consumption demands of the public instead of merely investing in profitable but emissions-heavy sectors such as construction.

Spatio-temporal pattern changes of land space in Hengduan Mountains during 1990–2015

Hengduan Mountains offer land space for a variety of ecological services. However, the sustainable development and management of land space has been challenged by increased human activities in recent years. This paper performs the spatial pattern analysis of the quantitative and structural changes of various landscapes at different altitudes, and uses the land use data in 1990, 2000, 2010 and 2015 to reveal how various land patterns have changed. The results show that, within the production-living-ecological space schema, the ecological space dominates Hengduan Mountains, while the production and living space was mainly distributed in south region. During 1990–2015, the production-living-ecological spatial changes had been gradually accelerated and the regional differences had become more prominent. The agricultural production space had continuously decreased by 1132.31 km2, and the industrial and mining production space had rapidly increased by 281.4 km2 during 1990–2015. The living space had steadily increased, and the ecological space had increased with fluctuations. The land space pattern in Hengduan Mountains was greatly restricted by the terrain, such as altitude and slope. The implementations of China Western Development Strategy and the Returning Farmland to Forest Program had favorably promoted the changes of land spatial pattern in Hengduan Mountains.

西藏高原拉萨河流域生态风险评估

PDF HTML阅读 XML下载 导出引用 引用提醒 西藏高原拉萨河流域生态风险评估 DOI: 10.5846/stxb201806121308 作者: 作者单位: 西藏自治区环境保护厅,中国科学院地理科学与资源研究所生态网络观测与模拟重点实验室千烟洲试验站,西藏自治区环境保护厅,中国科学院地理科学与资源研究所生态网络观测与模拟重点实验室千烟洲试验站,中国人民大学环境学院,中国人民大学环境学院,中国科学院地理科学与资源研究所生态网络观测与模拟重点实验室千烟洲试验站,中国科学院地理科学与资源研究所生态网络观测与模拟重点实验室千烟洲试验站 作者简介: 通讯作者: 中图分类号: 基金项目: 西藏自治区重点科技计划项目（Z2016C01G01/08，Z2016C01G01/03） Ecological risk assessment of Lhasa River Basin on the Tibetan Plateau Author: Affiliation: Environmental Protection Bureau of Tibet Autonomous Region,Qianyanzhou Ecological Research Station, Key Laboratory of Ecosystem Network Observation and Modelling, Institute of Geographic Sciences and Natural Resources Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences,Environmental Protection Bureau of Tibet Autonomous Region,Qianyanzhou Ecological Research Station, Key Laboratory of Ecosystem Network Observation and Modelling, Institute of Geographic Sciences and Natural Resources Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences,,,, Fund Project: 摘要 | 图/表 | 访问统计 | 参考文献 | 相似文献 | 引证文献 | 资源附件 | 文章评论 摘要:随着我国西部崛起战略的实施，社会经济发展所引发的生态风险逐渐引起生态学者和政府管理部门的高度关注。拉萨河流域作为高原生物多样性的维持基地，也是我国及东亚的重要生态安全屏障区，为有效管控其社会经济发展中产生的生态环境风险，通过适合高寒流域特征的风险评估方法，识别了研究区风险源，选择风险受体，采用相对风险模型计算了各研究单元的风险等级。结果表明：城关区的生态风险最高，主要风险来源于城镇扩张和旅游娱乐；当雄县生态风险最低，风险来源于畜牧养殖；林周县、曲水县、达孜县、堆龙德庆区以及墨竹工卡县的首要风险源是农业污染。水体和湿地的风险值明显高于其他生态系统。风险值的空间分布表现为南高北低的特征，且风险等级以城关区为中心向外围逐渐降低。 Abstract:With the implementation of the Great Western Development Strategy, the ecological risks associated with social and economic development have attracted the attention of ecologists and government departments. As an important base for maintaining plateau biodiversity, Lhasa River Basin is also an important ecological safety barrier zone for China and East Asia more broadly. To effectively control the ecological risks in the process of urbanizing Lhasa River Basin, this study identified the source of risks, selected risk receptors, and used a relative risk model to calculate the risk level in each research unit. The results show that the Chengguan District has the highest ecological risk level, with the primary risk coming from urban expansion and tourism; and Dangxiong County has the lowest level of ecological risk, with the risk coming from livestock husbandry. The primary source of risk in Linzhou County, Qushui County, Dazi County, Dulongdeqing District, and Mozhugongka County is agricultural pollution. The risk value for water and wetland is significantly higher than that of the other habitats. The spatial distribution of risk value is generally higher in the south of Lhasa River Basin, and the risk level decreases gradually around the Chengguan District. 参考文献 相似文献 引证文献

The Impact of Policy Intervention on Regional Economic Growth in China

As a grand policy of realizing the rapid development of the western region and narrowing the income gap between the western region and the eastern and central regions after China’s reform and opening up, it is of great practical significance to objectively study its policy effects. This paper uses the data of municipal districts in Chinese cities from 1997 to 2014 in China City Statistical Yearbook to evaluate the policy effect of the western development strategy by using the method of difference-in-difference propensity score matching (PSM-DID). The research results show that the western development policy has not improved the economic growth of the western region, but has negatively affected the economic growth of the western region. In addition, economic growth in the western region may be due to factors such as fixed asset investment, foreign direct investment, and higher education levels, etc. Therefore, the strategic direction of the development of the western region should focus on human capital investment, improve the market economy system, and strengthen exchanges and cooperation between regions in the future.

Regional growth differences in China for 1995–2013: an empirical integrative analysis of their sources

An integrative empirical analysis of several regional economic outcome variables in China for the period of 1995–2013 reveal the major sources of regional growth differences in China. Patterns of growth in population, per capita income, gross regional product, housing prices and changes in unemployment rates are identified using principal components analysis. Regression analysis of principal component scores is applied to identify geographic and administrative status patterns in the sources of the growth. The analysis suggests that shifts in labor supply largely were responsible for the regional growth differences over the period, though shifts in labor demand were nearly equally as important. The results have implications for evaluating the success of regional development policies such as the Western Development Strategy.

“Development strategies at station areas in southwestern China: The case of Mianyang city”

This paper analyses the possibilities for implementing a TOD model around a railway station in Mianyang City, in southwestern China, through a Node-Place model to determine the potential for developing the areas around railway stations to foster a sustainable economic and urban development. For this purpose, the implementation of a TOD model means an interesting sustainable way for smart growth, whose successful implementation will strongly depend on the context, where the Growth Pole Theory is being implemented through the Western Development Strategy to strengthen the Chengdu-Chongqing Economic Zone. The Hukou system (household registration) and the current rapid urbanization and motorization trends are featuring the economic growth, creating inequities among urban population, informal settlements and problems in the accessibility of low-income residents. Therefore, not only does it lead to an analysis of the most important station areas in northeastern Sichuan Province but also of the socio-economic trends of one of the most underdeveloped regions of the country, yet with a high potential to be developed. Consequently, the real situation of the Northeast of Sichuan province is studied through fieldworks which complement the lack of reliable information, determining the most suitable features for achieving the best urban planning solution.

Urbanization Process Monitoring in Northwest China based on DMSP/OLS Nighttime Light Data

In recent years, the DMSP/OLS nighttime light data have been widely applied to various fields such as monitoring and evaluation of urbanization, estimation of social economy, economical environment and health effects, hazards analysis, and fisheries research. The general urbanized level in China has rapidly developed since the 1990s, and the cities in northwest China, which were important population centres of the ancient silk road, have also been developed in a high speed thanks to China’s national strategy of Western Development. Given the Xinjiang autonomous region as a core area of One Belt and One Road, it is very necessary to study the urbanization processes and changes of its urban system and the whole northwest region of China. In this paper, we extracted built-up areas of the cities in northwest China in 1992, 1997, 2002, 2007, and 2012, evaluated urban expansion and spatial pattern through appropriate indexes, and also quantitatively analyzed the urbanized level of each city. The results showed that the cities in northwest China generally presented high strong and rapid expansion, but there were some large differences among cities. Urban expansion forms alternate with exterior expansion and interior filling, in general, the cities externally expandedafter 2002 and internally filledbefore 2002, meanwhile, there were a high positive correlation between urban built-up areas and population growth in Xinjiang autonomous.

Evaluation of ecological effectiveness of protected areas in Northwest China

Protected areas (PAs) have experienced explosive growth in Northwest China over the last three decades, but their effectiveness in representing regional ecological system diversity has not attracted considerable attention. Low effectiveness would exacerbate the conservation-development conflicts, particularly those that arise as a result of the Great Western Development Strategy (GWDS). Thus, an assessment of the effectiveness of the PA network has become quite important. We proposed natural vegetation communities to represent regional ecological system diversities, and proposed Global 200 Priority Ecoregions, Important Bird Areas, and ecosystem function regions to represent important conservation areas. To determine their effectiveness, we studied the extent to which ecological system diversities and important conservation areas are represented by the existing 96 PAs. Our results indicated that the total coverage of vegetation communities in PAs in Northwest China is not sufficiently comprehensive. As the PA system has expanded, the growth in the total area of the PAs has been greater than that of their vegetation community richness. While most of the important conservation areas are covered by PAs, some regions have not yet reached the 10% threshold; further, PAs are distributed unevenly and conservation gaps remain in the region. Therefore, these regions should receive more attention when planning new PAs. It is vital that more biodiversity datasets and assessment of ecosystem function regions are integrated in order to provide a basis for the government to formulate appropriate protection and development strategies.

高原用功能高分子材料研究

随着西部大开发战略的实施和高原旅游热的兴起，进入高海拔低氧高原环境的人越来越多。当快速进入3000米以上高原会因缺氧发生以呼吸、消化和神经系统症状为主的急性高原反应。为应对这些症状，本文研究高原用功能高分子材料：口罩、丝巾、领带、帽子等释放负离子纺织品。以海鸥斯为主要原料的负离子添加剂，与纤维较好的复合，开发出可以释放负离子的功能纤维，缓解预防高原环境下对人体造成的不适症状。 With the development of the western development strategy and plateau tourism hot, more and more people go to the high altitude hypoxia environment. When rapidly go to the altitude of more than 3000 meters, it will lead to acute altitude sickness because of hypoxia, whose symptoms are mainly about breathe, digestion and nervous system. In response to these symptoms, this paper studies functional polymer materials: masks, scarves, ties, hats and other releasing anion textiles. Seagulls as the main raw material of the anion additives, well composited with fiber, can be de-veloped to release anions of functional fibers, to alleviate the human body discomfort caused by high altitude environment.

Coal mining and environmental development in southwest China

This paper attempts to discuss the role of coal mining in enhancing environmental development in southwest China since 2000 from local and regional perspectives. The case study undertaken in the Beipan River Basin, Guizhou revealed that: (1) some coal mines are positively moving towards sustainable development; (2) decoupling, a circular economy, scientific innovation, economic transformation, and industrial diversification have proven useful theories and practices for promoting a sustainable mining industry; (3) China’s western development strategy (WDS) has had a powerful influence on the coal mining in southwest China; and, (4) coal industry can contribute to a better environment from the local to the global level. However, some challenges persist e.g., lack of post-decommission management, poor pollution control, lack of technology for solid waste, and socioeconomic and environmental pressure on the coal industry in southwest China. The author argues that the future role of coal mining in relation to environmental development will largely depend upon the national government’s guiding ideology vis-à-vis development, enforcement of laws and policies, public participation and industry’s corporate social responsibility.