International Master of Environmental Policy (iMEP)

Permanent URI for this collectionhttps://hdl.handle.net/10161/18332

Master's projects by students in the Duke Kunshan International Master of Environmental Policy program.

The masters project is done in partial fulfillment of the degree requirements for the professional Internaional Master of Environmental Policy degree. While the MP may include original laboratory or field research, it may also take the form of management plans, handbooks, educational curricula, or other such products. Each student is advised by a faculty member who reviews and approves the project prior to completion.

A masters projects that is original research should not be as large as a masters thesis although it should be of publishable quality but not necessarily comprehensive enough to stand alone as a publication. A masters projects that does not follow the usual format for scientific research should follow a framework that is considered good practice in an appropriate field.

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Tide-driven soil respiration: Impacts of Tidally-Induced Water Table Fluctuations on Soil Respiration in Riparian Zones
(2026-04-24) Yang, Yinuo
As a critical "biogeochemical reactor," the riparian zone regulates greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions under conditions of fluctuating groundwater levels. However, quantifying these emissions remains a formidable challenge due to the complex coupling between continuous soil respiration (CO2) and episodic methane (CH4) pulses. To address this, we propose a "point-event dual-scale framework" designed to integrate and decipher these dynamic processes using annual high-frequency monitoring data collected from the Qiputang riparian zone in Jiangsu Province, China. Our findings reveal a distinct functional zonation and a hierarchical threshold mechanism within the riparian zones of tidal rivers. Regarding CO2, continuous seasonal modeling confirmed that the lag in groundwater level relative to the soil surface (GWlag) significantly enhanced aerobic respiration (coefficient = -0.99, p < 0.001). Regarding CH4, we identified a decoupled response pattern: methanogenesis commenced at a biological activation threshold of -1.3 m, whereas an explosive release of soil methane was triggered when the groundwater level breached a shallow physical threshold of -0.91 m. Finally, we calculated the ebullitive contribution fraction (Efrac) to quantify the environmental magnitude of this mechanism. The net cumulative CH4 budget (+928.13 μmol m-2) comprised two opposing components: a continuous baseline methanotrophic sink of -748.07 μmol m-2 (representing periods of net biological uptake when GW < -0.91 m) and episodic ebullitive emissions of +1676.20 μmol m-2 (triggered by threshold-breaching events). Because the massive ebullitive source (+1676.20) substantially exceeded the overall net cumulative flux (+928.13, where Z=Y−X), these short-lived physical outbursts alone mathematically accounted for 180.6% of the net budget. This striking percentage explicitly means that without these episodic hydraulic compression events, the riparian zone would have functioned entirely as a resilient net CH4 sink. This calculation confirms that physical ebullition overwhelmingly dictates the net "sink-to-source" status of this highly dynamic riparian ecosystem.
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Natural and Cultural Capital Dynamics: A Theoretical Framework and Empirical Evidence on Cultural Landscape Formation
(2026-04-25) Huangfu, Juanying
Landscapes with similar ecological endowments often diverge sharply in public attention, heritage recognition, and policy protection. One possible explanation is that places differ in the extent to which they accumulate cultural meaning through historical narratives, institutions, and place-based practices. This thesis approaches this phenomenon through the concept of cultural capital, defined as a stock that embodies culturally meaningful assets and evolves over time. I develop a parsimonious dynamic framework that treats cultural capital as a stock that accumulates, depreciates, and responds to investment, while natural capital evolves as a place-specific stock. The key linkage is structural rather than mechanical: shared landscape characteristics shape both initial natural conditions and the growth potential of cultural capital. Within this framework, cultural capital formation is influenced by geographic conditions and accessibility to broader cultural networks. Guided by this framework, I compile a county-level spatial dataset for China and proxy cultural capital formation using the growth of cultural points of interest between 2012 and 2022. In baseline specifications with climate-zone fixed effects and heteroskedasticity-robust standard errors, weaker cultural accessibility, measured as greater standardized distance to historical cultural cities, is associated with slower growth in cultural points of interest. Terrain slope is consistently restrictive, and baseline nighttime lights are negatively associated with subsequent percentage growth, consistent with convergence from higher initial development levels. Heterogeneity analysis suggests that the cultural accessibility gradient is concentrated in counties that are relatively high in their provincial elevation distribution. These results provide spatial evidence on where cultural capital is more likely to emerge and highlight the role of landscape characteristics in shaping cultural capital formation. More broadly, the findings provide a foundation for future work examining how accumulated cultural capital may influence environmental governance and the allocation of preservation resources.
Access status: Open Access ,
The Impact of Carbon Market Expansion on Steel Enterprises: A Case Study in Changzhou
(2026-04-28) Zhang, Yangsen; He, Yiting; Gao, He
As China continues to expand its national carbon emissions trading system (ETS) to cover the steel industry, it becomes more important to look carefully at how firms respond to carbon constraints. In Changzhou, which is a major industrial city, steel enterprises are under increasing pressure to reduce emissions while also maintaining economic performance. In this project, we adopted a mixed-methods approach that brought together the SFIC framework and a stylized model, so that we could examine how enterprises respond under different carbon price levels and benchmark settings. Our results show that the current carbon price has only a limited effect on short-term production decisions and technology adoption. At the same time, it has a much clearer effect on firms’ allowance positions and their relative competitiveness. In this process, lower-emission firms are placed in a more favorable position, and this further widens structural differences within the industry. These results indicate that China’s carbon market now works more as a mechanism that imposes constraints and sorts firms by performance, rather than as a policy tool that strongly drives immediate technological change.
Access status: Open Access ,
Mangrove Restoration in Zhanjiang: Impact on Small-Scale Fisheries and Aquaculture from a Socioeconomic Lens
(2026-04-24) Song, Judy Z.
This study examines how mangrove restoration affects the livelihoods, productivity, and perceptions of small-scale fisheries and aquaculture communities in Zhanjiang, China. Drawing on interviews across villages with restored mangroves, natural mangroves, and no mangroves, the study compares how different ecological contexts shape local experiences. Attitudes toward mangrove conservation were largely mixed or conditional, with stronger support and perceived benefits observed by natural mangrove communities. While many fisherfolk reported minimal impact to productivity, those who worked nearest to dense Sonneratia apetala forests described localized livelihood impacts, including reduced mudflat access and increased aquaculture costs. Conversations revealed a lack of participation, unclear understanding, and resigned acceptance of restoration policies, with a limited sense of socioeconomic and ecological benefit for local communities, particularly around restored non-native mangroves. The findings suggest that the social outcomes of mangrove restoration depend on species choice, planning, and community engagement.
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Walking as Biocultural Action: Infrastructure(s) of Hope at the China’s Hmong Borderland
(2026-04-24) Shen, Shuyi Lynn
Infrastructure reorganizes time-space, transforming local rhythms of life and access to sacred sites. As residents of the Wuling Mountains in Xiangxi, Central China, Miao/Hmong people have walked in the mountains for centuries until the arrival of paved roads in the last decades. Through ethnographic research, this study finds that ancestral footpaths have sustained generational knowledge sharing and more-than-human relations. Synthesizing perceptions from local youth who recurrently organize the re-walking events, this study examines how notions of hope and progress embedded in state-led roadbuilding initiatives are negotiated on the ground. Drawing on Amber Murrey’s concept of “slow dissent”, this study theorizes walking as a practice through which Miao people reclaim agency over human-mountain relationships and reassert footpaths as integral components of the biocultural landscape in Xiangxi. The findings point toward a more culturally sensitive approach toward developmental projects on ethnic minority land, one that integrates traditional ecological knowledge and engages with youth in the making of more just and diverse futures for rural China.
Access status: Open Access ,
From Stage to Strategy: How Major Auto Shows Interpret China's Auto Industry Transition (2013-2025)
(2026-04-24) Wang, Junyu; Wang, Zijie
China’s transition to new energy vehicles (NEVs) is typically examined from the perspectives of policy design, market acceptance, and corporate-level innovation. However, little attention has been paid to the process by which policy signals are publicly displayed, interpreted, and translated into competitive strategies through meso-level mechanisms. This study examines major auto shows held during China’s automotive electrification transition from 2013 to 2025 as intermediary platforms. Focusing on the “Beijing International Automobile Exhibition” (Auto China) and the “Shanghai International Automobile Exhibition” (Auto Shanghai), the study constructs a structured evidence base that integrates show-level characteristics, representative vehicle signals, policy timelines, and selected monthly sales trajectories. Through three case studies anchored in distinct phases, the 2014 Auto China, the 2019 Auto Shanghai, and the 2024 Auto China, this study analyzes how auto shows interact with evolving policy narratives and market conditions during the early policy-driven phase, the competitive acceleration phase, and the mature differentiation phase of China’s new energy vehicle transition. The findings indicate that while auto shows do not directly determine market outcomes, they function as amplifiers at the meso-level of industrial transformation. In the early stage, auto shows enhanced the visibility and legitimacy of new energy technologies; in the intermediate stage, they served as a stage for competitive benchmarking and visible learning; and in the mature stage, they helped redefine competitive boundaries around intelligent features, high-end positioning, and ecosystem integration. By revealing how public exhibition platforms organize and amplify technological signals under the conditions of policy guidance and market competition, this study offers new perspectives for academic research in the fields of industrial transformation, temporary clusters, and policy-market interactions.
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Opportunities and Challenges in the current aquaculture practices on waterbirds, using coastal Jiangsu as an example
(2026-04-24) Ma, Yueyang; Feng, Shi
The coastal wetlands in the Jiangsu Province are located along the East Asian Australasian Flyway, supporting significant populations of migratory waterbirds while also hosting extensive aquaculture ponds resulting from decades of coastal reclamation. As natural intertidal wetlands decline, aquaculture ponds increasingly function as potential substitute habitats; however, their ecological value depends largely on farmers’ management practices and willingness to accommodate biodiversity. However, despite their potential importance, there is still limited understanding of how aquaculture ponds support migratory waterbirds under different management strategies. This study examines the interactions between aquaculture operations and migratory waterbird use from the perspective of local fish farmers. Through 32 structured interviews and participant observation conducted in Lianyungang, Yancheng, and Nantong, in Jiangsu Province, China. The research explores daily aquaculture practices, perceptions of waterbirds, and attitudes toward fishery–photovoltaic integration projects. The results indicate that water-level management is primarily driven by production needs such as harvesting cycles, disease prevention, and cost control. Although seasonal pond drawdowns in autumn and winter occasionally create shallow-water conditions suitable for foraging waterbirds, these habitat opportunities are incidental and temporary rather than conservation-oriented. Most fishermen perceive waterbirds as sources of disturbance, feed loss, and potential disease transmission, while awareness of conservation regulations remains limited. Due to the fact that aquaculture ponds are not clearly covered under current wetland protection frameworks, creating a policy gap in the promotion of wildlife-friendly practices. Attitudes toward photovoltaic integration are mixed, balancing perceived technical and environmental benefits against concerns about land occupation, governance transparency, and limited participation in decision making. The findings reveal tensions between conservation and livelihoods and suggest that effective solutions should support farmers’ economic needs while protecting migratory waterbirds.
Access status: Open Access ,
Policy Iteration and Patent Technology Evolution for Power Battery Recycling of Electric Vehicles in China (2015–2025)
(2026-04-23) Xinxue, Wang; Shiyi, Zheng; Jiayue, Lyu
In the context of large-scale power battery retirement and increasing resource constraints, how policy evolution shapes innovation pathways in battery recycling has become a critical issue in environmental and resource governance. This study develops and visualizes a “Policy Evolution–Patent Innovation” analytical framework for China (2015 - 2025) to examine their underlying interaction mechanisms. The results show that policies - particularly strengthened extended producer responsibility and recycling standards - significantly drive patent growth and expand innovation actors. Innovation follows a policy- driven, firm-led, and efficiency- and cost-oriented trajectory, with pronounced geographical concentration. By adopting a co-evolutionary perspective, this study provides a systematic framework and policy-relevant insights for the sustainable development of the power battery recycling sector.
Access status: Open Access ,
The Sicomines Model: Institutional Learning and Policy Transfer in China's Resource-for-Infrastructure Deals
(2026-04-24) Zhang, Bochao
The global energy transition has triggered an unprecedented surge in demand for critical minerals, positioning the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC)—which supplies over 70% of global cobalt production—at the epicenter of strategic competition. China has become the dominant investor in African mining through its "Angola Model" of resource-backed infrastructure financing, whereby state-owned enterprises provide infrastructure in exchange for mineral concessions. The Sicomines project, a $9 billion agreement signed in 2008 between the DRC and a Chinese consortium, represents the largest and most controversial example of this model. Despite promising $6 billion in infrastructure, critics argue the deal disproportionately benefits Chinese interests while delivering insufficient returns to the DRC and devastating local communities. This project examines the precise conditions under which such investments generate distributively just outcomes for present communities and intergenerationally equitable benefits for future generations. Research Questions and Methods This study asks: Under what conditions does Chinese investment in critical minerals generate just outcomes for host communities? Using a single-case study design with embedded macro, meso, and micro-level analysis, I employ process-tracing methodology to map the evolution of the Sicomines project from 2007 to 2024. Drawing on multiple data sources—including contractual documents, NGO investigations (RAID and AFREWATCH), EITI reports, IGF audits, and comparative cases in Guinea and Ghana—I trace how institutional arrangements shape justice outcomes over time. Key Findings The analysis reveals a profound paradox at the heart of the green transition: the Sicomines project achieved spectacular success at the macro level while failing disastrously at the micro level. • Macro-level success (Intergenerational Equity): The DRC gradually built bargaining capacity through resource nationalism, culminating in the 2024 renegotiation that increased infrastructure commitments from $3 billion to $70 billion, introduced annual royalties, and established a sovereign wealth fund. Four enabling conditions drove this transformation: political transition, strategic mineral importance, accumulated civil society evidence, and institutional auditing capacity. • Meso-level progress (Procedural Justice): The 2018 Mining Code and EITI compliance created legal frameworks for transparency and community specifications. Civil society organizations effectively used EITI data to document discrepancies and advocate for reform. • Micro-level failure (Distributive and Recognition Justice): Local communities bear catastrophic environmental and social burdens. A 2024 field investigation documented hyper-acidic rivers, severe health impacts, and the displacement of 12,000 people without adequate compensation or Free, Prior, and Informed Consent. Formal procedural mechanisms completely fail to translate into material justice on the ground. • Institutional Learning: Early deficiencies triggered civil society pressure that drove double-loop learning, fundamentally restructuring the agreement. Subsequent deals in Guinea (mandating contract transparency) and Ghana (requiring parliamentary approval) selectively incorporated lessons from the Sicomines experience. Broader Implications and Conclusions The study demonstrates that the Sicomines model should not be replicated wholesale. Policymakers must selectively adopt effective mechanisms—independent auditing, sovereign wealth funds, and EITI transparency—while explicitly avoiding failures such as delayed community engagement and company-controlled environmental monitoring. Achieving genuine justice requires more than technical fixes; it demands a fundamental reorientation of power relations between host states, international investors, and local communities. The global community must recognize that the green transition cannot be built on the backs of sacrificed communities. Ultimately, the success of decarbonization must be measured not solely by carbon reduction, but by whether the communities mining critical minerals are protected from becoming permanent sacrifice zones.
Access status: Open Access ,
Tech-EVA: A Technology-Adjusted Valuation Model for the Solar Photovoltaic Industry — A Comparative Case Study of LONGi Green Energy and Liansheng Technology
(2026-04-23) Luo, Erchi; Yu, Yihao; Zhan, Haochuan
This study develops a Technology-Adjusted Economic Value Added model, named Tech-EVA, to better evaluate solar photovoltaic enterprises under rapid technological iteration and industry volatility. Traditional valuation methods often fail to capture the value of R&D accumulation, technology-route uncertainty, and the financial impact of key technical parameters. To address this gap, the Tech-EVA framework integrates three mechanisms: the Technology-Economic Conversion coefficient, which links technical performance to economic profit; WACC-Tech, which adjusts capital cost for technology-specific risk; and OptionTech, which captures the strategic option value embedded in future technology pathways. Using LONGi Green Energy and Liansheng Technology as comparative cases, this study applies the model to two different enterprise types within the PV industry: a mature industry leader following the BC technology route and an early-stage innovator committed to HJT technology. The results show that LONGi’s value is mainly driven by operational value, scale advantages, and relatively mature technological competitiveness, while Liansheng’s value depends more heavily on technology option value and future breakthrough potential. Under the Tech-EVA valuation, LONGi reaches an estimated per-share value of RMB 28.95, while Liansheng reaches RMB 16.70, both higher than their year-end 2024 market prices. The comparative results suggest that the Tech-EVA model can make technology value more visible and measurable in PV enterprise valuation. For mature firms, the model highlights the role of stable technology leadership and lower technology risk. For early-stage firms, it better reflects the asymmetric payoff structure of breakthrough technologies, where downside risk is limited but upside potential can be substantial. Overall, this study provides a more transparent and industry-specific valuation framework for investors, enterprise managers, analysts, and policymakers seeking to assess PV firms in a period of technological transition and market adjustment.
Access status: Open Access ,
Mapping Solar Technology Development in China: A Policy and Patent Analysis Report
(2026-04-23) Siyuang, Fang; Wenqiang , Yang; Andrea, Lu
China is the world’s largest source of solar-related patents and a central driver of global clean energy innovation. However, the mechanisms linking national and municipal policy to the timing, geography, and technological composition of solar innovation remain poorly understood. This project analyzes 156,048 solar-related patents from 1985 to 2020 and codes 1,131 local policy documents from Beijing and Suzhou to examine how policy sequencing shapes innovation trajectories. Using temporal trend analysis, prefecture-level geocoding, and spatial diffusion mapping, we identify long-term leaders, late-stage catch-up cities, and shifts across nine major solar technology pathways. Our findings show that major national policies such as the Renewable Energy Law, feed-in tariffs, and grid parity reforms correspond to distinct waves of patent growth and geographic expansion. Beijing’s innovation is driven by research-oriented compulsory policy tools, while Suzhou’s rapid rise reflects manufacturing-focused mixed-instrument policies. Together, these results provide a clearer understanding of how policy design influences the evolution of China’s solar innovation ecosystem and offer insights for cities seeking to build competitive clean energy industries.
Access status: Open Access ,
Managing Climate-related Risks in Chinese Commercial Banks: Insights from Regulatory and Operational Alignment
(2026-04-23) Qiao, Cong; Wei, Tianyue
Access status: Open Access ,
The Commercial Expansion of Chinese Companies inSaudi Arabia's Renewable Energy Sector
(2026-04-23) Fu, Shihao
Access status: Open Access ,
Environmental Conflict, Citizen Perceptions, and Digital Narrative Dynamics: An NLP Study of Lithium Mining Protests in Serbia
(2026-04-23) Zhang, Han
The global transition toward a green economy has created unprecedented demand for critical minerals, fundamentally reshaping geopolitical and ecological landscapes. While lithium is essential for this "materials revolution," the burdens of green extractivism are often disproportionately outsourced to semi-peripheral regions, igniting fierce conflicts over environmental justice and national sovereignty. This study examines the digital narrative construction and affective mobilization surrounding the anti-lithium mining protests in Serbia between 2020 and 2025. Using Natural Language Processing (NLP) assisted by Large Language Models (LLMs) to analyze 2,609 social media posts across Facebook, X (Twitter), and LinkedIn, this research quantifies the digital "voice" of the public under a competitive authoritarian regime. The findings reveal that while social media primarily serves to organize and coordinate the protests (81.4%), the underlying grievances blend environmental justice (14.2%), resource nationalism (2.4%), and critiques of green colonialism (2.0%). Together, these distinct themes forge a unified and powerful narrative of "Environmental Nationalism." Crucially, the longitudinal sentiment analysis identifies a statistically significant "Anger Gap", a 7 to 10 percentage point surge in high-arousal anger across platforms during active protest phases. This emotional tipping point, transforming latent ecological fear into mobilized political anger, serves as the psychological glue that binds individual anxieties into a collective resistance identity. Ultimately, this study demonstrates how localized environmental grievances are digitally weaponized to challenge both state-led industrial policy and the asymmetric power dynamics of the global green transition.
Access status: Open Access ,
From Birth to Death Among the Trees: A Study of Forest Culture in the Rituals of the Yi People
(2026-04-20) Zhang, Jiahao
This thesis examines how forest-related life-cycle rituals among the Yi people in southwest China shape relationships between people and trees across birth, marriage, and death. Rather than treating these practices primarily as symbolic expressions, the study shows that they function as socially enforced practices through which rules of forest use, moral responsibility, and restraint are learned, shared, and maintained over time. To clarify how different elements of the forest are engaged in ritual life, the thesis distinguishes among individual trees, sacred groves or woodlands, and broader forested landscapes. In Yi communities, these categories are not interchangeable. Specific trees, such as spirit trees associated with birth, and designated sacred groves linked to ancestors and ritual activity, carry distinct expectations regarding use, avoidance, and care. Drawing on ritual texts, ethnographic accounts, local gazetteers, and secondary scholarship, the analysis traces how forest-related norms are embedded within life-cycle rituals. Birth rituals link a child’s well-being to specific trees; marriage rituals extend these norms across households and lineages through regulated use of wood; and death rituals situate forests as sites of return, transformation, and ancestral presence. Across these stages, ecological care is framed not as environmental protection, but as an ordinary part of fulfilling kinship duties and moral obligations. The thesis argues that these ritualized practices function as forms of informal environmental governance. By embedding rules of forest use within socially significant life transitions, Yi communities produce stable patterns of avoidance, restraint, and stewardship without relying on formal law or explicit conservation goals. Recognizing these existing practices provides insight into how environmental policy—particularly protected-area planning and community-based conservation—might engage with local governance systems rather than displacing them.
Access status: Open Access ,
Co-variation Between Global Sea Surface Temperature and MODIS Ocean Chlorophyll-a (2002–2025): A Time-Series Regression Analysis
(2026-04-21) Yin, Xinran
The statistical association between global sea surface temperature (SST) and ocean color remains poorly quantified. This study analyzes monthly globally averaged SST and chlorophyll-a from August 2002 to December 2025 using ordinary least squares regression with three specifications: (1) baseline bivariate, (2) seasonal adjustment via month fixed effects, and (3) additional linear time trend. Analysis of 264 observations reveals a robust positive relationship: coefficients range from 0.97 to 1.38 (p < 0.001), with R² increasing from 0.105 to 0.481. The association persists after controlling for seasonality and trends, indicating systematic covariation between surface temperature and ocean color. These findings provide an empirical benchmark for coupled thermal-optical ocean dynamics and inform policy on climate monitoring, Earth system model validation, and marine resource management.
Access status: Open Access ,
Coupled Social, Natural, and Economic Systems: Advancing the Renewable Energy Crossover by 13 Years
(2025-04-24) Liu, Kaidi
Achieving deep decarbonization requires more than technological solutions, demands a systemic understanding of how economic activity, energy demand, and climate feedback co evolve. Yet most integrated models assume unidirectional causality, overlooking the nonlinear feedback loops that shape emission pathways. Here, we develop the Integrated Socio–Energy– Ecologic–Climate–Economics (ISE3C) model, which explicitly couples climate-induced economic damages with energy system dynamics. By endogenizing Climate-Adjusted GDP (CA-GDP), the model captures how warming suppresses economic output, thereby altering primary energy demand and fossil fuel use. Scenario simulations reveal that early investment and rapid policy response can accelerate the renewable crossover by up to 13 years. However, economic feedback also slows clean energy diffusion, delaying deep decarbonization despite lower aggregate emissions. These findings highlight the dual-edged nature of climate– economy feedback: while they may reduce demand, they also risk stalling transitions unless counterbalanced by proactive policy and investment.
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The effect of China’s expanded ecological red lines on global soy and maize production, trade, and shifting land use
(2025-04-30) Khan, Roshan
This project investigates the agricultural spillover effect of China’s expanded ecological red line, announced after the 30x30 Target in the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework. China contends with millions of hectares in conflict area as its ecological red line overlaps with cropland. China is also the world’s top importer of soybean and maize, but a recent food security law aims to increase domestic grain production and reduce imports. We combine scenarios of a strict or lenient ecological red line with an effective or ineffective law, then study the extremes of crop intensification or extensification to meet food deficits. We quantify the potential impact of the expanded ecological red line on China’s soy and maize production to be 3.3 million metrics tons of soybean and 33.6 million metric tons of maize. In the lowest deficit scenario, the agricultural spillover effect could require yield increases of 31.6% for soy and 19.8% for maize in China by 2033, along with moderate yield improvements (3% soy, 8.8% maize) in Brazil. Alternatively, China could expand cropland by 889,447 hectares for soy and 2,006,126 hectares for maize. In the highest deficit scenario, China would need to increase yields by 127% for soy and 39% for maize, or expand cropland by over 9 million hectares for each soy and maize. We conclude that intensification is more feasible to compensate the majority of future soy and maize deficit, and we map areas of likely crop expansion and intensification to the Matopiba region in Brazil. These findings can support further research on balancing biodiversity conservation and food security.
Access status: Open Access ,
LOW CARBON TRANSFORMATION OF KUNSHAN INDUSTRIES AND POLICY PROMOTION: 1985- 2020
(2025-04-17) Zhang, Bolin; Wang, Yenching; Pan, Mingzhang
Kunshan, one of China’s key industrial centers, has undergone a significant low-carbon transformation over the past three decades. This study examines the evolution of Kunshan’s industrial structure from labor-intensive manufacturing to high-tech and green industries, analyzing the role of government policies in driving this transition. Using enterprise registration and patent data from 1987 to 2020, we assess the impact of national, regional, and local policies on innovation and business development. Our findings reveal two key economic turning points: a surge in patent applications in 2008-2009, driven by R&D incentives, and a sharp increase in enterprise registrations in 2015-2016, facilitated by business-friendly reforms. Case studies of the Kunshan Development Zone and Yushan Town highlight the effectiveness of targeted policy interventions in fostering industrial upgrading. While Kunshan has made substantial progress, regional disparities in economic growth and challenges in balancing sustainability with industrial expansion remain. This study provides policy recommendations for sustaining Kunshan’s momentum toward a green and innovation-driven economy.
Access status: Open Access ,
Exploring the Factors of Transition after Coal Mine Closure on S Village, X Village, and H Village in L City, Hunan: A Multi-Case Comparative Study
(2025-04-29) Weijia, Ran; Qijia, Tang
This study examines the divergent socio-economic outcomes of three coal-dependent villages (H, S, and X) in L City, Hunan Province, following mine closures. Using qualitative comparative analysis, semi-structured interviews, and field observations, the research identifies geographic conditions, governance efficacy, and social resilience as key determinants of post-closure transitions. H Village’s success stemmed from urban proximity, proactive governance, and economic diversification, while S and X faced geographic isolation, governance gaps, and skill mismatches. Findings highlight the critical role of location advantages, equitable compensation, and participatory policy design in fostering sustainable transitions. The study recommends shifting from compensation-focused approaches to systemic empowerment, integrating ecological restoration with industrial revitalization, and prioritizing infrastructure investments to break development traps in coal-dependent regions.

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