scholarly journals Dynamic Evolution and Spatial Convergence of the Virtual Cultivated Land Flow Intensity in China

Author(s):  
Kunpeng Wang ◽  
Wenjun Wu ◽  
Awais Jabbar ◽  
Zinabu Wolde ◽  
Minghao Ou

Exploring the flow intensity of virtual cultivated land is the key to improving the ecological compensation and food security policy. This study aimed to analyze the dynamic evolution, spatial convergence, and its affecting factors of the virtual cultivated land flow intensity. The spatial convergence model was used in this study. The results showed that, during 2000–2018, the growth rate of the surplus state of virtual cultivated land at the national level is less than that of the deficit state of virtual cultivated land in China. Moreover, the number of deficit provinces of virtual cultivated land flow intensity is increasing. The absolute β-convergence characteristics of the virtual cultivated land flow intensity are significant at the national, northeast, central, and western regions. Additionally, the conditional β-convergence exists at the national and four regional levels. Meanwhile, cultivated land resource endowment, population scale, regional economic development level, and agricultural mechanization level play an important role in the convergence process of inter-regional virtual cultivated land flow intensity. However, the influence degree of different control variables on different regional virtual cultivated land flow intensity is not consistent. Therefore, policymakers should pay attention to cultivated land resources’ spatial transfer mechanism when making regional cultivated land ecological compensation policies to coordinate the interesting relationship between the deficit area and surplus area of virtual cultivated land. Therefore, it is necessary to take the virtual cultivated land flow intensity as the reference index and use the combination of market guidance and government control to stimulus the stakeholders to protect cultivated land by taking different measures.

Politics ◽  
2005 ◽  
Vol 25 (3) ◽  
pp. 175-190 ◽  
Author(s):  
Claudia Major

The article aims to explore the utility of Europeanisation as a concept to grasp the interactions between national and European levels. The article illustrates how the EU impacts on the national level of policy, polity and the politics of Member States and assesses how the role of nation states within the European political system has changed as a result. First, the existing definitions of Europeanisation are critically assessed, contextualised and delimited. Initially developed for communitised policy areas in the first pillar, Europeanisation is defined as an interactive, ongoing and mutually constitutive process of ‘Europeanising’ and ‘Europeanised’ countries, linking national and European levels. Defining Europeanisation as ‘domestic change’, the article then discusses mechanisms, objects and forms, as well as the criteria and conditions of change. The article subsequently seeks to clarify the validity of the Europeanisation concept in capturing the increasing interwovenness of national and European spheres in intergovernmental policy fields situated in the second pillar of the EU, that is, foreign and security policy. Inherent methodological challenges, mainly due to the deficient delimitation of Europeanisation and the intergovernmental character of this policy field are discussed as well as the particularities of its applicability in this unique policy area.


Author(s):  
Kunpeng Wang ◽  
Minghao Ou ◽  
Zinabu Wolde

Exploring the elements that affect farmers’ willingness to protect cultivated land is the key to improving the ecological compensation mechanism for cultivated land protection. The purpose of this study was to analyze regional differences in ecological compensation for cultivated land protection, and to explore the influence of different external environments on farmers’ willingness to engage in cultivated land protection. Based on the Profitable Spatial Boundary Analysis theory (PSBA), GIS spatial analysis technology was used to analyze regional space differences and assess ecological compensation for urban and rural cultivated land protection at the micro scale. The results show that the willingness of farmers to participate in cultivated land protection is affected by the external environment and the ecological compensation offered. The trend of the comprehensive benefit of cultivated land protection ecological compensation (B) is “Λ” from the first layer to the third layer. The B value of the urban–rural junction area is the highest value. This shows that the external environment is favorable for ecological compensation in this area, which has a positive effect on farmers’ willingness to protect cultivated land. B < 0 in the first and third layer, which has a depressant effect on farmers’ willingness to protect cultivated land. The study results contribute to the understanding of the impact of regional differences in the external environmental on ecological compensation and farmers’ willingness to engage in cultivated land protection.


2018 ◽  
Vol 10 (11) ◽  
pp. 4042 ◽  
Author(s):  
Wei Wei ◽  
Yuanjun Zhu ◽  
Hao Li ◽  
Kebin Zhang ◽  
Baitian Wang ◽  
...  

The abandonment and cultivation of croplands in the Eurasian Steppe has become the focus of global and regional food security and agricultural policy-making. A large area of cropland in some post-Soviet countries has proven to be abandoned with the disintegration of the Soviet Union; however, it is unclear as to whether Kazakhstan also experienced a similar change as one of the main food providers for the former Soviet Union. In this study, we used the annual land cover dataset (1992–2015) from the European Space Agency, Climate Change Initiative (ESA-CCI) to detect spatio-temporal characteristics of rainfed and irrigated cropland changes in Kazakhstan. The Mann–Kendall test and regime shift analysis showed that rainfed and irrigated cropland at national level had a significant increasing trend with a significant rising up to 1999 and stagnation during 2000–2015, which was further confirmed with analysis at 14 regions. The greatest contributor to rainfed and irrigated croplands was steppes, followed by shrinkage of water bodies since 2005 to a great extent, rapid urbanization process resulted in losses of a part of irrigated oases. The trend surface analysis indicated that reorganized stable pattern characterized by rainfed cropland in north and irrigated cropland in south was driven by the strategy of the gradual agricultural development of oases. The nonexistence of cycle between the abandonment and recultivation proved that newly-gained cropland from steppe may be less degraded and more productive for sustainable land use in Kazakhstan. In conclusion, this study can provide strong evidence for sustainable land use and a basis for food security policy-making in Kazakhstan, and even all of the Central Asian countries in the future.


Subject Proposed reforms in the oil and gas sector. Significance In the face of strong resource nationalism, President Joko 'Jokowi' Widodo's government faces strong pressure to improve the balance between public control and private participation in the oil and gas sector. To that end, the government proposes to amend the 2001 oil and gas law. Its draft amendment proposes, most notably, that state enterprises should control all production operations, while private investors provide technology and capital. The government is also considering revisions to the upstream regime, which is currently based on production-sharing contracts (PSCs). These changes require parliamentary approval. Impacts Private firms, especially foreign ones, are likely to delay fresh investment in energy assets, given the oil and gas market glut. Indonesia's vast natural resource endowment will attract private interest, but regulatory uncertainty will be an abiding problem. Transparency in the extractive sector will continue to rise at the national level, but local level reforms will be slow.


2014 ◽  
Vol 25 (4) ◽  
pp. 407-420 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stefano Salata

Purpose – Land use change in the Alpine Regions is dominated by two main factors: a process of re-naturalization and a process of expansion for settlements with the relevant occupation of low-valley areas. The purpose of this paper is to present an overview of land take measures in the Lombardy Alpine context and the recent proposals of spatial planning instruments for land resource management. New solutions to limit soil sealing have to be confronted with qualitative proposals at local scale. Design/methodology/approach – The paper collects different research outputs regarding land take in the Italian Alpine context and carried out by GIS software and tries to show the new methodologies available for limiting and mitigating soil sealing, in accordance with DIAMONT aims. Findings – The paper argues that the data are now available to analyze the problem and new operative methods have to be settled in the recent context of European Union (Soil Sealing Guidelines) to support decision making in planning, suggesting land use allocation and possible ecological compensation. Research limitations/implications – The new qualitative decision models have to be assessed for a better ecological integration in supporting land use decisions. Practical implications – An evaluation of land take at local scale caused by land use changes is a good support in the decision-making process of planning. Originality/value – In this paper a method based on a local scale is reported, which can be used for the specific assessment of land take in order to support land-use decisions.


Author(s):  
Andrew J. Enterline

Nonrealist variables (NRV) in the study of International Relations (IR) encompass the nonmaterial causal and consequential phenomena linked to interstate relations, central to which are studies of identity and norms. The two primary dimensions of the research agenda on identity are social interaction and culture. The study of social interaction considers the origins and dynamism of agency, the interests that flow from identity, and the manner in which identity influences issues such as security, allegiance, and empathy. On the other hand, research examining identity through the lens of culture reflects two distinct subinquiries: civilizational conflict, which is concerned with the impact of national culture on interstate conflict; and strategic culture, which studies how domestic and military cultures influence security policy. Meanwhile, the role of norms as they pertain to the study of IR is subdivided into two general research agendas associated with two levels of analysis in the IR subfield: the international system level and the national level norms. The analysis of norms in the scientific study of international processes (SSIP) is stronger than identity. This is due to the long-term presence of norms in the study of IR in research agendas examining alliances, reciprocity, arms races, and deterrence. Ultimately, the agent-based modeling approach may provide a methodology for scholars in SSIP through which to study the emergence and impact of identity and norms on systems and subsystems in IR.


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