Sustainable Development Research

How Can Higher Education Institutions Contribute to Achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)? Actions, Monitoring and Reporting

Siegfried Zürn — 2025-01-11

The principles of sustainability are becoming increasingly relevant. Against this back-ground, the UN developed the 17 SDGs. HEI teaching plays a key role in achieving the SDGs, as graduates should be equipped with skills that enable them to tackle the large and complex sustainability problems. However, monitoring and reporting in HEI is currently inadequate and needs to be improved accordingly. This article presents three areas of HEI teaching that can be used to promote sustainability skills among students. Subsequently, monitoring and reporting at HEIs is analyzed in order to compare different frameworks for monitoring and reporting for being applied to HEIs.

The Application of GIS Technology in Environmental Management in Ghana

Nicholas Nkang Yembilah — 2025-01-15

This article traces the evolution of Geographic Information Systems (GIS) from the early days of cartography into contemporary time, within the context of environmental decision-making. The quantitative revolution influenced the development of cartography. In the 1970s computerized mapping and GIS automated cartography. The format and management of spatial data got transformed in the 1980s with the development of geo-query in GIS. In the 21^st century GIS included social perspectives in managing GIS data bases. The technology was introduced into higher educational institutions of Ghana in the 1990s. Government departments recognized it to be an important tool for resolving spatial problems. Its potential for consensus building is yet to be fully exploited because the technology was considered to be complex. This was solved by shifting from generating GIS codes, to graphical interface and spatial model applications. From its initial focus of mapping and spatial database management, GIS now concentrates on varied degrees of complexity in modeling. Uses to which the technology has been put in Ghana include mapping the spatial distribution of Buruli Ulcer; using Digital Elevation Model (DEM) in geospatial and hydrological modeling to delineate drainage and watershed to predict flood prone areas in parts of Accra; and, in groundwater projects to select well sites for drilling bore holes. It was concluded that continued application of GIS in Ghana and other parts of the world could result in rare and timeless solutions being found to spatial and environmental problems that confront humanity.

Spatiotemporal Evolution of Carbon Emissions in the Chengdu-Chongqing Region

Zhang Qiannian — 2025-02-08

This study analyzes the spatiotemporal dynamics of carbon emissions in the Chengdu-Chongqing urban agglomeration from 2000 to 2022 using nighttime light (NTL) data, Moran’s I analysis, and centroid analysis. The results reveal significant regional disparities in carbon emissions, with rapid growth observed in northwestern cities such as Chengdu, Mianyang, and Deyang, while southeastern regions, including Chongqing’s urban core, show phase-specific increases. The carbon emission centroid exhibits a general northwestward shift, reflecting the growing contribution of Sichuan’s industrial cities, with temporary southeastward movements indicating localized emission surges in Chongqing. Moran’s I analysis demonstrates a transition from strong spatial clustering in the early 2000s to spatial dispersion by 2022, driven by urbanization and regional policy interventions.

The study highlights the importance of region-specific strategies to address emission disparities, promote sustainable development, and achieve carbon neutrality. Recommendations include enhancing renewable energy adoption, improving energy efficiency, and strengthening regional coordination. By leveraging spatial tools and dynamic modeling, this research provides valuable insights into carbon emission management in rapidly urbanizing regions like the Chengdu-Chongqing urban agglomeration.

Vulnerability and Impact Mechanisms of Social-Ecological Systems in Karst Desertification Control: An Analysis Based on Farm Household Survey Data

Jiaying Chen — 2025-02-17

Vulnerability and its assessment framework provide a new perspective for the study of social-ecological systems in Karst regions. Drawing on theories related to social-ecological systems and vulnerability, this paper explores the measurement and interpretation of human-land relationships in Karst mountainous areas under the context of rocky desertification governance. From the perspective of sensitivity and adaptive capacity, an evaluation index system is constructed. Through participatory household surveys and field research, the vulnerability of local social-ecological systems based on households is measured, and the vulnerability of different types of households and regions is analyzed. Taking regional sensitivity and household adaptability as entry points, practical countermeasures and suggestions are proposed to provide a basis for decision-making by relevant departments. The study shows that: (1) There is a severe lack of natural capital, and the social and financial capital of pure agricultural and agriculture-dominant households urgently need improvement. (2) The lack of natural capital and the differentiation of adaptive capacity are key factors affecting vulnerability. The construction of cognitive and social capital can enhance system adaptability and reduce system vulnerability. (3) The lack of natural capital and the differentiation of adaptive capacity increase system vulnerability, while household cognition and social capital construction help improve the system's ability to cope with risks, mitigating or reducing system vulnerability.

Research Progress on Village Eco-Industry and Rural Industrial Revitalization and Its Inspiration for the Karst Desertification Control

Nana Yu — 2025-02-17

Under the strategy of rural revitalization, it is urgent to apply the concept of ecological civilization to the development of rural industries. The study of ecological industry and industrial revitalization of karst village ecosystems can help to promote the revitalization of villages in ecologically fragile areas. However, the current status and progress of research on eco-industry and industrial revitalization of village ecosystems in ecologically fragile zones are unclear, and there is an insufficient summary of research results and problems. Therefore, based on 319 related literature, this paper focuses on the current status and progress of research on ecological industries and rural industrial revitalization in village ecosystems and reveals the current research results and shortcomings of ecological industrial revitalization in village ecosystems. We found that (1)village ecological industry and rural industry revitalization are becoming a hot topic; (2)Existing studies mainly focus on index system, driving factors, mechanism research and strategy research. (3) Research regions are mainly concentrated in Asia, North America and Africa. However, the main scientific and technological research such as the construction of indicator systems and the study of driving mechanisms are lagging behind. While summarizing the general rules, it also provides targeted insights and enlightenment for the sustainable management of karst desertification control ecosystem and the revitalization of rural industry.

Exploration and Practice of Ideological and Political Education in Additive Manufacturing Courses under the Concept of Green Intelligent Manufacturing

Gaopeng Xu — 2025-02-17

This paper explores the integration of ideological and political education into additive manufacturing courses within the framework of green smart manufacturing. Green smart manufacturing, which combines environmental sustainability with advanced intelligent technologies, emphasizes the harmonious coexistence of industrial activities and ecological preservation. Additive manufacturing, a key technology in this paradigm, significantly reduces material waste and enhances resource efficiency. However, current educational approaches often prioritize technical skills, neglecting ethical and sustainability dimensions. This study highlights the necessity of incorporating ideological and political education to cultivate a workforce aligned with sustainability and environmental responsibility. The paper outlines a systematic design for integrating these elements into the curriculum, teaching methods, and assessment strategies, ensuring students are equipped with both technical proficiency and ethical consciousness. Practical implementation and outcomes demonstrate the feasibility and effectiveness of this approach, fostering a generation of engineers committed to sustainable industrial practices. Challenges and recommendations for improvement are also discussed, paving the way for a more sustainable and ethically conscious industrial future.

Mechanisms and Paths for Realizing the Value of Karst Ecological Products in Hebei Province

Yue Fu — 2025-02-19

The northern karst region is an important area for the implementation of China's sustainable development strategy, and at the same time, it is also an area with extremely fragile ecological environment and concentrated distribution of soil erosion, but the research on the mechanisms and paths of realizing the value of ecological products in the northern karst region has been less involved. Taking the Zunhua study area in Hebei and the Wolf Tooth Mountain study area as an example, we constructed an ecological product value accounting index system based on different types of ecosystems and quantitatively analyzed the GEP of the two study areas. The results show that the GEP of Zunhua study area in Hebei Province in 2022 is 76.575 million yuan, of which the value of regulating services is the highest, accounting for 93.89 % of the total value of GEP; the value of cultural services is the lowest, accounting for 0.41 % of the total value of GEP; and the value of material services accounts for 5.70 % of the total value of GEP. In 2022, the GEP of the Langyashan Study Area in Hebei Province was 122,408,000 yuan, with the highest value of regulating services, accounting for 89 % of the total value of the GEP; the lowest value of material goods, accounting for 1 % of the total value of the GEP; and the value of cultural services, which accounted for 10 % of the GEP. suggests that the regulating services provided by ecosystems in the two study areas contribute the most to human well-being and are the most significant components of the GEP. And closely around the karst ecological products value accounting, value realization mechanism and path of basic cutting-edge research for the whole chain design, integrated deployment, module to promote systematic research, for the northern karst ecological restoration areas and ecological protection areas to practice the theory of the “two mountains”, to promote the formation and optimization of the ecological industry, and to promote the revitalization of the countryside to provide scientific references. Scientific reference.

Landscape Planning and Design in High-Density Cities of China: Challenges, Strategies, and International Insights

Meng Jianan — 2025-02-19

High-density cities, emerging as primary hubs for human activities and products of intensified population-land dynamics, are confronting a series of ecological challenges in China, including land scarcity, urban heat island effects, and fragmented green spaces. These issues exacerbate the vulnerability of urban ecosystems through negative feedback loops. By analyzing Singapore’s transformative experience from a "Garden City" to a "City in Nature", this study systematically summarizes its ecological planning strategies, technological innovation pathways, and social governance models. Integrating China’s practical challenges—such as land constraints, heat island effects, and ecological fragmentation—this research proposes a localized implementation framework of "networked ecological restoration, three-dimensional spatial development, and smart collaborative governance," offering theoretical and practical references for the development of "Park Cities." Local practices in China, exemplified by the Qianhai case in Shenzhen, demonstrate the feasibility of Singapore’s experience through cross-regional ecological corridors, climate-resilient vertical greening, and intelligent management platforms. However, high technical costs, administrative barriers, and the lack of long-term governance mechanisms remain critical challenges. Future efforts should prioritize policy innovation, technology adaptation, and social co-governance to shift high-density cities from "quantitative greening" to "function-first" ecological transformation, fostering synergy between ecological and economic development.

Changes in Ecosystem Services and Trade-offs/Synergies in the Nanpan and Beipan River Basin

Dan Zhang — 2025-03-09

Understanding the complex relationships among ecosystem services (ESs) is crucial for their joint management, particularly in vulnerable karst areas where ES dynamics are intricate. This study, focusing on the Nanpan and Beipan River Basin (NBPRB), examines seven key ESs—food supply (FP), water supply (WS), soil retention (SR), carbon storage (CS), water purification (WP), habitat quality (HQ), and landscape aesthetics (LA)—over 1985-2020, to analyze their spatiotemporal trends and their trade-offs and synergies for sustainable development. This study innovatively introduces a method to identify trade-offs and synergistic effects among services, including the recognition of positive and negative synergies, as well as determining which service reduction leads to the trade-off relationship. Additionally, by constructing land use transition matrices, the research analyzes how changes in land use affect the trade-offs and synergies among services, offering scientific guidance for the implementation of sustainable land management. The results indicate that (1) FP and LA have risen, and SC have fluctuated, and WP and CS have remained stable, though HQ has decreased. Regionally, ESs differ, with the south of NBPRB leading in FP and the north of NBPRB basin excelling in WS, CS, SR, LA, and HQ. (2) Among 21 combinations of ESs, seven exhibit trade-offs and eight synergies. Trade-offs are mostly between provisioning, regulating, and supporting services, with cultural services not involved. Positive synergies occur between FP, WP, and CS, while negative synergies relate to regulating services. Geographically, positive synergies are more pronounced in the east, negative ones in the south, and trade-offs are concentrated in the southern watershed. (3) Land-use changes affect ESs differently. Forests are crucial for CS, and grasslands and shrublands are important for SR. Expanding cultivated land and impervious surfaces can degrade WP and SR but can improve LA and FP. The study offers insights for managing ESs and informs better land-use planning in the watershed.

Analysis of the Factors Influencing the Changes in Beach Landforms of Weizhou Island and Environmental Protection

Tanjun Zhu — 2025-03-11

The beach is one of the main tourist resources of Weizhou Island. The quality of the beach landforms and coastal environment greatly influences the comfort and overall experience of tourists. This is primarily affected by both human and natural factors. Based on multiple field surveys conducted on Weizhou Island and previous research materials, this paper focuses on studying the changes in the Shiluokou-Dishuicun beach landforms of Weizhou Island and their impact on the ecological environment. The following four conclusions are drawn: 1) The degradation of coral reefs leads to coastal retreat; 2) Storm surges result in the destruction of coastal vegetation; 3) Headlands cause a large accumulation of coastal sediments; 4) Circulation is the main limiting factor for beach migration and expansion. Finally, based on the research conclusions, along with a superficial investigation and review of related materials on the coastal engineering at Yalong Bay, Hainan, specific suggestions for the protection of Weizhou Island's beach ecological environment are proposed.

Research on the Coupled and Coordinated Development of Green Infrastructure and Urban Ecological Environment

Zhang Xin — 2025-03-20

Green infrastructure, as a nature-based solution, plays a key role in urban sustainable development. This paper focuses on the coupled and coordinated development of green infrastructure and urban ecological environment. It first defines the basic concepts of green infrastructure and urban ecological environment, and their interaction, establishing a theoretical framework for coupled and coordinated development and proposing an evaluation index system. Next, by analyzing the role of green infrastructure in improving the ecological environment, the paper explores its contribution to ecosystem services, urban climate resilience, and environmental governance. The study then uses the coupling coordination degree model and case study methods to evaluate the current status of green infrastructure construction and its coordination with ecological environment development in different cities, identifying key issues and challenges such as technological, policy, financial constraints, and ecological pressures brought about by urbanization. Finally, the paper suggests strategies for optimizing the construction of green infrastructure and its coordinated development with the ecological environment, including strengthening planning and policy guidance, improving multi-stakeholder collaborative governance mechanisms, and promoting green technological innovations to facilitate the sustainable development of urban ecological environments. The findings of this research can provide scientific evidence for urban planners and policymakers, promoting the rational layout and efficient application of green infrastructure in urban ecosystems.

A Study of the Impact of Embeddedness and Relational Networks on Organizational Resilience in Public Benefit Organizations

Hongxiang Bin — 2025-03-21

The current global natural disasters, financial crises, regional conflicts, and public health emergencies have had a significant impact on all countries, organizations, and individuals, and not only are commercial organizations in a quandary in terms of their survival and development, but nonprofit organizations are also facing unprecedented impacts and challenges. Understanding how public interest organizations have survived the crisis, and in some cases thrived, has drawn increasing attention to Organizational resilience. The article investigates the effects of relational networks, embeddedness, and innovation capacity on the Organizational resilience of public interest institutions, and finds that relational networks have a direct positive effect on the Organizational resilience of public interest institutions; and that bimodal innovation plays a fully mediating role between relational networks and the resilience of public interest institutions. In addition, perceived embeddedness significantly moderated the relationship between inter-organizational relational networks and exploratory innovation, but its moderating effect on intra-organizational networks and exploitative innovation did not reach a significant level. The findings provide theoretical basis and practical insights for nonprofit organizations to optimize resource allocation and enhance crisis response capacity.

Evaluation of the Policy Effects of Low-Carbon City Pilot Projects Based on the PSM-DID Model

Yu-yin Lin — 2025-03-24

In the context of the dual-carbon policy, evaluating the implementation effects of low-carbon city pilot policies is of great significance. Based on panel data from 284 prefecture-level cities in China between 2004 and 2020, this paper integrates the Propensity Score Matching (PSM) method with the Difference-in-Differences (DID) method, referred to as the PSM-DID model. By employing parallel trend tests, placebo tests, robustness checks, and heterogeneity analyses, the implementation effects of the low-carbon city pilot policies are evaluated and compared with those from the traditional DID model. The results indicate that: (1) The low-carbon city pilot policies significantly curb carbon emissions in eastern China, while the effects in central and western regions are relatively weak; (2) Factors influencing carbon emissions differ significantly across regions. In particular, clean energy structure and per capita affluence have a greater impact on the eastern region, while the effect is weaker in the central and western regions; (3) The timing, scope, and regional factors of implementation significantly affect the policy outcomes. Policies implemented early yield more significant results than those implemented later, with regional development levels and scope of implementation playing key roles in shaping policy outcomes; (4) The PSM-DID model yields more reliable results than the DID model.