Cheng Shengkui

An Overview of the Resources and Environmental Issues from Wasted Food in Urban Catering across China

Abstract: There is growing global concern over food waste and its impacts on resources, environmental issues and food security, especially in developing countries. However, knowledge of food waste, in particular, the food wasted by consumers in restaurants, is entirely inadequate in China. Here, based on media reports and documents about food waste we provide an overview of food wasted by consumers in restaurants in China. We roughly estimated total food waste in order to uncover the seriousness of this large issue. We collected international literature referring to food waste and provided a detailed explanation of the resources and environmental costs associated with food waste. Ultimately we propose a conceptual diagram on research into catering food waste by consumers to evaluate resources and environmental costs based on life cycle assessment in China. This work will stimulate interdisciplinary research in this field.

Residents’ Attitudes Towards Tourism in a Globally Important Agricultural Heritage Systems Pilot Site: a Case Study in China

Abstract Globally Important Agricultural Heritage Systems (GIAHS) is a wide program to promote the conservation and adaptive management of such systems and their associated landscapes, biodiversity, knowledge systems and cultures. Rice-Fish Systems (RFS) in Longxian village of China, as a traditional agricultural system, was selected as one of the five pilot sites of GIAHS in 2005. Researchers have paid more attention to the dynamic conservation and adaptive management of RFS because it is under severe threats from global development challenges. Tourism is suggested to be brought into the RFS conservation program as an alternative industry. This paper presents a comparative study of residents in three types of farm household in Longxian, seeking attitudes to the RFS conservation and tourism development and ways in which such information may guide future strategies. Results show residents, belonging to the household type in which most family members are abroad, have the most positive attitudes to RFS conservation and tourism development; while residents, as other household type in which less than 50% of family members are abroad, are the least sensitive group in these three household types, due to the motivation of moving abroad weakening their enthusiasm to participate in the local activities. Implications are discussed in the context of how resident attitudes will affect the future management of GIAHS conservation and tourism development, and then measures are put forward to foster tourism cooperation and multistakeholders process establishment.

Tibetan Attitudes Towards Community Participation and Ecotourism

Abstract: Some Tibetan villages in Shenzha county, Tibet were chosen as typical Tibetan communities in China. Attitudes and perceptions towards Tibetan community participation in ecotourism were analyzed using face to face interviews. Most residents supported the development of ecotourism. They are willing to engage in ecotourism projects and accept ecotourism education and training, and expect that the government provides opportunities for them to participate in making ecotourism decisions. Most residents believed that ecotourism promotes local economies and social development, and enhances the ability and quality of local residents while improving their environmental consciousness. However, some residents were concerned that ecotourism may destroy local natural environments and Tibetan folk customs and culture. The level of community participation in ecotourism development is only in its infancy in Shenzha, but there is strong potential. The chief participatory approaches of ecotourism development for most residents were providing labor and catering services and commodities for tourism, and Tibetan performance singing and dancing. Limiting factors include language, a shortage of knowledge and skills, and poor ecotourism infrastructure. Most residents had little confidence that the government was willing to support them to participate in ecotourism. We put forward some mechanisms to enhance the level of community participation in ecotourism in this important region.

Driving force and development strategies of agro-tourism in China.

Agro-tourism is a form of tourism related to agricultural resources and rural landscape which integrates the agro-demonstrations, pastoral sceneries, folk experiences, leisure travels and holiday entertainments through proper planning and development of tourism. In recent years, agro-tourism has sprung up all across China and has gradually become not only a new form of agro-business but also a new force of development in tourism. The development of agro-tourism was critical for enriching agro-industry, increasing farmer income, promoting optimization and upgrading rural industrial infrastructure and expanding the scope of tourism. There are currently 359 national agro-tourism demonstration sites approved by the ministry of agriculture and tourism administration. This implies that China now has 1.5 million happy farm houses within its borders. In 2010, agro-tourism achieved an operation income of 120 billion Yuan, received 400 million tourists and led the employment of 15 million farmers. This paper reviewed domestic and international agro-tourism research and development in China for a more comprehensive knowledge about this sector. Foreign scholars have done so lot on the theory and empiricism of agro-tourism, community participation of women, diversification of operations, role of multi-functional agriculture and agro-heritage in tourism, impact of climate change on agro-tourism, sustainable development of agro-tourism, etc. Domestic scholars have focused mainly on empirical analysis of the concept of agro-tourism, state of development and countermeasures of agro-tourism, impacts of agro-tourism and festive tourism. This paper also analyzed the development of China’s agro-tourism from the perspective of market demand, urbanization and rural economic restructuring. It discussed the driving forces of tourism demand, tourism development, accelerated urbanization, “return-to-nature” drive, rural economic restructuring, agriculture, and tourism breakthrough achievement. Based on analysis of developments in China’s agro-tourism, four driving forces were identified. The nation-wide tourism was driven by regional transportation, city development, scenic spot and resource monopoly. It was clear that the more driving factors there were, the more beneficial was the development of agro-tourism. The paper emphasized that under the concept of market economy, the development of agro-tourism always required a variety of external conditions for the jointly promotion of agro-tourism. Also with changing internal and external conditions, the driven factors for agro-tourism development changed. In conclusion therefore, development strategies were presented 682 中国生态农业学报 2012 第 20卷 as the driving force of China’s agro-tourism industry. Traffic-driven strategy and characteristics of product and urban development influenced strategic in-depth theme development of hot spot tourism sites. Link-driven development and unique-resource driven strategies were the brands of development for integrated mode of agro-tourism development. The development of agro-tourism also needed the involvement and coordination of various stakeholders, including government, community and tourism operators. The analyses in this article were in the hope of accelerating healthy and sustainable development of China’s agro-tourism.

Value of Ecosystem Services in Conventional and Organic Rice Paddies： A Case Study in Wannian, Jiangxi, China

Abstract In the current study, the ecosystem services (ES) of conventional and organic rice paddies in Wannian, Jiangxi Province, China are investigated. First, the ES at the field level under organic and conventional paddies were investigated. Total economic value of ES in organic rice paddies was 30093.08 yuan RMB/ha per year and that of conventional rice paddies was 22 793.31 yuan RMB/ha per year. The total indirect value of ES was 14 813.7 yuan RMB/ha per year in organic rice paddies and 12 424.56 yuan RMB/ha per year in conventional ones. There were significant differences between organic and conventional rice paddies for the economic values. Then, this economic information was used to extrapolate and to calculate the total and indirect value of ES from rice paddies in Wangnian. The total and indirect economic values of ES from conventional rice paddies in Wannian were 6791 million and 3702 million yuan RMB per year respectively, and the total and indirect economic values of ES from organic rice paddies in Wannian were 1311 million and 646 million yuan RMB per year. If half the area had being converted to organic farming in Wannian, the total and indirect economic values of ES from conventional rice paddies were 3397 million and 1851 million yuan RMB per year, and the total and indirect economic values of ES from organic rice paddies were 5794 million and 2852 million yuan RMB per year. Finally, the total economic value of ES in rice paddies in Wannian was demonstrated through geographic information system techniques.

Quantitative Analysis of Central Asian Countries' Energy Security and Its Political Influence Factors

Abstract: Central Asian countries are located in the heartland of the Eurasian Continent. Their geographic location puts their energy flows under tremendous geopolitical pressure from the countries along their limited number of pipelines. With energy trade data from the United Nations Comtrade Statistics Database in the period from 2005 to 2016, this paper evaluates energy security of Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan (exporter) and Kyrgyzstan (importer) using three standards: correlativeness, diversity, and the impact of international relations. It concludes that Kazakhstan and Turkmenistans oil markets are balanced in terms of correlation and diversification, and thus less subject to geopolitical pressure. Turkmenistans gas markets, on the other hand, still have tremendous exposure to geopolitical risks for lack of diversification. Kyrgyzstan, as an energy importer, could rely on a few neighboring countries for energy supply. We found out that the three Central Asian countries’ energy security is largely determined by four political factors: the relationship with Russia, the new “great game” in Eurasia, the rise of China, and Central Asian regional geopolitical configuration.

Food nutrition and food security of China in a new development phase

Food security is a problem that requires strategic, scientific and comprehensive solutions, and has great significance for national security and the wellbeing of the people. As China’s socio-economic development and modernization enter a new historic phase, its food security is faced with new challenges and risks. Managing these challenges and risks will be of vital importance for the country and its people in order to ensure appropriate food production, supply and consumption. This study begins with the various aspects of food provision and consumption, analyzes the major changes in nutrition and food demand and provision under current conditions, presents the resource and environmental risks as well as their correlations with food security, and proposes a comprehensive strategy and policy suggestions for the future. The authors consider that nutrition and food security remain the top priority of the issues relating to agriculture, rural areas, and rural people, and propose that the agricultural development of the nation is in a critical stage of improving both food quality and production efficiency in the backdrop of practicing a Rural Vitalization Strategy and building a Modern Socialist China. Six approaches are raised by the authors to address these issues, i.e., (1) Establish a new perception of food security; (2) Comprehensively reconcile the conflicts between market and government by applying less restriction to the market; (3) Balance domestic and international markets, and make better use of international market goods; (4) Lower the production costs in the country; (5) Promote green development, and urge that agricultural production follow the natural law; (6) Explore a new agricultural development paradigm, and inspire new momentum for rural growth. The authors further insist that the current agricultural production policies need to be scrutinized to comply with the current status of the urbanization process, aging society and agricultural modernization trends, and in order to be coherent with the national strategy in this new stage. As a consequence, it is critical that each and every part of the food security system and policy framework is lifted up to this optimal level in order to bring the market fully into play, and that the domestic and international resources and markets are well considered and utilized under the Belt and Road Initiative. All efforts combined must be dedicated to transform the agricultural sector, to build a green, open, inclusive, and sustainable food security system, and to achieve national food security and the green development of China.

A National Accounting Framework for the Petroleum Cycle: A Case Study of China

Abstract: In a world of climate change and socio-economic development, oil is the strategic resource that is closely intertwined and interdependent. Tracing the evolution of petroleum resources flow is fundamental to understanding petroleum supply and demand, and can also serve as the basis for assessing CO2 emissions from petroleum products. This paper aims to provide a petroleum products flow accounting framework that divides petroleum flow into four phases, three flows, three libraries, and two processes, and summarizes the approach to measure and analyze petroleum resources flows. It takes China as an example for empirical research, and finds that: ① Chinas petroleum production, consumption and import have significantly increased over the past two decades, and the combination of increasing demand and limited supply have created an urgent need for China to diversify its petroleum sources globally to ensure its oil security. ② Final consumption accounts for the use of most petroleum products and special attention should be paid to the losses in the petroleum refining process. ③ With the exception of crude oil, petroleum product flows among various sectors has changed greatly. Particularly, the flow of petroleum products into transport and residential consumption has trended upward significantly, whereas the flow to industry is trending downward. ④ CO2 emission data shows that CO2 emission amounts increased rapidly from 456Mt in 1993 to 1517Mt in 2013. Previously, the top three CO2 emitters were the industrial sector, the transport sector including the transport, storage and post segments, and the thermal power sector. Currently, the largest emitters are the transport sector, the industrial sector and the residential consumption sector. Finally, poorly demarcated system boundaries and incomplete databases and models constrain research on industry flows of petroleum resources for non-energy use.

The Dual Model for Tourism Resource Productivity Improvement

Abstract For natural resource science, resource productivity studying is an important subject. But researches on tourism resource productivity are limited. The most significant influencing factor on tourism resource productivity is the potential market scale of tourist locations, and second most important influencing factor is the resource endowment. Regional urban population is significantly correlated with region tourist numbers, being the decisive factor of region potential tour market scale. In tourism development, the dual model should be adopted: on one hand to enhance tour spot attractiveness, on the other hand to cultivate the potential market by improving urbanization level and other means. In the situation of tourism development fever spreading, the dual model for improving tourism productivity helps to avoid the “Great Leap Forward” which means that too rapid tourism construction divorces from actual market demand.