Evaluation of Resources and Environment Carrying Capacity Based on Support Pressure Coupling Mechanism: A Case Study of the Yangtze River Economic Belt

Compiling and applying atmospheric resource balance sheet in off-office auditing of leading cadres in China

Atmospheric resources provide important support for human economic and social systems through their unique ecosystem service functions. Implementing the off-office auditing of atmospheric resources for leading cadres holds great strategic significance for fundamentally solve air pollution problems. Exploring the compilation of an atmospheric resource balance sheet is a necessary pre-step in the implementation of outgoing audits. In this paper, atmospheric resources are innovatively divided into atmospheric capacity resources and atmospheric quality resources from the perspective of the ecosystem service functions of atmospheric resources. The value of atmospheric resource assets is calculated by combining the environmental capacity value method and the environmental loss evaluation method. This study evaluates atmospheric ecological achievements based on the atmospheric resources balance sheet and related accounts as the data carrier and opens up the key "blocking point" of the off-office auditing of atmospheric resources. This paper takes Anhui Province as an example and applies the accounting results of the prepared atmospheric resource balance sheet to evaluate the atmospheric resource ecological achievements of leading cadres from 2016 to 2020. The results clearly reflect the ecological achievements and shortcomings of local leading cadres during their tenure.

Measurement of water resources carrying capacity in Gugang Town of Central China based on human-water-agriculture framework

More research has revealed that central China is one of the most vulnerable areas to a water crisis because of limited and unequally distributed water resources as well as rising water demands. Also, climate change is expected to reduce water resources dramatically, resulting in increased competition among users and severe water shortages for irrigated agriculture. The township, the most basic level of the Chinese government system, urgently needs to compare water allocation based on different management strategies to define the most optimized water management plan. The concept of a "human-water-agriculture" evaluation system was proposed in this study to couple and coordinate human well-being, sustainable water resource use, and agricultural development in Gugang Town, China. Within this framework, twenty-five indicators were chosen from the criterion layers to assess and optimize the carrying capacity of water resources for historical periods and the future year 2030. The results showed that the WRCC was bearable in previous years, except for 2018 when the percentage of water shortage reached 19.5 % because of a sharp reduction in dynamic surface water availability. The static surface water, represented by the water restored in hilly ponds in village and town areas, was discovered to account for up to 17 % of the total amount for the dry year. The WRCC would be overburdened in 2030, with 61.6 % and 18.1 % water-deficient underwater supply at 90 % and 75 % guarantee rates, respectively. The WRCC states that effective optimization of agricultural water allocation for crops to maximize economic benefits with limited water consumption could significantly improve human and agricultural systems. This study investigated a route for studying WRCC in village and town areas, providing theoretical and practical guidelines for local water-adapted development.