Are Industrial Structure Adjustment and Technical Progress Conducive to Environmental Improvement?

China actively broadens its channels for environmental protection and limits pollutant emissions through industrial structure adjustment and technical progress. Based on panel data of 30 provinces in China from 2003 to 2017, this study investigated the effects of industrial structure adjustment and technical progress on environmental pollution using spatial Dubin models. The findings show the following. (1) As the economy develops, the situation of environmental pollution in various regions deteriorates; moreover, spatio-temporal dependence is an aspect of environmental pollution. (2) Industrial structure adjustment and technical progress are beneficial to environmental improvement. Furthermore, there are spillover effects in factors such as industrial structure and technical progress to varying degrees. Thus, this study suggests that the path of coupling between industrial structure and technical progress should be explored to establish a pollution filtering mechanism, thereby improving environmental quality.

Importance-Performance Analysis of Mountain Village Promotion Projects in the Forest Sector by Upper-Level Local Governments

Background and objective: Due to the recent crisis of extinction in local areas, the mountain village promotion policy is recognized as an important task. This study examined the priorities of major policy projects in the forest sector that affect mountain village promotion.Methods: For research methods, literature search, expert advisory meetings, and a survey were conducted. The survey was conducted on 42 policy stakeholders from June 1 to August 13, 2021. The literature search was based on policy projects in the forest sector by 8 upper-level local governments including mountain villages. For questionnaire items, 173 forest policy projects were classified into 27 types through expert review, and the importance and performance of each type were rated on a 5-point Likert scale. Paired t-test, IPA, Locus for Focus model, and Borich needs assessment were used as the analysis methods, and the statistical program SPSS 21.0 was used as the analytical tool.Results: The results showed that ‘creating forest-related jobs’ and ‘supporting cultivation of professional forestry workers’ both showed high importance and performance, implying that they would show an effect in mountain village promotion. ‘Creating forests for environmental improvement’, ‘discovering forest cultural assets’ ‘establishing and boosting forest tourism’, ‘providing forest therapy services’, ‘creating forest-related jobs’, ‘supporting community revitalization’, and ‘urban-rural exchanges’ were found to be the types that needed improvement and concentration for mountain village promotion. In particular, ‘creating forests for environmental improvement' and ‘discovering forest cultural assets’ were derived as priority considerations for mountain village promotion policies.Conclusion: In summary, it was found that in order to promote mountain villages, various content projects must be improved and carried out to enhance the physical environment and revitalize mountain villages.

Do poor environmental conditions drive trachoma transmission in Burundi? A mathematical modelling study

Trachoma is an infectious disease and it is the leading cause of preventable blindness worldwide. To achieve its elimination, the World Health Organization set a goal of reducing the prevalence in endemic areas to less than 55% by 2020, utilizing the SAFE (surgery, antibiotics, facial cleanliness, environmental improvement) strategy. However, in Burundi, trachoma prevalences of greater than 55% are still reported in 11 districts and it is hypothesized that this is due to the poor implementation of the environmental improvement factor of the SAFE strategy. In this paper, a model based on an ordinary differential equation, which includes an environmental transmission component, is developed and analysed. The model is calibrated to recent field data and is used to estimate the reductions in trachoma that would have occurred if adequate environmental improvements were implemented in Burundi. Given the assumptions in the model, it is clear that environmental improvement should be considered as a key component of the SAFE strategy and, hence, it is crucial for eliminating trachoma in Burundi. doi:10.1017/S1446181121000389

Green Transition of Iron Cities: A Comparative Case Study of Kitakyushu and Pohang

This comparative case study explores why two cities similar in socio-economic factors diverge in their pathways to environmental improvement. Our research looks at the changing local economies and environmental pollution problems facing Kitakyushu in Japan and Pohang in South Korea. Both cities drove their nations’ rapid economic growth as the main heavy industry hubs but have performed radically differently vis-à-vis public demands for environmental improvement despite sharing much in common. Employing the advocacy coalition framework as a main analytical tool, we examine the unfolding of policy efforts to turn a manufacturing-oriented industrial city into a “greener” city responding to environmental objectives and the respective outcomes. The research reveals that variations in regulatory decentralization, external events and coalition opportunity structures largely explain the observed discrepancy in green transition between the two settings. Our findings contribute to expanding scarce case study literature illustrating the mechanisms that can underpin environmental improvements in cities that have served as the location of heavy industries and offer suggestions for advancing them.

DO POOR ENVIRONMENTAL CONDITIONS DRIVE TRACHOMA TRANSMISSION IN BURUNDI? A MATHEMATICAL MODELLING STUDY

Trachoma is an infectious disease and it is the leading cause of preventable blindness worldwide. To achieve its elimination, the World Health Organization set a goal of reducing the prevalence in endemic areas to less than $5$ % by 2020, utilizing the SAFE (surgery, antibiotics, facial cleanliness, environmental improvement) strategy. However, in Burundi, trachoma prevalences of greater than $5$ % are still reported in 11 districts and it is hypothesized that this is due to the poor implementation of the environmental improvement factor of the SAFE strategy. In this paper, a model based on an ordinary differential equation, which includes an environmental transmission component, is developed and analysed. The model is calibrated to recent field data and is used to estimate the reductions in trachoma that would have occurred if adequate environmental improvements were implemented in Burundi. Given the assumptions in the model, it is clear that environmental improvement should be considered as a key component of the SAFE strategy and, hence, it is crucial for eliminating trachoma in Burundi.

Contribución de las empresas al mejoramiento social, económico y ambiental, como desarrollo en Colombia

Como objetivo del estudio, se identificaron las contribuciones que han realizado las empresas al mejoramiento social, económico y ambiental, como desarrollo en Colombia. La investigación fue desarrollada bajo el enfoque cualitativo, con un diseño analítico enmarcado mediante categorías, con una población de 67 empresas, con instrumentos de recolección de información, el cuestionario y entrevista. Entre los resultados se evidenció que las organizaciones no pueden verse como islas, sino parte de la sociedad, con características como: responsable, económica, desarrollo, comunidad, vital importancia, organización, organismos, entorno, sobrevivencia, adaptabilidad, transformación, integridad, valores éticos, políticas públicas, mejoramiento, calidad, vida, medioambiente y solidaria. En conclusión, se debe entender que no se constituyen como un sistema rígido, sino abiertos, comportándose de diferente manera. Se recomienda organizar un plan de acción de mejoramiento social, económico y ambiental que incluya políticas públicas del ambiente local, además de promover y propender a tener una mejor calidad de vida y de la naturaleza, mediante programas innovadores, confiables, responsables y rigurosos.Palabras claves: contribución, empresa, social, economía, ambiental. Abstract The objective was to identify the contributions that companies have made to social, economic and environmental improvement, as development in Colombia, it was developed under the qualitative approach, with analytical design framed by categories, with a population of 67 companies, with instruments for collecting Information, the questionnaire and interview. Among the results it was evident that organizations cannot be seen as islands, but part of society, responsible, economic, development, community, vital importance, organization, organisms, environment, survival adaptability, transformation, integrality, ethical values, public policies, improvement, quality, life, environment and solidarity. In conclusion it should be understood that they are not constituted as a rigid system, but open behaving differently. It is recommended to organize a social, economic and environmental improvement plan that includes public policies of the local environment, in addition to promoting and aiming to have a better quality of life and nature through innovative, reliable, responsible 0.and rigorous programs. Keywords: contribution, company, social, economy, environmental.

The impact of green credit on economic growth—The mediating effect of environment on labor supply

Background The progress of green credit in China is accelerating, but its development is uneven and insufficient in different regions. And whether the issuance of green credit can effectively promote the improvement of the environment and economy is not well understood. Objective Previous research has found that green credit promotes economic growth through improvement of the industrial structure and green technological innovation. However, these studies have not considered the positive externality of environmental improvement even though environmental improvement and economic growth are requirements of the sustainable development concept. Methods We use the chain-mediated model to estimate the impact of green credit issuance on the economic growth of different provinces since the large-scale implementation of green credit in China with data from 2008 to 2016. Results and conclusion This paper shows that the issuance of green credit can improve labor supply rather than labor productivity through the improvement of air quality to achieve regional economic growth. Such a chain-mediated path is different from the economic growth caused by industrial structural adjustment and green technology innovation. At the national level, every 1% increase in green credit issuance relative to industrial loans will increase the per capita gross domestic product (GDP) by approximately 4.6 yuan, or 0.012%, through air quality and labor supply, accounting for 2.875% of the total effect. Heterogeneity analysis indicates that due to regional industrial structure differences and diminishing marginal effects, the impact of green credit is stronger in the western region than in the eastern and central regions. For every 1% increase in the proportion of green credit issuance relative to industrial loans, the per capita GDP growth achieved through the chain-mediated path is approximately 30.17 yuan in the western region, approximately 6.6 times greater than that at the national level. Within a 95% confidence interval of 5000 bootstrap samples, this path is found to be true, and the chain-mediated effect accounts for approximately 12.96% of the total indirect effect. Limitations The limitation of this paper is the measurement of green credit. Although green credit has a large volume, it remains underdeveloped, and there is a lack of perfect indicators. Most existing studies have adopted only alternative or reverse indicators to measure the issuance of green credit. For example, this paper takes the interest expenditure of six high-energy-consuming enterprises as the reverse indicator, which may to a certain extent lead to the overestimation of the issuance of green credit and its impact on the environment and economy. Future research can accurately explore the performance of green credit on the basis of its mature development.