Geography and Sustainability最新文献

{"title":"Climate aridification and intensified human interference undermined water storage in the Lower Yellow River region","authors":"Xilin Wu ,&nbsp;Xiaoming Feng ,&nbsp;Bojie Fu","doi":"10.1016/j.geosus.2025.100303","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.geosus.2025.100303","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Understanding the relationships between human activities and hydrological processes is critical for sustainable water resources management, especially under the threat of increasing climate extremes. China’s Lower Yellow River (LYR) region is one of the world’s most water-scarce and human-impacted areas, yet comprehensive information on its water resources is lacking. This study adopted a water resources system (WRS) analytical framework to investigate the water crisis facing the region. The findings reveal that over the last decade, the system’s resilience has been undermined by the combined impacts of climate aridification and intensified human interference. Specifically, a delicate balance between natural groundwater depletion and irrigation replenishment has been disrupted by a series of drought events since 2012. Increased groundwater extraction during droughts, coupled with an imbalanced allocation of surface water resources, has led to a persistent decline in water storage that has continued even after the droughts have ended. To mitigate future climate risks in the LYR, we recommend implementing more adaptive strategies, such as flexible water regulation policies and combined surface-groundwater management. Lessons from the LYR have important implications for other regions facing water resource challenges.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":52374,"journal":{"name":"Geography and Sustainability","volume":"6 4","pages":"Article 100303"},"PeriodicalIF":8.0,"publicationDate":"2025-04-23","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144089629","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"环境科学与生态学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Food provision responses to changes in mountainous terraced and sloping cropland: Implications for land management based on land dynamics and terrain gradient","authors":"Yu Shi ,&nbsp;Wei Wei ,&nbsp;Wendi Wang ,&nbsp;Paolo Tarolli ,&nbsp;Liding Chen","doi":"10.1016/j.geosus.2025.100302","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.geosus.2025.100302","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Agricultural terraces are significant for food provision, environmental stability and sustainable resource management. However, the spatiotemporal evolution of terraces and their influence on food productivity in mountainous landscapes remain poorly understood. Taking the Chinese Loess Plateau (LP) as an example, this study conducted multitemporal mapping of terraces and sloping croplands over three decades (1990–2020), systematically assessing their impacts on food output through terrain gradient analysis. The results indicated that: (1) the terraced area expanded in the past 30 years, particularly across steeper terrain gradients (third to fifth gradients); (2) sloping croplands predominantly occupied gentle slopes (first to second gradients), exhibiting area reduction correlating with urbanization processes; (3) the food provision increased extensively, with yield decreasing from southeast to northwest and regions of high yielding mainly in terraced fields; (4) over time, the variation of food provision correlated positively with the area of sloping cropland at low gradients, while at higher gradients, the expansion of terraces dominated the increase in food provision; (5) spatial clustering analysis revealed significant food productivity associated with high-density terrace distribution across steeper slope gradients. Low yields could be attributed to improper terrace management. This study clarified the impact of long-term terrace patterns on food provision and offered large-scale perspectives for terrace-based agriculture to enhance food security. Furthermore, the findings underscore the imperative of integrated land management in topographically complex regions, informing evidence-based policymaking for rational allocation and optimal utilization of terrace resources.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":52374,"journal":{"name":"Geography and Sustainability","volume":"6 4","pages":"Article 100302"},"PeriodicalIF":8.0,"publicationDate":"2025-04-23","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143948324","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"环境科学与生态学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"How urban land expansion alters terrain in mountainous and hilly areas: An empirical study in China","authors":"Zihao Zhou,&nbsp;Yimin Chen","doi":"10.1016/j.geosus.2025.100304","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.geosus.2025.100304","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Large-scale urban land expansion in mountainous and hilly areas (UEMH) has significantly altered the terrain in many Chinese cities, leading to various environmental and urban challenges. Despite its importance, there is limited nation-scale research that reveals the amount and the spatial variations of UEMH-induced terrain alteration. This research integrates the Global Annual Urban Dynamics dataset, the Global Basic Landform Unit dataset, the TanDEM-X DEM Change Map (DCM) dataset, Baidu Points-of-Interest (POI), and other auxiliary datasets to conduct a comprehensive analysis of terrain alteration induced by UEMH in China from 2012 to 2020. The results indicate that the country-wide UEMH-induced terrain alteration reached approximately 13 billion m³, which is about 100 times the volume of Hangzhou West Lake, and terrain alteration volume in over 300 counties exceeded 10 million m³. The Southwest and Southeast regions, which are ecologically sensitive and critical, feature the greatest alteration in terms of area and volume. The most significant terrain alteration in terms of intensity is observed in the Southwest and Hengduan Mountain Area. Additionally, there are significant spatial variations in the contributions of different urban functional zones to terrain alteration. Our findings indicate that urban land expansion in mountains and hills has significantly altered terrain in some regions of China, necessitating customized urban planning strategies for better managing mountainous urban land expansion and governance policies to address the geological, ecological, and urban development challenges.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":52374,"journal":{"name":"Geography and Sustainability","volume":"6 4","pages":"Article 100304"},"PeriodicalIF":8.0,"publicationDate":"2025-04-22","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144084255","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"环境科学与生态学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Climate change and climate smart conservation in protected areas","authors":"Regis Musavengane ,&nbsp;Walter Musakwa","doi":"10.1016/j.geosus.2025.100301","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.geosus.2025.100301","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":52374,"journal":{"name":"Geography and Sustainability","volume":"6 3","pages":"Article 100301"},"PeriodicalIF":8.0,"publicationDate":"2025-04-12","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143868898","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"环境科学与生态学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Optimizing cropland expansion for minimizing ecosystem service loss in China","authors":"Siyan Zeng ,&nbsp;Junna Liu ,&nbsp;Jing Ma ,&nbsp;Yongjun Yang ,&nbsp;Gang-Jun Liu ,&nbsp;Fu Chen","doi":"10.1016/j.geosus.2025.100299","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.geosus.2025.100299","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Global population growth and rising standards of living are the driving factors for the cropland expansion to meet increasing demands. However, there is no clear assessment of the specific losses on ecosystem services caused by China’s expansion of cropland to ensure food security at the cost of losing ecological land such as forests and grasslands. This study employed the ArcGIS platform and integrated valuation of ecosystem services and tradeoffs (InVEST) model to explore the cropland expansion in China from 2000 to 2020 and its impact on ecosystem services, so as to predict the priority areas of future cropland expansion in different scenarios. The results indicated that in the past 20 years, the total area of cropland expansion in China was 17.04 million hm² with 70.79 % conversion from forests and grasslands. Cropland expansion has contributed to an overall improvement in the food supply services with the Northern Arid and Semi-Arid Region exhibiting an increase of 18.76 × 10⁶ tons, while concurrently leading to a decline in habitat quality services. The priority areas for future cropland expansion without ecological loss were found to be 1.42 million hm², which only account for 9.44 % of the total reclaimable land. To minimize the loss of ecosystem services, there is a need to adjust the cropland replenishment policies and provide an operational solution for global food security and ecological protection.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":52374,"journal":{"name":"Geography and Sustainability","volume":"6 4","pages":"Article 100299"},"PeriodicalIF":8.0,"publicationDate":"2025-04-11","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143894698","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"环境科学与生态学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Land structure change and ecological effects under future development scenarios in Tarim River Basin, Central Asia","authors":"Yifeng Hou,&nbsp;Yaning Chen,&nbsp;Zhi Li,&nbsp;Yupeng Li,&nbsp;Fan Sun","doi":"10.1016/j.geosus.2025.100300","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.geosus.2025.100300","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Soil and water matching in a land basin is important for securing land demand, alleviating human-land conflicts, and promoting sustainable development in the region. The Tarim River Basin (TRB) is the largest inland river basin in China and primarily sustains an agricultural economy centered around oases. This study employs the Patch-generating Land-Use Simulation (PLUS) model to forecast the changing patterns of land use across various future scenarios. The connection between land development and the ecological environment is examined through the lens of relative ecological value and ecological impact. The results indicate that: (1) From 1992 to 2020, the ecology of the basin showed an improving trend, with the area of new cropland increasing by 18,850.51 km² at a growth rate of 56.13 %. Grassland area increased by 10,235.29 km² and barren land area decreased by 20,597.29 km². (2) Under the four tested scenarios of Natural Development, Cropland Conservation, Ecological Protection, and Urban Expansion (scenarios I–Ⅳ, respectively), the PLUS results for the year 2050 show an increase in cropland area of 12.69 % under Scenario Ⅱ, an increase in grassland area of 20,374.82 km² under Scenario Ⅳ, and an increase in built-up land area of 1,105.57 km² under Scenario Ⅲ. (3) A simulation of the basin’s ecology in 2050 shows a significant improvement trend under Scenario Ⅳ. Specifically, the development of a large amount of barren land into grassland and woodland has significant ecological benefits, with a contribution rate of 61.88 % to 70.18 %. This study provides a strong scientific foundation for future land management and ecological sustainable development in the TRB.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":52374,"journal":{"name":"Geography and Sustainability","volume":"6 4","pages":"Article 100300"},"PeriodicalIF":8.0,"publicationDate":"2025-04-11","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143906194","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"环境科学与生态学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Exploring regional variations in agricultural greenhouse gas emissions: Insights from Bangladesh’s districts","authors":"Shaikh Shamim Hasan ,&nbsp;Zhihui Li ,&nbsp;Fan Zhang","doi":"10.1016/j.geosus.2025.100298","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.geosus.2025.100298","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Agriculture is part of the food production that feeds the expanding population though it produces considerable greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. It’s crucial to balancing food security and emission reduction for a win-win scenario. However, the lack of sufficient comprehensive district-level assessments makes it difficult to determine the specific mitigation potential for agriculture emissions. In this study, we deployed the IPCC Tier 1 approach and estimated GHG at district/division level in Bangladesh from the year 2010 to 2021. We computed three primary GHG (CO₂, N₂O, and CH₄) from five sources of agriculture, namely, rice-growing CH₄, other crops-growing N₂O, enteric fermentation, urea fertilizer-induced N₂O, and energy-related CO₂ emissions in the 64 districts, and aggregated them into eight divisions. We observed from this study that GHG emissions in Bangladesh gradually increased from 2010 to 2021 and reached the peak (34.3 MtCO₂e) in 2021. Rangpur division emitted the highest amount of GHG (6.03 MtCO₂e in 2021) during this period. We also observed significant variations in the sources and structure of emissions within each division. Moreover, regional differences were observed in overall emissions and per capita emissions after additional spatial analysis, with per capita GHG emissions declining from 2010 (1.97 tCO₂e) to 2021 (1.90 tCO₂e). Findings of this regional (district/division) estimation will help stakeholders of the country to develop suitable mitigation approaches which targets particular emission sources and geographic areas.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":52374,"journal":{"name":"Geography and Sustainability","volume":"6 4","pages":"Article 100298"},"PeriodicalIF":8.0,"publicationDate":"2025-04-10","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143894699","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"环境科学与生态学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"The modeling framework of the coupled human and natural systems in the Yellow River Basin","authors":"Shan Sang ,&nbsp;Yan Li ,&nbsp;Shuang Zong ,&nbsp;Lu Yu ,&nbsp;Shuai Wang ,&nbsp;Yanxu Liu ,&nbsp;Xutong Wu ,&nbsp;Shuang Song ,&nbsp;Xuhui Wang ,&nbsp;Bojie Fu","doi":"10.1016/j.geosus.2025.100294","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.geosus.2025.100294","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>A mechanistic understanding and modeling of the coupled human and natural systems (CHANS) are frontier of geographical sciences and essential for promoting regional sustainability. Modeling regional CHANS in the Yellow River Basin (YRB) featuring high water stress, intense human interference, and a fragile ecosystem has always been a complex challenge. Here, we propose a conceptual modeling framework to capture key human-natural components and their interactions, focusing on human-water dynamics. The modeling framework encompasses five human (Population, Economy, Energy, Food, and Water Demand) and five natural sectors (Water Supply, Sediment, Land, Carbon, and Climate) that can be either fully interactive or standalone. The modeling framework, implemented using the system dynamics (SD) approach, can well reproduce the basin's historical evolution in human-natural processes and predict future dynamics under various scenarios. The flexibility, adaptability, and potential for integration with diverse methods position the framework as an instructive tool for guiding regional CHANS modeling. Our insights highlight pathways to advance regional CHANS modeling and its application to address regional sustainability challenges.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":52374,"journal":{"name":"Geography and Sustainability","volume":"6 4","pages":"Article 100294"},"PeriodicalIF":8.0,"publicationDate":"2025-04-09","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143913230","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"环境科学与生态学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Spatial scale-dependence and controlling factors of ecosystem service supply-demand relationships in the Loess Plateau of China","authors":"Xiaojia Han ,&nbsp;Guangyao Gao ,&nbsp;Junze Zhang ,&nbsp;Zhuangzhuang Wang ,&nbsp;Xutong Wu ,&nbsp;Yihe Lü","doi":"10.1016/j.geosus.2025.100297","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.geosus.2025.100297","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Integrating the supply and demand of ecosystem services (ESs) across various scales is crucial for regional sustainable development. However, the relationships between ESs supply and demand, along with their determinants, have not been thoroughly investigated from a multi-spatial perspective. In this study, we quantified four ESs (carbon sequestration, water yield, food supply, and soil conservation) at six spatial scales (pixel, 10 km, 50 km, county, municipality and watershed scale) in China’s Loess Plateau (LP), characterized by fragile ecological environment and high human activity. The ESs supply-demand matches and their trade-offs or synergies as well as the dominant influencing factors at different scales were identified. There was significant spatial heterogeneity in the distribution of ESs supply and demand across the LP. The balance between ESs supply and demand became obvious from pixel to watershed (municipality) scale, with the area proportion increased by 66.78 %, 57.85 %, and 17.89 % for carbon sequestration, water yield and food supply, respectively. The supply-demand match of paired ESs was dominated by synergistic effects at the grid scales and county scale, and their trade-offs mainly occurred in municipality and watershed scales. Population and GDP emerged as the primary factors influencing the supply-demand matches for carbon sequestration, water yield, and food supply, whereas soil conservation was primarily shaped by natural factors. Furthermore, the influence of dominant factors strengthened as the spatial scale increases. The load coefficient of GDP, land use degree and human activities index increased by 0.5057, 0.6985 and 0.6705 from pixel scale to watershed scale, respectively. Thus, implementation of specific management measures should consider both the overall situation of ESs at large scale and influencing factors at small scale. This multi-scale study sheds light on understanding the interactions between supply and demand in different ESs, and provides new insights for hierarchical ecosystem management.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":52374,"journal":{"name":"Geography and Sustainability","volume":"6 4","pages":"Article 100297"},"PeriodicalIF":8.0,"publicationDate":"2025-04-09","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143879349","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"环境科学与生态学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Bioeconomy and sustainable development goals: How do their interactions matter?","authors":"Anne Warchold ,&nbsp;Prajal Pradhan","doi":"10.1016/j.geosus.2025.100293","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.geosus.2025.100293","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Countries worldwide are leveraging the 2030 Agenda and its 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) for building a more resilient and sustainable future. One solution in this endeavour is transitioning towards a bioeconomy (BE), utilizing renewable resources and low-carbon value chains to meet food, energy, and materials demands. However, BE is neither inherently circular nor sustainable, compromising SDGs’ progress. Therefore, we conducted a detailed ex-post analysis using correlation, transfer entropy, and network analysis to understand the complex causal interactions between BE and SDGs. Moving beyond correlation, we explored the directional influence of interactions within the BE-SDG nexus. Our findings reveal a robust bidirectional influence between 19 BE criteria and 109 SDG targets across all goals among 48 European countries. While BE can drive progress toward SDGs, a balanced distribution of synergies and trade-offs constrains its impact. Collaborative efforts among European countries would effectively drive towards achieving both BE and SDGs. SDG 13 has positive influences from lowered fossil fuel emissions and negative ones due to land use changes and intensified agriculture, which releases stored carbon. Similarly, SDG 15 emerges as a positive influence, as healthy ecosystem services foster a resilient BE. Despite efforts towards SDG 12, Europe’s unsustainable consumption impedes BE supply chains. While BE practices are intended to accelerate sustainability, they fall short of playing a transformational role in achieving the SDGs. A shift towards a cohesive, collaborative strategy that leverages synergies and mitigates trade-offs can enhance the BE’s impact, advancing Europe closer to achieving the 2030 Agenda.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":52374,"journal":{"name":"Geography and Sustainability","volume":"6 3","pages":"Article 100293"},"PeriodicalIF":8.0,"publicationDate":"2025-04-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143863769","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"环境科学与生态学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}