Environmental regulation and corporate financialization: insight from Blue Sky Protection Campaign in China.

Environmental regulation restricts corporate pollution emissions and affects corporate investment decisions and asset allocation. Based on the data of A-share listed enterprises in China from 2013 to 2021 and the difference in differences (DID) model, this paper identifies the impact of environmental regulation on corporate financialization with the help of the "Blue Sky Protection Campaign (2018-2020)" (BSPC) of China. The results indicate that environmental regulation has a crowding-out effect on corporate financialization. Enterprises with stricter financing constraints receive more significant crowding-out effects. This paper provides a new perspective on the "Porter hypothesis." Under the constraint of financial resources and high environmental protection costs, enterprises carry out innovative activities and environmental protection investments by consuming financial assets to reduce the risk of environmental violations. The government's environmental regulation is an effective way to guide the financial development of enterprises, control environmental pollution, and promote enterprise innovation.

A review of the applicability of Environmental Management Systems in waste management in the medical sector of Zimbabwe.

Environmental Management Systems (EMS) are currently the cornerstone of achieving sustainability globally. Nevertheless, the question is applicability of EMS in the medical sector. Hence, the review focused on applicability of EMS in medical waste management Zimbabwe. EMS involves overall processes that facilitate reduction of dire impacts of company's activities while increasing performance. EMS framework consists of environmental policy, planning, implementation, checking, review and improvement stages. To examine applicability of EMS in management of medical sector waste, published secondary sources with information related to the topic were utilised. Analysis of strengths and opportunities of EMS was used as a base to examine its applicability in medical waste management. Zimbabwean medical sector consist of hospitals and primary healthcare facilities. Medical waste includes pathological, pharmaceutical, cytotoxic, radioactive, chemical, sharp, infectious and general waste. However, twenty-first century witnessed expansion of medical institutions to accommodate COVID-19 patients, resulting in generation of construction and demotion waste. Medical institutions in Zimbabwe are accountable for solid waste management at generation source although municipalities are responsible for conveying solid waste to landfills. Solid waste from medical sector is disposed through traditional strategies namely landfilling, incineration, open pits and open burning, resulting in water, air, and soil contamination. However, EMS can reduce quantity of solid waste disposed through waste reuse, recycle and recovery. Moreover, achievement of integrated approach, effective legislation, policies and inclusive participation in medical waste management is adopted through use of EMS. Therefore, EMS were utilised to develop an integrated sustainable medical waste management model to achieve sustainability.

Gaps seen in China's crackdown on wildlife trade.

Stricter rules could prevent disease outbreaks, but allowances for fur farming spur concern.

COVID-19 vaccination dynamics in the US: coverage velocity and carrying capacity based on socio-demographic vulnerability indices in California's pediatric population.

Introduction: COVID-19 vaccine inequities have been widespread across California, the United States, and globally. As COVID-19 vaccine inequities have not been fully understood in the youth population, it is vital to determine possible factors that drive inequities to enable actionable change that promotes vaccine equity among vulnerable minor populations. Methods: The present study used the social vulnerability index (SVI) and daily vaccination numbers within the age groups of 12-17, 5-11, and under 5 years old across all 58 California counties to model the growth velocity and the anticipated maximum proportion of population vaccinated. Results: Overall, highly vulnerable counties, when compared to low and moderately vulnerable counties, experienced a lower vaccination rate in the 12-17 and 5-11 year-old age groups. For age groups 5-11 and under 5 years old, highly vulnerable counties are expected to achieve a lower overall total proportion of residents vaccinated. In highly vulnerable counties in terms of socioeconomic status and household composition and disability, the 12-17 and 5-11 year-old age groups experienced lower vaccination rates. Additionally, in the 12-17 age group, high vulnerability counties are expected to achieve a higher proportion of residents vaccinated compared to less vulnerable counterparts. Discussion: These findings elucidate shortcomings in vaccine uptake in certain pediatric populations across California and may help guide health policies and future allocation of vaccines, with special emphasis placed on vulnerable populations, especially with respect to socioeconomic status and household composition and disability.

The implementation of green supply chain management (GSCM) and environmental management system (EMS) practices and its impact on market competitiveness during COVID-19.

Despite great academic interest in global green supply chain management (GSCM) practices, its effectiveness for environmental management systems (EMS) and market competitiveness during COVID-19 remains untapped. Existing literature suggests that a fundamental link between GSCM, EMS, and market competitiveness is missing, as supply management is critical to maintain market competitiveness. To fill this gap in the literature, this study examines whether environmental management systems influence the link between GSCM practice and market competitiveness in China. We also propose the articulating role of big data analytics and artificial intelligence (BDA-AI) and environmental visibility toward these associations in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic. We evaluated the proposed model using regression-based structural equation modeling (SEM) with primary data (n = 330). This result provides empirical evidence of the impact of GSCM on EMS and market competitiveness. Moreover, the results show that the BDA-AI and the environmental visibility enhanced the positive relationship between GSCM-EMS and EMS and market competitiveness in China. Recent research shows that supply chain professionals, policymakers, managers, and researchers are turning to formal EMS, BDA-AI, and environmental visibility to help their organizations achieve the competitiveness that the market indicates they need.

Animal experiments on respiratory viruses and analogous studies of infection factors for interpersonal transmission.

Air pollution caused by SARS-CoV-2 and other viruses in human settlements will have a great impact on human health, but also a great risk of transmission. The transmission power of the virus can be represented by quanta number in the Wells-Riley model. In order to solve the problem of different dynamic transmission scenarios, only a single influencing factor is considered when predicting the infection rate, which leads to large differences in quanta calculated in the same space. In this paper, an analog model is established to define the indoor air cleaning index RL and the space ratio parameter. Based on infection data analysis and rule summary in animal experiments, factors affecting quanta in interpersonal communication were explored. Finally, by analogy, the factors affecting person-to-person transmission mainly include viral load of infected person, distance between individuals, etc., the more severe the symptoms, the closer the number of days of illness to the peak, and the closer the distance to the quanta. In summary, there are many factors that affect the infection rate of susceptible people in the human settlement environment. This study provides reference indicators for environmental governance under the COVID-19 epidemic, provides reference opinions for healthy interpersonal communication and human behavior, and provides some reference for accurately judging the trend of epidemic spread and responding to the epidemic.

Decreased tourism during the COVID-19 pandemic positively affects reef fish in a high use marine protected area.

Humans alter ecosystems through both consumptive and non-consumptive effects. Consumptive effects occur through hunting, fishing and collecting, while non-consumptive effects occur due to the responses of wildlife to human presence. While marine conservation efforts have focused on reducing consumptive effects, managing human presence is also necessary to maintain and restore healthy ecosystems. Area closures and the tourism freeze related to the COVID-19 pandemic provided a unique natural experiment to measure the effects of decreased tourism on fish behavior in a high use no-take marine protected area (MPA) in Hawai`i. We found that when tourism shut down due to COVID restrictions in 2020, fish biomass increased and predatory species increased usage of shallow habitats, where tourists typically concentrate. When tourism resumed, fish biomass and habitat use returned to pre-pandemic levels. These displacement effects change fish community composition and biomass, which could affect key processes such as spawning, foraging and resting, and have knock-on effects that compromise ecosystem function and resilience. Managing non-consumptive uses, especially in heavily-visited MPAs, should be considered for sustainability of these ecosystems.

Boost the resilience of protected areas to shocks by reducing their dependency on tourism.

Ecotourism is widely considered a strong mechanism for the sustainable funding of protected areas (PAs). Implemented during the 1990s in Madagascar, nature-based tourism experienced positive growth over the last 30 years with increasing numbers of visits to the parks and reserves. Revenue earned from entrance fees to the network of PAs managed by Madagascar National Parks has never been sufficient to finance their management. Political crises and the COVID-19 pandemic in particular, have highlighted for park managers, the risk of relying on such earnings when they covered just 1% of the required funding in 2021. Alternative mechanisms of funding are analysed for all of Madagascar's PAs with a view to facilitating sustainable conservation of the localities and protection of the island's biodiversity.

Acknowledging geodiversity in safeguarding biodiversity and human health.

Our existence on Earth is founded on a vital nature, which supports human physical and mental health. However, nature is often depicted only through biodiversity, whereas geodiversity-the diversity of non-living nature-has so far been neglected. Geodiversity consists of assemblages, structures, and systems of geological, geomorphological, soil, and hydrological components that fundamentally underlie biodiversity. Biodiversity can support overall human health only with the foundation of geodiversity. Landscape characteristics, such as varying topography or bodies of water, promote aesthetic and sensory experiences and are also a product of geodiversity. In this Personal View, we introduce the concept of geodiversity as a driver for planetary health, describe its functions and services, and outline the intricate relationships between geodiversity, biodiversity, and human health. We also propose an agenda for acknowledging the importance of geodiversity in health-related research and decision making. Geodiversity is an emerging topic with untapped potential for ensuring ecosystem functionality and good living conditions for people in a time of changing environments.

Economic impact of nature-based tourism.

Protected areas (PAs) can help address biodiversity loss by promoting conservation while fostering economic development through sustainable tourism. Nature-based tourism can generate economic benefits for communities in and around PAs; however, its impacts do not lend themselves to conventional impact evaluation tools. We utilize a Monte Carlo simulation approach with econometric estimations using microdata to estimate the full economic impact of nature-based tourism on the economies surrounding three terrestrial and two marine PAs. Simulations suggest that nature-based tourism creates significant economic benefits for communities around PAs, including the poorest households, and many of these benefits are indirect, via income and production spillovers. An additional tourist increases annual real income in communities near the PAs by US$169-$2,400, significantly more than the average tourist's expenditure. Conversely, lost tourism due to the COVID-19 pandemic and economic costs of human-wildlife conflict have disproportionately large negative impacts on local incomes.

Agribusiness and the COVID-19 syndemic: The unsustainable pathways.

It has been suggested that it would be more appropriate to term the COVID-19 pandemic a syndemic, as the infection interacts synergistically with pre-existing chronic conditions such as obesity. Both conditions occur with steep socio-economic inequalities, and Brazil is suffering a heavy burden from both. What and who drives the clustering and interaction of these disorders? In this commentary, we examine the pathways leading to the COVID-19 syndemic. Deforestation, declining biodiversity and factory farming are promoting the emergence of new pathogens. Widespread use of pesticides influences immune, endocrine and metabolic systems. The ingestion of ultra-processed food promotes malnutrition and obesity in a country where at the same time poverty and food insecurity is rising. Brazilian agribusiness is focused on the production and global export of agricultural commodities, mainly for animal food and meat production. It is made possible through a combination of expanded land use, with deforestation in Amazonas and other Brazilian biomes, and the intensification of land use and cultivation of genetically modified crops with fertilizers and pesticides. This development is not sustainable for either population health or the environment.

Government-Enterprise Collusion and the Effectiveness of Environmental Regulations: Implications for Public Health.

Effective environmental management will create a win-win situation for building an ecological civilization with the potential to control the COVID-19 pandemic. From the perspective of government-enterprise collusion (GEC), this study analyzes the moderating effects of the officials' promotion incentives and turnover on the effectiveness of environmental regulations utilizing a panel dataset on 276 cities in China from 2003 to 2019. The study reveals the following empirical results: First, promotion incentives positively moderate the relationship between environmental regulations and environmental pollution, mainly air pollution; results for water pollution are not significant. Compared with general cities, the positive moderating effect of promotion incentives in high-level cities is weaker and the negative moderating effect is more potent. Additionally, the moderating effect of promotion incentives is predominantly positive in the new developmental stage from 2013 to 2019. Second, the negative moderating effect of officials' turnover on the effectiveness of environmental regulations is mainly observed for water pollution but not evident for air pollution. Compared with high-level cities, officials' turnover in general cities is more conducive to the effectiveness of environmental regulations. These findings provide beneficial insights for promoting green growth by improving official governance and destroying GEC.

Pandemic-driven changes in the nearshore non-commercial fishery in Hawai'i: catch photos posted to social media capture changes in fisher behavior.

Using social media, we collect evidence for how nearshore fisheries are impacted by the global COVID-19 pandemic in Hawai'i. We later confirm our social media findings and obtain a more complete understanding of the changes in nearshore non-commercial fisheries in Hawai'i through a more conventional approach-speaking directly with fishers. Resource users posted photographs to social media nearly three times as often during the pandemic with nearly double the number of fishes pictured per post. Individuals who fished for subsistence were more likely to increase the amount of time spent fishing and relied more on their catch for food security. Furthermore, individuals fishing exclusively for subsistence were more likely to fish for different species during the pandemic than individuals fishing recreationally. Traditional data collection methods are resource-intensive and this study shows that during times of rapid changes, be it ecological or societal, social media can more quickly identify how near shore marine resource use adapts. As climate change threatens additional economic and societal disturbances, it will be necessary for resource managers to collect reliable data efficiently to better target monitoring and management efforts.

Natural land cover positively correlates with COVID-19 health outcomes.

BACKGROUND: The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) poses special challenges for societies, as the disease causes millions of deaths. Although the direct prevention measures affect the prevalence and mortality the most, the other indirect factors, including natural environments and economics, could not be neglected. Evaluating the effect of natural land cover on COVID-19 health outcomes is an urgent and crucial public health topic. METHODS: Here, we examine the relationships between natural land cover and the prevalence and mortality of COVID-19 in the United States. To probe the effects of long-term living with natural land cover, we extract county-level land cover data from 2001 to 2019. Based on statistically spatial tests, we employ the Spatial Simultaneous Autoregressive (SAC) Model to estimate natural land cover's impact and monetary values on COVID-19 health outcomes. To examine the short-term effects of natural environments, we build a seasonal panel data set about the greenery index and COVID-19 health outcomes. The panel SAC model is used to detect the relationship between the greenery index and seasonal COVID-19 health outcomes. RESULTS: A 1% increase in open water or deciduous forest is associated with a 0.004-death and 0.163-conformed-case, or 0.006-death and 0.099-confirmed-case decrease in every 1,000 people. Converting them into monetary value, for the mortality, a 1% increase in open water, deciduous forest, or evergreen forest in a county is equivalent to a 212-, 313-, or 219-USD increase in household income in the long term. Moreover, for the prevalence, a 1% change in open water, deciduous forest, or mixed forest is worth a 382-, 230-, or 650-USD increase in household income. Furthermore, a rational development intensity is also critical to reduce the risk of the COVID-19 pandemic. More greenery in the short term is also linked to lower prevalence and mortality. CONCLUSIONS: Our study underscores the importance of incorporating natural land cover as a means of mitigating the risks and negative consequences of future pandemics like COVID-19 and promoting overall public health.

Analysis of the Relations Between Forestry Financial Supports and Forest Crimes.

Forest crimes are among the serious threats destroying forests. To prevent the forest crimes there are various solutions proposed, such as fortification of the laws, increasing the penalties, or increasing the public awareness. This article, however, suggests an alternative solution of preventing the forest crimes by investigating the relations between the individual financial supports provided to forest villagers and the levels of various forest crime types in Turkey. The study shows that, when the forest villagers are given financial supports, the levels of illegal logging, illegal transferring of forest products, illegal expansion of private lands into forests, illegal processing of trees, and illegal pasturage crimes decrease significantly. However, the financial supports do not affect the levels of illegal occupation of forestlands crime.

Assessment of Regional Health Resource Carrying Capacity and Security in Public Health Emergencies Based on the COVID-19 Outbreak.

The Omicron variant of COVID-19, which emerged at the end of 2021, has caused a new wave of infections around the world and is causing a new wave of the crisis due to the extreme variability of the pathogen. In response to public health emergencies such as SARS and COVID-19, the first task is to identify the vulnerabilities of regional health systems and perform a comprehensive assessment of the region's resilience. In this paper, we take the carrying capacity of medical resources as the focus; evaluate the medical, human, and financial resources of various regions; and construct an epidemic safety index based on the actual situation or future trend of the epidemic outbreak to evaluate and predict the risk level of each region in response to the epidemic. The study firstly evaluates the epidemic safety index for each province and city in China and 150 countries around the world, using the first wave of the COVID-19 epidemic in 2020 and the Omicron variant virus in 2022 as the background, respectively, and justifies the index through the actual performance in terms of epidemic prevention and control, based on which the epidemic safety index for 150 countries in the next year is predicted. The conclusions show that Europe, the Americas, and parts of Asia will face a significant risk of epidemic shocks in the coming period and that countries need to formulate policies in response to the actual situation of the epidemic.

Impact of air pollutants on influenza-like illness outpatient visits under COVID-19 pandemic in the subcenter of Beijing, China.

This study aimed to explore the association between air pollutants and outpatient visits for influenza-like illnesses (ILI) under the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) stage in the subcenter of Beijing. The data on ILI in the subcenter of Beijing from January 1, 2018 to December 31, 2020 were obtained from the Beijing Influenza Surveillance Network. A generalized additive Poisson model was applied to examine the associations between the concentrations of air pollutants and daily outpatient visits for ILI when controlling meteorological factors and temporal trend. A total of 171 943 ILI patients were included. In the pre-coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) stage, an increased risk of ILI outpatient visits was associated to a high air quality index (AQI) and the high concentrations of particulate matter less than 2.5 (PM2.5 ), particulate matter 10 (PM10 ), sulphur dioxide (SO2 ), nitrogen dioxide (NO2 ), and carbon monoxide (CO), and a low concentration of ozone (O3 ) on lag0 day and lag1 day, while a higher increased risk of ILI outpatient visits was observed by the air pollutants in the COVID-19 stage on lag0 day. Except for PM10 , the concentrations of other air pollutants on lag1 day were not significantly associated with an increased risk of ILI outpatient visits during the COVID-19 stage. The findings that air pollutants had enhanced immediate effects and diminished lag-effects on the risk of ILI outpatient visits during the COVID-19 pandemic, which is important for the development of public health and environmental governance strategies.

Partial COVID-19 closure of a national park reveals negative influence of low-impact recreation on wildlife spatiotemporal ecology.

Human presence exerts complex effects on the ecology of species, which has implications for biodiversity persistence in protected areas experiencing increasing human recreation levels. However, the difficulty of separating the effect on species of human presence from other environmental or disturbance gradients remains a challenge. The cessation of human activity that occurred with COVID-19 restrictions provides a 'natural experiment' to better understand the influence of human presence on wildlife. Here, we use a COVID-19 closure within a heavily visited and highly protected national park (Glacier National Park, MT, USA) to examine how 'low-impact' recreational hiking affects the spatiotemporal ecology of a diverse mammal community. Based on data collected from camera traps when the park was closed and then subsequently open to recreation, we found consistent negative responses to human recreation across most of our assemblage of 24 species, with fewer detections, reduced site use, and decreased daytime activity. Our results suggest that the dual mandates of national parks and protected areas to conserve biodiversity and promote recreation have potential to be in conflict, even for presumably innocuous recreational activities. There is an urgent need to understand the fitness consequences of these spatiotemporal changes to inform management decisions in protected areas.