Frontiers in Environmental Science | New and Recent Articles

New-type urbanization reflects a development orientation toward low-carbon, green, and environmentally friendly growth; however, its relationship with the ecological environment remains insufficiently understood, particularly in ecologically fragile and underdeveloped regions. Taking the Southwest China’s ethnic minorities areas as the study area, this paper employs Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA…

Mangroves are globally important coastal wetland ecosystems that occupy the interface between freshwater, terrestrial, and marine environments, providing critical services including carbon sequestration, shoreline stabilization, water-quality regulation, and biodiversity support. Despite their importance, mangrove wetlands face increasing pressures from climate change, altered hydrological regime…

BackgroundWhether place-based circular-economy policy can strengthen urban ecological resilience remains an open question in environmental economics. China’s Zero-Waste City (ZWC) pilot, covering 11 cities and 5 special zones in 2019 and expanded to 113 prefectures in 2022, provides the largest such policy experiment to date, and a natural setting in which to test this question.MethodsUsing a pan…

Artificial Island Development (AID) in coastal regions, particularly in the Gulf area, is a strategic initiative aimed at expanding land and infrastructure, offering significant economic benefits. This study is based on live project data from the Qetaifan Island North (QIN) development in Qatar, which has been implemented as a real-world artificial island project. However, these developments also…

Based on the index system construction of eco-efficiency of arable land utilization (EEALU), this paper measures EEALU of 30 provinces in China from 2013 to 2022 using SBM model, the standard deviation ellipse, Dagum Gini Coefficient and Decomposition, kernel density estimation and fixed effects model to reveal hotspot migration process, spatial differences, the dynamic evolution and drivers of E…

This paper systematically examines the spatial pattern of coupling coordination between intelligent and green industries in the Yellow River Basin from the perspective of “spatial scale”. First, at multiple functional regional scales—including metropolitan areas, metropolitan circles, and urban agglomerations—the differentiated spatial structures and the dynamic evolution of “polarization-diffusi…

Vegetation coverage serves as a crucial indicator of the stability and anti-interference capacity of a regional ecosystem. Consequently, carrying out research on the alterations in vegetation coverage within ecologically fragile regions holds significant importance for the study of regional ecological balance. In this study, we selected northern Shaanxi, a typical ecologically fragile region in C…

Three key challenges hinder the identification of short-term heavy precipitation (STHP) over the Yangtze River Delta region: feature selection, sample imbalance, and poor physical performance of models. To address these issues, this study developed a physically consistent cascade recognition model based on ERA5 reanalysis data from 2020 to 2024 and high-density ground-based observations. The mode…

Historic cultural preservation districts, as carriers of urban memory and traditional spatial patterns, are increasingly confronted with tensions among conservation, utilization, and vitality under the acceleration of urbanization and tourism-oriented consumption. With the introduction of commercial and tourism activities, district functions tend to exhibit localized agglomeration, resulting in p…

Hard rock terrains, defined here as crystalline igneous-metamorphic aquifers in which groundwater is stored mainly in weathered mantles and fracture networks, are especially prone to borehole-scale fluoride variability that complicates rural drinking-water security. This mini-review synthesizes recent evidence on geogenic fluoride occurrence, exposure pathways, and defluoridation strategies relev…

Green credit is a key policy tool for guiding high-polluting enterprises toward green transformation, but its effectiveness is often weakened by symbolic compliance and banks’ short-term profit pressures. To address these challenges, we develop a tripartite evolutionary game involving the government, banks, and high-polluting enterprises. Unlike existing studies that mainly adopt bilateral framew…

This research critically assesses the contributions of Environmental International Organizations (EIOs) - such as the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and World Meteorological Organization (WMO) - to climate mitigation and adaptation in the context of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Through a comprehensive review…

Urban informal green spaces (IGS) are an important component of urban ecosystems. They play a significant role in biodiversity conservation and enhancing residents’ quality of life. However, research on IGS plant configuration patterns, especially those based on plant diversity characteristics, is still insufficient. This study selected three linear informal green spaces along the Panlong River i…

West Nile virus (WNV) is a mosquito-borne flavivirus that has become a significant public health concern worldwide. The growing evidence suggests that WNV can also be released through urine, raising the possibility of shedding through environmental compartments. Wastewater treatment plants, therefore, emerge as an important area of research on the presence and persistence of WNV. This review disc…

IntroductionThe rapid advancement of tunnel engineering in mountainous nature reserves may pose disturbance risks to ecosystem stability and rare plant habitats.MethodsThis study investigated the Davidia involucrata tunnel of the Naqing Expressway by establishing four comparative plots: a wild Davidia involucrata community, a D. involucrata community above the tunnel, a cultivated D. involucrata …

IntroductionTo promote low-carbon development, green social and economic transformation, and the early realization of “carbon peaking and carbon neutrality“, fiscal and financial synergy is urgently required.MethodsBased on the panel data of Chinese provinces from 2006 to 2024, an empirical analysis was conducted on the impact of fiscal and financial synergy on regional carbon emissions.ResultsTh…

Carbon finance has emerged as a crucial tool in promoting sustainable solid waste management (SWM) through the commercialization of greenhouse gas reduction benefits and encouraging low-carbon waste treatment solutions. In the context of the growing amount of solid waste in cities and the significant contribution of the waste sector to the global level of methane emissions, this paper synthesizes…

This Conceptual Analysis traces who pays for environmental footprints, focusing on the current US economic system and environmental regulatory regime. With some important exceptions, carbon, water, and material footprints, and consequent waste generation, are largely uncompensated negative externalities. This leads to natural resources being underpriced and overconsumed, resulting in natural capi…

Environmental, social, and governance (ESG) ratings have become the central information infrastructure shaping environmental decision-making, yet persistent disagreement across rating agencies introduces uncertainty about sustainability signals. While prior research focused on financial market consequences, limited evidence exists of whether such disagreements affect resource allocation to enviro…