A Study On Spatio-Temporal Characteristics And Influential Factors Of Interprovincial Haze Pollution Level In China

Since embarking on the reform and opening up policy,China has developed to be one of the world's most successful economies.It has not only brought great material wealth,but also improved people's living standards.At the same time,the rapid urbanization and industrialization has also brought many environmental concerns.The frequent occurrence of hazardous weather such as haze,not only brings serious health threats and economic losses to the people,but also attracts widespread attention from the international community.The report of the 19 th National Congress pointed out that socialism with Chinese characteristics has entered a new era.The major social contradictions in our country have turned into a contradiction between the people's ever-growing needs for a better life and unbalanced and inadequate development.People's outlook for a better lifestyle not only imposes higher requirements on material and cultural life,but also has a growing demand for democracy,the rule of law,fairness,justice,safety,and the environment.In this context,using the spatial econometric techniques to explore the spatiotemporal changes of haze pollution and the influencing factors,and putting forward improvement measures specific to Chinese context is meaningful.On the one hand,it adheres to the practice of the harmonious coexistence between man and nature,and creates better living and production environment for people.On the other hand,it also commits to atmospheric pollution prevention,resolves outstanding environmental problems,contributes to global ecological sustainability,and reveals China's responsible image as a big country.This research has important theoretical and practical significance.The main research focuses are summarized as follows:(1)To address the issue of insufficient representation of haze pollution based on single pollution index,this research proposes a robust evaluation index to represent the overall haze pollution condition.Using a dynamic method based on overall-difference and horizontal-vertical classification approach to establish a comprehensive and scientific evaluation of the haze pollution index across 29 provinces and autonomous regions of China in 2003-2016.(2)Based on the integrated haze pollution index,the spatiotemporal characteristics of inter-provincial haze pollution levels in China were studied.The results showed that the level of haze pollution across the country and the eastern,central and western regions showed an inverted "N" curve.The level of haze pollution in the eastern part of the country witnessed the fastest drop.The second is the central region,and the west region is the slowest.In order to achieve the overall ecological environment improvement proposed in the “13th Five-Year Plan” and the goal of a substantial reduction in the total discharge of major pollutants,we must focus on pollution monitoring the central and western regions among the three major regions;and on a provincial level,more focus should be put on the pollution control in provinces like Hebei,Shandong,Shanxi,Henan,Shaanxi,Gansu,and Xinjiang.The spatial agglomeration effect of inter-provincial haze pollution in China is obvious,and there exists an evident spatial autocorrelation.Based on the spatial autocorrelation of inter-provincial haze pollution levels in China,the spatial convergence of inter-provincial haze pollution levels in China was tested.It was found that there is an absolute convergence trend in the inter-provincial haze pollution levels in China.(3)Based on the spatial agglomeration effect in China,with controlled weather condition,the two spatial weight matrices of adjacent weights and distance weights,and a spatial econometric model of bias corrections methods are used to empirically investigate the influential factors on provincial haze pollution.The results show that the haze pollution has a significant spatial spillover effect.The relationship between population urbanization and haze pollution shows an inverted U-shape,which validates the EKC hypothesis.There is also a U-shaped relationship between per capita GDP and haze pollution.Industrialization,transportation and energy consumption will increase the level of haze pollution.The test of spatial convergence shows that there is a significant convergence trend in inter-provincial haze pollution in China.There is an inverted U-shaped relationship between urbanization and the inter-provincial haze pollution.The convergence of inter-provincial haze pollution levels in China is also positively related to industrialization and energy consumption.(4)Based on the spatiotemporal characteristics of inter-provincial haze pollution in China and the empirical results of spatial econometric analysis,this paper proposes improvement measures from the perspectives of regional collaborative governance,green urbanization as well as innovative economic development.