Soil degradation: a global problem endangering sustainable development

Soil degradation, defined as lowering and losing of soil functions, is becoming more and more serious worldwide in recent decades, and poses a threat to agricultural production and terrestrial ecosystem. It is estimated that nearly 2 billion ha of soil resources in the world have been degraded, namely approximately 22% of the total cropland, pasture, forest, and woodland. Globally, soil erosion, chemical deterioration and physical degradation are the important parts amongst various types of soil degradation. As a natural process, soil degradation can be enhanced or dampened by a variety of human activities such as inappropriate agricultural management, overgrazing, deforestation, etc. Degraded soil means less food. As a result of soil degradation, it is estimated that about 11.9-13.4% of the global agricultural supply has been lost in the past five decades. Besides, soil degradation is also associated with off-site problems of sedimentation, climate change, watershed functions, and changes in natural habitats leading to loss of genetic stock and biodiversity. Therefore, it is essential to combat soil degradation at different levels and scales worldwide, not only for food security and ecological health, but also for the guarantee of global sustainable development.     

Cloud Forest Conservation in the Central Highlands of Guatemala Hinges on Soil Conservation and Intensifying Food Production

Soil erosion threatens long-term soil fertility and food production in Q’eqchi’ communities native to the Sierra Yalijux and Sierra Sacranix mountain ranges in the central highlands of Guatemala. Environmental factors such as steep topography, erodible soils, and intense precipitation events, combined with land subdivision and reduced fallow periods as a consequence of population growth, contribute to severe erosion and strain soil resources. The preservation of the region's cloud forests hinges on enhancing production of staple crops through agricultural intensification while maintaining soil fertility through implementation of soil conservation measures.     

Natural resources deterioration, environmental degradation and sustainable resettlement

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Land degradation: A global perspective

Land degradation has a long history and is on the increase. It has adverse consequences for people's economies, health and well-being, and for ecosystems, and it is causally linked to population growth and inappropriate land-use practices. It is an urban as well as a rural problem. Solutions require an integrated, geographical approach. Otherwise, some problems may be ignored and others created inadvertently.     

我国土壤退化的机理与持续利用管理研究

文章在分析我国土壤退化背景及形成机理的基础上,按成因与结果,把土壤退化划分为土壤侵蚀、土壤盐碱化、土壤沙化、土壤贫瘠化、土壤坡坏、耕作土壤面积减少等７种退化类型,最后提出了土壤资源持续利用管理对策。     

Revisiting sustainable development: Russian cultural and scientific traditions and the concept of sustainable development

The World Summit on Sustainable Development (26 August–4 September 2002), held in Johannesburg on the tenth anniversary of the first Earth Summit, provides the opportunity to reflect on the meaning of the sustainable development concept. This paper uses the case study of the Russian Federation to explore the relationship between official interpretations of sustainable development and alternative understandings concerned with the betterment of humankind, which draw on Russia's cultural and scientific heritage. It is suggested that there is much to be gained from reopening the sustainable development debate to incorporate such cultural particularities, both at the national and international levels.     

Study on sustainable development of urban fringe in China

1 IntroductionUrban fringe refers to the zone surrounding the built urban area, or the transitional zone between city and suburbs. Located on the fringe of the built urban external area, urban fringe is notably featured as a linking place of city and country, and as a combining growth of urban-rural economy. Presently, most of the large and medium-sized cities in China are at the stage of active construction where central areas are keeping step with surrounding areas. Meanwhile, fringe constr…     

可持续农业与农村发展研究述评

本文全面回顾了国内外可持续农业与农村发展研究的理论进展，从农业可持续发展（SAD），农村可持续发展（SRD）到两者的结合－－可持续农业与农村发展（SARD）。内容包括SAD、SARD概念的内涵与外延，评价方法及其区域研究。     

Regions and sustainable development: regional planning matters

This paper looks at how the term 'sustainable development' has been used in the process of regional plan making over the past decade. It emphasizes the differing geographies of these debates within England, in terms of how sustainable development has been used to justify different types of approach in different parts of the country. Both drawing on and challenging recent work on state theory, the paper argues the need to see regional planning as a part of a multi-scalar governance system, whose importance should not be underestimated.     

社区可持续发展指标体系研究——以上海崇明为例

本文探索了在专业人员指导下的小组参与方法建立符合中国国情的社区可持续发展指标体系。研究以上海崇明为例,分析了不同社会群体对可持续发展的认识和需求,比较了不同经济发展水平、不同社会背景和不同决策层面对可持续发展的不同关注点,提出由4个核心指标、7个扩展指标和5个附加指标构成的社区可持续发展指标体系,为其他地区制订可持续发展指标体系提供了参考,并有利于实施社区发展可持续性的评估。     

湿地旅游可持续发展研究

湿地以其独具特色的自然和文化景观为湿地旅游提供了有利条件。本文在可持续发展思想的基础上提出了湿地旅游这一概念，分析了湿地旅游发展与湿地环境保护之间的关系；针对湿地生物多样性、景观多样性、文化多样性等特点对湿地的旅游价值作了进一步的探讨，提出了湿地旅游可持续发展的几点对策。     

西藏产业的可持续发展问题研究

西藏是中国自然资源最富集地区之一,但自然生态环境脆弱、经济发展至今仍相当落后。要保护改善生态环境、摆脱贫困落后、走向持续繁荣,就必须改变传统的产业发展模式,走产业可持续发展道路,努力实现产业的资源化、特色化、社会化与生态化。既要注重自然与人文资源的多元化综合开发,充分发挥资源优势构筑高原特色产业;又要推动各民族人民普遍参与共同繁荣,促进一、二、三产业的协调持续发展。只有这样,才有可能确保高原独特生态系统的良性循环,合理开发利用丰富资源,加快推进区域可持续发展的现代化进程。     

Coastal zone and its sustainable development

1CoastlineandNewConceptionoftheEarthSystemScienceCoasilineisthesharedboundarybylandandocean.Contrarytocommonconcephonthatcoastlineisalindttoman'sunderstandingoftheEarth,thecoastlineisabaselineformantoknowandunderstalldlandsystemandoceanSystemoftiteEarth.1.1NcwconceptionoftheearthsystemscienceIntheEurasiaContinent,theheatenergyfromthesunisdistributedwithlatitUde,butitSprecipitahonisdistributedwithlongitUdeowingtoAsiaMonsoon.Theamoamofprecipitahonofaplaceisrelatedtoitsdistancefromthecoast…     

电力工业与可持续发展：节约资源和环境保护

电力工业是资源消耗和环境的大户,对神会可持续发展有重大影响。作为发展中国家,我国电力工业的发展,在促进国民经济发展的同时,也带了对资源消耗和污染、破坏环境等问题。本文在借鉴国外经验基础上,探求行使我国电力工业发展的新路。     

基于生态足迹分析的资源型城市可持续发展研究——以甘肃省白银市为例

生态足迹作为一种定量度测区域可持续发展程度有效的生物物理方法,在国内外得到了广泛的应用.通过应用该方法对我国有色金属基地白银市2003年的生态足迹进行了计算和分析,认为白银市人均生态赤字达1.341 28 hm2,超出生态承载力的186%,处于不可持续发展状态,已对生态系统平衡构成威胁;生态足迹的需求空间以化石燃料用地为主,其需求空间占全部需求空间的65.5%,是生态足迹总供给面积的1.52倍.通过生态度足迹的分析,有利于探讨资源型城市可持续发展相关问题,最后提出白银市实现可持续发展的战略对策.     

综合开发与可持续发展——广西壮族自治区环钦州湾地区发展问题研究

环钦州湾地区位于中国沿海地带的南部末端，西部大开发地带中的西南地区出海口，地缘政治经济地位显要突出。经历“九五”期间发展，这里已经成为中国西南地区经济快速成长的地区之一，与昆明、贵阳地区一起，形成为中国西南地区经济成长新三角。面对新挑战，环钦州湾地区要加强人才资源能力建设，依靠科技进步，将资源优势转化为经济强势，在区域一体化进程中受益，建设成为大西南出海主通道，对外开放窗口和口岸，海洋经济与高新技术产业基地、现代化的沿海港口城市群，增强区域发展的可持续性。     

The sustainable development of innovative cities in China: Comprehensive assessment and future configuration

Innovative cities not only constitute an important basis for innovation activities, but also play a strategically critical role in constructing an innovative country, producing new forms of urban development, and fostering urban sustainable development. Currently, China is marching toward the goal of establishing an innovative country by 2020, but in the start-up phase of this process of innovative city construction, the fundamental transition from factor-driven development to innovation-driven development is not being realized. As a result,a wide gap currently exists between China＇s innovative cities and the advanced innovative cities in developed countries. This paper argues that this necessary transition is being constrained by a series of bottlenecks in investment, income, techniques, contributions, and talents. The article takes 287 prefecture-level cities as its object of comprehensive assessment, developing a comprehensive assessment system for innovative cities and devising innovative monitoring system software in order to evaluate the current situation in China＇s innovative city construction. The analysis addresses four key aspects – namely,independent innovation, industrial innovation, living environmental innovation, and institutional innovation – as well as the spatial heterogeneity of the innovative city construction process. The results demonstrate that the level of innovation in Chinese cities is low, and the paper warns that building an innovation-oriented country will, as a consequence,be difficult. Some 87.8% of the cities studied maintained comprehensive levels of innovation that were lower than the national average. The level of comprehensive innovation in a city was found to have close and positive correlation with economic development. The level of the eastern region of China was, in particular, found to be significantly higher than that of the central and western regions. The levels of urban independent innovation, industrial innovation,environmental innovation, and institutional in     

A wind shift: Integrating curriculum for education for sustainable development

Abstract:  For seven years, trainee teachers in the Pre-Service Secondary Teacher Education Programme at Massey University College of Education, Albany campus, have integrated their curriculum areas to model the processes school students could follow in environmental education and education for sustainable development using Motutapu, an island adjoining Rangitoto in the Hauraki Gulf Marine Park, as the context for their actions. Evaluation of the programme indicates that it is empowering to learn about connections between subject areas and the potential for school students to have a hand in creating a sustainable future and to participate in real world concerns.     

Environmental ethics and regional sustainable development

The scientific environmental ethics plays a key role in the recognition of the human- environment interactions. Modern environmental ethics is the philosophical re-thinking of modern human race environmental behavior. The development of environmental ethics theory, as well as its application in reality, determines the viewpoints of environmental ethics. Sustainable development implies harmony on human-environment interactions and inter- generation responsibility, with emphasis on a harmonious relationship among population, resources, environment and development, so as to lay a sustainable and healthy foundation of resources and environment for future generations. The harmonious society construction in China that is raised by the Chinese central government should be covered by environmental ethics. The connotation of open environmental ethics includes a respect for nature, care for the individual human race, and respect for the development of future generations, which means giving consideration to natural values, individual and human race benefits and welfare across generations. The role of environmental ethics in regional development consists of cognition, criticism, education, inspiration, adjusting, legislation and promoting environmental regulations. The major problems in regional development are extensive resource exploration, fast population growth, irrational industrial structure, unfair welfare distribution and the twofold effects of science and technology development. The formulation of environmental ethics that aims at regional sustainable development, can not only harmonize the relationship of population, resource, environment and economic development, but also guide behavior selection, push social and political system transformation, strengthen the legal system, and raise environmental awareness of the public.     

环境伦理与区域可持续发展(英文)

The scientific environmental ethics plays a key role in the recognition of the human-environment interactions. Modern environmental ethics is the philosophical re-thinking of modern human race environmental behavior. The development of environmental ethics theory, as well as its application in reality, determines the viewpoints of environmental ethics. Sustainable development implies harmony on human-environment interactions and inter-generation responsibility, with emphasis on a harmonious relationship among population, resources, environment and development, so as to lay a sustainable and healthy foundation of resources and environment for future generations. The harmonious society construction in China that is raised by the Chinese central government should be covered by environmental ethics. The connotation of open environmental ethics includes a respect for nature, care for the individual human race, and respect for the development of future generations, which means giving consideration to natural values, individual and human race benefits and welfare across generations. The role of environmental ethics in regional development consists of cognition, criticism, education, inspiration, adjusting, legislation and promoting environmental regulations. The major problems in regional development are extensive resource exploration, fast population growth, irrational industrial structure, unfair welfare distribution and the twofold effects of science and technology development. The formulation of environmental ethics that aims at regional sustainable development, can not only harmonize the relationship of population, resource, environment and economic development, but also guide behavior selection, push social and political system transformation, strengthen the legal system, and raise environmental awareness of the public.