When the attitudes of local people towards wildlife and conservation are not aligned with those of other stakeholders, significant conflicts can result, potentially undermining conservation efforts. We collected attitudinal data from 171 local people and 59 governmental staff from a Nature Reserve in southwestern China. These attitudinal questions covered key topics of ecosystem services, protected areas and human-wildlife coexistence. Statistically significant (p<0.05) similarities of responses between local people and staff were identified and the nature of any disparity was investigated. The majority of attitudes relating to protected areas (60%) and coexistence (100%) were statistically similar between the two groups, unlike 25% of responses relating to ecosystem services. Few characteristics of staff were statistically associated with their attitudes, whereas responses from local people were frequently associated with sub-village. Such attitudinal studies inform recommendations that consider the potential for future conflicts that might persist following attitudinal disparity between two key stakeholders.

Root zone N management can reduce N fertilizer input and avoid nitrate pollution in greenhouse tomato production; however, little information is available on how reduced N affects soil microbes, especially dominant bacteria populations in long-term continuous greenhouse systems. This study investigated the effects of different combinations of N and straw on the population size of soil total bacteria and two dominant bacteria (Pseudomonas spp. and Bacillus spp.), and microbial community structure in a 6-year greenhouse tomato trial. The treatments were basal fertilizer (10 t ha^-1 chicken manure; control), conventional high N treatment [600 kg N ha^-1], conventional high N treatment with wheat straw, reduced N treatment [300 kg N ha^-1 less than conventional], and reduced N treatment with wheat straw. Six years of reduced mineral N fertilization did not lead to a decrease in fruit yield. Both mineral N fertilizer and straw increased the numbers of soil bacteria (Bacillus spp. and Pseudomonas spp.) compared with the control, but the numbers were not affected by the amount of mineral N fertilizer (high vs reduced). Different denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis patterns were evidence that soil bacterial communities were changed by N treatments and straw application, but little difference in bacterial diversity was detected between high N and reduced N treatments. These results indicated that a reduction in N fertilizer input was possible in greenhouse tomato production and was beneficial in sustainable agriculture.

Hechuan wetland is located in the mid-Yellow River and at the intersection of Shaanxi, Shanxi and Henan provinces in China. It is the largest hot spring lake wetland in the Yellow River basin and the birthplace of Guanju, a famous poem in the Book of Songs. Based on field investigations and questionnaires, we valued Hechuan Wetland ecosystem services, considering use values and non-use values. The annual use value of Hechuan Wetland ecosystem services is 79.236 billion CNY. The contingent valuation method was applied to value the annual non-use value, which is 6.27 billion CNY. We examined how the historical and cultural value of the Book of Songs affected respondents' willingness to pay by establishing a control group. Results suggest that historical and cultural value does have a strong influence on willingness to pay.

Achieving dual goals of economic growth and carbon emission reduction is a major issue in China. In this paper we define three economic growth patterns (green growth, brown growth and black growth) according to the relationship between economic scale and carbon emissions, and then trace the historical trajectory of economic growth over the last 40 years. Granger causality is used to test China's economic growth and carbon emission linkage. We argue that green growth means that the rate of carbon emission reduction is faster than the increase in GDP. When carbon intensity reduction is slower than GDP growth, brown growth occurs. Black growth occurs when both carbon intensity and economic scale increase. For China, we denote the four periods of black growth (1971–1977), brown growth (1978–2001), black growth (2002–2004), and brown growth (2004–2010). Granger causality tests indicate that mutual causality between carbon emissions and economic growth exists in the short term, but not the long term. In order to achieve the goals of economic growth and carbon intensity reduction, it is necessary for China to actively participate in global carbon reduction activities, technological innovation and ecological civilization construction.

Under the context of the New Three-step strategy of Chinese economic development, we use the reverse tracing method and petroleum, natural gas and coal as sources of carbon emissions. To eliminate the impact of regional and technological levels in the energy conversion process we improved the IPAT model and used it to predict and analyze China's per capita carbon emissions in three assumed scenarios up to 2050. We found that China's per capita carbon emissions peak will occur respectively in 2020 and 2030 in different assumed scenarios; national per capita carbon emissions will reach 2.0127–2.6791 tons; China's per capita carbon emissions will grow continuously at an average rate of 2.25%–3.40% per year before the peak year and then will decline at a rate of 1.33%–1.78% per year. By the year of 2050, national per capita carbon emissions will be 1.3147–1.8817 tons.

The output as well as carbon dioxide emissions of tertiary industry have increased continuously in Beijing. Therefore, the tertiary industry has become a new field that needs to be explored for energy saving and emission reduction. This paper calculates the direct and indirect carbon dioxide emissions of tertiary industry in Beijing from 2005 to 2012 using the input-output analysis method. The results indicate that both the direct and indirect carbon dioxide emissions increased continuously and the latter grew more quickly than the former. The growth of the direct and indirect carbon dioxide emissions of tertiary industry was decomposed, which showed that four factors influence the growth of carbon emission of the tertiary industry, including the changes of industrial scale, industrial structure, energy consumption intensity and carbon coefficient. The results show that the industrial scale advancement and the direct energy carbon coefficient change promote the increase of direct carbon dioxide emissions, while the shift of industrial structure and the change of direct energy consumption intensity have the restrain on it. The industrial scale enlargement, industrial structure shift and the indirect energy carbon emission coefficient change promote the growth of indirect carbon dioxide emissions, while the indirect energy consumption intensity change has a restrain.

During surveys for wild felids in Nangunhe Nature Reserve, Yunnan province, China, we conducted a wider mammal survey of the core nature reserve area, using camera trapping techniques. Forty motion-triggered digital camera traps had been set in oldest forest tract of protected area to conduct a species inventory. The total camera trapping effort of 2460 camera trap nights yielded 232 digital photographs of mammals represented by 17 species in five orders. The species photographed include rare and elusive species and those that are of high conservation value, such as IUCN endangered species Asiatic elephant (Elephas maximus ), and Phayre's leaf monkey (Trachypit hecus phayrei ). In addition, IUCN vulnerable species including Asiatic black bear (Ursus thibetanus ), sambar (Rusa unicolor ), northern pig-tailed macaque (Macaca leonine ), and marbled cat (Pardofelis marmorata ), and more common species were found. All mammals were also listed as key protected wild animals by the State Forestry Administration of China. Of particular importance were the carnivores, with 7 different species recorded. Ungulates and other taxa forming a prey base for these predators,such as rhesus macaque (Macaca mulatta ), red muntjac (Muntiacus muntjac ), sambar, wild boar (Sus scrofa ), and Chinese serow (Capricornis milneedwardsii ), were found to be the most frequently photographed and most widespread species. Opportunities for local people to develop standardized monitoring designs for targeted species were identified by these initial assessment results. Local nature reserve staff lacked technical ability to produce standardized survey designs, yet a by product of this type of non-standardized data collection can be very informative and produce inventory information that gives a species richness analysis, as well as initial estimates for occupancy and detection probability for abundant species to drive future standardized survey designs and efforts.

The Nile is one of the longest rivers on the planet and an important freshwater source for the arid regions of Africa. It is also a river that is extensively affected by anthropogenic impact. This paper aims to provide an account of the social drivers that combine to cause extensive changes in the Nilotic environments. This paper is based on extensive review of literature backed up by field research. The main focus is on the lower Nile, where the effects of anthropogenic disturbances are most prominent. We argue that the Nile Basin is characterized by interrelated and compound problems of resource management, and managing this river system effectively requires shifting the focus from water related problems to a basin wide management agenda. We contend that knowledge of environmental history is important for this agenda shift, and the idea of benefit sharing can alleviate the growing stress on this extremely sensitive arid river basin.