Spatial Differentiation and Influencing Factors of Water Pollution-Intensive Industries in the Yellow River Basin, China.

The structure adjustment and layout optimization of water pollution-intensive industries (WPIIs) are crucial to the health and sustainable development of the watershed life community. Based on micro-detailed data of Chinese industrial enterprises from 2003 to 2013, we analyzed and revealed the spatial differentiation characteristics and influencing factors of WPIIs in the Yellow River Basin (YRB) from 2003 to 2013 by constructing a water pollution-intensive index and integrating kernel density estimation and geographically weighted regression models from a watershed perspective. The results show that: (1) the scale of WPIIs in the YRB showed a growth trend from 2003 to 2013, and the output value increased from 442.5 billion yuan in 2003 to 6192.4 billion yuan in 2013, an increase of 13 times. (2) WPIIs are generally distributed in an east-west direction, and their spatial distribution is river-side, with intensive distribution in the downstream areas and important tributaries such as Fen River and Wei River. (3) WPIIs are generally clustered in high density downstream, but the spatial clustering characteristics of different industries varied significantly. The chemical industries, paper industries, etc. were mainly concentrated in downstream areas. Processing of food from agricultural products was distributed in the upper, middle and downstream areas. Resource-intensive industries such as coal and oil were concentrated in energy-rich midstream areas. (4) Natural resource endowment was the main factor affecting the distribution of WPIIs in the midstream and upstream areas of the basin, and technological innovation played a significant role in the distribution of downstream industries. The level of economic development and industrial historical foundation promoted the geographical concentration of industries. The scale of wastewater discharge and the proximity of rivers influenced the concentration of industries in the midstream and downstream.

Spatial Analysis of Citizens' Environmental Complaints in China: Implications in Environmental Monitoring and Governance.

Citizen environmental complaints play a key role in China's current environmental monitoring network and environmental governance system. Based on 5796 cases of environmental complaints lodged by citizens via hotline and the internet to the MEP of China, we examined the spatial characteristics and influencing factors of citizen complaints for the period of 2013-2017 using spatial analysis methods and spatial econometric models. The roles of citizen complaints in the two systems were then reevaluated. The results show that, among all cases, 75.88% of cases were identified as verified complaints, while nearly a 25% noisy rate directed large amounts of inspection resources to be utilized in response to nonverified cases. Air pollution received the most attention by citizens in China, accounting for 67.22% of total cases. The hotspots of citizen complaints were mostly distributed in the three major national urban agglomerations in China. We found that industrial wastewater and SO2 were positively associated with the likelihood of citizens filing complaints, while the effect of industrial soot/dust emission was insignificant. Citizen complaints might be triggered by certain, but not all, forms of pollutants, even though highly visible particulate pollutants did not necessarily induce corresponding complaints. Moreover, the negative relationship between citizen complaints and per capita GDP revealed the unbalanced geographical pattern between economical development and environmental quality. The proliferation of the internet greatly facilitated citizens lodging complaints through various ways. The synergy mechanism between citizen environmental complaints and other parts in China's environmental monitoring and governance system should be established in the future.

Recent Evolution of the Intertidal Sand Ridge Lines of the Dongsha Shoal in the Modern Radial Sand Ridges, East China.

The Dongsha Shoal is one of the largest shoals in the South Yellow Sea and has important marine ecological value. The shoal extends in a south-north direction and is controlled by the regional dominating tidal currents. Recently, due to human activities and some natural factors, the geomorphic dynamics of the Dongsha Shoal has undergone drastic changes. However, few people have proposed quantitative research on the changes of tidal flat morphology, let alone the long-term sequence analysis of sand ridge lines. Hence, we attempt to take the Dongsha Shoal in the Radial Sand Ridges as the research area, and analyze the trends of the long-term morphological evolution of the sand ridge lines over the period 1973-2016 based on a high-density time series of medium-resolution satellite images. The sand ridge line generally moves from southeast to northwest, and the position distribution of the sand ridge line from north to south has gradually changed from compact to scattered. We also found that the geomorphological dynamics at different positions of the sand ridge line are inconsistent. The north and south wings are eroded on the west side, while the central area is eroded on the east side. Most of the sand ridge line is moving eastward. In addition, the change of sand ridge line is affected by multiple factors such as sediment supply, typhoon, reclamation and laver cultivation.