The nexus of water-energy-food in China's tourism industry

An integrated framework for improving green agricultural production sustainability in human-natural systems

Water scarcity, land pollution, and global warming are serious challenges and crises facing the development of sustainable or green agriculture and need to be addressed using efficient and environmentally friendly management strategies. This paper proposed an integrated framework appropriate for agricultural green total factor productivity (AGTFP) assessment coupled with microscopic and mesoscopic perspectives under water-energy-food (WEF) nexus, which generated scientific and reasonable strategies for green and low-carbon agriculture from internal core factors and peripheral environmental impacts to improve green agricultural production sustainability. Taking the Lianshui irrigation district (LID) with three sub-areas as the object, internal core factors were explored by partial least squares regression (PLSR) and the external impact path through partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM). Results indicated that AGTFP in LID was the smallest (0.818) compared to the three sub-areas and was in a fluctuating state. Meanwhile, AGTFP which was calculated considering undesirable outputs, was closer to tangible productivity. Resource endowments and technical facilities will promote agricultural production, desirable outputs will stimulate green production, and undesirable outputs can inhibit green production. The external influence pathway was shown to be primary environment - > secondary environment - > economic aspects - > social aspects - > AGTFP. The innovative perspectives presented in this study can facilitate preferable decisions and avoid unintended consequences for human-natural systems.

Coupling efficiency and spatial dynamic evolution of urban water-energy-food in China-A case of evidence from 94 cities

Quantifying and interpreting the water-energy-food (WEF) nexus is critical to achieve the sustainable development of urban resources. The mismatch between urban water, energy and food allocations is a prominent problem that is particularly acute in the Yellow River Basin (YRB) of China. In this study, models for the WEF coupling degree and coupling efficiency were constructed. The WEF coupling efficiencies of the 94 cities in the YRB from 2011 to 2020 were quantified using a data envelopment analysis (DEA) model. On this basis, the spatial distribution characteristics and evolutionary trends of different urban WEF coupling efficiencies were analysed and explored using an exploratory spatial data analysis (ESDA) model and a parametric kernel density estimation model. The results show that the energy subsystem constrain the development of the WEF nexus, and the food subsystem, in turn, regulates the development of the WEF nexus. In some years, the phenomenon of 'resource curse' occurred, in which the WEF coupling degree increased while the coupling efficiency decreased. Overall, the values of the urban WEF coupling efficiency were low, ranging from 0.5300 to 0.6300, which is not effective. Spatial clustering was detected in the urban WEF coupling efficiency. The clustering types were 'high-high' clustering areas in less developed regions and 'low-low' clustering areas in developed regions. The two clusters and the median contiguous group had different evolutionary trends. Both efficiency and polarisation increased in the high-clustering group, efficiency improved in the low-clustering group, and a new efficiency pole was formed in the median contiguous group. Among the three grouped cities, we discuss the potential of policies such as cross-city cooperation, intra-city multi-sectoral cooperation and cultivating new central growth cities to improve the WEF coupling efficiency in the YRB.

Assessment of sustainable agricultural development based on the water-energy-food nexus framework in the middle and upper reaches of the Yellow River, China

Water, energy and food are inextricably linked in agricultural system. Social and environmental issues arising from socio-economic development pose new challenges for sustainable agricultural development. Achieving sustainable agriculture from the perspective of water, energy and food resource conservation is of critical importance to the national strategy for high-quality development of the Yellow River Basin in China. In this study, the mass productivity and economic productivity of water and energy in agricultural system were considered, and an integrated assessment index system for agricultural system based on the Water-Energy-Food Nexus (WEFN) was proposed in three dimensions: reliability, coordination and resilience. Based on these indicators, the agricultural water-energy-food nexus index (AWEFNI) and integrated risk index (IRI) were performed to assess the current status of agricultural development in the middle and upper reaches of the Yellow River. Results indicate that the AWEFNI in the middle and upper reaches of the Yellow River is increasing year by year, and the level of sustainable agricultural development is improving, but the overall level is lower. The AWEFNI values vary widely among provinces. The reliability of single subsystem in the study area accounts for more than 1/3 of the AWEFNI, with poor water endowment， rich food and energy resource endowments, the coordination of the AWEFN is weakening. The resilience of the third subsystem is gradually declining. The contradiction in water and energy supply and demand in Ningxia is the most prominent among the five provinces, and the level of AWEFN development is the lowest, so the regulation policies should be implemented as soon as possible to promote the synergistic development of AWEFN around the region.

Identifying the drivers of changes in embodied food-energy-water in the Bohai mega-urban region, China: A perspective of final demands

Food-energy-water (FEW) systems in the Bohai mega-urban region (MUR) have experienced astonishing changes in recent decades; however, the dynamics of these changes are not fully understood. This study combined an ecological multiscale input-output model and a structural decomposition analysis (SDA) to explore the variation in embodied FEW consumption and its drivers. The results showed that, although almost all sectoral embodied FEW intensities decreased, embodied FEW demands increased by approximately 9.9×10⁸ tons, 4.61×10⁷ TJ and 1.1×10¹¹ m³ over 10-year period. The embodied FEW flow diagrams show that local consumption and trade were strengthened. Urban household consumption, fixed capital formation and exports were the main components affecting the embodied FEW use increases. An SDA revealed that the consumption level effect (∆c) was the dominant contributor that promoted the increase in the Bohai MUR's embodied FEW consumption. The scale effect (∆p) also had a positive effect on the embodied FEW consumption increases. The technological effect (∆e) was the primary contributor to offset the embodied FEW consumption increase. The economic efficiency effect (∆L) and structural effect (∆s_d) also contributed to offsetting the total embodied FEW consumption increase. The effect of the change in domestic and foreign imports (∆D and ∆F) impacted the increase in embodied FEW mainly through the change in the embodied FEW intensities and trade volumes. This study identified the changes in FEW systems and highlighted future coping strategies.

Carbon footprint of tourism in Spain: Covid-19 impact and a look forward to recovery

Tourism is very vulnerable to climate change and the disruption of Covid-19, facing two challenges: fighting climate change pursuing its carbon emissions goals, and recovering from the complex pandemic effects. We contribute to the incomplete understanding of tourism emissions pandemic impact and in different post-covid recovery scenarios. Using official data on tourists' consumption, we calculate the carbon footprint of tourism in Spain in 2019 and 2020 under different recovery pathways, including changes in consumption patterns and emissions efficiency, using a multiregional input-output model. Results show that the carbon footprint of tourism in Spain fell by 63% in 2020 compared to pre-pandemic levels, which would be aligned with the current sectoral decarbonisation target. However, the new tourists' consumption patterns resulting from the pandemic are insufficient to increase tourism sustainability if they imply pre-pandemic consumption levels. The results provide empirical ground for the binary debate on "recovery or reform".

Worsening Carbon Inequality Embodied in Trade within China

The mismatch between trade-embodied economic benefits and CO₂ emissions causes carbon inequality, which is seldom analyzed from the intracountry level, especially across a long-term period. This study applied an environmentally extended multiregional input-output model to trace this mismatch and measure the carbon inequality quantitatively within China during 2007-2017. The results show that during the past decade, China's national carbon inequality was continuously worsening with carbon Gini coefficients rising regardless of production- (0.21-0.30) or consumption-based (0.12-0.18) accounting. The regional carbon inequality was deteriorating, where less developed provinces with 20% of total value-added emitted 32.9% of total CO₂ emissions in 2007, while this figure rose to 42.6% in 2017. The eastern provinces (Jiangsu and Shanghai) had entered into net economic and carbon beneficiaries keeping high trade advantages, by contrast the northwest provinces (Ningxia and Xinjiang) were trapped in a lose-lose situation with trade benefits declining by 68%. The southwest provinces (Yunnan and Guangxi) shifted from being net carbon and value-added exporters to net importers, stepping into the earlier development mode of eastern provinces. This hidden and exacerbated carbon inequality calls for regional-specific measures to avoid the dilemma of economic development and CO₂ mitigation, which also gives a good reminder for the rising economies, like India.

Does tourism industry agglomeration improve China's energy and carbon emissions performance?

The tourism industry is seen as having great potential, but tourism development and tourism activities may increase energy consumption and environmental pressure. Based on the provincial panel data of China from 2000 to 2017, we calculate the energy and carbon emission performance by using the non-radial distance function (NDDF) and further investigate the impact of tourism industry agglomeration on energy and carbon emission efficiency by combining the panel fixed effect model, mediation effect model and quantile regression. Our research results show that there is an inverted U-shaped relationship between tourism industry agglomeration and energy and carbon emission efficiency, and tourism industry agglomeration can improve energy and carbon emission efficiency at present. At the same time, the impact of tourism industry agglomeration on energy and carbon emission efficiency has regional heterogeneity. The industrial structure upgrading plays an important role in the process of tourism industry agglomeration. In addition, with the improvement of energy and carbon emission performance, the impact of tourism industry agglomeration is also different. These findings suggest that policymakers should promote tourism industry agglomeration to realize energy conservation and emission reduction. The Chinese government should focus on the tourism resources and advantages of different regions and formulate differentiated regional policies to improve ecological performance.

A system dynamics model to simulate the water-energy-food nexus of resource-based regions: A case study in Daqing City, China

Resource-based regions (RBRs) have made significant contributions to the social and economic development of nations. The long-term and high-intensity development of resources puts tremendous pressure on water, energy and food resources and the ecological environment. Exploring the water-energy-food nexus (WEF nexus, WEFN) of RBRs is key to making informed decisions about regional sustainable development. In this study, a feedback model for the WEFN of RBRs was developed using a system dynamics approach. The WEFN model not only describes the WEFN system from both the supply and demand sides, but also classifies WEF resources. Using Daqing, China, as a case study, five future scenarios were designed to explore the impacts of real policies designed by different government departments on the WEFN system. Comparing the predicted results of a scheme for business as usual, a scheme for developing bioenergy, a scheme for adjustment of the production structure, a scheme for strengthening the development of water and food resources and a scheme for saving WEF resources revealed that the schemes for adjustment of the production structure and for saving WEF resources will not only improve the security of WEF resources, but also reduce pollution of the water environment by human activities, which is conducive to improving the overall benefits of the WEFN system. Finally, some practical suggestions are put forward to promote the coordinated development of the WEFN system. The WEFN model is a multi-centric tool for integrated resources management, and can be expanded to other RBRs and provides scientific support for decision-makers.

Dynamic characteristics and drivers of the regional household energy-carbon-water nexus in China

Being a node of the energy-water consumer and carbon dioxide (CO₂) emitter, the household is one key sector to pilot integrated energy-carbon-water (ECW) management. This study developed an integrated framework to explore China's provincial household ECW nexus as well as their drivers from the years 2000 through 2016. The absolute amount and growth rate of household energy use (HEU), household CO₂ emissions (HCE), and household water use (HWU) were abstracted to reveal the dynamic characteristics of the household ECW nexus. Efficiency advance, income growth, urbanization, family size, and household number were defined to explain the changes in the household ECW nexus. This study revealed that there is a huge regional heterogeneity in China's household ECW nexus. Developed regions such as Zhejiang, Jiangsu, Guangdong, and Shanghai are the most important household ECW nexus nodes with larger amounts and growth rates of household ECW. Income growth overwhelmingly increases ECW, while efficiency advance effectively curbs its growth. Comparatively, household number, family size, and urbanization have small effects. Therefore, implementing differentiated management and focusing on the synergy of socioeconomic factors are the keys to achieving integrated household ECW management. And the analytical framework can be used to analyze ECW nexus from a sector, city, or country perspective.

Spatial and Temporal Differentiation of the Tourism Water Footprint in Mainland China and Its Influencing Factors

While tourism generates economic benefits at destinations, it also creates certain environmental pressures. In the global context of water scarcity, the spatial and temporal differentiation characteristics of water consumption at tourism destinations have become a focus of attention. Based on panel data, the present study calculates the change trends in China’s tourism water footprint (TWF) in the 2013–2018 period using input-output analysis, analyses the regional differences in TWF changes using kernel density estimation and the Theil index, and investigates the driving factors of the spatial and temporal differentiation of the TWF using the logarithmic mean Divisia index model. The results indicate that (1) the tourism water consumption in China increased year-by-year but that the tourism water use efficiency improved; (2) the proportion of the TWF for accommodation and food in the total TWF gradually increased, while the proportion of the TWF for transportation continuously decreased; (3) the TWF of each region increased continuously, with the absolute difference between regions gradually increasing and the difference in the TWF intensity gradually decreasing; and (4) decomposition analysis showed that the TWF in China was positively driven by per capita expenditure and the number of tourists, with the role of TWF intensity shifting from inhibition to promotion, and that each driving force changed with time. Based on the spatial and temporal differences in the TWF, the provinces in China are divided into five categories, and targeted countermeasures and suggestions are proposed.

The Nexus between Tourism Activities and Environmental Degradation: Romanian Tourists’ Opinions

This paper aims to analyse the nexus between tourism activities, including tourists’ circulation, accommodation or entertainment, and environmental degradation. Consequently, the conceptual framework captures the complexity of the nexus between tourism and the environment, given that tourism activities can be performed by tourists or for tourists and that tourism depends on the environmental quality, and, consequently, we highlight the impact of tourism activities on biodiversity loss through the pollution effects that they generate, i.e., air pollution, water pollution, or noise pollution, as well as their contribution to waste increase or to the depletion of natural resources. To achieve this goal, we apply structural equation modelling based on partial least squares analysis (PLS). The results based on tourists’ opinions highlight the existence of a direct and significant nexus between tourists’ activities and environmental degradation, with many implications and consequences.

Evaluation and Scenario Prediction of the Water-Energy-Food System Security in the Yangtze River Economic Belt Based on the RF-Haken Model

As an important agricultural production area in China, the Yangtze River Economic Belt has a large amount of water resources and rich types of energy. Water and energy resources are the supporting basis of food production, and the production and use of energy also need to consume a large amount of water resources. The three affect each other and are interdependent. Paying attention to the synergistic security of water-energy-food system in the Yangtze River Economic Belt is important for regional economic development. This paper uses the pressure-state-response (PSR) model and selects 27 indicators to build an evaluation index system of the regional water-energy-food system. We use the random forest model to evaluate the security level of the Yangtze River Economic Belt from 2008 to 2017, and the Haken model is employed to identify the driving factors that dominate the synergistic evolution of the system. Then we take the identified factors as the key control variables under each scenario and launch a scenario simulation of some provinces in the Yangtze River Economic Belt in 2025. The results show that due to the improvement of water and energy utilization efficiency and the advancement of agricultural production technology, the level of water-energy-food security in the Yangtze River Economic Belt improved significantly from 2008 to 2017. Each province performs differently in different subsystems, with water resources security being better in the upper reaches and Zhejiang and Shanghai in the lower reaches, and food security being better in the middle and lower reaches. The level of energy security is high in Sichuan, Yunnan, and Guizhou in the upper reaches and Shanghai and Anhui in the lower reaches. According to the results of scenario prediction for Jiangsu Province and Hubei Province in 2025, implementing moderate management in accordance with current management objectives can increase the overall security of the system to level 4. The two provinces should focus on controlling water resources and energy consumption and improving the utilization efficiency of water and energy in agricultural production.

Virtual Water Trade in the Service Sector: China's Inbound Tourism as a Case Study

Research on virtual water and the water footprint is mainly focused on agriculture and industry, and less so on the service sector. The trade in products generates virtual water flow, as does the flow of people. The flow of international tourists will inevitably lead to the transfer and exchange of water resources embedded in the virtual form. This study takes China’s inbound tourism flow as the research object, from the perspective of the water footprint, in order to explore virtual water “exports” to the world. Based on kernel density estimation and ArcGIS spatial analysis, spatial-temporal evolution and structural difference were investigated. Virtual water “exports” showed an increasing trend. The kernel density estimation curves basically exhibited a “single peak” feature which indicated that virtual water “exports” from tourism were not significantly polarized in China. In terms of spatial evolution, this varied greatly at the provincial and regional level and Guangdong was always in the high value area. The south displayed greater values than the north, but this difference in provinces narrowed over the years. The water footprint of food was the largest, more specifically, the green component of this water footprint. Promoting a reasonable diet, reducing food waste, improving agricultural production technology, reducing the frequency of changing hotel supplies, and encouraging the use of new energy helped to reduce the water footprint. Virtual water trade in the service sector provides a new idea for helping to mitigate the global water crisis, in addition to virtual water flow for agricultural products.

LEAP-Based Greenhouse Gases Emissions Peak and Low Carbon Pathways in China's Tourist Industry

China has grown into the world's largest tourist source market and its huge tourism activities and resulting greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions are particularly becoming a concern in the context of global climate warming. To depict the trajectory of carbon emissions, a long-range energy alternatives planning system (LEAP)-Tourist model, consisting of two scenarios and four sub-scenarios, was established for observing and predicting tourism greenhouse gas peaks in China from 2017 to 2040. The results indicate that GHG emissions will peak at 1048.01 million-ton CO₂ equivalent (Mt CO_2e) in 2033 under the integrated (INT) scenario. Compared with the business as usual (BAU) scenario, INT will save energy by 24.21% in 2040 and reduce energy intensity from 0.4979 tons of CO₂ equivalent/10⁴ yuan (TCO_2e/10⁴ yuan) to 0.3761 Tce/10⁴ yuan. Although the INT scenario has achieved promising effects of energy saving and carbon reduction, the peak year 2033 in the tourist industry is still later than China's expected peak year of 2030. This is due to the growth potential and moderate carbon control measures in the tourist industry. Thus, in order to keep the tourist industry in synchronization with China's peak goals, more stringent measures are needed, e.g., the promotion of clean fuel shuttle buses, the encouragement of low carbon tours, the cancelation of disposable toiletries and the recycling of garbage resources. The results of this simulation study will help set GHG emission peak targets in the tourist industry and formulate a low carbon roadmap to guide carbon reduction actions in the field of GHG emissions with greater certainty.