The value of ecosystem services and service capabilities continue to improve, and the way to form a path of resource industrialization development has become one of the important directions of sustainable development. This paper mainly takes the construction of national parks as a major opportunity and explores the temporal and spatial changes in the value of ecosystem services in Qilian Mountain National Park (Gansu area) and the construction path of the industrial system of national park construction. The total value of ecosystem services was calculated using a comprehensive index of the degree of land use, land contribution rate, ecological service value, equivalent factor of economic value, and the improved value coefficient of farmland ecological services, and then the Sensitivity index was used to reveal the dependence of the value of ecosystem services on the value index over time. The results showed the following: (1) Human disturbance factors in Qilian Mountain National Park (Gansu area) are weak, and the land use of Qilian Mountain National Park (Gansu Area) was mainly grassland, followed by unused land, forest land, and glacial snow, with the change in glacial snow cover being the largest. (2) The ecosystem of Qilian Mountain National Park (Gansu area) is strong, and the contribution rate of forest land, construction land, unused land, and glacial snow cover in Qilian Mountain National Park (Gansu Area) was positive, while cultivated land, grassland, and water area were negative. Among them, glacial snow cover contributed the most at 10.4723 the ecological barrier function plays a stable role. (3) The ecosystem service value (ESV) in Qilian Mountain National Park (Gansu Area) showed a fluctuating growth trend on the whole, showing the characteristics of high northwest and low southeast, among which the total value of grassland was the largest, the value of unused land was the smallest with the largest increase range, and the increase in water area was the smallest. (4) Qilian Mountain National Park (Gansu Area) is mainly based on regulated services, followed by support services, supply services, and cultural services, all showing a clear growth trend, increasing by 181.77%, 183.90%, 196.19%, and 170.38%, respectively. With the development of low-carbon economy and circular economy as the main idea, we aim to build a national park industrialization development path of direct product supply, indirect product supply, and basic guarantee.

It is of great significance to study urban carbon metabolism and explore the low-carbon land use management framework from the perspective of “ecological-production-living” space, an important means for the government to strengthen spatial regulation. In the study, first of all, a carbon metabolism network model was established based on the evolution of the “ecological-production-living” space. Secondly, an ecological network analysis (ENA) method was used to identify the ecological relationships between land use types under the effect of carbon metabolism. In addition, ArcGIS software was used to visualize the spatial distribution of carbon flow and ecological relationships. Finally, a low-carbon oriented land use management framework was proposed based on the above research. Yulin, a typical coal resource-based city in China, was taken as a case study for verification. The results showed that Yulin had net carbon emissions from 2010 to 2020, indicating that the evolution of “ecological-production-living” space had a negative impact on the carbon metabolism. Industrial, mining and transportation land dominated carbon emissions, while forestland played an important role in carbon sequestration. Under the effect of carbon metabolism, a controlling and exploitative relationship was the main ecological relationship, and a mutualism relationship accounted for the smallest proportion, indicating that the urban ecological conflict was obvious in the evolution of the “ecological-production-living” space. Based on the above research, a land use management framework was proposed, which divided urban space into six types of control units. In conclusion, the results provided experience for other coal resource-based cities to promote low-carbon and sustainable land use.

Urban heat islands (UHIs) endanger the health of urban residents. Different urban growth patterns (UGPs) have different effects on heat islands. However, the dynamic relationship between UGP landscape information and urban surface heat island intensity (SUHII) remains unclear. This study explored the dynamic relationship between SUHII and UGP landscape information through spatial regression and landscape pattern analysis using Landsat imagery and urban construction land data from five cities in the Beijing–Tianjin–Hebei urban agglomeration from 2010 to 2018. The results show that SUHII increase areas overlap with expansion patches, and the edge expansion and outlying areas show a warming effect. The influence of the edge expansion landscape area and pattern on SUHII changes is greater than the other two growth patterns. The relationship between UGPs’ landscape information and SUHII changes varies among cities. The larger the city size, the stronger the influence of landscape information. Among the landscape patterns, the influence of the landscape area and pattern on SUHII change is large and the influence of landscape fragmentation is smaller. Exploring the dynamic relationship between UGP landscape information and SUHII is conducive to optimizing the spatial layout and pattern selection of urban development and providing a scientific reference for sustainable and livable urban development planning.

Water resources are the most important guarantees for sustainable socioeconomic development in arid regions. However, serious water scarcity puts great pressure on the sustainable development of the northwest arid region of China. Based on the “matching-constraint” perspective, this study used the Gini coefficient, imbalance index, and growth drag model of water resources to quantify the spatiotemporal evolution of water resource utilization (WRU) and economic development (ED) in the northwest arid region from 2009 to 2019. The results showed the following: (1) The matching degree of WRU and ED in Gansu and Xinjiang from 2009 to 2019 was poorer than that in Ningxia, Shaanxi, and Qinghai. Cities with the high matching type of WRU and ED were dominant, with a proportion of 60.78%. (2) During the study period, the growth drag of water resources showed an “N-shaped” change of “rising–declining–rising” and a spatial pattern of “decreasing from inland to coastal” in the northwest arid region. The average growth drag coefficients for the five northwestern provinces were as follows: Xinjiang (2.22%), Gansu (1.61%), Ningxia (1.41%), Qinghai (1.01%), and Shaanxi (0.84%). The total percentage of low and medium constraint type cities was 74.51%. (3) Based on the urban “matching-constraint” types, the WRU status was divided into four zone types: Zones I and IV had relatively well-allocated water resources; however, zone IV had more significant water resource constraints, with the growth drag coefficient ranging from 1.10% to 2.30%. An imbalance between WRU and ED existed in Zones II and III; moreover, the water resource constraints of these two zones were also significant, with growth drag coefficients ranging from 0.12% to 1.47% and 1.03% to 2.90%, respectively. Additionally, we explored the driving mechanisms of WRU and sustainable ED in the northwest arid region. Policy recommendations are proposed for the optimal use of water resources, capital, and labor for different types of cities.

In 2021, The People’s Republic of China proposed goals for peaking carbon dioxide emissions before 2030 and carbon neutrality before 2060, in the 15 counties (districts) of the Main Stream Area of the Yellow River Basin in Gansu that plays an important role in ecological protection and green development. Next the CO₂ equivalents were converted according to the IPCC2 standard, the total agricultural GHG emissions was calculated, the relationship with the agricultural output value was analyzed, and the discretization of the space was analyzed by the coefficient of variation and standard deviation. Firstly, the total agricultural GHG emissions in 15 counties (districts) of the Main Stream Area of the Yellow River Basin increased 55.54% in 2000–2019, and 2.35% annually, roughly divided into three stages: the rapid growth period (2000–2008), the slow decline period (2009–2014) and the rapid decline period (2015–2019). The economic efficiency is significantly improved, with an average annual decline of 6.49%, roughly divided into three stages: the slow-descent stage (2000–2004), the period of slow-growth stage (2005–2008) and the period of fast-decline (2009–2019). Secondly, based on the characteristics of the total GHG emissions, Maqu County has the largest GHG emissions increase, from 26.8842 kt in 2000 to 38.9603 kt, in 2019, an increase of 44.92%, while the smallest GHG emissions, in Anning District, decreased 87.33% from 111 t in 2000 to 14.1 t in 2019; In the rate of increase in the total GHG emissions, Dongxiang County had the largest rate of increase from 2000 to 2019, an increase of 160.28% and an average annual increase of 4.90%. The smallest rate of decrease in GHG emissions was seen in Chengguan District, where they decreased 92.11% from 2000 to 2019, an average annual decrease of 11.93%. The characteristics of agricultural GHG emissions intensity is a significant declining trending and agricultural production efficiency has been significantly improved. Finally, to provide a basis for the formulation of differentiated agricultural energy conservation and emissions reduction policies, reduce agricultural GHG emissions intensity and reduce the use efficiency of resources by formulating differentiated emission targets, tasks and incentive measures.

An accurate analysis of the relationship between humans and the land in oasis areas is essential for the formulation of policies for differentiated oasis urban development and resource management measures. Therefore, researchers have conducted numerous studies based on the linear relationship between “people and land” in oasis areas. To address this gap, this paper takes the Wuwei oasis as an example and re-examines the impact of human activities on the sustainability of natural capital from a new research perspective (nonlinear perspective). The study selected four variables, namely planted forests, scientific R&D investment, urbanization, and population density, as the main human activities affecting the Wuwei oasis area. The NARDL model, the nonlinear Granger causality test, is employed to investigate the interactions between the variables and the oasis natural capital in both the short and long term. The results indicate the following: (1) During the study period, the consumption of natural capital in the Wuwei oasis has been increasing annually and has long exceeded the local ecological carrying capacity. (2) In the short term, planting forests is the most beneficial human activity. The most beneficial human activity is the planting of trees, while in the long term, scientific R&D investment has the most positive effect on enhancing the oasis’ resource reserves. (3) Urbanization, population density, and planted forest land all have a direct effect on the sustainable development of natural resources in the oasis. The findings of the study indicate that the application of scientific and technological innovation to promote the sustainable development of resources and the environment is a more reliable approach for oasis cities with a high degree of industrialization.