The dynamics in climatic variability is prominently affecting the agriculture system, particularly the small and marginal land holding farmers in arid and semi-arid regions which are highly vulnerable. The present study in Kolar district assessed the variability scale and dynamics of rainfall over the decades, it revealed the current day’s agrarian crisis, resulting in impacts on farmers and adaptations by farmers to changing situations. The study also reveals that over the decades there has been a considerable variation in rainfall pattern in the study area but there was no significant average rainfall variation till the last decade, after which there was a significant seasonal variation that directly affects the sowing pattern and associated agricultural practices. The exploitation of groundwater for water-intensive commercial crops has increased rapidly from the past decade that resulted in the critically depleted groundwater table. To meet the livelihood demands some farmers were observed to have shifted to non-agricultural occupations. It is a serious threat at this point of time as the agriculture output has to be fed to the larger portion of the society and decreased output from agriculture eventually leads to inflation. So, it is very crucial to adapt all possible measures to retain farmers in agriculture practice. Hence, understanding and scientific assessment of the risks associated with the changing climate and its variables is the need of the hour, particularly in arid and semi-arid regions which are going to be highly vulnerable. Studies like this will help in policy-making and management planning to cope up with the dynamic climatic factors.

In the past 40 years after China adopted the reform and open-up policy, China’s expediting industries spatial agglomeration has resulted in severe damage to the environment. In China, the one whether the pollution haven hypothesis (PHH) is true or not is the hot issue under the research of academic circles. By establishing the mechanism model of industries spatial agglomeration and environmental pollution in this paper, we discovered upon our empirical study that China’s industrial spatial agglomeration process had apparent threshold characteristics for environmental pollution, those direct investment and scientific innovation of foreign merchants apparently improved environmental pollution, so PHH is not true in China and such conclusion provides empirical support for China’s industrial agglomeration and environmental policymaking. At the end of the paper, the policy proposals for improving environmental pollution in future are made, which have important significance for China’s high-quality economic development.

Total 150 sediments samples were collected from the Yangzong Lake, and the total phosphorus, pH, redox potential and organic carbon were analysed to quantitatively study the dispersal and sources of phosphorus and its influential factors. The results indicated that the total phosphorus content in sediments was 318-3931 mg/kg, which decreased slightly with depth. In the sediments at the depths of 0-2cm, 2-4cm, 4-6cm, 6-8cm and 8-10cm, the phosphorus contents were 1151mg/kg, 1126mg/kg, 1138mg/kg, 1057mg/kg and 893mg/kg respectively. The contents of phosphorus in the sediments were high on both north and south banks and reduced gradually towards the centre of the lake. Before the 1980s, the phosphorus distribution in the sediments was mainly influenced by natural factors such as pH value, redox potential and organic matter. But after the 1980s, the phosphorus distribution was mainly affected by the position of sewage discharge. Sources of phosphorus in the sediments have changed from the local source to the multiple sources, and from the point source to surface source. Currently, soil erosion and agricultural non-point source pollution are the main sources of phosphorus in Yangzong Lake.

Traditional cement building generates abundant construction wastes during construction and waste transportation. Thus, it incurs high building resource consumption, low building efficiency, and frequent occurrence of safety accidents, which result in relatively low utilization ratio of building resources and relatively serious environmental pollution pressure. A prefabricated building can save building materials and energies and decrease construction waste emission; it is also an essential choice when the construction industry develops to a high level in a country. A case study based on a residential project in Henan Province, China was carried out. Firstly, studies concerning the environmental benefits of prefabricated building in foreign developed countries were reviewed. Second, the types of environmental damage from cement building were summarized. Third, an evaluation index system of environmental benefits of the prefabricated building was established. Finally, environmental benefit scores in the case study were calculated using the fuzzy comprehensive evaluation method based on the analytic hierarchy process. Results demonstrated that prefabricated building is extensively applied in Europe. Traditional cement buildings bring various types of environmental pollution, including water, solid waste, and dust pollutions and vegetation damage. In a case study, the environmental benefits of the prefabricated building are assessed at a good level close to excellent. Environmental benefits of the prefabricated building can be improved by encouraging real estate developers to adopt prefabricated building. In this manner, the installation efficiency of mechanical devices and construction efficiency can be increased, and the construction safety of projects can be improved. Research conclusions can provide references not only for the government to formulate policies in favour of prefabricated building development and measures for reducing environmental pollutions but also for the construction industry to enrich benefit evaluation systems for prefabricated building projects. This study is highly important in the realization of green sustainable development in the construction industry.

The eutrophication of water would cause the quality of the water to deteriorate and the algae to grow in large quantities. The recovery of phosphorus from sewage can not only purify the water quality, but also achieve the recycling of phosphorus. Its environmental and economic benefits are considerable. In this study, bamboo was used as raw material and modified with MgCl2 solution to prepare Mg-loaded biochar from bamboo (Mg@B). The adsorption experiments of phosphorus in solution by Mg@B were carried out. The adsorption kinetics of phosphorus by Mg@B was depicted by pseudo-first order kinetic and pseudo-second order kinetic models. The results showed that the surface of Mg@B is covered with the compound of Mg(OH)2. The adsorption process fits well with the pseudo-second order kinetics equation. The predominant process is chemisorption, which involves a sharing of electrons between the adsorbate and the surface of the adsorbent. The factor limiting the rate of reaction is primarily the number of surface-active sites of the adsorbent. The mechanism of Mg@B adsorbing phosphate ions in solution has physical adsorption, electrostatic adsorption and chemical precipitation.

With the help of PM2.5, PM10, and the Air Quality Index (AQI) and other air quality data, the posterior trajectory model of the Hybrid Single Particle Lagrangian Integrated Trajectory (HYSPLIT-4) model, having researched fire points of the straw in Harbin City, spatial pattern characteristics and genesis of the persistent haze in Harbin City from 20th October 2016 to 11th November 2016 were analysed. During the study period, the highest value of PM2.5 reached 1880?g/m3, the PM10 reached 1411?g/m3, the daily average concentration was high, and the AQI concentration reached a maximum value on 28th October and 4th November, and the persistent haze phenomenon was the most significant. Besides, the study found that the haze incident and a large quantity of pollutants due to the concentration of burning straw around Harbin had a strong connection. The burning of particulate matter had a significant impact on the region’s pollution level. The results of this study contribute to the control of particulate pollution in winter cities of developing countries.

Soil microorganisms play a crucial role in nutrient availability and overall soil health. However, the effects that biochar has on soil microbial communities are not well understood. This study analysed the effects of biochar pyrolysis temperature and application rate on the soil microbial community of loess. Two biochars derived from soybean stover were produced at 300 and 600°C (BC300 and BC600, respectively) and were applied to loess at the rates of 1, 3, and 5% (w/w). After fifteen weeks of incubation, soil microbial analysis was performed using 16S rDNA amplicon sequencing technology. All of the BC300 and BC600 treated soils were shown to have an increase in the relative abundance of Gemmatimonadetes and a decrease in Actinobacteria and Chloroflexi. Proteobacteria also showed a significant increase in the majority of the biochar treated soils. Biochar led to a shift in the soil microbial community and caused a significant increase in the relative abundance of bacteria from the genus Lysobacter. Based on the results of this study, soybean stover-derived biochar should be considered as a potential soil amendment for improving the health of loess or other soils in semi-arid climates.

An investigation of 43 soil samples and their corresponding wheat samples collected from Qinan (QN) and Luling (LL) coal mining areas in Suzhou, China, was conducted to study the accumulation of heavy metals (Cu, Pb, Zn, Cd, Cr and Ni) in the soil-wheat system, and to evaluate the potential human health risk posed by heavy metals from long-term ingestion of local wheat. Results showed that Cu, Zn, Cd and Ni were accumulated in the soils from the two mining areas, higher proportions of all the investigated metals in residual fraction were recorded, while large amounts of Cd, Cu, Zn, Pb were also observed in the bioavailable or potential bioavailable fractions. Metal contents in the different parts of wheat mainly followed the order of Root>Stem>Grain. The trends of Bioaccumulation factor (BF) and Translocation factor (TF) values were Zn>Cd>Cu>Ni>Pb>Cr and Cu>Cd>Zn>Cr>Pb>Ni, respectively. Correlation analysis suggested that the accumulated metals in the grain were mainly supplied from exchangeable and carbonate bound fractions in soil. Since the health risk posed by heavy metals ingestion was very close to the maximum allowable limit, the safety of wheat consumption in the coal mining areas should be continually concerned.

The South-to-North Water Diversion Project in China is an important measure to promote the ecological civilization construction in the receiving areas. Since the operation of the east and middle routes, the comprehensive benefits are more and more remarkable. It is very significant to quantitatively evaluate the comprehensive benefits of the South-to-North Water Diversion Project. The idea of quantitative evaluation by the improved degree of the carrying capacity of regional water environment after water diversion is put forward in this paper. On the basis, combining with variable fuzzy set and cloud theory, a new comprehensive assessment model is established. According to the evaluation index system of water environmental carrying capacity and the index values of research area, the linear difference function value is generated randomly by triangular forward cloud generator, and then the variable fuzzy comprehensive evaluation is carried out. Taking Haihe River Basin and Beijing City as typical research areas respectively, the comprehensive benefits of water supply from the diversion project in 2030 are analysed. The comprehensive evaluation method with variable cloud model considers both “good” and “bad” aspects and considers both randomness and fuzziness. Results show that the model is feasible and efficient. It is worth popularizing and applying.

To ensure that injection water quality reaches the standard, oil field sewage stations adopt a continuous sludge dredging process to reduce the content of suspended solids and sand. A large amount of highwater- content oily sludge is produced, which results in increased costs of transportation and subsequent harmless treatment. Therefore, a sludge reduction treatment is necessary. A set of centrifugal reduction processes for oily sludge was designed in this study, with the horizontal screw centrifuge as the key piece of equipment. In the laboratory, CPAM flocculant was screened. In the field test, the effects of four factors rotational speed, differential speed, the feeding quantity of sludge, and flocculant dosage on the reduction effect were determined. The results show that when the rotational speed is higher, the differential speed is lower, and the feeding quantity of sludge remains lower, and the flocculant dosage remains higher, after treatment, the water content of the sludge is lower and the solid content of the sludge is higher. The optimal parameters of the centrifugal reduction process were determined using an orthogonal experimental design as follows: rotational speed 2,607 rpm, differential speed 8 rpm, the feeding quantity of sludge 7 m3/h, and flocculant dosage 100 g/m3. After treatment, the average water content of the sludge decreased from 92.75% to 56.57%, and the average solid content of the sludge increased from 2.30% to 36.72%. The split ratio of the water-outlet and sludge-outlet was in the range of 8.71:1 to 12.57:1, and the corresponding sludge reduction ratio was 89.70% to 92.63%, confirming successful sludge reduction.