School of Public Affairs, Zhejiang University, Yuhangtang Road No. 866, 310058 Hangzhou, China; Center of Social Welfare and Governance, Zhejiang University, Yuhangtang Road No. 866, 310058 Hangzhou, China.
School of Public Affairs, Zhejiang University, Yuhangtang Road No. 866, 310058 Hangzhou, China.
Sci Total Environ. 2020 May 10;716:137010. doi: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2020.137010. Epub 2020 Feb 7.
The accelerating urbanization has led to serious air pollution dominated by PM, posing a critical challenge for the environmental sustainability of the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). However, a focus on the distribution and drivers of PM concentrations in BRI is lacking. To fill in the gap, this study explores the spatio-temporal distribution of PM concentrations in 74 nations partnering the BRI and identifies the socioeconomic and natural drivers behind the variation through the joint use of spatial autocorrelation and regression analyses. We find that the PM concentrations of BRI show significant spatial autocorrelation and spatial heterogeneity on the national scale. The most heavily polluted regions are observed mainly in China, Southeast Asia, South Asia, West Asia and North Africa, particularly in the Arabian Gulf region. Energy intensity and per capita electricity consumption act as the major drivers of the PM concentrations, whereas the expanding forest area contributes to the decrease in PM concentrations notably. Our findings highlight the need for speeding up new-type urbanization as part of the green BRI practice, calling for international cooperation and coordinated action aimed at enhancing synergies of air-quality and climate policies that at present are mostly launched and implemented in isolation. From a broader point of view, in struggling towards BRI's cleaner air, more attention should be paid to creating policy synergies between the green BRI, the Paris Agreement, and the United Nations 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.
快速的城市化进程导致以 PM 为主的严重空气污染，对“一带一路”倡议（BRI）的环境可持续性构成了严峻挑战。然而，目前缺乏对“一带一路”倡议成员国 PM 浓度分布及其驱动因素的关注。为了填补这一空白，本研究通过空间自相关和回归分析，探讨了“一带一路”倡议 74 个成员国的 PM 浓度的时空分布，并确定了造成这种差异的社会经济和自然驱动因素。研究发现，“一带一路”倡议成员国的 PM 浓度在国家层面上具有显著的空间自相关和空间异质性。污染最严重的地区主要在中国、东南亚、南亚、西亚和北非，特别是在海湾地区。能源强度和人均用电量是 PM 浓度的主要驱动因素，而森林面积的扩大则显著降低了 PM 浓度。研究结果强调了加快新型城市化进程的必要性，这是绿色“一带一路”实践的一部分，呼吁国际合作和协调行动，以增强目前大多孤立推出和实施的空气质量和气候政策之间的协同作用。从更广泛的角度来看，在努力实现“一带一路”倡议更清洁的空气方面，应更加关注在绿色“一带一路”倡议、《巴黎协定》和联合国 2030 年可持续发展议程之间创造政策协同效应。
