Geography and Sustainability最新文献

{"title":"Current status and medium- and long-term variation of soil erosion by water in China","authors":"Huiyun Xu ,&nbsp;Xuchao Zhu ,&nbsp;Pasquale Borrelli ,&nbsp;Longxi Cao ,&nbsp;Mingan Shao","doi":"10.1016/j.geosus.2025.100372","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.geosus.2025.100372","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Soil erosion is the primary factor causing the loss of soil resources and land degradation. Clarifying the current status of soil erosion in China and the characteristics of future changes under different pathways of development is important to the global management of soil resources, food security, and ecosystem services. We used the revised universal soil loss equation and the most recent and reliable soil and environmental data to characterize soil erosion in China at present and under typical Shared Socioeconomic Pathways and Representative Concentration Pathways (i.e., SSP1–2.6 and SSP5–8.5) in the medium- and long-term future (2050 and 2100). The current average rate of soil erosion in China was 14.78 t ha^-1 yr^-1, with a total amount of about 14.0 Pg yr^-1. The amount of total erosion increased by 5.0 %, 10.8 %, 9.9 %, and 25.9 % for scenarios 2050_SSP1–2.6, 2050_SSP5–8.5, 2100_SSP1–2.6, and 2100_SSP5–8.5, respectively, compared to the baseline amount in 2010. The contribution of climate change and land use to the increase in erosion ranged from 9.5 % to 31.5 % and -6.95 % to -1.78 %, respectively, with the contribution of climate change about 2.36- to 7.54-fold larger than the contribution of land use. Converting arable barren land into forest and grassland or adopting conservation tillage practices for farmland, could nevertheless effectively offset the increase in erosion under the four future scenarios. This study provides data and a scientific basis for managing soil erosion in China and provides a useful reference for conserving global land resources and formulating policies to cope with climatic and environmental changes.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":52374,"journal":{"name":"Geography and Sustainability","volume":"6 6","pages":"Article 100372"},"PeriodicalIF":8.0,"publicationDate":"2025-12-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145105315","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 role of armed conflict in progress toward Sustainable Development Goals: Global patterns, regional differences, and driving mechanisms","authors":"Di Wang ,&nbsp;Zhenci Xu ,&nbsp;Unai Pascual ,&nbsp;Lei Liu ,&nbsp;Waqar Ahmad ,&nbsp;Dong Jiang","doi":"10.1016/j.geosus.2025.100355","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.geosus.2025.100355","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) represent a solemn commitment by United Nations member states, but achieving them faces numerous challenges, particularly armed conflicts. Here, we analyzed the impact of armed conflict on SDG progress and its driving mechanism through causal inference methods and machine learning technique. The results show that between 2000 and 2021, armed conflicts slowed overall SDG progress by 3.43 %, equivalent to a setback of 18 years. The Middle East was the most affected region, with a 6.10 % slowdown in progress. The impact of different types of conflict varies across specific goals: interstate conflicts primarily affect SDG 5 (Gender Equality) and SDG 7 (Affordable and Clean Energy), while intrastate conflicts have a larger impact on SDG 4 (Quality Education) and SDG 9 (Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure). Additionally, SDG 15 (Life on Land) is severely affected by both types of conflict, with long-term consequences. As armed conflicts increase, the development progress would regress rapidly in a non-linear manner. To achieve the SDGs by 2030, it is crucial not only to prevent conflicts but also to proactively address and mitigate their impacts on development.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":52374,"journal":{"name":"Geography and Sustainability","volume":"6 6","pages":"Article 100355"},"PeriodicalIF":8.0,"publicationDate":"2025-12-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144886122","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 high-altitude peatland carbon cycle: A review of the impacts of climate change, human disturbance and management","authors":"Paul P.J. Gaffney ,&nbsp;Qiuhong Tang ,&nbsp;Jinsong Wang ,&nbsp;Chi Zhang ,&nbsp;Ximeng Xu ,&nbsp;Xiangbo Xu ,&nbsp;Yuan Li ,&nbsp;Sabolc Pap ,&nbsp;Joshua L. Ratcliffe ,&nbsp;Quanwen Li ,&nbsp;Shuli Niu","doi":"10.1016/j.geosus.2025.100353","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.geosus.2025.100353","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>High-altitude peatlands (HAPs; defined as &gt; 1,500 m) provide important ecosystem services including soil carbon (C) storage. However, temperatures in high-altitude regions have been rising rapidly in recent decades, while HAPs are increasingly affected by human activities such as intensive drainage and grazing. Collectively, climate change and land management may strongly affect the HAP C cycle. Here, we synthesise current global progress on the HAP C cycle, focussing on the impacts of climate change and land management. Warming increased both ecosystem respiration (ER) and methane (CH₄) emissions (26 %–86 %), while impacts on net ecosystem exchange (NEE) of CO₂ were still unclear. However, short-term drought decreased ER and CH₄ emissions (7 %–96 %), along with NEE (12 %–52 %). Snow, permafrost, and glacier decline may also impact the C cycle in HAPs, although a limited number of studies have been conducted. Grazing and vegetation degradation impacts on HAP C cycling were related to grazing and degradation intensity, while generally decreasing soil organic C stocks (3 %–51 %). Moving from shallower to deeper WTLs stimulated ER (9 %–812 %), while reducing CH₄ emissions (13 %–100 %), with variable effects on NEE (-53 %–700 %). Restoration by rewetting began to reverse the trend of drainage. We highlight several knowledge gaps, including limited understanding of climate change and land-management effects on gross primary productivity and dissolved organic carbon, while there is still limited knowledge of regional differences in HAP C cycling. Future research should focus on the interaction of land-use and climate change in HAPs, including HAP restoration, which may help future conservation of these valuable ecosystems.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":52374,"journal":{"name":"Geography and Sustainability","volume":"6 6","pages":"Article 100353"},"PeriodicalIF":8.0,"publicationDate":"2025-12-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144988004","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-dependent two-stage changes in soil organic carbon stock across the contiguous United States from 1970 to 2014","authors":"Feixue Shen ,&nbsp;Lin Yang ,&nbsp;Lei Zhang ,&nbsp;A-Xing Zhu ,&nbsp;Xiang Li ,&nbsp;Chenconghai Yang ,&nbsp;Chenghu Zhou ,&nbsp;Yiqi Luo ,&nbsp;Shilong Piao","doi":"10.1016/j.geosus.2025.100359","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.geosus.2025.100359","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Temporal dynamics in soil organic carbon (SOC) play a crucial role in the global carbon cycle. How warming affects SOC change has been widely studied at the site scale, mainly through short-term manipulative experiments. Decades-long SOC dynamics in ecosystems can be complicated, particularly as real-world warming rates varied on decade-scale. However, the lack of long-term repeated observations on whole-profile SOC limits our understanding of SOC dynamics across large regions. Herein, we reconstructed 45 years of SOC dynamics (1970–2014) in topsoil (0–30 cm) and subsoil (30–100 cm) using 10,639 soil profiles from forest and cropland across the contiguous United States, and investigated their relations with key dynamic environments (e.g., climate, vegetation and nitrogen). We further examined the spatial pattern of SOC stock changes at a finer scale (∼2 km) using machine learning techniques. Our results revealed ecosystem-dependent, two-stage changes of SOC stock, characterized by continental-scale halts in SOC loss following warming deceleration since the late 1990s. This shift led to an overall increase in SOC stock of 1.41 % in forest and 1.14 % in cropland within the top 1-meter over 45 years. Temperature was the primary factor related to topsoil SOC losses, whereas soil water content may primarily control subsoil SOC change. Notably, a threshold effect of warming rates on SOC loss was identified in both topsoil and subsoil. These findings provide new insights into long-term whole-profile SOC dynamics at a large scale, offering valuable implications for carbon sequestration to support sustainable development in different ecosystems.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":52374,"journal":{"name":"Geography and Sustainability","volume":"6 6","pages":"Article 100359"},"PeriodicalIF":8.0,"publicationDate":"2025-12-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145049460","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":"China’s mountain biodiversity and conservation status","authors":"Nan Jiang ,&nbsp;Lei Zhao ,&nbsp;Mei Han ,&nbsp;Weihua Xu","doi":"10.1016/j.geosus.2025.100360","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.geosus.2025.100360","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>As global biodiversity continues to decline and ecosystems degrade, mountains are often regarded as crucial refuges for numerous species due to their unique montane environments and relatively unfragmented landscapes. The conservation of mountain biodiversity is a key component of the United Nations Sustainable Development Agenda. Gaining insight into the distribution of montane species and identifying priority conservation areas are essential for effective action. However, such efforts have been relatively limited in China. In this study, we evaluated the contribution of mountains to biodiversity conservation within the country. Our findings indicate that China’s mountains support a remarkable percentage of the country’s wildlife. They include 95 % of mammal species, 85 % of bird species, 89 % of amphibian species, 85 % of reptile species, and 80 % of higher plant species. These areas harbor over 90 % of China’s natural ecosystem subclasses, despite constituting only 65 % of the total land area. Approximately a quarter of important sites for mountain biodiversity are covered by protected areas, but some key regions remain unprotected. It is recommended that protection be prioritized in the southeastern Qinghai-Xizang Plateau, the Hengduan Mountains and the Southeastern China Hills, with a focus on narrowly distributed ecosystems, to achieve the biodiversity target and vision.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":52374,"journal":{"name":"Geography and Sustainability","volume":"6 6","pages":"Article 100360"},"PeriodicalIF":8.0,"publicationDate":"2025-12-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145049462","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 second phase of Global Dryland Ecosystem Program—Focusing on dryland social-ecological system and sustainability","authors":"Bojie Fu ,&nbsp;David J. Eldridge ,&nbsp;Jingyi Ding","doi":"10.1016/j.geosus.2025.100379","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.geosus.2025.100379","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":52374,"journal":{"name":"Geography and Sustainability","volume":"6 6","pages":"Article 100379"},"PeriodicalIF":8.0,"publicationDate":"2025-12-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145839268","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 land–water–energy–greenhouse gas nexus framework informs climate change mitigation in agriculture: A case study in the North China Plain","authors":"Xin Xuan ,&nbsp;Yuping Bai ,&nbsp;Gaurav Sikka ,&nbsp;Chuyao Weng ,&nbsp;Xiangzheng Deng","doi":"10.1016/j.geosus.2025.100354","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.geosus.2025.100354","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>The land, water, energy use, and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions involved in agricultural production are intrinsically linked. However, quantitative characterization and scenario simulations of these elements’ inherent interrelationships remain scarce. We developed a land<strong>–</strong>water<strong>–</strong>energy<strong>–</strong>GHG (LWEG) nexus framework for the North China Plain (NCP). The framework identifies the mutual feedback in the life cycle of agricultural production among the four factors. We applied the framework to assess the agricultural GHG mitigation potential for winter wheat, summer maize, and rice in NCP municipalities. The results showed that cropping structure optimization reduced GHG emissions by 1.96 Mt CO₂e. Controlling indirect energy consumption in upstream processes of crop production and reducing on-site energy use reduced the volume and intensity per unit area of agricultural GHG emissions. Because of the synergies between land, water, and energy, nexus management, which combines multiple measures of groundwater management, fertilizer, and energy control, has substantial GHG mitigation potential. The nexus management scenario produced a total GHG of 159.51 Mt CO₂e, a decrease of 15.38 % from the baseline scenario. This study quantifies the LWEG nexus within agricultural production processes and identifies agricultural management practices that integrate water, energy conservation, and emissions mitigation contributing to the Sustainable Development Goals.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":52374,"journal":{"name":"Geography and Sustainability","volume":"6 6","pages":"Article 100354"},"PeriodicalIF":8.0,"publicationDate":"2025-12-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144896614","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":"Biophysical and socioeconomic drivers of livestock management in high-altitude Xizang, China","authors":"Yu Zhang ,&nbsp;Ben Niu ,&nbsp;Zhipeng Wang ,&nbsp;Meng Li ,&nbsp;Jianshuang Wu ,&nbsp;Xianzhou Zhang","doi":"10.1016/j.geosus.2025.100377","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.geosus.2025.100377","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Livestock management plays a crucial role in environmental protection, food security, and sustainable livelihoods worldwide. However, comprehensive research on its microeconomic dimensions remains limited. Here, we used piecewise structural equation modeling to identify key drivers of livestock management among rural smallholders, focusing on livestock stocking rates (LSR) and livestock offtake rates (LOR). Data were collected via semi-structured questionnaires and household head interviews in 54 villages in northern Xizang between 2018 and 2020 (<em>n</em> = 549). Our findings revealed pronounced spatial heterogeneity in livestock management, with households in alpine meadows showing the highest LSR (2.14 standardized sheep units per hectare, SSU· ha⁻¹) and the lowest LOR (9 %), in contrast to households in desert steppe areas (0.27 SSU· ha⁻¹ and 15 %, respectively). Across northern Xizang, five grouped environmental factors—climatic conditions, natural resource endowment, market conditions, demographics, and household income—jointly explained 66 % and 20 % of the variance in LSR and LOR, respectively. Biophysical factors had a greater influence than socioeconomic ones, though demographic variables and market conditions were also positively correlated with LSR and LOR, respectively. Given the consistently low LOR among species (9 %–15 %), with marked differences between yaks and sheep (5 %) and goats (2 %), targeted policies are needed to encourage herders to adopt circular economy practices to balance ecological conservation with economic growth. This study highlights an underutilized livestock economy in high-altitude pastoral communities and clarifies the interplay of biophysical and socioeconomic factors in herders’ decision-making. The findings offer valuable insights for refining policy frameworks related to livestock and environmental management in rural China and beyond.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":52374,"journal":{"name":"Geography and Sustainability","volume":"6 6","pages":"Article 100377"},"PeriodicalIF":8.0,"publicationDate":"2025-12-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145465194","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":"Proactive adaptation to climate change in landscape configuration and agricultural management optimization: A case study of agro-pastoral transitional zone in northern China","authors":"Jianmin Qiao ,&nbsp;Yuhang Gao ,&nbsp;Ziyan Lv ,&nbsp;Zidong Tang ,&nbsp;Shike Xie ,&nbsp;Qian Cao ,&nbsp;Xiao Sun","doi":"10.1016/j.geosus.2025.100373","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.geosus.2025.100373","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Optimizing landscape patterns and management measures would be an effective strategy for the agro-pastoral transitional zone in northern China (ATNC) to adapt to future climate change. Existing studies generally focus on cropland or pasture, and thus there is a lack of comprehensive understanding of the landscape composition and configuration in complex agro-pastoral transitional zone. In this study, Ansai County in the ATNC was chosen as an experimental area. Four typical agroecosystem services (AESs), food provision (FP), soil carbon (SC), soil retention (SR) and water yield (WY) from 1980 to 2020, were simulated by spatially integrating a model of the agricultural system using the Environmental Policy Integrated Climate (EPIC) combined with geographic information systems technology. The impacts of different crop types, pasture configurations, and tillage practices on AESs under future climate scenarios were assessed in the context of agro-pastoral transition. Finally, the optimal landscape pattern configuration and management measures were identified through single-objective and multi-objective optimization models. The results showed that under historical scenarios, implementing policies such as converting cropland to pastureland improved SC and SR but reduced FP and WY. Compared to traditional and reduced tillage, no-till practices benefited the enlargement of AESs and the agricultural ecosystem. Notably, future climate change generally negatively affected AESs, especially under the Shared Socioeconomic Pathway (SSP5–8.5) climate scenario. The combination of planting corn and no-till measures would be ideal for optimizing the agricultural ecosystem in Ansai County. For the fragile ATNC, we should advocate conservation agriculture and policies converting cropland to pastureland to mitigate the adverse impacts of climate changes. This study establishes a replicable framework to address landscape management in complex agropastoral systems and offers solutions for climate-resilient land management in global dryland transitional zones, contributing to the realization of regional ecosystem sustainability.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":52374,"journal":{"name":"Geography and Sustainability","volume":"6 6","pages":"Article 100373"},"PeriodicalIF":8.0,"publicationDate":"2025-12-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145266580","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":"Effects on heat mitigation, energy use, and carbon savings in urban-scale implementations of nature-based solutions","authors":"Jinwook Chung,&nbsp;Kijune Sung","doi":"10.1016/j.geosus.2025.100362","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.geosus.2025.100362","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Extensive changes in land cover and energy use resulting from urbanization lead to an imbalance in urban thermal conditions, making cities more susceptible to the impacts of climate change. Nature-based solutions (NbS) that leverage the cooling effect of green spaces to mitigate urban heat are gaining attention as a way to improve urban sustainability in the face of climate change. The study evaluated the urban-scale application of NbS’s impacts on heat mitigation capacity, air temperature, cooling energy, carbon emissions, and carbon sequestration, as well as the resulting economic benefits using the Integrated Valuation of Ecosystem Services and Tradeoffs (InVEST) Urban Cooling Model (UCM). Green roofs as building adaptations, land use adaptations such as the expansion of urban parks and roadside green space, forest restoration, and multiple adaptations, which are combinations of building and land use adaptations, were considered applicable NbS. Cool roofs were also studied to compare their effects with other urban green infrastructure. The results showed that simultaneously implementing the multiple adaptation methods is the most effective if the applicable areas are sufficient. Considering the implemented area ratio, urban parks are the most effective single adaptive measure, with energy savings of 14.75, 8.63, and 1.98 times higher than those of 100 % green roofs, cool roofs, and 20 % roadside green space expansions, respectively. Restoring forests (21.29 km²) can yield 4.7 times higher energy savings than installing 100 % green roofs (62 km²). In contrast, deforestation loses more energy and carbon than cool roofs can save. This study can help provide an appropriate strategy for achieving urban carbon neutrality by reducing carbon emissions and increasing carbon sequestration through NbS in addition to relieving urban temperatures.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":52374,"journal":{"name":"Geography and Sustainability","volume":"6 6","pages":"Article 100362"},"PeriodicalIF":8.0,"publicationDate":"2025-12-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145049461","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}