Geography and Sustainability最新文献

{"title":"Life cycle environmental impacts and emission reduction pathways of wind power in western China: A scenario-based assessment","authors":"Ning Su ,&nbsp;Xiaobing Li ,&nbsp;Xin Lyu ,&nbsp;Dongliang Dang ,&nbsp;Siyu Liu ,&nbsp;Chenhao Zhang","doi":"10.1016/j.geosus.2025.100394","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.geosus.2025.100394","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Compared with traditional energy sources, wind power has a lower environmental impact. However, emissions are still generated across the life cycle of wind turbines, from production to recycling. As wind power rapidly develops and deployment increases, these impacts are becoming increasingly evident. A comprehensive understanding of these impacts is crucial for sustainable development. Based on the harmonization of previous detailed life cycle assessment (LCA) studies, this study develops a simplified LCA model that estimates the life cycle environmental impacts of wind turbines based on their nominal power. Using this simplified LCA model, we assess the global warming potential (GWP), acidification potential (AP), and cumulative energy demand (CED) of wind power at the regional scale for 2022 and under three future scenarios (high-power wind turbine promotion, reduced wind curtailment, and a comprehensive development scenario). The results indicate that in 2022, the life cycle GWP, AP, and CED of wind power in western China were 10.76 g CO₂ eq/kWh, 0.177 g SO₂ eq/kWh, and 17.6 kJ/kWh, respectively. Scenario simulations suggest that reducing wind curtailment is the most effective approach for reducing emissions in Inner Mongolia, Gansu, Qinghai, Ningxia, and Xinjiang, producing average decreases of 8.64 % in GWP, 8.39 % in AP, and 9.26 % in CED. In contrast, for Guangxi, Chongqing, Sichuan, Guizhou, Yunnan, Xizang, and Shaanxi, the promotion of high-power wind turbines provides greater environmental benefits than reducing curtailment, producing average decreases of 3.45 %, 3.09 %, and 4.29 % in GWP, AP, and CED, respectively. These findings help clarify the environmental impact of wind power across its life cycle at the regional scale and provide theoretical references for the direction of future wind power development and the formulation of related policies.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":52374,"journal":{"name":"Geography and Sustainability","volume":"7 1","pages":"Article 100394"},"PeriodicalIF":8.0,"publicationDate":"2026-02-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145941333","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":"Increasing meridional disparity of population exposure to heat stress","authors":"Xiaofan Xu ,&nbsp;Yuxiao Kong ,&nbsp;Jintao Zhang ,&nbsp;Jianping Duan ,&nbsp;Minghong Tan ,&nbsp;Xue Yang ,&nbsp;Hongzhou Zhu ,&nbsp;Deliang Chen","doi":"10.1016/j.geosus.2025.100391","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.geosus.2025.100391","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Global warming and socioeconomic development are expected to exacerbate human exposure to heat stress, but the extent and inequality of such changes remain unclear. Here, we quantified the future population exposure to heat stress (PEHS) under different Shared Socioeconomic Pathways (SSPs) and Representative Concentration Pathways (RCPs) scenarios using a novel decomposition framework that separates the contributions of climate change, population change, and their interaction. Results show that global PEHS will increase substantially during the 21st century, with low-latitude regions experiencing the largest absolute increases, and high-latitude regions facing the largest relative increases. Globally, projected increases in PEHS under SSP3–7.0 are roughly three times those under SSP1–2.6, with low latitudes contributing about 70 %–75 % of the global total. SSP1–2.6 most effectively limits future heat exposure, with the highest risks in low-latitude developing regions, underscoring the need for low-emission pathways and targeted population and urbanization management. The findings highlight the urgent need for both climate mitigation and population adaptation strategies to address the growing and uneven heat exposure risks worldwide.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":52374,"journal":{"name":"Geography and Sustainability","volume":"7 1","pages":"Article 100391"},"PeriodicalIF":8.0,"publicationDate":"2026-02-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145941337","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 the optimal nitrogen threshold for global grassland restoration","authors":"Qi Zhang ,&nbsp;Fu Chen ,&nbsp;Zhanbin Luo ,&nbsp;Jun Fan ,&nbsp;Yanfeng Zhu ,&nbsp;Jing Ma ,&nbsp;Yongjun Yang ,&nbsp;Xi-en Long ,&nbsp;Alejandro Gonzalez-Ollauri ,&nbsp;Miao Gan ,&nbsp;Weihong Guo ,&nbsp;Yuxiang Ma ,&nbsp;Qiaoling Wang ,&nbsp;Shenglu Zhou ,&nbsp;Mingan Shao","doi":"10.1016/j.geosus.2025.100396","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.geosus.2025.100396","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Amid accelerating global land degradation, establishing high-efficiency ecological restoration principles and frameworks is crucial. Here, we explore the application of threshold effects in the ecological restoration process based on field experiments and globally available experimental data from 173 sites. Combining data integration analysis and meta-analysis, we collectively verified the universality of threshold effects in grasslands. The global grasslands’ average nitrogen application threshold is 3.78 g·m⁻²·yr⁻¹, while the threshold value of degraded grassland (3.65 g·m⁻²·yr⁻¹) is lower than that of nondegraded grassland (5.90 g·m⁻²·yr⁻¹). The low nitrogen-driven thresholds are affected by degradation status, climate (precipitation and temperature), and other site conditions, but not fertilization forms. Independent experiments further demonstrated that an increase in soil moisture content can lead to the disappearance of nitrogen threshold effects, revealing that ecological threshold effects are influenced by ecosystem stress factors. Following the significant increase in plant biomass triggered by the nitrogen threshold, the ecosystem undergoes systemic improvement. Soil organic carbon, urease activity, soil microbial diversity, and other soil properties are significantly enhanced. Soil nitrogen cycle-related microbial communities and soil physicochemical attributes are significantly activated. The results indicate that a threshold response pattern may develop before nitrogen saturation is reached, and low nitrogen input can boost productivity and improve the plant-soil-microbe system. Our findings reveal a nonprogressive path of restoration in degraded ecosystems, and thus, restoration based on threshold effects can offer an efficient and safe solution to combat ecological degradation.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":52374,"journal":{"name":"Geography and Sustainability","volume":"7 1","pages":"Article 100396"},"PeriodicalIF":8.0,"publicationDate":"2026-02-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145941334","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":"Linking net ecosystem benefits and human activity: Regional management implications on the China’s Loess Plateau","authors":"Xiaozhen Wang ,&nbsp;Shuai Wang ,&nbsp;Kangying Li ,&nbsp;Xing Wu ,&nbsp;Chunbo Huang ,&nbsp;Zhouping Shangguan ,&nbsp;Kaibo Wang ,&nbsp;Lei Deng","doi":"10.1016/j.geosus.2025.100398","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.geosus.2025.100398","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Understanding the complex interactions between human activities and ecosystem functions is a prerequisite for achieving sustainable development. Since the implementation of the “Grain for Green” Project in 1999, ecosystem functions in China’s Loess Plateau have significantly improved. However, intensified human activities have also exacerbated the pressures on the region’s fragile ecological environment. This study investigates the spatiotemporal variations in the human activity intensity index (HAI) and net ecosystem benefits (NEB) from 2000 to 2020, using expert-based assessments and an enhanced cost-benefit evaluation framework. Results indicate that HAI increased by 16.7 % and 16.6 % at the grid and county levels, respectively. NEB exhibited pronounced spatial heterogeneity, with a total increase of USD 36.2 trillion at the grid scale. At the county level, the average NEB rose by 75 %. The degree of trade-off was higher at the grid scale than at the county scale, while the synergistic areas initially expanded and then declined at both scales. Key areas for improvement and regions of lagging development were identified as priority zones for ecological management and spatial planning at both spatial resolutions. This study offers scientific insights and practical guidance for harmonizing ecological conservation with high-quality development in ecologically vulnerable regions.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":52374,"journal":{"name":"Geography and Sustainability","volume":"7 1","pages":"Article 100398"},"PeriodicalIF":8.0,"publicationDate":"2026-02-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145941336","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 Soul of Geography: Bojie Fu’s vision for science and humanity","authors":"Michael E Meadows","doi":"10.1016/j.geosus.2026.100409","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.geosus.2026.100409","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":52374,"journal":{"name":"Geography and Sustainability","volume":"7 1","pages":"Article 100409"},"PeriodicalIF":8.0,"publicationDate":"2026-02-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"146038296","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":"A systematic review of terrestrial ecosystem resilience: Trends and adaptations over the past 50 years","authors":"Tianjing Wu ,&nbsp;Yanxu Liu ,&nbsp;Zhuangzhuang Wang ,&nbsp;Ying Yao ,&nbsp;Xueyan Cheng ,&nbsp;Yan Zhao","doi":"10.1016/j.geosus.2026.100410","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.geosus.2026.100410","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Resilience plays a crucial role in maintaining desirable ecosystem states and is a key objective of sustainable ecosystem management. This study synthesizes the concepts and measurement approaches of terrestrial ecosystem resilience and expounded on its spatio-temporal changes and influencing factors based on the literature over the past 50 years. Arid regions exhibited the lowest levels of spatial resilience, and the global ecosystem resilience showed a downward trend. In the focal regions, ecological resilience in Amazonian and Southeast Asian rainforest regions declined primarily driven by human activities such as deforestation and cropland expansion. Precipitation and temperature exerted bidirectional influences the resilience of ecosystems, indicating that ecosystem responses to climatic factors were non-monotonic. Evidence concerning anthropogenic factors such as land management and deforestation on ecosystem resilience were predominantly negative. Overall, this study provides a comprehensive synthesis of large scale terrestrial ecosystem resilience assessments, offering valuable insights for ecosystem protection and restoration policy development.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":52374,"journal":{"name":"Geography and Sustainability","volume":"7 1","pages":"Article 100410"},"PeriodicalIF":8.0,"publicationDate":"2026-02-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"146038289","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":"Mapping world’s coastal population facing water-related risks","authors":"Olli Varis,&nbsp;Maija Taka,&nbsp;Matti Kummu","doi":"10.1016/j.geosus.2026.100411","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.geosus.2026.100411","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Endowed with opportunities from both land and ocean, coastal areas attract expanding human populations and economic activities. At the same time, they face growing societal and environmental pressures from both the above river catchments and the bordering sea due to climate change, ecosystem degradation, and expansion of built-up areas. Despite the accumulation of human population, economic activities, and environmental impacts, we lack social-ecological systems analysis on water-related risks to world’s coastal human population. To address this research gap, we analyze the spatial extent of six globally important water stressors to people within the world’s coastal zone (100 km from the coastal line) and classify this zone globally into 12 groups by distance from the coastline and elevation from the mean sea level. Adopting the approaches of the UN Sendai Framework and IPCC, we produce risk maps from the stressor maps by multiplying them with population exposure and vulnerability. For most risks, geographical hotspots are the Chinese coast, Bay of Bengal, Gujarat, and the Island of Java. The analysis reveals fundamental differences between water stressors and related risks, often mixed in scholarly literature. Both manifest specific geographic patterns and latitudinal profiles. Our study highlights the importance of high-resolution spatial analysis of vulnerability, exposure, and risks posed by water related stressors in the world’s coastal zone, in a manner prompted by key policy bodies to promote policy design and shared responsibility for managing stress-prone areas.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":52374,"journal":{"name":"Geography and Sustainability","volume":"7 1","pages":"Article 100411"},"PeriodicalIF":8.0,"publicationDate":"2026-02-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"146038291","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":"Location matters: Rethinking wetland restoration for combating floods in China","authors":"Xi Zhang ,&nbsp;Jinwei Dong ,&nbsp;Xinxin Wang ,&nbsp;Xiangming Xiao","doi":"10.1016/j.geosus.2026.100408","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.geosus.2026.100408","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":52374,"journal":{"name":"Geography and Sustainability","volume":"7 1","pages":"Article 100408"},"PeriodicalIF":8.0,"publicationDate":"2026-02-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"146038294","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 increasing climate suitability for human habitation on the Qinghai–Xizang Plateau","authors":"Jinhao Liu ,&nbsp;Zhongbao Xin","doi":"10.1016/j.geosus.2025.100393","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.geosus.2025.100393","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Global climate change is a pressing environmental challenge. Climate-induced migration highlights the severe impact of unsuitable climatic conditions. However, current research methods are limited in their ability to assess climate suitability for residents in high-altitude areas. In this study, we assess climate suitability across the Qinghai–Xizang Plateau from 1979 to 2018 and project future changes using four different Shared Socioeconomic Pathway (SSP) climate scenarios by constructing the Climate Suitability Index (CSI). The findings reveal a notable increase in CSI from 0.32 to 0.36 from 1979 to 2018. The primary factors contributing to the increased climate suitability are increasing annual mean precipitation (61.42 %) and decreasing solar radiation (17.22 %) from 1979 to 2018. Furthermore, the study forecasts a continued enhancement of climate suitability across all SSP scenarios, with SSP585 demonstrating the greatest improvement, followed by SSP370, SSP245, and SSP126. Although low oxygen levels at high altitudes remain a challenge, the overall improvement in climate suitability offers hope for people living at high altitudes to cope with climate change.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":52374,"journal":{"name":"Geography and Sustainability","volume":"7 1","pages":"Article 100393"},"PeriodicalIF":8.0,"publicationDate":"2026-02-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145980693","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":"Ecosystem service models are indeed being validated: A response to Pereira et al. (2025)","authors":"James M. Bullock ,&nbsp;Danny A.P. Hooftman ,&nbsp;John W. Redhead ,&nbsp;Simon Willcock","doi":"10.1016/j.geosus.2026.100412","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.geosus.2026.100412","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":52374,"journal":{"name":"Geography and Sustainability","volume":"7 1","pages":"Article 100412"},"PeriodicalIF":8.0,"publicationDate":"2026-02-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"146038295","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}