Increasing forest vegetation is important for carbon dynamics and to maintain the ecological and environmental balance in China. However, there is little understanding of how socioeconomic factors affect forest biomass carbon storage (FBCS). Here, we used continuous functions for biomass expansion factors and China’s seven completed forest inventories to estimate the changes in FBCS for 31 provinces in mainland China between 1977 and 2013. We developed a model that decomposes the contribution of the different socioeconomic factors driving FBCS. We found China’s FBCS increased from 4972 TgC (1 Tg = 10¹²g) in 1977–1981 to 7435 TgC in 2009–2013, with a mean growth of 77 TgC/a, and the average forest carbon density increased from 36.0 to 38.9Mg/ha (1 Mg = 10⁶g), mainly due to the arbor forest contribution. Among the seven regions in China, the southwestern region currently accounts for the highest proportion (37.3%) of national FBCS, followed by northeastern (19.7%), northern (12.5%) and eastern region (10.8%). The main socio-economic factors affecting FBCS were forest land dependence, industrial structure and economic development level. Optimizing forest type and age structure, improving forest productivity, and strengthening forest management are feasible options to further increase China’s FBCS.

The policy guidance and financial support for industrial development from public finance provide an important guarantee for practicing green and circular development of agriculture. By sorting out the development context of fiscal support for agriculture in Henan province in different historical stages, this paper analyzes the development status of fiscal support for agriculture and the agricultural circular economy in the province. Relying on data envelopment analysis (DEA), it measures the efficiency of the agricultural circular economy in Henan province in 2013–2019 using the Charnes, Cooper, and Rhodes (CCR) model, the Banker, Charnes, and Cooper (BCC) model, and super-efficiency DEA models and empirically analyzes the effect of the fiscal expenditure for supporting agriculture on the efficiency of the agricultural circular economy using the fixed effect model. According to the results, (1) the expenditure on comprehensive agricultural development of Henan Province was mainly supported by the government’s fiscal funds to such a degree that the proportion of fiscal funds from the central government exceeded 40% throughout the year. Particular stress was laid on the land governance projects of comprehensive agricultural development in the province. (2) The overall development level of the agricultural circular economy in Henan Province was low, and there were considerable gaps between cities (counties). Under the super-efficiency DEA model, only Hebi City, which ranked first in terms of average efficiency, achieved relative efficiency. (3) The fiscal expenditure for supporting agriculture had a positive incentive effect on the efficiency of the agricultural circular economy in Henan province, and the incentive effect became more significant after the time effect was controlled. Accordingly, this paper puts forward some targeted policy suggestions, which enrich the existing research on fiscal support for agriculture and agricultural circular economy at both theoretical and practical levels.

This paper proposes a multi-agent evolutionary game model that can be used to study sustainable ecotourism development in national parks, with a focus placed on coordinating the interests of multiple stakeholders. Based on the limited rationality hypothesis, this study explores the impact of strategic choice evolution and the change of key factors on the stability of the ecotourism development system in national parks. To achieve this, a tripartite evolutionary game model involving “local government–tourism enterprises–tourists” is constructed. The model is applied to Wuyishan National Park as a case study, incorporating actual data and conducting numerical simulation experiments using MATLAB software. The findings of the study are as follows: (1) The optimal stable strategy for the three game players (local government, tourism enterprises, and tourists) is determined to be one that works to “supervise, implement high-level services, and participate in ecotourism”, respectively. This strategy is influenced by factors such as government subsidies, government fines, economic benefits obtained by tourism enterprises at different service levels, and the utilities experienced by participating and non-participating tourists in national park ecotourism. (2) Government subsidy policies can promote the attainment of a stable state for tourism enterprises and tourists. However, excessive subsidies may hinder the fulfillment of local governments’ expectations. (3) The greater the economic benefits obtained by tourism enterprises through high-level services are, the more favorable it will be for tourism enterprises to reach a stable state. However, this may lead to a relatively slower response from the government. (4) The higher the utilities that tourists derive from high-level services in ecotourism are, the faster the game players will reach a stable state. (5) The higher the utilities associated with tourists spending time in other places are, the more challenging it becomes for the three game players to achieve a stable state. This situation may cause tourists to shift from the initial strategy of “participating in ecotourism” to “not participating in ecotourism”. Based on these findings, the paper provides countermeasures and suggestions for promoting the sustainable development of ecotourism in Wuyishan National Park. These recommendations aim to offer decision-making references for enhancing the development of ecotourism in national parks across the country.

Under the background of China’s proposal to achieve “carbon neutralization and carbon peak”, it is an important task for each province to clarify their forest ecological security (FES) status. However, there is little understanding of the temporal and spatial evolution of forest ecological security and its influencing factors. Based on the Pressure-State-Response (PSR) model, this paper constructed a comprehensive evaluation index system for forest ecological security and used the CRITIC method and panel data to estimate the dynamic changes in FES for 31 provinces in China (excluding Hong Kong, Macao, and Taiwan) between 2009 and 2018. Furthermore, the obstacle degree model was used to determine the important obstacle factors affecting FES. The results showed that: (1) The comprehensive indices of FES of most provinces in mainland China were increasing, showing a good development trend during the study period; (2) subject to the limitations of resources and economic conditions, the FES at the provincial level showed significant spatial heterogeneity, which generally presents a distribution characteristic of “low in the western region and high in the central and eastern regions”; and (3) the primary obstacles restricting the improvement of FES level in most provinces of China were forest state indicators or input response indicators, followed by pressure indicators. Therefore, it is recommended to take targeted measures to reduce the intensity of forest cutting and the incidence of forest disasters, improve the utilization efficiency of forest resources, the productivity of forestland and the input-output level of forestry industry, and strengthen the training of professional talents and technical input according to the resource endowment condition of each province so as to improve the level of forest ecological security.

Assessing the spatial and quantitative evaluation of water conservation within regional ecosystems holds vital significance for effective regional water resource management, allocation optimization, and enhanced ecological protection. In this study, we focus on Yunnan Province as our research subject and utilize land use data spanning from 2000 to 2018. The InVEST model serves as a key tool for evaluating Yunnan Province’s water conservation capacity over the past two decades. Furthermore, we employ Geographical detectors and ArcGIS 10.2 to delve into the spatial distribution patterns and the impact of both natural environmental and socio-economic factors on changes in water conservation capacity. The research findings reveal a spatial trend in regional water source conservation, characterized by a decreasing gradient from the southwest to the northeast. Over the past two decades, we have observed an initial decline followed by a subsequent increase in regional water source conservation, resulting in an overall upward trajectory. Precipitation displays the strongest correlation among natural environmental factors, indicating a significant influence on water conservation. Additionally, socio-economic data exhibit a noteworthy positive correlation with alterations in water conservation, primarily attributed to urbanization and the expansion of impermeable surfaces like urban construction land, which bolster regional water conservation efforts. This research offers valuable insights that can serve as a foundation for establishing local water source protection measures and ecological compensation mechanisms.