The significant expansion of farmland abandonment not only poses a threat to agricultural sustainability, but also challenges biodiversity conservation and food security. This study aims to initiate a deep systematic analysis of the current scenario of Chinese farmland abandonment, which is timely and urgent as a starting point to fully understand the current state of knowledge of it. In total, 181 articles out of 5384 articles through four databases (CNKI, Web of Science core collection, Scopus, and CAB Abstracts) are extracted and synthesized by the PRISMA method. A total of 12 experts from 11 countries with specialized knowledge in the research field are interviewed. It is found that farmland abandonment in East China is the most frequently reported, which is followed by the Southwest. The research focus in China has shifted from mountainous areas to agricultural and pastoral areas and major grain-producing areas. Chinese farmland abandonment is defined principally from the perspective of the managerial approach. An inventory that categorizes these different drivers of farmland abandonment is built, which includes socio-economic aspects, biophysical attributes, policy, household characteristics, and specific events. Socio-economic aspects, especially off-farm employment, are the most commonly studied factors. Meanwhile, the aging of the population is also noteworthy. Different trajectories should be applied accordingly due to the significant differences between North and South China. Furthermore, there is an optimistic attitude towards the ecological impact of abandoned farmland in China. However, more evidence should be given on it. Those findings will hopefully provide some insights for the scientific community and policy makers.

The evaluation of ecosystem service value (ESV) is crucial for decision making in regional sustainable development. The close relationship between ecosystem services and land use/cover change (LUCC) is well acknowledged. However, the impact of the mutual transformation among different land use types on the temporal and spatial differences in the ESV is still unclear. To fulfill this gap, this study evaluates the ESV in the Wuhan Urban Agglomerations based on LUCC, taking the spatiotemporal characteristics into consideration. The results show that (1) The land use structure in the Wuhan Urban Agglomerations has undergone great changes from 2012 to 2021, and the area of cultivated land converted to forest land is the largest, which may be related to policies such as returning farmland to forests. (2) The total amount of ESV shows a downward trend, and the spatial distribution of ESV is “low in the west and high in the central and eastern regions”, which may be related to the natural factors in study area. (3) The spatial distribution of ESV in the study area will remain unchanged in the future. However, the transformation among land use types may exacerbate the reduction in the total ESV, which will have an adverse impact on the ecological environment and sustainable development of the region. This study initiates a more comprehensive framework to better reflect the real scenario of ESV, which will hopefully provide a reference for regional sustainable development.

Promoting the effective use of abandoned farmland has become a key policy priority for strengthening food security in China. However, disentangling the decision-making processes among diverse participating actors is a foundational prerequisite for addressing the governance challenge of abandoned farmland utilization. Building on this, the present study employs a four-actor evolutionary game model and sensitivity analysis of key parameters to systematically examine the interactions among four key actors—local governments, village collectives, family farms, and farmers—and to identify the corresponding evolutionarily stable strategies (ESSs) across different stages of abandoned farmland utilization. The results show that: (1) Multi-actor strategic interactions in abandoned farmland utilization exhibit a multi-stage evolutionary trajectory, in which all actors gradually shift their strategic choices under changing cost–benefit structures, regulatory intensity, and coordination conditions, leading to different evolutionary stable equilibria across governance stages. (2) The configuration in which local governments adopt loose regulation, the village collective plays an active coordinating role, family farms pursue long-term operations, and farmers choose recultivation is a key condition for achieving a Pareto-optimal equilibrium. (3) Although farmers’ production willingness and behavioral choices form the basis for the utilization of abandoned farmland, spontaneous individual action alone is insufficient to address the structural contradictions currently facing abandoned farmland utilization in China. To effectively promote the evolution of abandoned farmland governance toward a stable collaborative equilibrium and ultimately realize sustainable utilization, it is necessary to further optimize governmental administrative control models and incentive mechanisms, strengthen the organizational and coordinating functions of village collectives, and improve long-term operational support systems for family farms. This study systematically elucidates the underlying logic of China’s abandoned farmland utilization from the perspective of multi-actor behavioral decision-making, providing policy-referential insights for optimizing policy design, reducing coordination costs, and improving the efficiency of abandoned farmland utilization.

The analysis of land use change (LUC) has become an important criterion for evaluating the impact of human activities on the natural environment. Habitat loss and degradation caused by LUC are the main threats to biodiversity worldwide. Research on the impact of long-term, wide-scope, and fine-scale LUC on bird habitats is currently limited due to a lack of adequate data. In this study, conducted in China, 9 km grid units were sampled randomly between 1995 and 2015. Logistic regression was used to calculate the probability that each unit grid contained suitable habitat (hereinafter, abbreviated as PGSH) for 981 bird species and analyze the spatial-temporal characteristics of PGSH accordingly. The results showed that: (1) The habitat quality of 84 bird species deteriorated, but for 582 bird species, habitat quality improved. (2) There is an inverted U-shaped relationship between the intensity of LUC and the PGSH. The LUC intensity threshold is approximately 67.21%. (3) Based on the counterfactual scenario analysis, the construction of the Three North Shelterbelt has increased the PGSH for all bird species from 20.76% before restoration to 21.38% after restoration. Within the LUC grid representing the transformation of farmland back to forests, the average PGSH for all birds increased from 73.97% to 75.04%. These results may provide a reference for measuring the impacts of LUC on bird species, enabling the protection of bird species and habitats that need it most.

Chinese megacity communities are not only the primary drivers of economic development but also epicenters of systemic contradictions compounded by overlapping risks. In recent years, NIMBY conflicts have arisen with growing frequency within urban communities, posing a severe threat to urban social sustainability and exposing the significant limitations of the traditional state-led governance model. While nonprofit organizations can compensate for governmental governance deficiencies, their mitigating mechanisms, functional boundaries, and contextual differences remain to be systematically examined. To address this gap, the present study conducts an empirical analysis using data from the Chinese Social Survey (CSS). Methodologically, the study applies OLS regression, mediation–moderation analyses, and heterogeneity tests. The findings reveal that: (1) Participation by nonprofit organizations is associated with significantly lower individual NIMBY opposition intent, thereby playing a mitigating role in alleviating NIMBY risks within Chinese megacity communities. (2) Trust in nonprofit organizations serves as a mediating pathway and acts as a social capital vehicle through which nonprofit organizations alleviate NIMBY risks by mitigating individual opposition. (3) Government information disclosure and institutionalized channels for residents’ participation significantly amplify the negative association between nonprofit participation and individual NIMBY opposition intent, thereby strengthening the mitigating efficacy of nonprofit organizations. (4) The mitigating effects exhibit marked community heterogeneity, indicating that the efficacy of nonprofit participation is highly contingent upon the specific governance resources and structural characteristics of the community. This study improves the theoretical framework of NIMBY risk governance and offers empirical evidence as well as practical guidelines for fostering sustainable urban governance in Chinese megacity communities.