A decade of ecological and environmental research on the belt and road initiative: Evolution and future directions

IF 11.2 1区环境科学与生态学 Q1 ENGINEERING, ENVIRONMENTAL

Resources Conservation and Recycling Pub Date : 2025-03-01 DOI:10.1016/j.resconrec.2025.108217

Yongyue Gong , Heming Wang , Asaf Tzachor , Tomer Fishman , Fengmei Ma , Lingli Hou , Yao Wang , Wenju Sun , Yihan Song , Kai Fang , Wei-Qiang Chen , Yuri Mazei , Alexei Tiunov

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引用次数: 0

Abstract

The Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), launched in 2013, is an ambitious infrastructure project aimed at enhancing global trade and economic growth. Understanding the BRI's ecological and environmental impacts is crucial for achieving global sustainability. Despite a decade of BRI construction, research on its environmental impact remains fragmented with numerous understudied topics. This study seeks to uncover topical interconnections and trends by analyzing 735 publications on the BRI's eco-environmental impacts using natural language processing methods. The temporal trend of author keywords identifies 31 trending terms, 28 of which, including “renewable energy” and “institutional quality,” emerged in 2019–2023. The topical interconnections reveal that CO₂-focused eco-environmental research is closely linked to themes of energy and economics. The results highlight the necessity of promoting cross-sector and international collaborations to mitigate eco-environmental impacts. Finally, we recommend leveraging digital technologies and institutional quality to support a greener BRI.

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来源期刊

Resources Conservation and Recycling 环境科学-工程：环境

CiteScore

22.90

自引率

6.10%

发文量

625

审稿时长

23 days

期刊介绍： The journal Resources, Conservation & Recycling welcomes contributions from research, which consider sustainable management and conservation of resources. The journal prioritizes understanding the transformation processes crucial for transitioning toward more sustainable production and consumption systems. It highlights technological, economic, institutional, and policy aspects related to specific resource management practices such as conservation, recycling, and resource substitution, as well as broader strategies like improving resource productivity and restructuring production and consumption patterns. Contributions may address regional, national, or international scales and can range from individual resources or technologies to entire sectors or systems. Authors are encouraged to explore scientific and methodological issues alongside practical, environmental, and economic implications. However, manuscripts focusing solely on laboratory experiments without discussing their broader implications will not be considered for publication in the journal.