| Since the reform and opening up,China’s economy has been flourishing.However,along with the rapid economic development,environmental problems have become more severe.The rampant growth of the economy has brought about problems such as ecological imbalance and environmental pollution.Therefore,environmental pollution and sustainable development issues have received attention from all sectors,and how to achieve coordinated development of resources,society,environment,and economy is an urgent problem that needs to be solved.The concept of ecological efficiency proposes to achieve maximum value with the minimum input of resources and environmental pollution,which can be effectively used to solve the coordinated development problems in various regions.The 14 th Five-Year Plan and the 2035 Vision Target of the country have further reaffirmed the development direction of ecological protection and green development.Currently,China’s level of ecological efficiency development is still in its early stages,with problems such as late development start and large regional differences.Therefore,accurately measuring the ecological efficiency of each province and exploring the spatial-temporal evolution status of ecological efficiency and clarifying the spatial-temporal heterogeneity of the driving mechanism of ecological efficiency is beneficial to improve regional efficiency levels,thereby achieving regional green development.It also provides a scientific basis for the government to formulate ecological protection and governance policies that are tailored to local conditions,regionally coordinated,and flexible according to time.This study summarizes domestic and foreign literature,identifies current research trends,and analyzes possible gaps in existing research.Based on this,the study develops a research plan and framework,and presents relevant research theories and modeling methods.The study selects panel data for China’s provincial level from 2010 to 2020 and uses the global efficiency EBM model that considers unexpected output to calculate the ecological efficiency values of each province and city.Using a dual perspective of time and space,the study employs visualization methods such as maps,the Gini coefficient method,kernel density analysis,and spatial Markov chain analysis to depict the current level of regional ecological efficiency development.Finally,the study examines the spatial clustering characteristics of regional ecological efficiency and constructs a GTWR model to explore the spatio-temporal evolution of different driving factors on regional ecological efficiency.The study finds that:(1)The temporal evolution status of ecological efficiency.This article analyzes the temporal evolution of regional ecological efficiency from both the provincial and the regional levels.The research findings show that:(1)at the provincial level,starting from the ecological efficiency values of the “entire period”,“sub-periods”,and characteristic change points,the temporal evolution of ecological efficiency in China’s provinces exhibits the characteristics of“high growth,great potential,and strong stageality”.During the research period,China’s overall ecological efficiency and that of each province showed a good upward trend,demonstrating a high growth momentum.The ecological efficiency values in the central and western regions as well as the northeast region are relatively low,but they have great potential.Meanwhile,the development of China’s ecological efficiency exhibits significant stage characteristics,mainly manifested as a “period of high growth rate” and a “period of steady growth”.During the “Twelfth Five-Year Plan” period,the ecological efficiency of various provinces demonstrated a high-speed development,while during the “Thirteenth Five-Year Plan” period,the growth rate slowed down,but the development achieved stable and high-quality growth.(2)at the regional level,the temporal evolution of ecological efficiency in China’s four major regions exhibits a clear pattern of “one leading,multiple catching up”.The eastern region always leads the development of ecological efficiency,while the central and northeast regions have strong catching-up momentum.Specifically,before 2016,the regional ranking of efficiency values was “eastern region>western region>central region>northeast region”.After 2016,the northeast region caught up and the regional ranking evolved into “eastern region>northeast region>western region>central region”.(2)The spatial distribution status of ecological efficiency.The article describes the spatial characteristics of ecological efficiency from three aspects: distribution pattern,spatial differences,and spatial agglomeration features.The research results show that:(1)the regional unevenness of ecological efficiency in China is prominent,and the overall spatial distribution pattern is mainly “strong in the east and weak in the west”.On the one hand,there is a certain transfer inertia in the spatial distribution evolution,and areas with high efficiency values are always concentrated in the eastern coastal areas,with sporadic distribution in the northwest.On the other hand,there is a phase transition in spatial distribution evolution,with the efficiency hierarchy of provinces in the central region rising and that in the western region falling.(2)In terms of the sources of spatial differences,the spatial differences in ecological efficiency in China mainly come from different plateaus.Specifically,the spatial gap in the development level of ecological efficiency in the central and northeastern regions is large,while that in the eastern and western regions is small.(3)In terms of spatial agglomeration features,there is an obvious positive spatial correlation among the ecological efficiency of provinces and cities in China,mainly manifested as L-L low-value agglomeration.Among them,H-H type agglomeration is mainly distributed in the Yangtze River Delta,Beijing-Tianjin and other regions,and L-L type agglomeration mainly appears in the western regions.At the same time,the evolution of the spatial agglomeration of ecological efficiency in China is relatively stable.(3)The spatiotemporal evolution pattern status of ecological efficiency.The article reveals the spatial and temporal evolution trends of ecological efficiency from the overall distribution of efficiency and the direction and probability of efficiency evolution.The research results show that:(1)From the perspective of the overall distribution of efficiency,the spatial and temporal evolution characteristics of China’s ecological efficiency have the phenomena of “main peak right shift”,“bimodal distribution” and “right tail dragging”.(2)From the perspective of the direction and probability of efficiency evolution,whether in stages or in the whole period,there is a “club convergence phenomenon” in efficiency transfer,and it is difficult to achieve efficient leapfrog development.Secondly,when considering spatial factors,the evolution of ecological efficiency has a certain spatial dependence.Specifically,provinces and cities affected by high neighboring background spillover effects will see an improvement in their local ecological efficiency.At the same time,there is a risk of downward transfer in the local ecological efficiency evolution under the influence of low neighboring background.(4)The spatio-temporal heterogeneity of driving factors for ecological efficiency is analyzed in depth in this chapter.(1)There is obvious temporal heterogeneity in the impact of various factors on ecological efficiency.Overall,urbanization has a promoting effect on ecological efficiency,but the effect is gradually weakening.Overall,external dependence has a promoting effect on ecological efficiency,and the effect is increasing year by year.Overall,industrial structure has a inhibiting effect on ecological efficiency,and its inhibitory effect has a relatively stable temporal variation.Overall,environmental regulation has a promoting effect on ecological efficiency,but the marginal effect is decreasing.Overall,economic development has a inhibiting effect on ecological efficiency,but the effect is gradually weakening,and there is a trend towards promotion from inhibition.(2)There is obvious spatial heterogeneity in the impact of various factors on ecological efficiency.The effect of urbanization on ecological efficiency mainly shows a “strong west,weak east” distribution pattern;the effect of external dependence on ecological efficiency mainly shows an “east strong,west weak” distribution pattern;the distribution pattern of the effect of industrial structure on ecological efficiency evolves from “east strong,west weak” to “east strong,west strong,and central collapse”;the impact of environmental regulations on ecological efficiency mainly shows a “strong north and weak south” distribution pattern;the effect of economic development on ecological efficiency mainly exhibits an “east strong,west weak” distribution pattern,and its impact has a clear “Matthew effect”. |
