Chinese Geographical Science最新文献

For mankind's survival and development, water, energy, and food (WEF) are essential material guarantees. In China, however, the spatial distribution of WEF is seriously unbalanced and mismatched. Here, a collaborative governance mechanism that aims at nexus security needs to be urgently established. In this paper, the Yellow River Basin in China with a representative WEF system, was selected as a case. Firstly, a comprehensive framework for WEF coupling coordination was constructed, and the relationship and mechanism between them were analyzed theoretically. Then, we investigated the spatiotemporal characteristics and driving mechanisms of the coupling coordination degree (CCD) with a composite evaluation method, coupling coordination degree model, spatial statistical analysis, and multiscale geographic weighted regression. Finally, policy implications were discussed to promote the coordinated development of the WEF system. The results showed that: 1) WEF subsystems showed a significant imbalance of spatial pattern and diversity in temporal changes; 2) the CCD for the WEF system varied little and remained at moderate coordination. Areas with moderate coordination have increased, while areas with superior coordination and mild disorder have decreased. In addition, the spatial clustering phenomenon of the CCD was significant and showed obvious characteristics of polarization; and 3) the action of each factor is self-differentiated and regionally variable. For different factors, GDP per capita was of particular importance, which contributed most to the regional development's coupling coordination. For different regions, GDP per capita, average yearly precipitation, population density, and urbanization rate exhibited differences in geographical gradients in an east-west direction. The conclusion can provide references for regional resource allocation and sustainable development by enhancing WEF system utilization efficiency.

Cultivated land pressure represents a direct reflection of grain security. Existing relevant studies rarely approached the spatiotemporal pattern of cultivated land pressure or the spatial heterogeneity of its influencing factors from the level of economic zones. Taking the Huaihai Economic Zone (HEZ), China for case analysis, this study investigated the spatiotemporal pattern of cultivated land pressure in diverse periods from 2000 to 2018 based on a modified cultivated land pressure index and spatial correlation models. On this basis, it explored the influencing factors of the spatial differentiation of cultivated land pressure in the late stage of the study using geographical detector as well as multi-scale geographically weighted regression model. The results indicated that: 1) in the study period, the global cultivated land pressure index of the study area decreased gradually, but cultivated land pressure increased locally in a significant way, especially in the central and southern Shandong Province; 2) the spatial pattern of cultivated land pressure manifested global clustering features. Hot and secondary-hot spots presented a narrowing and clustering trend, whereas cold and secondary-cold spots manifested a spreading and clustering trend; 3) average slope, the proportion of non-grain crops, population urbanization rate, and multiple cropping index have significant effects on the spatial differentiation of cultivated land pressure. The former three factors were positively correlated with cultivated land pressure, and the last factor was negatively correlated with cultivated land pressure; and 4) the amount of cultivated land has increased in the central and southern Shandong Province through land consolidation which, nonetheless, failed to improve the grain production. In regards to major grain producing areas similar to the HEZ in China, the authors suggest that great importance should be given to the balance of the quality and quantity of cultivated land, the optimization of agricultural production factors and the rational control of non-grain crops, thus providing a powerful guarantee for grain security in China.

The continuous development of agricultural technologies and produces trade and updated state reforms strongly shape the dominant organizing styles of local agriculture production. Since the end of the 1970s, rural China has witnessed a drastic agriculture transformation featured by de-collectivization, and recently in Taicang, a developed city in the eastern China, a kind of new cooperative farms have replaced the smallholders by pooling households' contracted farmland, signaling a new shift tendency towards agriculture recollectivization that is distinctive compared to other countries. Given the state governance's leadership in promoting this latest transformation, drawing on the theoretical concept of 'governmentality' that is powerful in understanding how to govern the society to meet certain objectives, this paper examines the accurate processes of agriculture re-collectivization in Taicang City based on the methods of semi-structured interview and participant observation. Our research shows that the China's tax-sharing and relevant reforms in the 1990s framed a new governance structure in line with the new mode of 'governmentality' closely linked to 'advanced liberalism', creating the responsibility shift from central to local governments and a set of evaluation technologies, and guiding various actors to engage in the agriculture re-collectivization practice in Taicang. Importantly, the considerable subsidies and the impressive extension services in terms of farming personnel training and agricultural techniques diffusion underpin the normal running of cooperative farms and contribute to the local implementation of national strategy of agriculture modernization. We argue that the combination of distinctive institutional arrangement of rural land owned by village collectives in China and the burgeoning local economy allows the developed areas to re-collectivizing the agriculture production for ensuring grain self-sufficiency rather than capturing more share in global agriculture products trade, and that the cooperative farms in our case have been deeply integrated into the 'modern procurement system' and become more sensitive to market fluctuation, requiring rural extension service to transform towards farms' capacity building for maintaining the long-term development momentum.

The drylands of China are extensive, and they are home to more than one-third of the country's population. However, the watershed territories of the drylands, where the majority of human activities are concentrated have long experienced strained human-land relationships, culminating in ecological security concerns. Correspondingly, it is essential to carry out a comprehensive assessment of the ecological security of dryland watersheds and to identify the key factors influencing ecological security in order to formulate strategies that ensure the sustainability of drylands. Premised on the Driving-Pressure-State-Impact-Response (DPSIR) model, this study developed an ecological security index and applied it to the Irtysh River Basin of Xinjiang, China, from 2000 to 2020. The obstacle degree model was applied to reveal the obstacles in two dimensions: criterion level and indicator level. The findings suggested that the ecological security comprehensive index in the Irtysh River Basin has increased significantly from 2000 to 2020, irrespective of the fact that it decreased during the study period and then increased. The ecological security level changed from 'critically safe' in 2000 to 'general safety' in 2020, with the state subsystem and pressure subsystem becoming ecological security weaknesses. The primary factors influencing the ecological security of the study area were water consumption, the area of high-efficiency water-saving irrigation, the proportion of wetland area, vegetation coverage, and livestock population. The ecological security of different counties in the basin varies greatly, whereas the factors that influence ecological security showed both similarities and differences among the counties. In light of on the findings, we proposed that future strategies for ecological security enhancement should concentrate on enacting the policy of localizing spatial differentiation, optimizing industrial structure, strengthening scientific and technological support in the field of water conservation, bolstering the treatment capacity of environmental facilities, and implementing the Mountains-Rivers-Forests-Farmlands-Lakes-Grasslands System to support the sustainable development of dryland watersheds.