Progressing towards Environmental Health Targets in China: An Integrative Review of Achievements in Air and Water Pollution under the “Ecological Civilisation and the Beautiful China” Dream

Access to sustainable healthcare infrastructure: a review of industrial emissions, coal fires, and particulate matter

Environmental health is critical for the economy's social welfare and environmental sustainability. Using time series data from 1975 to 2020, the research examines the short- and long-run relationship between environmental pollutants and healthcare costs in the context of Pakistan. The study's results reveal that short-term and long-term efforts towards cleaner development in terms of carbon emissions, coal combustion, nitrous oxide (N₂O) emissions, and industrial value-added have resulted in significant reductions in healthcare expenses due to improved management of industrial emissions. However, in the long run, particulate matter (PM_2.5) has a detrimental effect on a country's sustainable healthcare agenda, leading to increased healthcare costs. Furthermore, the increased use of coal-fired power plants that release polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH) and revenue generated by contaminated production lead to higher out-of-pocket healthcare costs, increasing a country's risk of morbidity and mortality. The study's Granger causality estimations demonstrate that carbon emissions are responsible for emissions-driven healthcare expenses in a nation. Additionally, economic growth leads to increased carbon emissions and industrial toxins, which are also emission-led. Through variance decomposition analysis (VDA), the study finds that carbon emissions have the highest variance shock of 32.702% on healthcare expenditures in the next ten years. This is followed by polluted income and continued economic growth, which have a variance shock of 13.243% and 8.858%, respectively, over the same period. The findings indicate that the maximum healthcare benefits may be acquired by mitigating environmental pollutants via stringent environmental regulations, reducing industrial toxins through solid waste management techniques, and minimizing coal combustion reliance through renewable fuels. Environmental research is still required to provide more sustainable solutions to the sustainability of the global healthcare agenda.

Exploring consumers' environmental ethical preferences in the context of unmanned aerial vehicle utilization for plant protection

The use of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) has increased agricultural productivity, achieved food security, and eased the pressure associated with environmental degradation and population growth. However, consumer sentiment remains unclear. The results show that pressures regarding food safety, production safety, and ecological safety have different degrees of positive impact on perceived benefits but no significant impact on perceived barriers. They strongly influence both perceived benefits to the adoption of UAV plant protection agricultural products. Perceived benefits demonstrated a mediating role between the three safety pressures and the adoption of UAVs. Lay beliefs showed a positive moderating effect on perceived benefits and obstacles to the adoption of UAV-based plant protection products. Based on these findings, this paper concludes that consumers are developing new consumer ethics that integrate concepts of food safety, safe production, and regional environmental protection with their acceptance of new technology, which is directly dependent on the combined effect of environmental and consumer ethics. To promote sustainable development, policies must be further optimized on this original basis.

Influence of Green Finance on Ecological Environment Quality in Yangtze River Delta

Along with the development of society and the deepening contradiction between economic growth and natural resources, green finance has attracted more and more attention. As an area of great strategic significance in China's modernization, the development of green finance can improve the quality of its ecological environment and find new economic growth points for it. Based on the index system of pressure state response and while considering the scientific nature and desirability of the indicators, this paper selects 12 indicators to construct an index system of eco-environmental quality. It uses the entropy method to calculate the level of eco-environmental quality. Then, three control variables are selected, and the difference-in-difference model is used for empirical analysis. It is found that green finance positively affects the ecological environment quality of the Yangtze River Delta. In addition, the level of opening to the outside world and the level of economic development also have a positive effect on the quality of the ecological environment to a certain extent. Still, the impact of industrial structure on it is negative. Therefore, this paper puts forward some suggestions for strengthening the disclosure of green financial information, paying attention to the concept of green development and strengthening regional cooperation and exchange to promote the development of green finance further and promote the coordination of economic development and ecological protection in the Yangtze River Delta.

Land use trade-offs in China's protected areas from the perspective of accounting values of ecosystem services

"Accounting values" (quantity * unit value), assessed with an assumption of a constant unit value, are often used in creating macroeconomic aggregates like Gross Domestic Product (GDP). This approach has also been used to estimate the total value of ecosystem services (ES) - the benefits humans receive from functioning ecosystems. In China, this has been referred to as Gross Ecosystem Product (GEP). While the concepts of value and ES may be understood from multiple perspectives, ESs' accounting values contribute important information to the discussion of land use trade-offs in China's protected areas (PAs). These trade-offs include (1) whether additional conserved lands should be opened to tourism development, since tourism brings both positive and negative impacts; (2) whether PAs should be reduced, maintained, or expanded, since PAs safeguard sustainable wellbeing but also require maintenance; and (3) how to undertake conservation on lands traditionally used for human livelihood development, since conservation and livelihood may conflict. Previous studies have suggested (1) joint evaluation based on both GDP and ESs' values may lead to more sustainable decision-making than solely GDP-oriented evaluation; (2) the benefits of maintaining terrestrial PAs in China is $2.64 trillion/yr, over 14 times greater than the costs; (3) integrating ES valuation into environmental impact assessment helps link environmental impacts with human wellbeing and financial costs (e.g., land encroachment of a tourism highway in the Wulingyaun Scenic Area was estimated to cause permanent loss of ES values at $0.5 million/yr); and (4) integrating non-marketable cultural ESs into payment for ESs schemes can further balance conservation with livelihood development. Future research should consider (1) option and non-use values to present a more comprehensive picture of PAs' contributions to sustainable wellbeing and human interdependence with the rest of nature (2) both PAs' quantity (e.g., optimal coverage of PAs); and quality (e.g., management effectiveness, connectivity); (3) more sophisticated and feasible valuation methods (e.g., more cost-effective and engaged deliberation) to improve the credibility of aggregate values over large spatial scales; and (4) interaction between environmental components and ESs.

How Has China Structured Its Ecological Governance Policy System?-A Case from Fujian Province

Ecological civilization (EC) has been seen as the final goal of social and environmental reform within a given society. Much attention has been paid to the national governmental level in previous studies, and district- and local-level government actions have been a lower priority, which may have led to overlooking key details of management institutions and policy systems in relation to EC. In this research, we aimed to make a significant contribution to the literature by tracing the EC trajectory and policy transitions. Through bibliometric analysis of policy documents, we reviewed the EC construction system for Fujian Province from 2004 to 2020. The policy priorities, organization-functional network, and contributing factors to policy changes in each of the three phases are discussed in depth. Target setting, actors' functions, and institutional guarantees are the core elements of EC construction. This research provides a quantitative foundation for understanding policy reform and transition with regards to Chinese local governments' EC actions. The experience of Fujian Province shows trends toward legalization, multi-actor linkage, and issue refinement that may serve as a basis for other countries and regions in order to explore the promotion of sustainable development and environmental governance as pathways to EC.

A review on magnetic sensors for monitoring of hazardous pollutants in water resources

Water resources have long been of interest to humans and have become a serious issue in all aspects of human life. The disposal of hazardous pollutants in water resources is one of the biggest global concerns and poses many risks to human health and aquatic life. Therefore, the control of hazardous pollutants in water resources plays an important role, when it comes to evaluating water quality. Due to low toxicity, good electrical conductivity, facile functionalization, and easy preparation, magnetic materials have become a good alternative in recent years to control hazardous pollutants in water resources. In the present study, the idea of using magnetic sensors in controlling and monitoring of pharmaceuticals, pesticides, heavy metals, and organic pollutants have been reviewed. The water pollutants in drinking water, groundwater, surface water, and seawater have been discussed. The toxicology of water hazardous pollutants has also been reviewed. Then, the magnetic materials were discussed as sensors for controlling and monitoring pollutants. Finally, future remarks and perspectives on magnetic nanosensors for controlling hazardous pollutants in water resources and environmental applications were explained.