The Digital Belt and Road program in support of regional sustainability

The Belt and Road initiative has a significant focus on infrastructure, trade, and economic development across a vast region, and it also provides significant opportunities for sustainable development. The combined pressure of climate variability, intensified use of resources, and the fragility of ecosystems make it very challenging, however, to achieve future sustainability. To develop the path in a sustainable way, it is important to have a comprehensive understanding of these issues across nations and evaluate them in a scientific and well-informed approach. In this context, the Digital Belt and Road (DBAR) program was initiated as an international venture to share expertise, knowledge, technologies, and data to demonstrate the role of Earth observation science and technology and big Earth data applications to support large-scale development. In this paper, we identify pressing challenges, present the research priorities and foci of the DBAR program, and propose solutions where big Earth data can make significant contributions. This paper calls for further joint actions and collaboration to build a digital silk road in support of sustainable development at national, regional and global levels.     

中国与周边国家地缘经济关系的双向互动分析

贸易关系可用来刻画中国与周边国家地缘经济关系的双向互动。本文通过构建源—汇互动矩阵分析框架,借助商品贸易数据,从出口与进口两个断面,选取偏好率、市场占有率和集中度3个指标分析了中国与周边国家地缘经济关系双向互动时序变化。结果表明：①周边国家出口到中国偏好率整体上升,且高于中国出口到周边国家偏好率;②中国出口到周边国家市场占有率远高于周边国家出口到中国市场占有率;③周边国家从中国进口偏好率高于中国从周边国家进口偏好率,中国从周边国家进口的偏好率主要集中在周边发达国家以及部分东盟国家;④中国从周边国家进口市场占有率总体上呈增长趋势,且高于周边国家从中国进口市场占有率;⑤中国与周边国家地缘经济关系双向互动主要集中在日本、韩国和新加坡等发展经济体以及东盟中的经济发展水平较高国家。周边国家和地区经济发展水平差异巨大,需要进一步探讨中国与周边国家和地区的地缘经济合作差异和演化规律,服务于“一带一路”建设和提升“周边是首要”的地缘边际效应。     

国际贸易对地区劳动力技能升级的影响——基于中国大陆地区地级市的数据分析

随着中国人口红利逐渐消失,劳动力技能升级的问题日益突出。已有研究表明,发展中国家融入全球生产网络体系并非必定能够促进劳动力技能的升级。论文以中国大陆地区主要地级市为例,利用2005、2010、2015年的面板数据,试图分析国际贸易对各地区劳动力技能结构变动及技能升级方面的影响。结果表明：出口贸易对地区高技能劳动力就业比重具有抑制作用,表现为出口贸易对劳动力技能降级的影响;而进口贸易所产生的技术扩散效应尚未显现,进出口贸易整体影响并不显著。进一步来看,从区域产业地理格局角度,对外贸易影响了不同技能水平劳动力人群的区域间流动,使得对外贸易对劳动力技能升级的影响效果在不同的区位与城市规模特征间存在显著差异。沿海城市和大城市主要表现为进口贸易显著促进高技能劳动力就业比重进而带来地区劳动力技能升级,相对于内陆地区和小城市而言,出口贸易会带来高技能劳动力就业比重下降,地区劳动力技能呈现降级趋势。     

“一带一路”背景下中国国际航空网络的空间格局及演变

2013年“一带一路”倡议提出将设施联通作为合作战略重点之一,航空网络作为设施联通的重要组成部分,其地位提升到新的高度。为评估“一带一路”倡议的提出对中国国际航空网络的影响,论文选取了2013年和2018年数据,从国际航线、国际航班以及通航城市3个方面分析“一带一路”倡议提出以来中国国际航空网络的空间格局及其演变特征。研究结果表明：① 整体上来看,“一带一路”倡议并未从根本上改变中国国际航空网络的空间格局,仍以东亚、东南亚、美国以及俄罗斯等地区和国家为主,5 a来其变化主要集中在进一步加深与已有城市的联系;② 从沿线国家来看,一带一路”倡议增加了与中国直接通航的沿线国家数量,并提升了沿线国家在中国国际航空网络中的地位;③ 越来越多的境内城市参与到中国对外开放格局中,且航线和航班在北京、上海、广州的聚集程度下降,而其他城市的航线和航班占比逐渐增加。     

Political ecology of tiger conservation in India: Adverse effects of banning customary practices in a protected area

Protected areas have had significant impacts on local communities primarily through the physical removal of people. In some instances, people continue to live within protected areas due to the inability of the state to evict them. The restrictions on livelihoods placed on people living inside protected areas lead to in situ displacement. We show how conservation enclosures in the Biligiri Rangaswamy Temple Tiger Reserve have produced a class of people that the state ‘lets die’ by banning customary practices such as fire use, hunting and harvesting of forest produce. Using longitudinal ethnographic, socio‐economic and ecological data, we demonstrate that conservation policy has alienated indigenous forest dwellers from their agricultural and forest‐land. The outcomes of conservation policy include dispossession through increased crop losses, reduced income from agriculture and forest produce, as well as a forest that is dominated by weeds due to fire suppression. The ban on hunting in particular has increased wildlife densities, which has enabled the state to accumulate revenues through the establishment of wildlife tourism facilities. All in all, centralized protected area governance has changed the relationships among people, forest and the state in a way that has produced adverse effects for both livelihoods and the ecosystem.     

Fish Assemblage Responses to a Low-head Dam Removal in the Lancang River

Dam removal is becoming an effective approach for aquatic biodiversity restoration in damming river in order to balance the aquatic ecosystem conservation with large-scale cascade damming. However, the effects of dam removal on fish communities in Asian mountainous rivers, which are dominated by Cypriniformes fishes, are still not well known. To determine whether dam removal on a mountainous river benefit restoration of fish diversity, we investigated the response of fish assemblage to dam removal using a before-after-control-impact design in two tributaries of the Lancang River(dam removal river: the Jidu River, and control river: the Fengdian River). Fish surveys were conducted one year prior to dam removal(2012) and three years(2013–2015) following dam removal. We observed rapidly and notably spatio-temporal changes in fish biodiversity metrics and assemblage structure, occurring in the Jidu River within the first year after dam removal. Overall, fish species richness, density and Shannon-Wiener diversity all increased immediately in above-and below-dam sites, and maintained a stable level in subsequent years, compared to unchanged situation in the control river. All sites in the Jidu River experienced shifts in fish composition after dam removal, with the greatest temporal changes occurred in sites below-and above-the former dam, resulting in a temporal homogenization tendency in the dam removed river. These findings suggest that dam removal can benefit the recovery of habitat conditions and fish community in Asian mountainous rivers, but the results should be further evaluated when apply to other dammed rivers since the dam age, fluvial geomorphology and situation of source populations could all affect the responses of fish assemblages.     

GDELT数据网络化挖掘与国际关系分析

21世纪以来的国际关系错综复杂、瞬息万变,给世界的经济、安全、外交等带来了深刻变化。这些变化对中国的内外政策产生了重大影响。全面及时地分析国际关系及其变化特征,对于中国的经济和外交发展规划具有重要参考价值。国际关系研究具有复杂性、及时性、时空性等特点,迫切需要时空大数据分析技术为其提供新的思路和技术手段。大众媒体如报纸、广播等记录着世界上发生的各种各样的事件,蕴含着丰富的信息,相对于记录个人活动的社交媒体数据,其更加适合于对人类社会进行大规模和长时间的分析。GDELT是一个免费开放的新闻数据库,它实时监测世界上印刷、广播、网络媒体中的新闻,对其进行文本分析并提取出人物、地点、组织和事件等关键信息。本文利用复杂网络的理论和方法对GDELT进行网络化挖掘并进一步分析国家关系。首先利用该数据构建国家交互网络,然后通过网络特征统计分析国家之间的交互关系,最后探测国家冲突事件交互网络的时序变化。研究发现：① 国家交互网络具有无标度特性,网络连接在整体和局部上都呈现出不均匀性,少数国家与其他国家有大量交互,大多数国家与其他国家的交互很少;一个国家与少数国家有大量交互,而与大多数国家的交互很少。② 国家冲突事件交互网络的突然变化往往对应一些重大事件。本文的研究可以为大数据时代的国际关系探索提供一个新的视角,同时也为新闻媒体数据的分析提供参考。     

国际蓝碳合作发展与中国的选择

海洋储存了地球上93%的CO_2,是全球最大的碳库。发挥海洋固碳、储碳作用,对应对全球气候变化具有重要意义。《联合国气候变化框架公约》和《巴黎协定》是2020年后国际气候治理的基础,为国际蓝碳合作指明了方向,也提供了国际法依据。当前,国际蓝碳合作从科学研究向纳入国际气候治理方向不断推进,不少国际组织和国家已着手推动蓝碳国际规则制定。中国蓝碳资源分布广泛,特色鲜明,蓝碳发展起步阶段里中国的参与不仅是对全球应对气候变化的重要贡献,更有助于通过蓝碳合作增强我国在全球气候治理和海洋治理领域的影响力和话语权。我国蓝碳发展应从国内、国际两个方面着手。在国内夯实基础、补足短板,加强蓝碳基础研究和实践,建立蓝碳评估标准,加快蓝碳人才队伍建设。在国际上积极参与现有国际蓝碳计划,在"21世纪海上丝绸之路"等机制框架下开展双、多边蓝碳合作,推动全球蓝碳治理,从积极参与向适时引领发展。     

北极航线战略利益争夺的博弈态势与中国对策

北极航线包括东北航线、西北航线与北冰洋中央的穿极航线。作为联结亚欧最短的航运线路,北极航线独有的战略地位与潜在开发价值已吸引北极域内外国家的关注并对北极区域作出战略倾斜,北极航线由此成为各国战略利益争夺的前线阵地。虽然北极航线由于其自身地缘特征实际为北极航线沿线国家所掌控,但航线自身的公共属性决定了其战略价值的“外溢”,北极域外国家在北极航线同样具有重要的国家利益。北极航线目前存在国际规则不成体系、国内法与国际规则相冲突等矛盾,俄罗斯与加拿大将东北航线与西北航线“内水化”是造成国内外规则冲突的根本因素。中国作为北半球航运大国,北极航线的开通将进一步推动我国进出口贸易以及保障我国石油能源安全储备,对我国具有重大战略意义。由此,提升北极航运的参与度,以“负责任大国”形象与北极国家合作的方式参与北极事务以维护本国航运利益,进而推动北极航运治理规则体系的完善,是适合现实参与北极航线实践的中国对策。