Low efficiency of earth kilns used in the carbonising process of wood to make charcoal has been reported as one of the sources of increasing charcoal wastes in the global south. However, the potential link and approaches of converting charcoal wastes-to-valuable energy and for the environmental health is not well known in Africa. Promoting local community capacity engagement in the production and reutilisation of recycled charcoal wastes at the households’ level is one of important measures to maintain environmental services for sustainability since households make decisions on the type of energy used. This paper, presents an approach of converting charcoal wastes to fuel energy for rural households and environmental health in Kilosa District, Tanzania. To achieve the objective of this research, the primary data were collected through interviews held with 298 randomly selected households, Focus Group Discussions and observations. IBM SPSS statistics version 20 Cross tab tools were used in the data analysis. Results revealed that the conversion of charcoal wastes-to-fuel energy approach used in this research demonstrates the ability of recyclable briquettes made from the locally available charcoal pollutants collected at different stages from earth kilns, to selling centers, improves tree harvest behaviour, adds another fuel energy source through reutilisation, and ultimate reduces pollution at the local level. Thus, the study provides a basis for policymakers to adopt charcoal wastes recycling strategies to address matters related to energy and ultimately enhances environmental health for sustainable development in Tanzania and beyond.

Urban trees are valuable resources for urban areas as they have the capacity to reduce ambient temperatures, mitigate urban heat island effects and reduce runoff of rainwater playing an important role in mitigating the impacts of climate change by reducing atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2). It also helps to reduce aerial suspended particulate matter, add visual appeal to the urban landscape sequestrating a significant amount of carbon from ambient atmospheric CO2. Carbon storage by urban trees in the ring road area of the Kathmandu Valley was quantified to assess the magnitude and role of urban forests in relation to mitigate the impact of global climate change. A total of 40 sample plots were placed randomly for the detailed carbon assessment. Aboveground and belowground carbon pools were considered in the detailed assessment. Furthermore, quality assurance (QA) and quality control (QC) were maintained through regular monitoring and capacity building of the field crews while collecting the bio-physical data. The assessment recorded a total of 33 different species of plants in the avenue’s plantation sites in ring road. The mean seedling, sapling, and tree density was found to be 2149585 and 185 per hectare. The mean carbon stock per hectare in the avenue plantation of the ring road area was 24.03 tC ha1 and the existing total carbon stock was 7785.72 tC in 2021. Likewise, the total baseline carbon dioxide equivalent (tCO2e) in the avenue plantation was found to be 28573.60 tCO2e. The carbon dioxide emission from the transport sector in the ring road area in a full movement scenario was 312888.00 tCO2e per annum, while the net emissions was 42547 tCO2e. There was a deficit of carbon dioxide in terms of stock by avenue plantations of 14000.8 tCO2e.This study indicates that the existing urban forest plantation is unable to sequestrate or offset the carbon dioxide that is emitted through the transportation sector. Consequently, open spaces like riverbanks and any other public lands, in which urban forests could be developed has to be planned for the green infrastructure and plantation of the multipurpose trees. The distinct values of forests in and around urban areas have to be recognized in the specific policies and plans for the sustainable management of urban and peri-urban forests to meet the adverse impact of global climate change. In addition, this study provides insights for decision-makers to better understand the role of urban forests and make sustainable management plans for urban forests in the cities like in Kathmandu Valley.

Delimiting ecological space scientifically and making reasonable predictions of the spatial-temporal trend of changes in the dominant ecosystem service functions (ESFs) are the basis of constructing an ecological protection pattern of territorial space, which has important theoretical significance and application value. At present, most research on the identification, functional partitioning and pattern reconstruction of ecological space refers to the current ESFs and their structural information, which ignores the spatial-temporal dynamic nature of the comprehensive and dominant ESFs, and does not seriously consider the change simulation in the dominant ESFs of the future ecological space. This affects the rationality of constructing an ecological space protection pattern to some extent. In this study, we propose an ecological space delimitation method based on the dynamic change characteristics of the ESFs, realize the identification of the ecological space range in Qionglai city and solve the problem of ignoring the spatial-temporal changes of ESFs in current research. On this basis, we also apply the Markov-CA model to integrate the spatial-temporal change characteristics of the dominant ESFs, successfully realize the simulation of the spatial-temporal changes in the dominant ESFs in Qionglai city’s ecological space in 2025, find a suitable method for simulating ecological spatial-temporal changes and also provide a basis for constructing a reasonable ecological space protection pattern. This study finds that the comprehensive quantity of ESF and its annual rate of change in Qionglai city show obvious dynamics, which confirms the necessity of considering the dynamic characteristics of ESFs when identifying ecological space. The areas of ecological space in Qionglai city represent 98307 ha by using the ecological space identification method proposed in this study, which is consistent with the ecological spatial distribution in the local ecological civilization construction plan. This confirms the reliability of the ecological space identification method based on the dynamic characteristics of the ESFs. The results also show that the dominant ESFs in Qionglai city represented strong non-stationary characteristics during 2003-2019, which showed that we should fully consider the influence of the dynamics in the dominant ESFs on the future ESF pattern during the process of constructing the ecological spatial protection pattern. The Markov-CA model realized the simulation of spatial-temporal changes in the dominant ESFs with a high precision Kappa coefficient of above 0.95, which illustrated the feasibility of using this model to simulate the future dominant ESF spatial pattern. The simulation results showed that the dominant ESFs in Qionglai will still undergo mutual conversions during 2019-2025 due to the effect of the their non-stationary nature. The ecological space will still maintain the three dominant ESFs of primary product production, climate regulation and hydrological regulation in 2025, but their areas will change to 32793 ha, 52490 ha and 13024 ha, respectively. This study can serve as a scientific reference for the delimitation of the ecological conservation redline, ecological function regionalization and the construction of an ecological spatial protection pattern.

Abstract: By studying the structural characteristics and carbon storage of the mangrove island ecosystem in the 
Beibu Gulf, this study provides a scientific basis for mangrove ecological compensation in the coastal areas of 
Guangxi, South China Sea. On the basis of the unmanned aerial vehicle remote sensing images and a sample plot 
survey, the object-oriented multi-scale segmentation algorithm is used to extract the mangrove community type information, and one-way analysis of variance is conducted to analyse the structural characteristics of the mangrove 
community. The carbon storage and carbon density of different mangrove ecosystems were obtained based on the 
allometric growth equation of mangrove plants. The analysis yielded four main results. (1) The island group covers 
about 27.10 ha, 41.32% (11.20 ha) of which represents mangrove areas. The mangrove forest is widely distributed 
in the tidal flats around the islands. (2) The main mangrove types were Aegiceras corniculatum, Kandelia obovata + 
Aegiceras corniculatum, Avicennia marina + Aegiceras corniculatum and Avicennia marina communities. (3) 
Amongst the mangrove plants, Avicennia marina had the highest biomass (18.52 kg plant–1), followed by Kandelia 
obovata (7.84 kg plant–1) and Aegiceras corniculatum (3.85 kg plant–1). (4) The mangrove carbon density difference 
was significant. Kandelia obovata had the highest carbon density (148.03 t ha–1), followed by Avicennia marina
(104.79 t ha–1) and Aegiceras corniculatum (99.24 t ha–1). The carbon storage of the mangrove island ecosystem 
was 1194.70 t, which was higher than in other areas with the same latitude. The carbon sequestration capacity of 
the mangrove was relatively strong.

Three-dimensional fine characterization of soil pollutant distribution is critical for the implementation of precision remediation and scientific decision making in the management of contaminated sites. This review systematically examined key issues and research progress in this field through a trinity framework of non-stationarity decoupling, data bias correction, and model selection. We identified the spatial non-stationarity of pollutant concentrations and the inherent biases in sparse borehole data as two fundamental constraints that affect the accuracy of existing three-dimensional characterization models and the reliability of characterization results. We first analyzed the formation mechanisms and types of non-stationarity and discussed non-stationarity quantification and decoupling methods. Second, we summarized the principal sources of sampling bias in the collection of sparse biased drilling data and its bias correction method system. We also assessed the adaptability of different models to biased data and possible improvement. Third, we compared the advantages and limitations of the three predominant modeling paradigms (geostatistical, machine learning, and geochemical process models), analyzed the discrepancies and uncertainties in three-dimensional characterization model selection, and stressed the need for constructing a multi-source data-driven high-precision three-dimensional characterization system based on the trinity relationship framework. Finally, in combination with the development of intelligent decision-making technologies, we prospected the potential application of three-dimensional characterization technology in pollution diagnosis, risk assessment, and sustainable remediation. We also emphasize the potential value of model integration and dynamic optimization in soil pollution control. This methodological synthesis provides a reference for improving the accuracy of three-dimensional characterization of soil pollution distribution in complex sites and digital governance mode.

Terraced farmland is a unique agricultural landscape and high-quality farmland resource in mountainous areas, with great production and ecological functions, which makes it a valuable livelihood asset for rural households. As a type of farmland resource, the high-quality of terraced farmland originates from the substantial investment of labor force and materials in land improvement processes such as terracing projects, which results in higher "landesque capital". The economic essence of landesque capital is land appreciation. In recent years, the phenomenon of farmland asset devaluation has been widespread in mountainous areas, yet how the landesque capital value of terraced farmland change remains unclear. Therefore, based on land capital theory, this study clarifies the definition of the landesque capital value of terraced farmland, constructing a comprehensive diagnostic framework from the dual perspectives of land economic productivity and land marginalization. Using data from national rural household surveys and literature synthesis in China's mountainous areas, the study reveals the trends and regional differences of landesque capital value. The findings demonstrate that in recent decades, the landesque capital of terraced farmland in China has devalued, with the trend being particularly pronounced in the eastern region. From 1996 to 2020, the differential rent reflecting the landesque capital value of terraced farmland decreased from 793.2 yuan per ha to 441.88 yuan per ha (a 44.29% drop), based on 1995 constant prices. The grain yield increase effect of terraced farmland relative to sloped farmland has been declining, with the rocky mountainous areas in Northern China showing a more significant downward trend than the Loess Plateau region. The economic benefits derived from the landesque capital of terraced farmland are increasingly unable to cover the costs of maintaining their unique functions. Therefore, it is recommended to actively explore optimal utilization approachs for existing terraced farmland while cautiously implementing new terracing projects in China's mountainous areas.

The changes in the natural-artificial dualistic water cycle system have triggered the inconsistency of hydrometeorological time series. Continuing to use traditional frequency calculation methods would affect the accuracy of water resource planning and flood-drought management decisions, underscoring the need for (in)consistency testing before performing hydrological calculations. To address the misjudgement issues of current methods, this study proposes a hydrological (in)consistency testing method (CT) based on correlation coefficients. The CT method applies a discrete wavelet transform to extract high-frequency pure random components from the original time series, then calculates the correlation coefficients between these components and the original time series to determine (in)consistency. Statistical experiments indicate that the CT method significantly reduces false positive rates compared with traditional methods like the Bartels test. Its accuracy and stability improve as the time series length increases, making it especially effective at identifying inconsistent time series. These promising results confirm that the CT method is a valuable tool in (in)consistency test, ensuring robust and reliable outcomes. A case study of the surface water resources amount modulus coefficient time series of 10 major river basins in China (1956-2020) shows that surface water resources in the Southeastern, Yangtze, Huaihe, Pearl, and Southwestern river basins are consistent. In contrast, the Songhua, Haihe, Yellow, Liaohe, and Northwestern river basins display pronounced inconsistency characteristics. Existing studies, based on external driving factors such as climate change and human activities, have validated the inconsistency of hydrological time series in regions like the Songhua River Basin, indirectly confirming the effectiveness of the CT method. For consistent time series, consistent hydrological frequency analysis can be directly applied, whereas for inconsistent time series, researchers should analyze the characteristics of inconsistent components or conduct inconsistent hydrological frequency calculations. These approaches aim to predict and plan for potential risks, thereby providing robust support for scientific water resource management decisions.

The innovation network of digital technology plays a significant role in reshaping innovation spaces and developing new quality productivity. This study explored the dynamic mechanism of impact of the endogenous structure of China's intercity digital technology innovation network, urban innovation endowments, and multidimensional boundary effects from the perspective of intercity collaboration between innovation entities, employing a temporal exponential random graph model (TERGM). The results indicate that: 1) In terms of the characteristics of spatial-temporal change, the innovation network exhibited a "dense in the east and sparse in the west" pattern, forming a diamond-shaped structure with five major urban agglomerations as endpoints. The core nodes of the network were primarily economic and technological centers within these urban agglomerations, and the network displayed regional imbalances. As the network evolved, the mode of connectivity shifted from long-distance dominance to a model that balanced nearby diffusion with small-scale, community-based innovation. The overall structure of the network demonstrated a certain degree of stability, with core nodes remaining unchanged, reflecting a situation where core technological cities within urban agglomerations drove innovation development in other regions. Additionally, there was a phenomenon of numerous factions existing within different regions, urban agglomerations, and provinces. 2) With regard to the mechanism of influence, the preferential linking effect of endogenous structures hindered network growth through the formation of "the strong gets stronger, the weak gets weaker" polarization. Closure and mediation effects promoted network change by facilitating link transmission among nodes and fostering closed innovation groups, indicating that the network exhibited path dependence. The expansion effect of urban innovation endowments and the matching effect of similarities and differences drove network change. Intercity relationship variables showed that geographical distance and administrative boundaries significantly obstructed network development. This study visualized the virtual aggregation of digital technology innovation elements from a geographical perspective and examined the driving mechanisms of the endogenous structure within networks on digital technology innovation. It provides an empirical support for the macro integration of virtual and geographical agglomerations in innovation spaces.

Under the background of global climate change and intensified human activities, China's hilly and mountainous areas, as the core implementation area of the "beautiful countryside construction" strategy and the key development area of transportation arteries and hydropower hubs, have become the regions with the most complex disaster-breeding environment for flash floods, the most significant disaster-causing effects, and the highest exposure of disaster-affected elements. However, existing research lacks a systematic collation and summary of the framework of flash flood disaster prevention and control theory and technology under the new situation of frequent extreme weather events. This review article started from the spatial characteristics of flash flood disasters in China and the major deployment concepts of national prevention policies, compared international research results, comprehensively examined the important progress and practical achievements of flash flood water-sediment processes and theories and prevention and control technology research, analyzed the impact of climate change on flash flood disasters and the future trend of disaster risks and proposes five scientific challenges for flash flood disaster prevention and control under climate change. It also proposed five targeted preventive measures and suggestions from the perspectives of water-sediment process mechanism research, forecasting and warning technology, comprehensive prevention and control technology, and capacity building. aiming to continuously strengthen research on the basic theory and prevention principles of flash floods in China, promote the intelligentization, digitization, and modernization of the comprehensive defense capabilities and systems against flash floods, and comprehensively enhance the new quality productivity of disaster prevention, mitigation, and relief in the new era, as well as the resilience level of urban communities and engineering construction.

The co-occurrence of droughts at multiple time scales in the water source area (Upper Hanjiang River, UH) and receiving area (northern North China, NNC) of the Middle Route of the South-to-North Water Diversion project highlights the need to identify common climatic drivers for these concurrent phenomena. Using reconstructed drought/flood grade data and sunspot series from 1700 to 2023, this study analyzed the correlations of droughts/floods in the Upper Hanjiang River and northern North China with sunspots at 11-, 30- and 50-year scales. The results show that the correlation between sunspots and droughts/floods in these two areas varied in stages over time. During high sunspot periods, the frequency of extreme drought events increased in both areas. The phase change of the correlation between sunspots and droughts/floods in the Upper Hanjiang River and northern North China significantly influenced the shift in the drought-flood correspondence between the two areas. When droughts/floods in the Upper Hanjiang River and northern North China align with or oppose sunspot variations, the droughts/floods in the two areas are predominantly positively or negatively correlated. Both droughts/floods in the Upper Hanjiang River and northern North China as well as sunspots share inter-annual cycles of about 2-4 years, inter-decadal cycles of about 11-12 years, and multi-decadal cycles of about 20-30 years and 50 years. Sunspot variations may influence the droughts and floods in these two areas across multiple time scales. Additionally, when sunspots increase significantly and abruptly, the Upper Hanjiang River and northern North China tend to be more drought-prone.

The spatiotemporal evolution of settlements during historical periods is of great significance for a better understanding of past environment changes, land use, and the dynamics of human-land relationships. Chinese historical documents contain abundant information on settlements, serving as an important proxy for the study on the evolution settlements over the past century. Historical documents typically employ place names to record the spatial location of settlements, but the existing historical place names spatial databases often fall short in automating the precise localization of micro-scale place names, such as settlements, which in turn impedes the advancement of research on the spatial reconstruction and spatiotemporal evolution of these historical settlements. This study focuses on the automated matching method of historical settlement place names, utilizing Suzhou Prefecture during the late Qing Dynasty (1820-1911) as the research area. It selected 11340 settlement place names and their associated primary-level division data extracted from local chronicles, and combined contemporary place names matching techniques to construct a conceptual model for correlating ancient and modern place names. The study identifies characteristics of place names evolution, establishes rules for place names matching, and proposes an algorithm for the aggregation and matching of settlement names predicated on similarity metrics, thereby accomplish the spatial reconstruction of historical settlements within the research area. On this basis, the spatial distribution and urban-rural relationships of the reconstruction results were analyzed. The results indicated that approximately 98% of the settlements, relative to the total number documented in the literature, were reconstructed using an automated place names matching method. The spatial resolution of the reconstruction was approximately 1.4 km × 1.4 km, and the consistency between the automatic matching outcomes and the manually verified results was about 96%. During the late Qing Dynasty, the distribution of settlements in the study area exhibited agglomerative characteristics, with a hierarchical structure of settlement networks centered on the western suburbs of Suzhou city. However, urban-rural connections within the network were sparse. The findings from this study have enhanced the technical methods for the spatial reconstruction of historical settlement space and deepened the scientific understanding of the characteristics and influencing factors of long-term settlement evolution.

In the context of the Fourth Industrial Revolution and a new wave of technological advancements, integrating technological innovation resources and accelerating strategic emerging industries have become crucial for promoting high-quality economic development. Industrial innovation networks are critical in this landscape, as they enable cities to participate in innovation networks that facilitate the absorption of external knowledge, technologies, and market information, which promotes regional technological innovation. In this study, we focused on the rare earth industry in China, which supports innovation within strategic emerging fields, particularly in technological breakthroughs. Patent collaboration data from three critical stages of the value chain (i.e., mining and smelting, material processing, and end-use applications) were used with social network analysis and Quadratic Assignment Procedure regression methods to explore the spatial characteristics and influencing factors of the innovation network at different stages. The primary goal of the study was to determine the structural differences in innovation networks within an industry and how these differences are influenced by the functional roles of the value chain. The findings indicate that the scale of the innovation network in China's rare earth industry expands progressively along the value chain, particularly in the end-use application stage, in which the density of connections among the participants increases considerably, resulting in a "small world" characteristic. Moreover, the innovation network in the mining and smelting stage exhibits a north-south differentiation pattern that is consistent with the geographical distribution of China's rare earth resources (i.e., light rare earths in the north and heavy rare earths in the south). In contrast, the material processing stage exhibits a radial pattern dominated by national innovation centers such as Beijing and Shanghai, whereas the end-use application stage exhibits a "triangular" pattern centered on cities with concentrated strategic emerging industries, highlighting the importance of regional innovation ecosystems. Analysis of the influencing factors indicates that the innovation network is primarily affected by social and institutional proximities, as well as the innovation output capacity. Notably, the impacts of resource agglomeration and openness to foreign markets vary among different stages of the value chain. For example, resource agglomeration is significant in the material processing stage but has a lower impact in the end-use application stage, where the level of openness to foreign markets is crucial for driving innovation. Building on existing research on industry-wide innovation networks, this study investigated the internal differences in innovation networks and mapped value-creation processes within the rare earth industry. The findings indicate that marked spatial differences exist among the mining and smelting, material processing, and end-use application stages, which are closely related to the value processes and resource endowments in each stage. In addition, the findings obtained herein provide theoretical and empirical support for understanding spatial innovation activities along the industrial value chain. We offer policy recommendations for optimizing the spatial configuration of the innovation network in China's rare earth industry, with the goal of enhancing its competitiveness in high value-added sectors and supporting the nation's transition to a more innovation-driven economy.

Counties in the Yangtze River Delta face considerable pressure from industrial transformation. In addition, an enclave economy has substantial value for enhancing county-level innovation capacity and advancing industrial upgrades. Enclave economies facilitate the flow of innovation resources into counties and strengthen collaborative innovations between counties and central cities. However, the effectiveness of these innovations is constrained by factors such as benefit-sharing mechanisms and each county's capacity to absorb innovation resources. Thus, systematic empirical research is urgently required to evaluate their impacts. This study focused on Jiangsu and Zhejiang provinces, where exploration of the enclave economy in the Yangtze River Delta region has been the most advanced. Using a multi-period Difference-In-Differences (DID) model, we examined how establishing enclave industrial parks from 2001 to 2022 influenced county-level innovation outputs, as well as the heterogeneity of these impacts across forward and reverse enclave models and different county types. The findings indicate that the enclave economy exerted an overall positive impact on county-level innovation, and a larger number of enclave parks corresponded to more pronounced increases in innovation. Multiple robustness tests confirmed the reliability of these results. In addition, nationally ranked top-100 counties demonstrated considerably higher susceptibilities to the positive effects of enclave economies compared with those of non-top-100 counties, likely because relatively developed counties have better environments to support innovation, which facilitates the absorption and transformation of innovation resource flows triggered by enclave park construction. Forward enclaves, which are characterized by earlier initiation and more mature mechanisms, had a markedly superior effect on enhancing county innovation compared with that of reverse enclaves, even though reverse enclaves theoretically exert a more direct and effective impact on county-level innovation. Enclave parks co-constructed by national ministries and local governments, by local governments alone, or between development zones were also more likely to positively influence county innovation than those involving other entities. This may occur because these actors primarily exist within the public sector and share homogenous policy agendas and preferences; thus, collaboration among them is more conducive to reducing communication and coordination costs, thereby enhancing their role in boosting county-level innovation. These results suggest that future efforts should prioritize enhancing the capacities of less-developed counties to absorb innovation resources and direct more policy support towards innovative models, such as reverse enclaves and university-satellite industrial parks. Less-developed counties should address their own developmental foundations and capacity to accommodate innovative resources in the construction of enclave economies, avoid impatience, and emphasize nurturing an environment conducive to innovation. However, compared with forward enclaves, which are characterized by industrial gradient transfer, reverse enclaves have stronger attributes for technological innovation, aiming to promote county-level industrial transformation by incubating innovative enterprises. Given reverse enclaves' shorter construction period and associated inadequate mechanism exploration, it is necessary to provide more policy support and assess their actual effects over a longer timescale. Similarly, because universities are a crucial component of the triple-helix model of innovation, enclave parks co-constructed with universities hold greater potential for boosting county-level innovation than those co-established with other actors. Therefore, barriers related to park management, technology transfer, and funding support for universities and research institutions should be addressed promptly to amplify their spillover effects on county-level innovation activities.

As psychological research has expanded, the hegemony of vision in landscape studies has become increasingly challenging. As the second most critical sensory system after vision, sound has emerged as a key focus of theoretical inquiry. This paper focuses on individuals who have left their rural hometowns (hometown leavers) and used their auditory experiences as an analytical context. Drawing on in-depth interviews and using qualitative research methods such as coding analysis and semiotics, we uncovered the Xiangchou signification system of rural soundscape symbols and their operational mechanisms. We found that the perception of rural soundscapes by hometown-leavers followed a four-stage cognitive model: experience accumulation, representamen triggering, symbol reception and recognition, and meaning interpretation. First, the rural life experiences of hometown leavers formed the foundational prerequisites for awakening their perceptions of Xiangchou-related soundscape symbols. Their accumulated rural upbringing, inherited memories, and other lived rural experiences endowed them with a heightened sensitivity to sound symbols, which enabled seamless perception and reception. Second, during the symbolization of the Xiangchou soundscape, the perceptual trigger for the subject played an equally vital role. The activation and interpretation of sound symbols requires specific triggers. When respondents encounter sounds from their past, the unique timbre, pitch, or loudness of these sounds manifested as representamina, which overlapped with the imagined rural sound symbols stored in their minds. This overlap evoked a vivid sense of "as if it was yesterday," which propelled the symbolization process forward. Third, within the traditional village spaces etched in the memories of hometown leavers, complex sound symbols intertwined to form a distinct rural soundscape system composed of animal calls, natural noises, and sounds of human activity. These concrete sounds in the physical world acted as triggers to bridge the spatiotemporal divide between the soundscape symbols accumulated in the subjects' rural memory, stirring a rich array of rural recollections. Fourth, soundscapes characterized by greater abstractness and associativity focus on awakening and engaging the auditory culture. Through cognitive processing, the subjects transcended mere auditory perception to form interpretive meanings, which elevated the auditory experiences of hometown leavers to the emotional realm of rural sentiments via specific sounds. Following reception and recognition, the meanings of these soundscape symbols gradually solidified and assumed symbolic weight. Receivers with rural experiences endowed sound symbols with interpretive intent, mirroring them into four categories of Xiangchou soundscape units: sentimental attachment, pastoral leisure, rustic amusement, and seasonal busyness, thereby generating emotional resonances such as nostalgia, relief from pressure, longing for the future, and a sense of belonging. Compared with visual landscapes, soundscapes have greater penetrative power, significantly deepening the sense of belonging and identity of the hometown leavers toward their rural roots. This indicates that, during modernization, the eroded intimate connections between people can find psychological compensatory fulfillment through Xiangchou soundscapes. Xiangchou sound symbols allowed the hometown leavers to project their perceptions of their past rural life based on their unique auditory cultural field. Amid fast-paced urban life, their wandering souls were temporarily disengaged, healed, and comforted, thereby achieving a brief return to their spiritual haven through sound. The seasonal busyness soundscape centers on land as its core symbol, carrying the emotional memories and cultural totems of hometown leavers and acting as a spiritual bond for identity affirmation and the reconstruction of belonging. The rustic amusement soundscape, which has childhood games and local rituals as its symbolic anchors, awakened joyful memories and cultural identity, which became an emotional solace for hometown leavers navigating spiritual displacement.

In the era of post-covid globalization, the integration of geography and country and region studies is becoming increasingly urgent. This study draws on the concept of the "epistemic domain" to explore the convergence and possible pathways for integrating these two disciplines at the level of knowledge construction, research paradigms, and methodologies, using Southeast Asia as a case study. The "epistemic domain" (domain of knowledge) refers to the "space of knowledge," which is the manifestation of knowledge in different contexts such as "academic knowledge" and "public knowledge." It emphasizes the integration of traditional geographical knowledge and regional studies. The "epistemic domain" is characterized by multi-scale, multi-domain, and relativity. The conclusions suggest that the perspective of the "epistemic domain" helps to break down disciplinary boundaries and promotes the organic integration of geography and country and region studies. Combining these two fields will give rise to a new knowledge system for regional studies. The holistic perspective of geography, combined with the diverse perspectives of country and region studies, will foster innovative interdisciplinary research paradigms; the quantitative analysis of geography and qualitative research methods in countries and regions can also achieve complementary integration. Using Southeast Asia as an example, the integration of these disciplines should focus on the interaction between resource environments and socio-economic factors, intrinsic mechanisms of spatial political economy, and coexistence of cultural diversity in the region. This should be approached through an interdisciplinary research pathway that combines holistic and diverse perspectives, resulting in a balanced quantitative and qualitative "epistemic domain" methodology. Although the "epistemic domain" concept provides a new perspective on interdisciplinary integration, issues such as operational inadequacies and the potential overshadowing of global knowledge universality by regional orientations need to be addressed. Future dialogues and exchanges between different "epistemic domain" backgrounds must be strengthened. In summary, the close integration of geography and country and region studies within the "epistemic domain" framework aligns with contemporary development trends and will contribute new cognitive intelligence to address the challenges of global integration and regional diversity.

Abstract: Continental Shelf Delimitation in Global Ocean Governance: Legal, geopolitical, and Resource Dimensions. Continental shelf delimitation constitutes a central issue in global ocean governance because it directly involves sovereignty claims, access to marine resources, and stability of the international geopolitical order. With the increasing assertion of maritime rights by late-developing coastal states, tension between traditional maritime powers and emerging maritime nations has become increasingly visible. Against this backdrop, continental shelf delimitation practices have become testing grounds and catalysts for the evolution of maritime boundary governance, reflecting a dynamic interplay between international law, resource politics, and technological advancements in marine science. Research Purpose and Methods: This study provides a systematic review of the literature on continental shelf delimitation, with an emphasis on states' claims concerning sovereignty, resource entitlements, and geopolitical order. Through a comparative analysis of legal texts, judicial precedents, and case studies of disputes in different maritime regions, this review highlights commonalities and divergences in state practice. It also identifies the key obstacles faced by coastal states when invoking the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) and the principle of natural prolongation. Methodologically, this study relies on a doctrinal legal analysis combined with geopolitical interpretation, which enables an integrated understanding of how law and politics jointly shape the delimitation process. Results Three major findings emerged from this review. 1) Resource-based conflicts: Continental shelf areas are often rich in hydrocarbons, fisheries, and other marine resources. However, the transboundary and mobile nature of these resources makes them frequent sources of interstate conflicts. Fishery disputes in the North Atlantic, hydrocarbon competition in the Eastern Mediterranean, and overlapping claims in the Arctic illustrate how cross-border resource flows challenge stable delimitation and lead to the complex interweaving of multilateral negotiations and contested ownership. 2) Multidimensional boundary perceptions: Delimitation cannot be reduced to the purely geological question of natural prolongation. Coastal states are increasingly invoking historical rights, security concerns, and geopolitical spatial strategies to construct composite claims. The integration of legal, historical, and political arguments reflects the multilayered nature of contemporary maritime governance and demonstrates that boundary-making is as much a political process as it is a legal-technical exercise. 3) Limitations of the UNCLOS: Although the UNCLOS provides the principal legal framework for delimitation, its practical application is limited. The insufficient operationalization of natural prolongation rules, coupled with the inconsistent reliance on judicial precedents by international courts and tribunals, creates significant uncertainty. These gaps hinder coastal states from asserting sovereignty and fairly distributing resources, particularly late-developing maritime nations that lack the technical and legal capacity to substantiate their claims. Conclusion and Research Contributions: In light of these findings, this study proposes three directions for future research and the normative development of global ocean governance. First, the principle of natural prolongation should be re-examined and strengthened as a natural legal basis for dispute resolution, ensuring that geological realities continue to inform legal outcomes. Second, the continuity of historical rights should be incorporated into interpretive logic consistent with customary international law, recognizing that long-standing practices form part of legitimate maritime entitlements. Third, the interpretive gaps in UNCLOS should be supplemented by documenting and theorizing coastal states' practices, thereby enabling a more inclusive process of consensus building in global maritime rule making. This study contributes to the literature by offering a structured synthesis of the key legal, political, and resource-related dimensions of continental shelf delimitation. It highlights the ways in which boundary disputes reflect competing national interests and shape the evolution of the international maritime order. By bridging doctrinal analysis with geopolitical perspectives, this study underscores the need for adaptive governance mechanisms that can accommodate established powers and rising coastal states in the rapidly changing global ocean governance seascape.

The realization of Chinese path to modernization depends on the construction of a high-quality territorial space system. The essence of territorial space lies in the orderly support of human activities, with the goal of realizing the value of territorial space, and the bottom line is to ensure the security of territorial space. The territorial space system constitutes an organic whole centered on the human-nature system, formed through the interaction of various systems within a defined spatial range according to specific ordering principles. It comprises a static system grounded in natural resources and a dynamic system driven by human activities. Connectivity within the territorial space system arises from the circulation and energy flows of human and natural materials, manifesting as interlinkages among food, water, energy and ecology. This system exhibits spatiotemporal continuity, nesting between different levels and scales, and demonstrates the transience and mobility inherent to resulting flow spaces. The development and evolution of the territorial space system require support and guidance from the territorial spatial planning system, ultimately achieving enduring sustainability within the territorial space governance system. This progression facilitates the realization of harmonious coexistence between humans and nature.

Rural hollowing reflects spatial-functional misalignment among population, land, and industry during rural restructuring. Understanding its morphology and dynamics is essential for formulating precise, geography-informed rural revitalization strategies. This study explores the Zhuhai-Bayannur transect encompassing 224 counties, with a particular emphasis on the spatial heterogeneity of rural hollowing shaped by variations in physical geography and socio-economic development. The research constructs a multidimensional assessment framework that examines rural hollowing through the lenses of population dynamics, land utilization, and industrial structure. It further delivers a systematic interpretation of the spatial differentiation and temporal progression of rural hollowing, while elucidating the principal driving mechanisms behind its formation. The research findings are as follows: (1) From 2000 to 2020, rural hollowing in the sample belt progressively intensified. Spatially, it demonstrates zonal differentiation, tiered advancement, and spatial agglomeration. (2) Rural hollowing exhibits significant gradient characteristics. The eastern region remains relatively stable, the central region has undergone rapid development, while the western region has remained persistently high. The severity of hollowing increases with elevation. Municipal districts, which began experiencing hollowing earlier, exhibit the slowest growth rate, while county-level regions, which lagged behind, show the fastest acceleration. (3) Geographically weighted regression analysis reveals that seven factors consistently and significantly influence rural hollowing, with marked spatial heterogeneity. The ratio of agricultural population to the total population and per capita net income of rural residents act as constraints on rural hollowing, while per-unit fiscal revenue exerts a predominantly positive influence. The growth in urbanization rate does not exert a sustained impact on rural hollowing. (4) Utilizing self-organizing map clustering and zonal methodologies, the sample belt is classified into seven typological regions of hollowing. Each zone displays distinct characteristics driven by disparities in natural endowments and economic development. Drawing on the findings, this paper proposes tailored governance strategies for region-specific subsystems to mitigate rural decline and underpin sustainable development and revitalization efforts.

At the end of 2020, the tough battle against poverty achieved a comprehensive victory, but the problem of poverty has not been completely resolved. The manifestation and governance situation of poverty have undergone new changes, and preventing large-scale poverty relapse has become a fundamental project for promoting modernization of agriculture, rural areas, and state governance. Based on a comprehensive review of the theoretical connotations of poverty reversion across multiple disciplines, this study employs bibliometric analysis method to investigate the research trajectory and key issues surrounding the study of poverty reversion, while also offering insights into potential avenues for future research expansion. The results show that: (1) Academic research on poverty reversion has evolved through three distinct phases: theoretical introduction and causal analysis, thematic expansion and methodological innovation, and academic deepening with an application-oriented focus. (2) Research on poverty reversion spans the entire process of "forward-looking prevention-procedural diagnosis-systematic governance". It has accumulated extensive research achievements and practical experiences, focusing on core topics such as the measurement and early-warning of poverty reversion risks, the inducing factors and processes of poverty reversion, and regional models and pathways for preventing the poverty reversion. (3) From the perspective of research outlook, future studies on poverty reversion should engage in more extensive and in-depth discussions focusing on theoretical localization, governance digitization, thematic deepening, and global perspectives, in order to better serve poverty governance practices, rural revitalization, and rural modernization strategies.

Urban infrastructure serves as a crucial vehicle for understanding urban development and spatial transformation and is a central focus of urban political ecology research. However, the complex socio-natural dialectics and sociopolitical processes underlying these infrastructures have received limited attention within the Chinese academic context. This article focuses on urban hydraulic infrastructure, employing a qualitative systematic review and bibliometric analysis to examine 157 English-language articles indexed in the Web of Science database from 1987 to 2024. The findings reveal that international research on urban political ecology has evolved along multiple pathways, primarily encompassing political-economic analysis from a neo-Marxist perspective, micro-political analysis from a post-structuralist perspective, and everyday practice analysis from a post-humanist perspective. Within these analytical frameworks, scholars have explored pressing issues such as the commodification, modernization, and re-naturalization of hydraulic infrastructure, uncovering the complex power dynamics and "informal" governance practices embedded within these processes. These studies also critically examine how capitalism shapes and reinforces unequal access to water-related ecological services and disparities in urban living experiences. The ontological and analytical frameworks developed in international urban political ecology literature offer significant value for understanding the implementation and spatial production processes of hydraulic infrastructure amid the Chinese urbanization. Furthermore, the rich experiences in China—particularly in terms of state-capital relations, state-society interactions, and socio-natural dynamics—hold great potential for advancing and enriching existing theories of urban political ecology.

Political ecology, with its critical focus on uncovering the embedded social, economic, and political power structures underpinning environmental issues, has emerged as a key interdisciplinary field garnering growing attention from the international academic community. This article offers a comprehensive examination of the development of the global political ecology academic community by analyzing published literature, transnational research networks, university institutions, NGOs, and the digital presence of individual scholars. It identifies and interprets the structural characteristics, developmental trajectories, and future prospects of this academic network.The study finds that political ecology has been heavily influenced by feminism and post-structuralism, resulting in a critically oriented research paradigm. The political ecology community is marked by a high degree of interdisciplinarity, a decentralized and networked organizational form, and a commitment to digitalization and open access scholarship. Furthermore, knowledge production within the field is characterized by a globalization of environmental concerns and a localization of empirical case studies. The rising prominence of Global South perspectives and a strong orientation toward praxis and transformative social engagement are also salient features of current research.However, the article also highlights several ongoing challenges, including increasing theoretical fragmentation and persistent inequalities in knowledge production between the Global North and South. At the same time, the evolving geopolitical landscape, rapid advancements in digital technology, and the escalating urgency of global environmental crises—particularly climate change—present significant opportunities for reinvigorating and expanding the scope and impact of political ecology.

The construction and development of protected areas not only has the important significance of maintaining the stability of the ecosystem, but also contains spatial political practices involving resource allocation, spatial construction, and multi-party power play. Based on the perspective of political ecology, this study was guided by national policies, and took different actors, namely the local government and villagers of Qi'ao Island, as the research objects, and used qualitative research methods to analyze the development process of Qi'ao Island Mangrove Nature Reserve. The study found that the spatial construction and power relationship evolution of the Qi'ao Island Mangrove Nature Reserve have gone through four stages, namely, resource development and ecological marginalization led by villagers' livelihoods, government-led ecological control and game, co-governance and power structure adjustment under mitigation policies, and scientific spatial planning and power resilience construction under the background of blue carbon ecology. Through the interpretation of these four stages, the transformation of power relations in the mangrove nature reserve of Qi'ao Island is clarified, in order to provide relevant suggestions for the development of other nature reserves and provide relevant reference solutions for the harmonious coexistence of local people and nature.

With the advancement of urbanization and the profound transformation of socio-economic development in China, land use transition has become a complex research field involving multiple disciplines and dimensions. This paper comprehensively uses bibliometric analysis and systematic review methods to systematically sort out the research progress of land use transition in China from following dimensions: development context, theoretical framework, model and methodology, effect and mechanism, and regulation path. The study finds that: (1) Since the introduction of land use transition research to China in 2001, the field has flourished in the aspects of project funding, publication of monographs, and talent cultivation. Through hotspot analysis, it is found that research has shifted from being technology-driven to policy and economic-driven, and finally focused on multi-functional synergy and sustainable development. (2) Theoretical research can be divided into three levels: description-explanation, process characterization and diagnosis, and mutual feedback mechanism and regulation, forming a research paradigm of "dominant morphology-recessive morphology" coupling. The transition measurement method presents a three-dimensional characteristic of integration of 3S technology, mathematical model simulation, and field investigation. (3) Driven by the dual strategies of rural vitalization and food security, the socio-economic effects of land use transitions are manifested as a cascading response of farmers' livelihoods, factor flow, and industrial upgrading; related ecological and environmental effects show the bidirectional characteristics of negative effects and positive synergistic effects. (4) The driving mechanism of land use transitions is analyzed from the "element-structure-system" perspective, and its regulation system is discussed from multiple dimensions such as engineering technology innovation, institutional innovation, policy intervention, and multi-dimensional collaborative governance. (5) Future research needs to focus on breakthroughs in multi-scale transition threshold identification, complex system feedback simulation, regional model extraction, and optimization and regulation of transition through theoretical and methodological innovations. This study provides not only knowledge support for the construction of a land use transition research theoretical system with Chinese characteristics, but also decision-making support for the modernization of national territorial space governance and urban-rural integrated development.

Promoting social green transformation is an inherent requirement and a key task in the national strategy for a comprehensive green transformation of the economy and society. However, research on the quantitative characterization and spatiotemporal patterns of social green transformation remains relatively lacking. To address this gap, this paper introduces social psychology theory to construct a quantitative characterization framework for social green transformation. Using 19 urban agglomerations in China as the study area and following the "pattern-process-effect" research logic, the study integrates methods such as entropy-weighted TOPSIS, spatial Markov chains, and Random Forest model to sequentially reveal the spatiotemporal evolution patterns, spatiotemporal transformation, and dynamic impacts of the social green transformation on the economic green transformation. Finally, a comprehensive quantitative framework for regional green transformation is proposed. The results show that: (1) During the study period, the level of social green transformation in China's urban agglomerations showed a fluctuating upward trend, with the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei, Yangtze River Delta, and Pearl River Delta urban agglomerations leading in social green transformation, while those along the middle reaches of the Yangtze River, the northern slope of Tianshan Mountains, Lanzhou-Xi'an region, and Ningxia along the Yellow River were relatively lagging. (2) There is a phenomenon of club convergence and spatial spillover effects in the social green transformation of urban agglomerations, and the transformation exhibits path dependence and spatial dependence, with low probabilities of cross-level and cross-regional transitions. (3) Social green transformation serves as a significant driving force for the green transformation of urban economies, and this driving effect has been strengthening over time. The role of social green transformation in advancing the strategy of ecological prioritization and green development is increasingly profound. Furthermore, this study helps to improve existing research on regional green transformation evaluation, providing new methods and ideas that better align with and respond to the current comprehensive green transformation strategy.