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Sustainability assessment and improvement strategies research for typical arid and resource-developing regions

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  • Xudong Zhou

Abstract

Located in the Eurasian continent’s hinterland, Xinjiang is a typical arid and resource-developing region in China’s northwest. Problems such as excessive resource consumption, environmental pollution, and ecological imbalance are becoming severe, which have become the bottleneck that further restricts Xinjiang’s sustainable development. Due to its outstanding quantitative advantages, ecological efficiency has become a significant indicator and analytical tool for measuring the green economy and sustainable development. In this study, we analyzed ecological efficiency variation for Xinjiang’s 14 prefectures between 2001 and 2015 using a super-efficient data envelopment model (DEA), Malmquist Index, and Tobit model. These analyses indicated that: (1) The overall ecological efficiency level of Xinjiang is low, and development among regions is unbalanced, out of sync, lacks sustainability. (2) From 2001 to 2015, Xinjiang’s ecological efficiency showed a W-shaped rising trend and finally increased by 5.7%. It is due to the substantial improvement in environmental efficiency. (3) By analyzing the environmental efficiency and resource efficiency, 14 prefectures in Xinjiang consist of four development modes: low energy consumption and low emission, high energy consumption and low emission, low energy consumption and high emission, and high energy consumption and high emission. (4) Water resources are restricting factors of arid regions. In most prefectures, there exist excessive water resource investment, excessive COD, and NH3-N emissions. (5) By analyzing the Malmquist index, it shows that the technical progress index(TC) restricted ecological efficiency. In contrast, the technical efficiency index (EC) promoted ecological efficiency.(6)The ecological efficiency was positively correlated with the utilization of foreign capital, urbanization rate, and average education degree but negatively correlated with the marketization degree. The study has guidance and reference function for the sustainable development of Xinjiang—a vital corridor of the Silk Road Economic Belt, and also provides a reference to the research work of other arid resource-based regions.

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  • Xudong Zhou, 2021. "Sustainability assessment and improvement strategies research for typical arid and resource-developing regions," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 16(5), pages 1-24, May.
    • Handle: RePEc:plo:pone00:0251088
    DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0251088
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    1. Korhonen, Pekka J. & Luptacik, Mikulas, 2004. "Eco-efficiency analysis of power plants: An extension of data envelopment analysis," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 154(2), pages 437-446, April.
    2. Jollands, Nigel & Lermit, Jonathan & Patterson, Murray, 2004. "Aggregate eco-efficiency indices for New Zealand – a Principal Components Analysis," 2004 Conference, June 25-26, 2004, Blenheim, New Zealand 97773, New Zealand Agricultural and Resource Economics Society.
    3. Timo Kuosmanen, 2005. "Weak Disposability in Nonparametric Production Analysis with Undesirable Outputs," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, vol. 87(4), pages 1077-1082.
    4. Dyckhoff, H. & Allen, K., 2001. "Measuring ecological efficiency with data envelopment analysis (DEA)," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 132(2), pages 312-325, July.
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    1. Chenyu Lu & Xianglong Tang & Wei Liu & Ping Huang, 2022. "Effects of Industrial Structure Adjustment on Pollutants Discharged to the Aquatic Environment in Northwest China," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(10), pages 1-18, May.

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