• Energy Research
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• 12. Responsible consumption close
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Central Asia is a vital link in the huge Chinese Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) that follows much of the ancient Silk Road routes in this region. Other than the economic expansion and trade benefits associated with this complex infrastructure system, little is known about the many of the exogenous issues and direct environmental and socioeconomic impacts surrounding the BRI in Central Asia. This opinion paper takes a sharper look at some of these externalities and potential effects through a sustainability lens. Major environmental concerns focus on the proliferation of spur roads that will develop off upgraded or new Belt Roads to promote exploitation of natural resources. Steep, high-elevation landscapes in the Pamirs and Tien Shan pose problems for road location and construction, and the history of road building in less formidable terrain in Yunnan, China is unsustainable, leading to epic landslide and gully erosion, which degrade river systems. Furthermore, many socioeconomic issues may arise like debt dependencies of poor countries, spread of communicable diseases into remote communities, depletion of mineral resources, and implicit compliance with pro-China policies. While some of the poorer post-Soviet nations can reap short-term benefits from BRI plans, it is urged that they assess the long-term sustainability of BRI development and play an active role in determining the conditions for implementation.

The abundance and diversity of mineralization in Iran form the foundation of Iran's rich history of mining. The mining sites have geo-scientific, industrial, cultural, social, economical, historical and anthropological potentials for development of tourism. Using these potentials is very important for rural sustainable development. In this paper we suggest developing tourism in the mining sites within the framework of geotourism in Iran. The geological, cultural and historical aspects of ancient mines and current mining sites are discussed. Furthermore, their geotouristic potentials (like historic mining industry and buildings, exploration or extraction tunnels, minerals, signatures of mineralization types) are discussed within a broader sustainable development picture of Iran. We propose how Iran's rich mining heritage provides a valuable basis for tourism development and creates potential for more diverse employment opportunities. Developing and planning tourism in mining sites entails strategic implementation of public education on geological processes, cultural and historical evolutions, asserting the value and originality of mining sites and calling for public assistance in the protection of the heritages.

Abstract Background Animal husbandry is one of the agricultural activities that generates economic benefits for agriculture. We detected significant development of these activities in Morocco. Currently, it is stuck between the increase of organic waste polluting the farm environment and the energy needed to ensure the activities. Faced with this challenge, we determined all physical, chemical, and microbiological characteristics for livestock wastes most spread in Morocco. We evaluated also their ability to be used as bioresources for the anaerobic digestion and incineration ways for energy production to agricultural units. Methods We worked on four organic wastes (cow dung, horse manure, broiler droppings, and the excrement of laboratory mouse). The physical, chemical, and microbiological characteristics: moisture, total solids, volatile solids, organic carbon, nitrogen, ions and heavy metals, staphylococci, coliforms, yeasts and fungi and total aerobic mesophilic bacteria are determined by standard methods. The determination of lower heating value is performed with calorimetric bomb. The biogas production is determined by four batch types of digesters. All digesters are incubated at 35 ± 1 ℃ for 40 days. The volumes of biogas produced are corrected under standard pressure and temperature conditions. Results We noticed that the four agricultural wastes have a lower heating value closer to each other. When comparing the physicochemical composition of our wastes with that of Tanner’s theoretical waste, we have found that the valorization of these organic wastes by incineration is without energy and economic benefits. The microbiological content reflects the presence of a reservoir of pathogenic bacteria. On the other hand, the biogas potential shows that cow waste produces the largest amount of biogas. The co-digestion is necessary for horse manure, chicken manure, and excrement of laboratory mouse in order to increase their biogas potential. The mineral composition shows the possibility of using digestate of these wastes as an organic amendment to plants. Conclusions The comparison of the physicochemical and microbiological characteristics of the four organic wastes in Morocco reflects some important points. Firstly, there is an urgency to intervene to treat and valorize these wastes before putting them in the open air. Secondly, the incineration of this waste is inadequate from an energy point of view. In the third position, these wastes present a great ability to be used as feed substrates of farm digesters. Finally, the biogas potential and the mineral composition of these wastes demonstrates the ability to use them as bioresources capable of producing green energy and an organic amendment to Moroccan farms.

This study explores a paradigm of sustainable land use in the oases along the Tarim River of northwest China, where a fragile, semi-arid riparian ecosystem is being damaged by excessive land and water use for agriculture, especially for the growing of cotton. The reliance of agriculture on water-demanding cash crops in this region poses a grave threat to survival of the natural Tugai vegetation in the area and to the long-term sustainability of the region. We explored the hypothesis that the species Apocynum pictum (A. pictum), known as Lop-Kendir by locals, and the Chinese red date (Zyzyphus jujube) may act as sustainable crop substitutes for the region, thereby replacing the widely distributed cash crop of cotton that has high water demands. Therefore, we investigated current utilization and cost-revenue structure of these two alternative plants and compared the results to cotton. Three natural resource management types of A. pictum were both identified in the wild and cultivation, with cost-revenue analysis carried out for each. The results show that all three types of institutional arrangements of natural resources, which are namely open access, ranching and farming, were present in our study and at various levels for A. pictum. A. pictum farming costs 16,250.25 yuan/ha, generates 49,014.45 yuan/ha of revenue from raw materials and brings a profit of 32,764.2 yuan/ha, which is the highest of all three cash crops compared. The Chinese government encourages Chinese red date plantations with a “Grain for green” campaign in the Tarim Basin with this plant being more profitable than cotton, which could serve to diversify the region’s agriculture. We conclude that A. pictum offers opportunities for the restoration of vegetation in riparian ecosystems on salinized sites under the arid conditions of the Tarim Basin. Furthermore, it can serve as a viable land-use alternative to cotton for cash crop agriculture, as it may generate a certain income in the form of tea and fibers as well as fodder for livestock.

Central Asian countries attract investment in transport infrastructure to rebuild the Silk Road paths and enjoy economic benefits from the participation in international trade. The Kazakhstani government approached the Russian and Chinese governments intending to join the Western Europe–Western China (WE–WC) initiative to boost the country’s regional development. The paper aims to assess how the WE–WC transport corridor affected the economic potential of linking cities and regions starting from the quality of transport infrastructure and leading to their export potential. The study’s findings showed that the Kazakhstan section of the WE–WC corridor was at an early stage of transformation from a transport into an economic corridor. While the Russia-Uzbekistan section continues to serve mainly a transit function and operate at the level of transport infrastructure, the China-Kyrgyzstan section has started evolving from the level of multimode transport corridor to the level of logistics corridor. The economic sustainability of the WE–WC linking mining and agricultural regions of Kazakhstan still comes into question and depends on the government’s further region-specific policy actions.