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The center of gravity of China’s new cropland has shifted from Northeast China to the Xinjiang oasis areas where the ecological environment is relatively fragile. However, we currently face a lack of a comprehensive review of the cropland expansion in oasis areas of Xinjiang, which is importantly associated with the sustainable use of cropland, social stability and oasis ecological security. In this study, the land use remote sensing monitoring data in 1990, 2000, 2010 and 2018 were used to comprehensively analyze the process characteristics, different modes and driving mechanisms of the cropland expansion in Xinjiang, as well as its spatial heterogeneity at the oasis area level. The results revealed that cropland in Xinjiang continued to expand from 5803 thousand hectares in 1990 to 8939 thousand hectares in 2018 and experienced three stages of expansion: steady expansion, rapid expansion, and slow expansion. The center of gravity of cropland showed the characteristic of shifting to the South. Edge expansion and encroachment on grassland were the dominant spatial pattern mode and land use conversion mode of Xinjiang’s cropland expansion, respectively. The expansion of cropland in Xinjiang was affected by multiple factors. Irrigation conditions played a dominant role. Topography indirectly affected cropland expansion by affecting the suitability of agricultural production and development. Population growth and farmers’ income were important driving forces. There was significant spatial heterogeneity in the intensity, mode and driving force of cropland expansion among different oasis areas in Xinjiang. The spatial shift of China’s new cropland has occupied a large amount of water resources and ecological land in Xinjiang and exacerbated the vulnerability of the ecosystem in arid regions. The key to sustainable management of cropland in Xinjiang in the future lies in maintaining an appropriate scale of cropland and promoting the coordinated development of cropland, population, water resources and industry.
Tianyi Cai; Xinhuan Zhang; Fuqiang Xia; Zhiping Zhang; Jingjing Yin; Shengqin Wu. The Process-Mode-Driving Force of Cropland Expansion in Arid Regions of China Based on the Land Use Remote Sensing Monitoring Data. Remote Sensing 2021, 13, 2949 .
AMA StyleTianyi Cai, Xinhuan Zhang, Fuqiang Xia, Zhiping Zhang, Jingjing Yin, Shengqin Wu. The Process-Mode-Driving Force of Cropland Expansion in Arid Regions of China Based on the Land Use Remote Sensing Monitoring Data. Remote Sensing. 2021; 13 (15):2949.
Chicago/Turabian StyleTianyi Cai; Xinhuan Zhang; Fuqiang Xia; Zhiping Zhang; Jingjing Yin; Shengqin Wu. 2021. "The Process-Mode-Driving Force of Cropland Expansion in Arid Regions of China Based on the Land Use Remote Sensing Monitoring Data." Remote Sensing 13, no. 15: 2949.
The transition to a healthier diet recommended by national dietary guidelines in China may not achieve sufficient environmental benefits. This study assesses China's potential of transforming into a sustainable diet and the trade-offs among reducing food-related environmental impacts, improving nutritional quality and respecting eating habits. We used multi-objective optimization to build optimized scenarios, with the lowest environmental footprint and greatest acceptability (i.e., with the minimum departure from the currently observed diet) as optimization goals, and adequate macro- and micronutrient intake levels as constraints. In doing so, we assessed the actual benefits and synergies of reducing carbon footprint (CF), water footprint (WF), and ecological footprint (EF) and improving health and respecting dietary acceptance under the corresponding scenarios. The results show that CF, WF and EF can be reduced by up to 19%, 15% and 30% respectively, while satisfying nutritional constraints and achieving the minimum deviation from the current food combination. The greatest synergistic benefits for CF, WF and EF are achieved when the minimum CF is the optimization goal; the maximum synergistic benefits for the environment, health and acceptability are achieved when the CF is reduced by 10%. Our findings identify the trade-offs and synergies dietary changes considering nutritional benefits, environmental sustainability and acceptability, and reveal the challenges and opportunities for achieving such synergies.
Jingjing Yin; Xinhuan Zhang; Wei Huang; Lingxuan Liu; Yufang Zhang; Degang Yang; Yun Hao; Yaning Chen. The potential benefits of dietary shift in China: Synergies among acceptability, health, and environmental sustainability. Science of The Total Environment 2021, 779, 146497 .
AMA StyleJingjing Yin, Xinhuan Zhang, Wei Huang, Lingxuan Liu, Yufang Zhang, Degang Yang, Yun Hao, Yaning Chen. The potential benefits of dietary shift in China: Synergies among acceptability, health, and environmental sustainability. Science of The Total Environment. 2021; 779 ():146497.
Chicago/Turabian StyleJingjing Yin; Xinhuan Zhang; Wei Huang; Lingxuan Liu; Yufang Zhang; Degang Yang; Yun Hao; Yaning Chen. 2021. "The potential benefits of dietary shift in China: Synergies among acceptability, health, and environmental sustainability." Science of The Total Environment 779, no. : 146497.
Creating a vital and lively urban environment is an inherent requirement of urban sustainable development, and understanding urban vibrancy is helpful for urban development policy making. The urban vibrancy theory needs more empirical supplementation and more evidence for the effect of the built environment on urban vibrancy. We use multisource urban spatial information data, including real-time population distribution (RPD) data and small catering business (SCB) data; quantitatively measure urban vibrancy; and build a comparative framework to explore the effect of the built environment on the urban vibrancy of a northwestern emerging city in China. The results demonstrate that the two urban vibrancy metrics present a spatial distribution pattern that is high in the south and low in the north areas of the city with significant spatial aggregation. Land-use intensity and diversity have strong positive effects on urban vibrancy but present a different pattern of effects on the two vibrancy measures. The influences on urban vibrancy of distance to the district center and distance to the nearest commercial complex are spatially complementary in the study area, and the effect of accessibility factors is weak. Our findings suggest that a somewhat cautious approach is required in the application of these classical planning theories to Urumqi.
Runde Fu; Xinhuan Zhang; Degang Yang; Tianyi Cai; Yufang Zhang. The Relationship between Urban Vibrancy and Built Environment: An Empirical Study from an Emerging City in an Arid Region. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health 2021, 18, 525 .
AMA StyleRunde Fu, Xinhuan Zhang, Degang Yang, Tianyi Cai, Yufang Zhang. The Relationship between Urban Vibrancy and Built Environment: An Empirical Study from an Emerging City in an Arid Region. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health. 2021; 18 (2):525.
Chicago/Turabian StyleRunde Fu; Xinhuan Zhang; Degang Yang; Tianyi Cai; Yufang Zhang. 2021. "The Relationship between Urban Vibrancy and Built Environment: An Empirical Study from an Emerging City in an Arid Region." International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health 18, no. 2: 525.
Against the background of China’s relaxation of family planning standards, this thesis analyzed the demographic trends in ethnic minority areas and their impacts on regional development under China’s adjustment of its population strategy. By setting up different fertility scenarios, the population forecasting software (PADIS-INT) was applied to forecast the population scale and structure of the Hotan region. This thesis analyzed the impacts of population growth on regional sustainable development from the perspectives of employment, economic development, and resource carrying capacity to provide references for the formulation and implementation of population and economic development policies in minority areas, to alleviate the contradiction between the human and environment. The results showed that the Hotan region would maintain a relatively fast population growth rate for a long period; by 2050, its population would skew younger when compared to China’s general statistics. However, due to the lagging economic development and the constraints to resources and the environment, unemployment would become the most severe problem hampering regional development. While developing its local economy, the Hotan region needs to better promote the interregional migration of the labor force.
Jinwei Huo; Xinhuan Zhang; Zhiping Zhang; Yaning Chen. Research on Population Development in Ethnic Minority Areas in the Context of China’s Population Strategy Adjustment. Sustainability 2020, 12, 8021 .
AMA StyleJinwei Huo, Xinhuan Zhang, Zhiping Zhang, Yaning Chen. Research on Population Development in Ethnic Minority Areas in the Context of China’s Population Strategy Adjustment. Sustainability. 2020; 12 (19):8021.
Chicago/Turabian StyleJinwei Huo; Xinhuan Zhang; Zhiping Zhang; Yaning Chen. 2020. "Research on Population Development in Ethnic Minority Areas in the Context of China’s Population Strategy Adjustment." Sustainability 12, no. 19: 8021.
Most studies have suggested that dietary choices have effects on both the environment and human health; however, they have ignored food culture, which is both an “independent variable” and a “dependent variable” of diet choice. The purpose of this study is to explore a diet optimization path that meets nutritional needs and has little impact on the environment, while respecting the local food culture to a large extent. We took China's Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region (hereinafter referred to as “Xinjiang”) as the case area because Xinjiang is a multiethnic region with a unique food culture characterized by a high proportion of mutton in meat. According to the study's calculation, the current diet in Xinjiang has a high carbon footprint (CF), water footprint (WF) and ecological footprint (EF) and does not present the nutritional structure of a balanced diet. Considering the trade-offs among environmental carrying capacity, health and food culture is the challenge of changing the local food structure. With the method of multi-objective optimization, we propose “optimal diets”, which show potential for mitigating environmental impacts and improving the state of health. Most importantly, one of the optimized diets is most desirable because it considers the preservation of the existing food culture. This study demonstrates the feasibility of providing a route for diet transformation that has double benefits regarding the environment and health, or even triple benefits regarding the environment, health and cultural acceptability.
Jingjing Yin; Degang Yang; Xinhuan Zhang; Yufang Zhang; Tianyi Cai; Yun Hao; Shenghui Cui; Yaning Chen. Diet shift: Considering environment, health and food culture. Science of The Total Environment 2020, 719, 137484 .
AMA StyleJingjing Yin, Degang Yang, Xinhuan Zhang, Yufang Zhang, Tianyi Cai, Yun Hao, Shenghui Cui, Yaning Chen. Diet shift: Considering environment, health and food culture. Science of The Total Environment. 2020; 719 ():137484.
Chicago/Turabian StyleJingjing Yin; Degang Yang; Xinhuan Zhang; Yufang Zhang; Tianyi Cai; Yun Hao; Shenghui Cui; Yaning Chen. 2020. "Diet shift: Considering environment, health and food culture." Science of The Total Environment 719, no. : 137484.
As the world's largest greenhouse gas emitter, China bears an arduous task of energy conservation (EC) and emission reduction (ER). CO2 arising from energy consumption during industrial processes makes up the vast majority of greenhouse gas emissions in China. It is the key for the Chinese government to achieve its goal of emission reduction in 2030 by identifying key industries with CO2 emissions and probing into their potential for EC&ER. We used Xinjiang Province of China as a research area. Next, we proposed a method for identifying key industries with CO2 emissions in Xinjiang's industrial sector and analyzed their energy consumption and CO2 emission characteristics. Finally, the average energy efficiency index of national industries was used to explore the potential for EC&ER of key industries. Results indicated that (1) the CO2 emissions in industrial sector were 463.35 million tons in 2016, making up 90.72% of its total CO2 emissions from energy consumption, considerably higher than the global and national averages; (2) In 2016, the 8 key industries with energy-related CO2 emissions determined in this study are all heavy industries whose energy consumption and CO2 emissions were 119.65 million tce (tons carbon equivalent) and 445.36 million tons respectively, taken up 62.51% and 87.2% of the total amount in Xinjiang. These 8 key industries play a critical role in realizing EC&ER in Xinjiang; (3) In 2016, the eight key industries had the potential to save 74.65 million tce, accounted for 45.79% of the total EC. Their potential for ER were 272.07 million tons of CO2, equal to 53.27% of the total CO2 emissions. On this basis, it is recommended that the local government exploit the potential of key industries for EC&ER by improving their energy efficiency.
Fuqiang Xia; Xinhuan Zhang; Tianyi Cai; Shaohong Wu; Dongsheng Zhao. Identification of key industries of industrial sector with energy-related CO2 emissions and analysis of their potential for energy conservation and emission reduction in Xinjiang, China. Science of The Total Environment 2019, 708, 134587 .
AMA StyleFuqiang Xia, Xinhuan Zhang, Tianyi Cai, Shaohong Wu, Dongsheng Zhao. Identification of key industries of industrial sector with energy-related CO2 emissions and analysis of their potential for energy conservation and emission reduction in Xinjiang, China. Science of The Total Environment. 2019; 708 ():134587.
Chicago/Turabian StyleFuqiang Xia; Xinhuan Zhang; Tianyi Cai; Shaohong Wu; Dongsheng Zhao. 2019. "Identification of key industries of industrial sector with energy-related CO2 emissions and analysis of their potential for energy conservation and emission reduction in Xinjiang, China." Science of The Total Environment 708, no. : 134587.
The realization of regional sustainable development has been a popular research topic during the process of urbanization. To explore the coordination relationships between urban development and ecological security—taking Urumqi city, a representative arid city in Xinjiang, China, as a study area—this study has constructed a framework of spatial suitability evaluation based on the characteristics of a Mountain–Oasis–Desert System (MODS) in an arid area under the framework of major function oriented zoning (MFOZ). A spatial overlay analysis using Geographic Information System (GIS) with a 5 m × 5 m grid or towns and streets as the basic unit was applied to comprehensively evaluate spatial suitability. The results showed that the study area was zoned into a forbidden development zone (as patches set in towns and streets), an ecological protection zone (nine towns or streets), a moderate development zone (16 towns or streets), and a key development zone (82 towns or streets), accounting for 30.35%, 32.50%, 23.79%, and 13.36%, respectively. The zoning results provided a basis to pointedly put forward the development and protection strategies of each administrative unit; and the research framework can be applied to other arid areas for the decision-making related to the urban space layout and environmental management.
Dongli Chen; Degang Yang; Xinhuan Zhang; Yannan Zhao; Yufang Zhang. Spatial Suitability Evaluation of an Arid City Based on the Perspective of Major Function Oriented Zoning: A Case Study of Urumqi City in Xinjiang, China. Sustainability 2018, 10, 3004 .
AMA StyleDongli Chen, Degang Yang, Xinhuan Zhang, Yannan Zhao, Yufang Zhang. Spatial Suitability Evaluation of an Arid City Based on the Perspective of Major Function Oriented Zoning: A Case Study of Urumqi City in Xinjiang, China. Sustainability. 2018; 10 (9):3004.
Chicago/Turabian StyleDongli Chen; Degang Yang; Xinhuan Zhang; Yannan Zhao; Yufang Zhang. 2018. "Spatial Suitability Evaluation of an Arid City Based on the Perspective of Major Function Oriented Zoning: A Case Study of Urumqi City in Xinjiang, China." Sustainability 10, no. 9: 3004.
China’s carbon intensity (CI) reduction target in 2030 needs to be allocated to each province in order to be achieved. Thus, it is of great significance to study the vertical linkage of CI change between China and its provinces. The existing research on the vertical linkage focuses more on energy-related economic sectors in China; however, attention has not been paid to China’s animal husbandry (AH) sector, although the role of the China’s AH sector in greenhouse gas (GHG) reduction is increasingly important. This study firstly established a vertical linkage of change in greenhouse gas emission intensity of the animal husbandry sector (AHGI) between China and its 31 provinces based on the logarithmic mean Divisia index (LMDI) decomposing method from the perspective of combining emission reduction with economic development, and quantified the contributions of each province and its three driving factors of environmental efficiency (AHEE), productive efficiency (AHPE), and economic share (AHES) to reducing China’s AHGI during the period of 1997–2016. The main results are: (1) The AHGI of China decreased from 5.49 tCO2eq/104 yuan in 1997 to 2.59 tCO2eq/104 in 2016, showing a 75.25% reduction. The AHGI in 31 provinces also declined and played a positive role in promoting the reduction of national AHGI, but there were significant inter-provincial differences in the extent of the contribution. Overall, the provinces with higher emission levels contributed the most to the reduction of China’s AHGI; (2) The AHPE and AHEE factors in 31 provinces cumulatively contributed to the respective 68.17% and 11.78% reduction of China’s AHGI, while the AHES factors of 31 provinces cumulatively inhibited the 4.70% reduction. Overall, the AHPE factor was the main driving factor contributing to the reduction of China’s AHGI. In the future, improving the level of AHEE through GHG emissions reduction technology and narrowing the inter-provincial gap of the level of AHPE are two important paths for promoting the reduction of China’s AHGI.
Tianyi Cai; Degang Yang; Xinhuan Zhang; Fuqiang Xia; Rongwei Wu. Study on the Vertical Linkage of Greenhouse Gas Emission Intensity Change of the Animal Husbandry Sector between China and Its Provinces. Sustainability 2018, 10, 2492 .
AMA StyleTianyi Cai, Degang Yang, Xinhuan Zhang, Fuqiang Xia, Rongwei Wu. Study on the Vertical Linkage of Greenhouse Gas Emission Intensity Change of the Animal Husbandry Sector between China and Its Provinces. Sustainability. 2018; 10 (7):2492.
Chicago/Turabian StyleTianyi Cai; Degang Yang; Xinhuan Zhang; Fuqiang Xia; Rongwei Wu. 2018. "Study on the Vertical Linkage of Greenhouse Gas Emission Intensity Change of the Animal Husbandry Sector between China and Its Provinces." Sustainability 10, no. 7: 2492.
Xinhuan Zhang; Degang Yang; Xinyi Xiang; Xiang Huang. Impact of agricultural development on variation in surface runoff in arid regions: a case of the Aksu River Basin. Journal of Arid Land 2012, 4, 399 -410.
AMA StyleXinhuan Zhang, Degang Yang, Xinyi Xiang, Xiang Huang. Impact of agricultural development on variation in surface runoff in arid regions: a case of the Aksu River Basin. Journal of Arid Land. 2012; 4 (4):399-410.
Chicago/Turabian StyleXinhuan Zhang; Degang Yang; Xinyi Xiang; Xiang Huang. 2012. "Impact of agricultural development on variation in surface runoff in arid regions: a case of the Aksu River Basin." Journal of Arid Land 4, no. 4: 399-410.
Xin-Huan Zhang; De-Gang Yang; Chang-Yan Wang; Yan-Jun Hou. Relationship between intensive utilization and environmental pressure of culti-vated land: a case study on 780 cropland parcels in Tarim River Basin. Chinese Journal of Eco-Agriculture 2012, 20, 635 -642.
AMA StyleXin-Huan Zhang, De-Gang Yang, Chang-Yan Wang, Yan-Jun Hou. Relationship between intensive utilization and environmental pressure of culti-vated land: a case study on 780 cropland parcels in Tarim River Basin. Chinese Journal of Eco-Agriculture. 2012; 20 (5):635-642.
Chicago/Turabian StyleXin-Huan Zhang; De-Gang Yang; Chang-Yan Wang; Yan-Jun Hou. 2012. "Relationship between intensive utilization and environmental pressure of culti-vated land: a case study on 780 cropland parcels in Tarim River Basin." Chinese Journal of Eco-Agriculture 20, no. 5: 635-642.
Hong Tang; Degang Yang; Xinhuan Zhang; Xinyi Xiang. Ecological migration effects on the Tianchi Scenic Area in Xinjiang: from the perspective of migrant farmer families. Journal of Arid Land 2012, 4, 95 -104.
AMA StyleHong Tang, Degang Yang, Xinhuan Zhang, Xinyi Xiang. Ecological migration effects on the Tianchi Scenic Area in Xinjiang: from the perspective of migrant farmer families. Journal of Arid Land. 2012; 4 (1):95-104.
Chicago/Turabian StyleHong Tang; Degang Yang; Xinhuan Zhang; Xinyi Xiang. 2012. "Ecological migration effects on the Tianchi Scenic Area in Xinjiang: from the perspective of migrant farmer families." Journal of Arid Land 4, no. 1: 95-104.