Rural revival is a pivot strategy to support quality development of China ‘s agricultural economy, of which planting agglomeration is the key step in optimizing rural layout, increasing agricultural structure and pushing agricultural development. To booster a green quality development of planting, this paper uses Gini coefficient, locality entropy and listing to estimate 2007 to 2020 planting agglomeration levels and agricultural area pollution emission of 19 provinces/cities in Yangtze River stream, and to analyze their temporal-spatial changing rules which are tested by means of spatial Dubin model and threshold model. Planting agglomeration differs from temporal-spatial distribution and changes of agricultural area pollution, with dominant agricultural production of obviously regional agglomeration, and steadily rising, variable in provinces/cities. Its agricultural area pollution has outstandingly spatial positive correlation, easily worsened by economy distance more than by geographical distance. Its striking positive spatial overflowing impacts the local environment and economy as well. A threshold effect exists in the impacts of planting agglomeration on agricultural area pollution, diminishing with rising agricultural economy. Agricultural area pollution is aggravated by rural population scale, economy and urbanization in Yangtze River stream, but improved by agriculturally technical advances and financial supports, little impacted by environmental regulations. This paper presents suggestions on optimizing spatial pattern of planting agglomeration to increase its quality, enhancing regional collaboration in controlling agricultural area pollution, pushing agricultural economy to mitigate agricultural area pollution via planting agglomeration, and appropriately using governmental funds and intensifying agriculturally environmental regulations to promote green planting.

Under nation’s proactive carbon reduction policy, construction of resourcessaving and low-carbon intensive Yangtze River economic zone is key for China to reach carbon neutralization. This paper, aiming at green low carbon development, uses four-staged DEA (data envelopment analysis) model to estimate carbon emission efficiency, and establishes a corrected carbon emission model, and applies ESV (ecosystem service valuation) to stand for the ecological baselines. Carbon sink corrected model is constructed based on the variances in population, land areas, technical levels, ecological environment, and economic levels in Yangtze River economic zone. Primary carbon compensation estimation model has been improved to estimate their carbon compensation amounts of provinces (cities) in Yangtze River economic zone. Spatial auto-correlated model is employed to explore their spatial auto-correlation of their carbon compensation amounts. Results show conspicuous variances in carbon compensation amounts between before and after correction coefficients are adopted, largely increased after, and closely connected to each other in nearby provinces. Payers are mainly located in Yangtze Rive delta, and the payees are in the middle and upper-stream. This paper presents suggestions on constructing a servicing function evaluation system of regional ecological system, comprehensive performance evaluation and feedback mechanism of carbon compensation projects, improving transverse paying mechanism of carbon compensation, boosting controls, enlarging greening areas and accelerating industrial transformation and talents cultivation.

Green development, an effective approach to coordinating ecological protection, promoting economic development and reducing carbon emission, is becoming an objective of global sustainable development and human's development focus. China's economy is entering a quality developing status under a rising resources and environmental pressures. Cities are centers for modern economic growth that makes green efficiency an unavoidable way in urban transformation. This paper uses super-efficiency undesired SBM model  to measure the green development  efficiency of 11 Yangtze River economic zone provinces (cities) and their temporal-spatial evolution, compared with their green developing efficiencies without consideration of carbon emission, and applies decision making trail and evaluation laboratory technology (DEMATEL) to identify the key factors. Carbon emission in Yangtze River economic zone has been rising over years, impacting the green developing efficiency. The green developing efficiency has fallen largely in the down-stream of Yangtze River under the environmental constraints. Yangtze River economic zone shows a rising green developing efficiency, varying with regions, down-, upper- and middle-stream downwards. Factors such as industrial structure, research input, openness, environmental regulations and vegetation coverage rate positively play an outstanding role in green developing efficiency under perspective of carbon emission. A low green developing efficiency lies in over resource consumption and over pollution emission. Environmentally, carbon emission is becoming a hard point for increasing green developing efficiency amid urban development. This paper presents suggestions on improving ecological environment and reaching carbon neutralization to ensure a higher resource utilization and a stronger environmental protection, helpful in building Yangtze River delta as a green integrated developing demonstration. 

This paper, based on the statistical analysis of economic and social development of the counties where 41 Chinese global geoparks are located, aims at the issues in the development of Chinese global geoparks, draws on the development concept of global geoparks, and presents suggestion for sustainable economic development of the counties. It concludes that the counties have largely improved in fiscal revenue, total retail sales of consumer goods, and three industrial structural optimization in the three years after they have global geoparks. This paper suggests that China intensify database construction of population, resources, ecological environment, economy and social development, history and culture. China shall use “Statutes of international geoscience and geoparks programme” and “Operational guidelines for UNESCO global geoparks” to manage and develop Chinese global geoparks, boost the internal communication among Chinese global geoparks network, explore the management mode and development path of global geoparks with Chinese characteristics, integrate geological parks construction and development with “Two Mountains” theory and green development concept to jointly promote sustainable economic development of the counties where geoparks are located.

The blooming real estate industry in China leads to vast environmental issues, which has been ignored by existing references while measuring the total factor productivity of real estate industry. It can't reflect the real development of China's real estate industry. This paper selects pollution discharge as non-ideal output and uses Malmquist-Luenberger index to measure their green total element factor productivity (GTFP) of China's real estate industry in 31 provinces and establishes panel data model to analyze the multiple factors of productivity. The GTFP of China's real estate industry shows a slowly rising trend during 2008 to 2017, higher in eastern China than the western China, and the central China keeps the same pace with the nation's average, growing effect induced by technical progress is the major drive to productivity, pursuing effect from technical efficiency has little influence. Actually, growth of productivity is positively pushed by developing level and return on investment of real estate industry, but negatively by capital intensity, nothing related to labor productivity. Environmental regulations displays an upended U with productivity, indicating innovative compensation effect induced by rational environmental regulations overcomes the cost negative effect. Hence, ‘Porter Hypothesis' applies to China's real estate industry.

The ecological construction of key eco-functional areas in Yangtze river basin impacts ecological guarantee of the whole basin, administration sets up constraint policies within the areas, leaving a higher standard in getting rid of poverty for local residents under the poverty line, which may be met by ecological compensation. This paper uses evolutionary gaming model to discuss the ecological compensation cooperation for upper- and down-stream eco-functional areas of Yangtze river basin via a strategy of protection or non-protection in up-stream and compensation or non-compensation in down-stream, and discusses the mixed stable strategy based on the above four scenarios, and presents a premium stable strategy which has been detailed in all factors of their evolutionary direction. The cooperation of precise compensation is jointly influenced by seven parameters, total cost and benefits of ecological protection, development benefits, compensation quota, punishment strength in up-stream, and compensation quota and punishment strength in down-stream, of which the total cost of ecological protection and compensation quota in up-stream and compensation quota in down-stream are key factors. This paper presents suggestion in increasing ecological compensation cooperation possibility on reducing total cost of ecological protection in up-stream and compensation quota in down-stream, raising compensation quota in up-stream and controlling punishment quota.

Urban ecological civilization depends upon ecological efficiency. This paper, based on the panel data from 2005 to 2016 of 107 cities in Yangtze River economic zone, uses SBM to measure their ecological efficiencies and to discuss their temporal-spatial evolution rules of ecological efficiency by means of exploring spatial analysis and spatial Markov Chain, and studies the impacts of their driving forces. The study shows a general stable ecological efficiency as an upward staged distribution among up-, middle- and down-stream with partial areas showing polarization. There is a spatially connected effect in ecological efficiency development among cities. Cities of high ecological efficiencies promote their neighboring cities by positively overflowing, and cities of low ecological efficiencies pull down their neighboring cities. Population scale and industrial upgrade play a different role in different streams, promoting ecological efficiency of the down-stream but suppressing that of the middle- and up-stream. U-shaped connection between industrial upgrade and ecological efficiency implies that ecological efficiency may not be improved during industrial upgrade in a short term. Economic growth boosts a higher ecological efficiency.

In order to study if ecological efficiency is improved by industrial upgrading in the Yangtze river economic zone, this paper uses the ultra-efficient DEA model to measure ecological efficiency, applies new EKC to ecological efficiency, and employs spatial accounting model to testify if there is an EKC relation between industrial upgrading and ecological efficiency in thirty three cities in the Yangtze river economic zone. The results show a rising ecological efficiency, which is higher in the upper reaches than in the middle-lower reaches. A U-shaped relation exists between industrial upgrading and ecological efficiency, with most cities locating on the right of U shape, just over the turning point. Economic development has no significant effect on ecological efficiency, but environmental controls and foreign direct investment do. This paper suggests an interaction in ecologically environmental protection between the upper- and lower- reaches, industrial upgrading that can promote ecological efficiency in the upper-middle reaches, boosting environmental controls and rationally using foreign capitals.

In order to study whether industrial structure upgrade improves the environmental pollution in the east coastal area or not, this paper selects the panel data of China's east coastal area and uses entropy to set up comprehensive evaluation index of environmental pollution, which is applied to study the relation between environmental pollution and industrial structure upgrade via Kuznets curve model. Results show that Shanghai, Tianjin and Hainan have a severe environmental pollution, which need improving. It shows a reverse U shape between environmental pollution and industrial structure upgrade in China's east coast. Currently it is positioning in the right portion, which indicates environment will be improved as industrial structures upgrade. Technical advances and foreign investment are influencing negatively on environment, but positively on foreign trade. This paper presents suggestions that the east coast make appropriate environmental policies, upgrade industrial structure to improve environment, intensify technical innovation, use foreign capital in a better manner and optimize trading structure.

“Resource curse” commonly occurs in developing countries that possess abundance of resources. Tanzania is cursed. This paper, based on its mining policy evolution, analyzes its issues and challenges, which helps understand the abundant resources coexisting with poverty. Challenges in its mining first come from the international capital, which leads a flush in mining industry but in vain in contribution to its economy. A social gap is forming, which partially is revealed by the conflicts between mining giants and novices. Behind Tanzania's “resource curse” is its poor mining control and policy making.