Global Transitions最新文献

In 2022, the 15th Conference of Parties (COP15) to the UN Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) adopted the “Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework” (GBF), which aimed to strengthen international protections on terrestrial and marine areas through biodiversity investments, corporate responsibility, and the elimination of environmentally damaging subsidies. China was fundamental in forming and passing this pivotal biodiversity framework. China's leadership in COP15 should result in escalated Chinese biodiversity protections, specifically through mandated biodiversity impact disclosures (BIDs) for companies associated with the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). To achieve this, BID clauses should be inserted into BRI development agreements between Chinese foreign development institutions and BRI partner states or companies. Mandated BIDs would expand biodiversity and human health protections within China and globally. BRI-associated companies would be motivated to improve BID ratings for financial benefits, increased social capital, employee engagement, and customer loyalty. Biodiversity protection will also “future-proof” companies against any future environmental policy changes. By providing improved materiality to investors, governments, and other interested parties, BRI BIDs would enhance corporate oversight and awareness of biodiversity issues, advance the standardization and pervasiveness of BIDs, and elevate biodiversity and human health issues into more traditional commercial reporting systems. Thus, China's corporate responsibility measures under COP15 will influence global biodiversity, human health, and the future of BIDs.

Background & aims

Naturogenic aspects of global warming are amplified by the anthropogenic effects of the persistent exponential global population growth. Urbanization without proper planning escalates serious all-time disease pathologies in vulnerable populations, such as children, through pollution of toxic gases. We illustrate these associations with a retrospective study of respiratory heath in children living in downtown Rome when this dense urban center recorded one of the highest air pollution levels in Europe.

Methods

Lung and respiratory function parameters were evaluated from 2006 to 2007 in a cohort of 90 children including two age subgroups (>10 years and <10 years). Additionally, historical air pollution data from 2006 to 2008 and 2020–2021, collected from urban traffic and urban background stations in Rome, was obtained to allow for a correlational analysis between air pollution and children's respiratory health.

Results

Severe impairments on the Mead Expiratory Flow Rate were revealed alongside an increase in allergenic atopics. Historical data showed no differences between measurements from urban background and traffic stations for PM₁₀, PM_2.5, NO, and NO₂, and no significant time trends. However, although both declined over time, CO measurements were consistently higher from traffic than background stations.

Conclusions

Our correlational study indicates that decreases in respiratory health and function may be associated with air pollution, leading to increased susceptibility to viral infections, such as COVID-19, especially in vulnerable populations. In this context, vulnerable populations’ environmental health and disease prevention, also linked with climate change, could be addressed by focusing efforts on combatting urban pollution.

Background

In the 21st century, China experienced a rapid increase in urbanization, which has enhanced medical service availability, but has also increased exposure to adverse environmental and socioeconomic factors. Urbanization-related factors can affect the prognosis of stroke patients, particularly the progression of neurological disabilities. However, the overall association between urbanization and post-stroke disability remains unknown.

Method

A total of 21,678 stroke patients were selected from the China National Stroke Screening Survey (2013–2018); all included patients had at least one follow-up record. The modified Rankin Scale (mRS), a clinician-reported functional outcome measure for recovery from stroke, was utilized to assess post-disability at each visit. A larger mRS score means severer disability. The urbanization level before each visit was evaluated based on 5-year average satellite measurements of night-time light (NTL) or urban land cover (i.e., proportion of impervious surface). We used a fixed-effects model to estimate the association between urbanization level and risk of disability (i.e., mRS score). The non-linear relationship was modelled by penalized spline functions.

Results

According to linear models with multivariate adjustment, every 10 digital number (DN) increment in NTL was associated with a 0.050 (95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.026, 0.074) increase in mRS score, and every 10% increment in impervious surface was associated with a 0.052 (95% CI: 0.034, 0.070) increase in mRS score. The association was stronger in patients diagnosed with atrial fibrillation, dyslipidemia, hypertension, or diabetes compared with the corresponding reference group. Non-linear analysis showed a U-shaped relationship between urbanization and the mRS score, which indicates that high and low urbanization levels were both associated with an increased risk of post-stroke disability.

Conclusions

Our study revealed a complex association between urbanization and post-stroke disability. The optimal level of urbanization to prevent neurological disabilities in stroke patients could be inferred from the U-shaped curve. The reasons for the complex association between urbanization and post-stroke disability should be further explored to establish causality.

As Fine particulate matter (PM_2.5) levels declined in China in past years, the health and social benefits brought about by the air quality improvement are beginning to emerge. We did a time-stratified, case-crossover study which including in total of 106, 120, 862 hospital admissions from 1040 class 3 hospitals in 268 cities, 31 provinces in China, from January 1, 2013 to December 31, 2017, obtained from High Quality Monitoring System (HQMS). We obtained PM_2.5 and ozone concentrations from a high-resolution model and joined daily air pollution estimates for each patient based on hospital location. To assess the association between main air pollutants and hospital admission, hospital days, and hospitalization expenses, we applied conditional logistic regressions to perform a risk assessment associated with main pollutants (PM_2.5 and Ozone) in two-pollutant models. The results show that the risk of hospital admission was positively associated with short-term exposure to PM_2.5 in all major diseases. Specifically, every 10 μg/m³ increase in the concentration level of PM_2.5 (adjusted for ozone) was associated with 0.27% (95% CI: 0.25%, 0.29%) increase in hospital admission, 39.00 (95% CI: 36.11, 41.89) yuan increase in hospitalization expense per admission, and 0.0280 (95% CI: 0.0259, 0.0300) days increase in hospital days per admission. Moreover, the relative risk increases of mental disorders, respiratory diseases and circulatory diseases showed significant associations with short-term PM_2.5 exposure. Based on our calculations, improved air quality since 2013 saved 2.28 billion yuan in medical expenses in 2017.

Background

India implemented a basket of public health developmental packages to achieve the Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 6—providing access to clean water and adequate sanitation for all by 2030. Though the country is getting closer to being free of open defecation, the pace of progress varies spatially. Therefore, the current study is relevant to explore determinants of practicing open defecation at the small area level in India.

Methods

The present study included the latest National Family and Health Survey (2019–21) and applied both non-spatial (bivariate statistics with ꭔ² test and multivariate logistic regression) and spatial analyses (Univariate and bivariate LISA Moran I, OLS, SLM, and SEM) to assess the national level predictors and spatially auto-correlated determinants of practicing open defecation.

Results

In India, almost one-fifth of households practiced open defecation, mainly clustered in the Middle Ganges Plain, central, and eastern region. A significant rural-urban and poor-rich gap in open defecation practice was also observed. The spatial clusters of lower-educated individuals, poorest wealth quintile, backward social groups, and rural residence were found to be prone to open defecation practice. Housing condition and water supply with the house were also significantly auto-correlated with open defecation practice.

Conclusion

Open defecation remains a public health challenge in India, particularly in the north and central parts, among rural populations, and in socioeconomically deprived areas. It is crucial to focus on small area-level program implementation and assessment approaches to eliminate open defecation in India by 2030.

Objectives

The Chinese government attaches great importance to the construction of 5th Generation Mobile Communication Technology infrastructure. This study aimed to estimate the effect of the 5G policy development on the self-rated health of older adults in mainland China.

Methods

Using the nationally representative data from the China Family Panel Studies in 2018 and its follow-up in 2020, 2334 participants aged 60 and older were analyzed in our study. We employed the two-way fixed estimator in the difference in difference setting to analyse the SRH of the older adults in the cohort with different development level of the 5G measured by the number of policies, and explore the relative differences before and after the onset of 5G policies. And the heterogeneity and several robustness checks were conducted in the analysis.

Results

After the onset of the 5G policies, the probability of older adults self-rating good health increased by 31% for each unit increase in the development level of 5G policies, after adjusting covariates. And there were notable disparities in age group, gender, and living areas. The improving effect of the 5G policies on SRH was intensified in the younger ones aged 65–74 years, the females, and those living in urban areas.

Conclusions

Our findings showed that the development of 5G policies has a positive role in the SRH of older adults, indicating the health-promoting effects of technological advances. Considering the heterogeneity, more attention and target measures must be taken to help socio-economically disadvantaged groups avoid the digital vicious cycle.

The digital economy's neo-industrialization self-accelerates resource consumption and wide automatization inevitably envisage a technological leap. The article contributes conceptually and empirically to a systemic vision of blockchain to sort out climate change challenges and clean energy transition and simultaneously increase the productivity and efficiency of good practices. This vision covers the popularization of ecological initiatives, waste reduction, organization of sustainable investments, control over responsibilities on both fighting and forecasting climate change and clean energy transition. By embracing the notion of blockchain as a problem-solving tool for climate change and clean energy transition, the paper draws and investigates the experiences of the 36 digitally developed and 25 digitally developing economies. It also examines the effectiveness of alternative practices in Industry 4.0. The paper's findings represent a systematic vision of implementing blockchain initiatives to solve climate change and clean energy transition. An energy-efficient model with a blockchain opens up massive opportunities for ecological monitoring, supports energy transition and ameliorates economic sustainability. Since the blockchain potential is not fully unlocked, a model expanding the use of blockchain in education to train green personnel and in science to support climate innovations is proposed.

The application of health adjusted life expectancy (HALE) in informing policy-making decisions and prioritizing health interventions require reliable quantitative and comparative information. To quantify how risk factors affect HALE from 1990 to 2017 and associations with attributable diseases and injuries, we conducted a demographic analysis using serial cross-sectional data from the Global Burden of Disease (GBD) Study 2017 and analysed risk-specific contribution to changes in HALE at birth (HALE₀) globally and by 21 regions, and 195 countries and territories. From 1990 to 2017, global HALE₀ increased by 6.33 years, of which 3.94 years were attributed to all designated risks. Specifically, 2.38 years came from improvement in behavioural risks, followed by 1.20 years from environmental and occupational risks. The top three contributors to increased HALE₀ were due to better control of child growth failure (0.68 years), household air pollution from solid fuels (0.47 years), and smoking (0.42 years). The leading risks causing HALE₀ decrease were high body-mass index (BMI, −0.08 years), unsafe sex (−0.07 years) and drug use (−0.03 years). These HALE₀ decreases were linked to diabetes, HIV/AIDS, and drug use disorders, respectively. The largest decline in HALE₀ across countries was due to high BMI (in 61 countries), unsafe sex (34), and drug use (29). Improved control of behavioural and environmental risks contributed most to increase in population health. Individual risk factors with negative contributions require future effective interventions to reversing the effects. This quantitative analysis highlights the potential roadmaps for sustained interventions on specific risk factors globally and locally.

Nature-based climate solutions are playing an increasingly significant role under the long-term goal of carbon-neutrality. Carbon storage and sequestration are important service functions of the ecosystem, but these potential in neutralizing carbon emissions at provincial level is rarely evaluated. Here we take Qinghai province in northwest China to conduct a case study, as it possesses the country's best solar and wind energy resource, one of the largest ecosystem therefore great carbon sequestration potential, and has been strived to set off a carbon neutral pilot in China. We combine the carbon density observation database and the land use/cover change (LUCC) data with the InVEST model to study the spatiotemporal dynamics of the carbon stock for Qinghai's terrestrial ecosystem, which are then compared to the energy related carbon emissions. The results reveal a tale of two stages, as Qinghai transformed from being a fast growing carbon emitter during 2000–2015 to be a carbon neutral player during the 13th Five-Year Plan (2015–2020). Land management interventions can contribute to climate change mitigation through avoided emissions from ecosystem degradation, and through negative emissions via biomass growth and, soil carbon sequestration. The duel-effort of greening the power grid and enhancing the ecosystem carbon sequestration is critical in achieving Qinghai's transition. Practices like agrophotovoltaic power plant in the barren or degraded lands have demonstrated great synergies of harvesting solar energy and enhancing ecosystem carbon sequestration, and offer good example for regions alike.