The development of a new zero-carbon thermal system is critical for achieving China’s energy transition and carbon neutrality goals. Heat pumps are a key enabling technology in this process, and their successful deployment hinges on two factors: identifying reliable low-temperature heat sources and ensuring that their electricity consumption is supplied by zero-carbon or low-carbon power. Based on China’s specific heating demands and resource endowments, this study proposes a construction pathway for zero-carbon thermal systems. For low-intensity heating demands—such as space heating in southern regions and rural buildings—air-source, ground-source, and surface water-source heat pumps should be employed to efficiently provide heat using electricity. For high-intensity heating demands—such as space heating in northern regions, low-pressure steam and hot water for industry—low-grade waste heat from human activities, including residual heat from nuclear and thermal power plants, industrial processes, and data centers, can be harvested as the low-temperature heat source and upgraded via heat pumps to meet supply needs. Building on this framework, the study presents an integrated roadmap for realizing zero-carbon thermal supply in China. It focuses on the technological architecture required to establish large-scale waste heat sharing networks, and analyses how coordinated operation between heating and power systems can contribute to the development of a new-type power system. Finally, it provides a comprehensive assessment of the investment requirements, economic returns, and carbon reduction potential of zero-carbon thermal infrastructure. This study recommends that the construction of zero-carbon thermal systems be prioritized and accelerated. Efforts should be advanced along two parallel pathways: (1) decentralized heat pumps deployed and retrofitted by end users, and (2) centralized waste heat sharing networks implemented through national-level planning. These should be supported by appropriate enabling policies and safeguards to fully unlock the economic and social benefits of zero-carbon thermal systems, thereby accelerating the low-carbon transformation of the energy system and the realization of carbon neutrality goals.
Establishing a mechanism for the value realization of ecological products is crucial for promoting ecological development in China and for achieving the goals of carbon peaking and carbon neutrality. It also paves a new path for common prosperity for all the people and can provide effective support for achieving national strategic goals by 2035. This study sorts out the practical progress of the value realization of ecological products in China, and adopts methods such as literature analysis, current situation assessment, and strategic adaptability analysis to explore the core bottlenecks regarding the value realization, namely, difficulties in measurement, transaction, monetization, and mortgage. Under the national strategic frameworks of building a Beautiful China, achieving common prosperity, and attaining the carbon peaking and carbon neutrality goals, this study responds to the new requirements for developing new quality productivity and proposes the vision, goals, and tasks for the value realization of ecological products toward 2035, with the strategic mainline being "value goals‒basic systems‒policy tools‒industrial support‒supporting guarantees." It also puts forward a differentiated strategic layout and implementation paths for the value realization of ecological products in different regions, providing important support for the transformation of China's development concepts, modes, and drivers.
The value realization of carbon sink ecological products is a vital component of the broader ecological product value realization system. Its theoretical elaboration and practical exploration are of great significance to synergistically advance ecological civilization construction and the achievement of carbon peaking and carbon neutrality goals. Based on the theoretical foundations of ecological product value realization, this study constructs an analytical framework for the value realization of carbon sink ecological products, clarifying their conceptual connotations and the logical chain of value realization. On this basis, and drawing on representative practical cases, it compares four major value realization pathways currently applied in China in terms of their mechanisms, participating stakeholders, strengths and limitations, and applicable scenarios. The analysis further identifies five critical constraints: fragmented institutional systems, underdeveloped market mechanisms, unreasonable benefit-sharing arrangements, weak grassroots participation and incentive mechanisms, and insufficient measurement and accounting standards. In response to these challenges, the study proposes targeted policy implications, including strengthening national-local collaborative governance, improving the construction of carbon sink market systems, optimizing ecological value realization mechanisms, enhancing the participation capacity of grassroots and diverse stakeholders, and improving quantification and rights confirmation systems. This study not only enriches the theoretical perspective on carbon sink ecological product value realization but also provides empirical evidence and policy references to support institutional innovation in ecological products under the framework of China's carbon neutrality strategy.
High-quality water resources conserved by national parks and other protected areas are indispensable ecological products for maintaining watershed ecological security and supporting downstream socio-economic systems. However, existing water management frameworks have not effectively identified or calculated their ecological spillover values, resulting in "high-quality but low-efficiency" allocation, reduced distributional equity, and insufficient protection incentives. This study introduces the Paracommons theory, which conceptualizes high-quality water not as an ordinary public good, but as a scarce ecological asset "released" through conservation activities, thereby requiring dedicated accounting, allocation, and compensation mechanisms. Taking the National Park of Hainan Tropical Rainforest as a case study, a three-tier "source-flow-use" accounting framework was established. The results show that, in terms of overall water allocation within the park, high-quality water constitutes an important share of regional water use, yet much of it is directed toward sectors with relatively low water quality requirements, while high-value industries and domestic users that rely more critically on high-quality water receive limited supply. This reflects a mismatch between water quality and economic value realization. At the watershed scale, different river basins exhibit heterogeneous patterns—such as agriculture-dominated, industry-dependent, or domestic-oriented allocations—highlighting the structural imbalance in high-quality water distribution. Drawing on domestic practices and international experiences, the study proposes a closed-loop market-oriented mechanism of "clarification of rights, pricing, trading, and financialization" for high-quality water, including graded entitlement based on source, quality, and ecological contribution. We further recommend innovative financial instruments such as water-ecological service credits, and a "high-quality water bank", and strengthened institutional and regulatory safeguards. This framework aims to advance the realization of ecological product values in protected areas and offer universally applicable insights for global natural resource governance.
As a unique regional system that synergizes critical ecological barrier functions with economic production, the spatiotemporal dynamics of gross ecological product (GEP) in river basins hold paradigmatic significance for resolving the conservation ‒ development dilemma in ecologically functional zones. This study constructs a basin-scale GEP accounting framework encompassing three dimensions: material supply, regulatory services, and cultural services, and synthesizes models for realizing the value of ecological products in river basins. It further reveals three major constraints hindering value realization: economic development levels, geographical accessibility, and institutional policies. Taking the Chishui River basin as an example, this study quantitatively assesses GEP characteristics in 2015 and 2021. It proposes integrated development practices such as “agriculture ‒ brewing ‒ cultural tourism” synergy, bamboo carbon credit trading, and innovative cross-regional ecological compensation to drive the transformation of ecological resources into high-value-added outputs. Finally, the study proposes development pathways including multi-scale GEP accounting paradigms, innovation- and market-driven value realization mechanisms, and institutional ‒ market ‒ technical safeguards, providing actionable insights for green and high-quality development in river basins.
Constructing low-carbon industrial parks as well as promoting energy structure transformation and improving green production ability is critical for achieving high-quality development of China's industry. Within low-carbon industrial parks, both renewable energy power and steam consumption of industrial production exhibit frequent fluctuation. Before low-cost, large-scale, and long-period energy storage technologies are widely applied in the industry field, the preheating combustion boilers have the potential to balance fluctuation regulation. This study clarifies the energy using tendency in low-carbon industrial parks, technical characteristics of preheating combustion boilers, and adaptiveness of these boilers in industrial parks. Moreover, it reviews the technical progress and future development directions of preheating combustion boilers, and summarizes several demonstration projects implemented in China. The 60 t∙h-1 pulverized-coal preheating combustion boiler has achieved flexible regulation within an ultra-wide load range of 10%‒100%; the 90 t∙h-1 pulverized-coal preheating combustion boiler has realized rapid start-up without any auxiliary fuels after 46 hours of banked fire; and the 240 t∙h-1 circulating fluidized bed boiler coupled with preheating combustion of pulverized coal has attained efficient, coordinated output of fossil energy and photovoltaic power. Future research should prioritize technological breakthroughs in biomass preheated combustion boilers, hydrogen and ammonia co-firing or pure combustion in preheating combustion boilers, coordination of boiler start-stop and green heat supply, as well as O2/CO2 preheating combustion of pulverized coal, aiming to enhance the technical capabilities of preheating combustion boilers and provide a comprehensive support for the development of zero-carbon industrial parks.
With the intensification of global climate change and environmental pollution, building a clean energy supply system and promoting green energy transformation have become a consensus of the international community. As a major energy consumer, China is actively and steadily advancing its carbon peaking and carbon neutrality goals. The low-carbon transformation of the power industry, one of the main sources of carbon emissions, is particularly critical. By establishing a carbon emission intensity model for thermal power unit operations and a carbon emission source inventory for multiple types of low-carbon energy generation and electrochemical energy storage, a unified carbon footprint accounting model for the power supply side was formed. On this basis, a low-carbon operation simulation method for new power systems that is adapted to the flexible interaction of sources, grids, loads, and storage was proposed along with a calculation method for inter-regional carbon transfer, enabling the simulation and calculation of carbon emissions from the source-side operation of power systems. Taking typical power grids in sending and receiving regions in China as examples, quantitative assessment and analysis of carbon emissions in interconnected power grids was carried out. The research results show that through cross-regional integration of power resources, the total annual operating carbon emissions of the power grids in sending and receiving regions decreased by 0.4%, and the utilization rate of renewable energy increased by 1.4%. After optimizing the power supply operation mode with the goal of minimizing carbon emissions, the total annual operating carbon emissions of the power grids in sending and receiving regions decreased by 7.8% and 11.2%, respectively, which is superior to an optimization method with the goal of maximizing renewable energy consumption.This study provides quantitative assessment tools for energy conservation, emission reduction, and low-carbon operation of power systems, and offers operable implementation methods and technical support for the low-carbon transformation of the power industry.
Accurately calculating the carbon footprint of products relies on an electric carbon factor with appropriate calculation granularity and time-varying characteristics. The calculation and application of time- and area-specific electric carbon factors have become a research hotspot in the industry, which helps refine the calculation of the electric carbon factor, enrich its application scenarios, and strengthen the management of product carbon footprint accounting. This study analyzes the important role of time- and area-specific electric carbon factor in product carbon footprint accounting, and establishes a calculation method and application process for the factor based on actual production and operation of power systems. Taking Jiangsu Province as an example, the detailed calculation process of the time- and area-specific electric carbon factor was demonstrated, and the spatiotemporal variation feature of the factor was analyzed from the aspects of seasonal changes, differences in typical days at different time periods, and distribution of different prefecture level cities. Furthermore, the application prospects of the time- and area-specific electric carbon factor in product carbon footprint accounting were discussed from the aspects of optimizing the basic parameters of product carbon footprint accounting, improving carbon footprint accounting standards and carbon reduction policy systems, and promoting greener and low-carbon product production models. It is recommended to take actions in promoting the application of the time- and area-specific electric carbon factor, strengthening the continuous online monitoring of thermal power carbon emissions, developing product carbon footprint accounting standards, and establishing an internationally aligned product carbon footprint accounting certification system, thus to comprehensively strengthen the product carbon footprint accounting in China.
Establishing a localized carbon footprint accounting system for products in China is crucial for fostering new productive forces and enhancing the international competitiveness of the country. This study aims to address current challenges faced by carbon footprint accounting, including the absence of standardized systems, weak data foundations, and green trade barriers. It analyzes the intrinsic requirements and methodological framework of carbon footprint accounting in respects of goal setting, accounting processes, and underlying logics. A technical pathway for the localized carbon footprint accounting of products is proposed in three procedures: defining basic unit processes, analyzing material and energy flows, and adopting expandable structured modeling, illustrated with an example of the lithium battery industry. The study indicates that defining unit processes should trace the process and supply chains layer by layer back to bulk basic raw materials. Utilizing meta-analysis to establish input-output inventories for unit processes helps enhance the transparency and completeness of these inventories. Based on basic unit processes, it is recommended to portray three key types of flows: material, energy, and waste emission flows. These flows can interact with national greenhouse gas emission factors and allow for dynamic adjustments to product carbon footprints in response to technological advancements and energy structure optimization. Carbon footprint accounting should employ expandable structured modeling methods, using matrix operations to associate basic unit processes layer by layer along the supply chain. This approach facilitates integration with enterprises' production management systems and aids enterprises in mastering practical application methods. Furthermore, the study offers the following recommendations: (1) leveraging China's industrial system advantages to establish a national high-resolution database for greenhouse gas emission factors and a database for key product carbon footprint factors across dimensions of time, space, technology, and scale; meanwhile, ensuring the integration and mutual recognition with international databases and standards; (2) establishing a data classification and grading system, to thoroughly assess the impact of international outflows of carbon-footprint-related data and ensure the orderly and secure disclosure of the data; (3) exploiting the advantages of China's nationwide system to build a service system aimed at enhancing enterprises' carbon accounting capabilities and improving carbon footprint data management.
The domestic waste treatment sector is a significant contributor to global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, and mitigating GHG emissions from this sector is urgent for achieving sustainable development. Conventional domestic waste treatment technologies, including landfilling, incineration, aerobic composting, and anaerobic digestion, generate GHGs to varying degrees, exerting a significant impact on climate change. This study reviews the current research status on GHG emissions within the domestic waste treatment sector from two key perspectives: treatment technologies and systems. It summarizes GHG emission accounting research results and identifies major challenges, including insufficient data acquisition, unclear accounting boundaries, lack of methodological consistency, and limited spatiotemporal resolution, which result in low comparability and restricted applicability among different research outcomes. To address these issues, this study proposes future research directions: strengthening the collection of basic data on waste characteristics and process parameters, promoting the standardization of GHG emission accounting frameworks, enhancing the spatiotemporal resolution of GHG emission accounting, and improving the integration of accounting results into system optimization and policy-making. This study provides theoretical and methodological support as well as a scientific decision-making foundation for the precise accounting of GHG emissions, standardization of accounting systems, and GHG reduction management within the domestic waste treatment sector, and contributes to the low-carbon transformation of the waste treatment sector.
Non-carbon dioxide greenhouse gases (hereinafter referred to as non-CO2 GHG) have made a significant contribution to global temperature rise due to their high global warming potentials, and the corresponding emission control has become a major global challenge. Enterprises serve as the primary responsible entities for controlling greenhouse gas emissions, and information disclosure of greenhouse gases including non-CO2 GHG is a fundamental work. This study analyzes the differences between non-CO2 GHG and CO2 emissions, as well as the content requirements for non-CO2 GHG information disclosure. It sorts out international policies and actions related to non-CO2 GHG information disclosure and summarizes the practical characteristics of representative industries and enterprises. Moreover, the study elaborates on the current situation of greenhouse gas information disclosure by enterprises of China from two aspects: institutional construction and enterprise practice, and holds that the non-CO2 GHG information disclosure by Chinese enterprises is in its initial stage, facing a series of challenges such as institutional absence, technical shortcomings, unbalanced cost-effectiveness, and industry differentiation. Looking ahead, practical actions can be taken in the following aspects: accelerating the construction of institutional and regulatory systems, improving the market-oriented mechanism for non-CO2 GHG emission reduction, strengthening scientific and technological support and industrial innovation capabilities, promoting the synergy between industry self-discipline and independent corporate actions, and enhancing international influence. These measures aim to deepen the theories, methods, and practices related to non-CO2 GHG information disclosure of enterprises, promote enterprises to shift from passive compliance to active governance, and build a new paradigm of sustainable development.
The fruit crop industry plays an important role in agricultural production and rural development in China. Germplasm is the basis both for the industry and for breeding. In the context of seed industry revitalization, it is of great significance to systematically assess the current progress in fruit crop germplasm and look forward to its future development, thus to help realize the goal of self-reliance and self-control of seed sources in the seed industry. This study summarizes the significant progress made in fruit crop germplasm research in China from the aspects of collection, preservation, evaluation, and utilization, analyzes the main problems, and looks forward to future development directions. A great progress has been achieved, but compared with developed countries, there still exists a considerable gap in the areas of collection, innovative utilization, information database construction, germplasm sharing, and virus-free germplasm preservation. In this regard, it is recommended to strengthen the collection of fruit crop germplasm both domestically and internationally; prioritize systematic efforts in precise germplasm identification, discovery of superior genes, and germplasm innovation; build a national information platform for germplasm; improve the mechanism of germplasm sharing; accelerate the development of virus-free germplasm resource centers; and prioritize their preservation and sharing. These measures will better support the high-quality development of China’s fruit crop industry.
Floral germplasm resources constitute the strategic foundation for the high-quality development of the flower industry and represent a key component in advancing the vision of Beautiful China and ecological civilization. Germplasm resources provide the material source for flower breeding, while variety innovation serves as the cornerstone for developing a modern flower industry. Therefore, it is of great significance to review the progress in research on flower germplasm resources and new variety breeding in China and to summarize and analyze future development directions. This study summarizes major advances over the past two decades in the collection, preservation, evaluation, utilization, and new variety breeding of flower germplasm resources in China, analyzes current challenges, and proposes recommendations for future development. This study reveals that remarkable achievements have been made in resource investigation, molecular evaluation, and functional gene mining of floral germplasm resources. In terms of new variety breeding, the market share of independently developed flower varieties continues to grow. However, challenges remain, including insufficient systematic collection of germplasm resources, limited coverage of in-depth evaluation, inadequate protection of breeding rights, and reliance on imports for certain new varieties. For the future, it is recommended to further strengthen the national survey and preservation system for floral resources, promote the development and industrial application of molecular breeding technologies, improve the new variety protection system, and deepen industry–academia–research collaboration mechanisms, so as to provide a solid support for the high-quality and sustainable development of China's floral seed industry.
Livestock germplasm resources are a strategic foundation for sustainable agricultural development, food security, and biodiversity conservation. Their security status directly influences the development of the livestock industry and the safety of the national seed sector. To systematically assess the current status and challenges of livestock germplasm conservation in China, as well as to enhance China's conservation capacities, an in-depth comparative analysis from a global perspective is urgently needed. Based on domestic and international databases and policy documents, and drawing on the results of the third national census of livestock germplasm resources, this study reviews the multiple values of China's livestock germplasm resources across economic, breeding, cultural, ecological, medical, and social dimensions. It compares conservation systems in China and other countries in terms of breed diversity, endangered status, and the current state of in situ and ex situin vivo conservation, unveiling global trends in livestock germplasm resources conservation. The results indicate that although China possesses abundant livestock germplasm resources and a conservation system of an initial scale, significant gaps remain in diversity monitoring, conservation coverage, and technical support compared with advanced international standards. Based on these findings, the study proposes recommendations for future conservation efforts in China. These include developing a population dynamics monitoring and evaluation system, improving the in situ and ex situin vivo conservation framework, and strengthening the development of critical technologies such as cryopreservation, thus to enhance the conservation coverage and resource utilization efficiency. This study provides theoretical support and policy guidance for understanding global trends in livestock resource conservation and advancing the high-quality construction and operation of China's conservation system.
Agricultural microbial germplasm resources are involved in all aspects of agricultural production and are crucial for ensuring food security, facilitating scientific and technological innovation, and promoting high-quality development of agriculture. Therefore, it is urgently needed to clarify the current status of the protection and utilization, identify existing problems and deficiencies, recognize the gap with resource-powerful countries, and clarify the key development directions of agricultural microbial germplasm resources in China. This study reviews the current situation of protection and utilization of agricultural microbial germplasm resources in China and abroad from the aspects of the protection and utilization system, agricultural scientific and technological innovation, and effectiveness of development and utilization. By comparing and analyzing international development trends, we reveal that China's agricultural microbial resources are currently in a stage of rapid development in terms of resource reserves, preservation facilities, utilization, and industrial support. However, compared with resource-powerful countries, China still faces significant challenges including poor infrastructure conditions, unclear inventory of resources, lagging precise identification and evaluation, and insufficient core germplasm. To address this, it is proposed to strengthen top-level design to make overall arrangement for the protection and utilization of agricultural microbial germplasm, enhance infrastructure construction by planning a project for improving resource preservation capacities, emphasize original innovation to establish a collaborative research model for the exploration of agricultural microbial resources, focus on demand-driven efforts to provide key support for the development of the agricultural microbial industry. These efforts aim to promote the protection and utilization of agricultural microbial germplasm resources in China and achieve high-quality agricultural development.
As an important component of aquatic germplasm resources, freshwater aquatic germplasm resources play a crucial role in building an all-encompassing approach to food, ensuring food security, and guaranteeing the effective supply of high-quality proteins. Socio-economic development and intensified human activities pose threats to freshwater aquatic germplasm resources, and the conservation, utilization, and security of these resources have attracted widespread attention. This study reviews the current status of China’s freshwater aquatic germplasm resources from the perspectives of natural and cultured germplasm resources, and clarifies the conservation situation of these resources from three aspects: conservation system, conservation measures, and conservation effectiveness. The study indicates that China's conservation system of these resources needs optimization, the preservation and evaluation technology system is yet incomplete, biodiversity conservation is insufficiently emphasized, and the legal framework needs improvement. Furthermore, the following measures are proposed: (1) strengthening the preservation, identification, and exploration of aquatic germplasm resources; (2) accelerating technological innovation and application in freshwater aquaculture; (3) enhancing diversified conservation measures for aquatic germplasm resources; and (4) improving the legal system for the conservation of aquatic germplasm resources. These measures can effectively improve the conservation and utilization of freshwater aquatic germplasm resources and promote the high-quality development of aquaculture.
The construction of well-facilitated farmland is crucial for ensuring national food security and building a higher-level national granary. In recent years, the scale of well-facilitated farmland in China has rapidly increased, the supporting level of farmland infrastructure has significantly improved, and remarkable results have been achieved in increasing grain production and stability, conserving water to increase efficiency, and preventing and reducing disasters. However, affected by factors such as heavy construction tasks, significant regional differences, and insufficient investment per unit area, the quality of construction faces severe challenges. Problems such as simplified planning and design, formalized project acceptance, and inadequate post-construction management are prominent, necessitating the improvement in institutional mechanisms for well-facilitated farmland and the strengthening of whole-process supervision from construction and acceptance to management and maintenance. This study summarizes the institutional framework and local practical experiences of well-facilitated farmland in China. Based on typical surveys in different regions, it identifies key problems such as blind site selection in planning, insufficient preliminary preparation and feasibility studies for design, imperfect post-construction management mechanisms, a lack of engineering and technical talent support, and absence of legal safeguards. It is urgently necessary to accelerate the construction of institutional mechanisms for well-facilitated farmland from a holistic perspective and build an efficient and sustainable construction system. To this end, we propose the following countermeasures: (1) building a higher-level ecological national granary in the new era by comprehensively planning water and soil resource endowments and construction layout; (2) formulating full-process project management standards for preliminary demonstration, competitive entry into the project pool, third-party evaluation, and cross-verification; (3) establishing a government-led, multi-party invested professional grid management and maintenance system by setting up special management and maintenance funds shared by the central and local governments; (4) cultivating specialized engineering and technical personnel to build a multi-level technical service system; and (5) promoting the legislation of Regulations on Well-Facilitated Farmland Construction to provide legal safeguards for strengthening departmental coordination and responsibility implementation.
The hilly and mountainous regions of southern China are important agricultural production regions. However, the traditional agricultural model faces challenges such as low efficiency and sustainable development owing to terrain fragmentation, ecological vulnerability, and labor outflow. This study explores the intrinsic needs and application practices of integrating agricultural machinery and agronomic practices in these regions. It focuses on analyzing key technologies and promotion pathways for the integrated development of agricultural machinery and agronomy, and proposes future development directions to provide systematic solutions for regional agricultural modernization. At the technical level, the study constructs a technology system centered on the coordination and adaptation of "land‒machinery‒agronomy". This system is implemented through differentiated equipment configurations and technological lineages, with the goal of intelligently coupling service demand and enabling appropriately scaled operations. It is driven by the integrated application of green, information-based, and aging-friendly technologies. In terms of promoting pathways, this study proposes to strengthen top-level design, enhance scientific and technological innovation capabilities, expand demonstration and application efforts, and innovate support and guarantee mechanisms. These measures are intended to collectively advance the integration of agricultural machinery and agronomy in the hilly and mountainous regions of southern China. The study suggests that future development will evolve toward multiple dimensions, including the convergence of systematic integration with the low-altitude economy, digital and intelligent transformation, customized leasing models, and green and smart agricultural development.
Forest conservation and sustainable management serve as crucial pillars for ecol-civilization. By scientific management, technological empowerment, and institutional innovation, forest resources can be transformed into an ecological engine driving high-quality economic development. This is also a practical necessity for forest ecology conservation and the high-quality development of China's forestry sector. This study identifies the implications of synergistic forest conservation and sustainable management, analyzes the fundamental characteristics of forest conservation and management in China, and elucidates several challenges such as structural contradictions and systemic issues in forest management, compound threats to wildlife protection, multiple pressures on forestry pest control, intensified wildfire prevention due to extreme weather and management constraints, institutional barriers and path obstacles in forestry heritage protection, and coexistence of technological constraints and practical bottlenecks in the development of advanced forestry technologies. To address these challenges, six key strategies are proposed: (1) promoting the coordinated development of forest management theories, technologies, and institutions to establish a modern system for precise forest quality improvement; (2) building multi-level ecological corridors and protection networks based on the ecological connectivity theory; (3) establishing an ecological pest-control system to strengthen biosecurity in agriculture and forestry; (4) integrating intelligent fire prevention with closed-loop defense strategies to enhance the wildfire prevention system; (5) formulating a tiered protection and multidimensional collaborative management mechanism to innovate scientific conservation and value development in forestry heritages; and (6) integrating full-factor sensing with artificial intelligence decision-making models to construct an intelligent monitoring system for forest resources. These measures aim to build a modern forest conservation and sustainable management system with Chinese characteristics.
The first phase of the South-to-North Water Diversion Project's Eastern Route (hereinafter referred to as the first phase project) is an important component of China's national water network, and the joint scheduling of the first phase project can address the spatiotemporal distribution discrepancy of water resources in China, thereby ensuring regional water security. This study aims to leverage the synergy of multiple engineering systems to overcome the bottleneck of insufficient regulation and storage capacities in single projects. It analyzes the basic background regarding the compensation scheduling of the first phase project, generalizes the engineering system, and establishes a compensation scheduling model. Subsequently, the study compares and analyzes the water shortages and electricity fees for water transfer in water-receiving areas under four scheduling modes: using only water from the Yangtze River, water compensation, storage compensation, and water‒storage combined compensation. It also reveals the laws of water compensation and storage compensation in different hydrologic years. The results indicate that the wetter the hydrologic year is, the more significant the effects of using water compensation; the drier the hydrologic year is, the more significant the effects of using storage compensation. Water compensation as well as water‒storage combined compensation have lower average electricity fees and smaller water shortages. Compared with water compensation, for every 1.0 × 108 m3 of water shortage reduced in the high-, normal-, and low-flow years, combined compensation increases average electricity fees by 17.63 million CNY, 14.25 million CNY, and 9.01 million CNY, respectively. Therefore, it is more economical to adopt water compensation scheduling in wet years and water‒storage combined compensation scheduling in dry years. The research findings provide fundamental understanding for the joint scheduling of backbone projects in China's national water network, and offer engineering examples for optimizing its water resource allocation pattern.
Future industries represent the directions of future technology and industrial development, and serve as a fundamental carrier for cultivating new-form productive forces. Artificial intelligence (AI) drives paradigm shifts in scientific research, facilitates efficiency improvement and transformations in production methods, and reshapes industrial development patterns. Based on the theory of new-form productive forces and the tech-economic paradigm framework, this study constructs an element-scenario-rule triadic framework to clarify AI's role in empowering future industries. Specifically, it clarifies the threefold logic of AI-driven scientific and technological innovation (AI for science), AI-enabled productivity transformation (AI for productivity), and AI-facilitated industrial upgrading (AI for industries). Furthermore, this study examines the key challenges in AI development, including industrial order and employment structure shifts, data privacy and ethical security concerns, energy consumption and computing cost issues, as well as the gap between technology and application. In response, the strategic priorities and implementation pathways for empowering future industrial development through AI are defined. The research proposes recommendations to comprehensively advance the "AI+" initiative, aiming to seize the strategic high ground in sci-tech innovation, cultivate new-form productive forces, and build a future-oriented industrial ecosystem. This entails strengthening four core mechanisms: AI technology innovation, scenario-driven application, factor support infrastructure, and industrial governance framework, thereby advancing the synergistic, orderly, and high-quality integration of AI with future industries.
Innovative design serves as both a precursor and a foundational component in advancing future industries. It is also a key driver in fostering new quality productive forces. To promote innovative design, it is essential to uphold philosophical guidance, abandon the reverse thinking of imitation and follow-up, and shift from isolated technological innovation toward systemic innovation. This approach enhances the independent innovation capacity in critical areas. This study integrates the development trajectory of human civilization to precisely identify the evolutionary patterns of design, and applies systems science theory to analyze the intrinsic logical differences between modern and innovative design. The study finds that innovative design is rooted in an open system that integrates human, machine, and environmental elements. It possesses the capacity to adapt to complex and dynamic contexts. By drawing on a comprehensive knowledge system that fuses explicit and tacit knowledge, it stimulates disruptive innovation at its source. To this end, drawing on the essential reduction method of phenomenology and the process of expert knowledge acquisition, this study establishes a first-principles framework of knowledge phenomenology: knowledge generation‒transition from tacit to explicit‒transition from explicit to tacit‒integration of tacit and explicit knowledge. Based on this foundation, a forward-oriented innovative design framework is proposed: design problem space‒explicit knowledge space‒tacit knowledge space‒innovative solution space. Furthermore, using reverse decoupling based on the function‒behavior‒structure design theory, a predictive framework for disruptive technological innovation is developed: technological problem space‒knowledge base identification‒application scenario prediction‒convergent technology forecasting. This framework enables the integrated advancement of disruptive innovation design as a systems engineering process. Taking humanoid robots as an example, the study establishes a disruptive innovation design framework for humanoid robots and preliminarily validates the rationality of this systems engineering approach. Furthermore, from the three dimensions of science, technology, and industry, this study analyzes the global competitive landscape of future industries and proposes three development recommendations: establishing a research system driven by the bidirectional coupling of artificial intelligence and basic research, strengthening technological research and development in key areas, and improving the knowledge resource sharing platform. To efficiently advance innovative design, three measures can be implemented: establishing and improving forward-oriented design methods for specialized areas; developing categorized technology roadmaps; and strengthening the industrial application of design outcomes, thereby better stimulating national innovation potential and supporting the high-quality development of future industries.
The combination of climate change and rapid urbanization has led to the emergence of multi-hazard, cascading, and fast-evolving urban disasters in China. The final stage of early warning information transmission, from "reaching individuals ‒ understanding ‒ acting," remains a prominent shortcoming. This study, adhering to the view that "people are both recipients of warning services and active participants," proposes a people-centered collaborative framework and development strategies for urban early-warning systems (EWS), serving as a localized practice of the United Nation's Early Warnings for All initiative. Building on the clarification of urban EWS concepts and the orientation of people-centered collaboration, we identify the current conditions and challenges of developing such systems. The challenges include insufficient identification and response to cascading hazard chains, inadequate impact-based prediction and conversion into actions, and lack of institutionalized public participation and good-faith immunity. We also highlight development opportunities arising from policy momentum, technological advances, and widespread digital endpoints. An integrated construction framework is proposed, featuring a core structure of "three-tier actors ‒ twin-chain support ‒ technology enablement," together with an analysis of key elements and their coupling. Finally, we suggest development strategies including building unified data and technology foundations with closed-loop capacities, improving institutional design to clarify responsibilities with adequate safeguards, strengthening community-based organization and mobilization, and advancing through piloting, evaluation, scaling-up, and continuous improvement. These approaches collectively aim to enhance China's urban early-warning capabilities.
A review of disaster prevention and mitigation practices in China and abroad reveals that resilience-based approaches, which prioritize post-disaster recovery capabilities, have inherent limitations in guiding China’s urban disaster prevention and control. Therefore, it is urgent to build a new theoretical framework that can integrate all four stages of disaster response: prevention, response, recovery, and learning, thereby maintaining essential urban functions under extreme events that exceed a city’s designed defense capacity. Drawing inspiration from human immunology, this study proposes a theory of disaster-immune cities. In this framework, cities are conceptualized as living organisms with disaster resistance and immune defense mechanisms categorized into three levels: innate, adaptive, and memory. The inherent immune mechanism should serve as the core objective of urban resilience construction. This mechanism ensures that key urban operational functions—representing the fundamental vital signs of the city as living organisms—are maintained at an acceptable level when confronted with various "viruses” of historical memory intrusions. The memory immune defense mechanism dynamically operates throughout the entire disaster response process and manifests in subsequent disaster cycles, reflecting the system’s accumulated experience, adaptation, and learning outcomes. The key distinction between the theory of urban disaster immunity and the resilience theory is its explicit framework for robustness analysis, which ensures the maintenance of critical urban functions at acceptable levels, along with its emphasis on system optimization and coordination among subsystems. Compared with risk-based theory, the immunity-based approach shifts the focus from probabilistic risk control of critical urban functions to defining and safeguarding threshold levels for the essential operational functions of the system.