IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jsusta/v17y2025i11p5173-d1671928.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Analyzing the Effective Contributions of Local Governments in Promoting Regional Sustainable Development: Evidence from Hainan, China

Author

Listed:
  • Xiaolin Xu

    (College of Public Administration and Law, Hunan Agricultural University, Changsha 410128, China)

  • Hezhen Yang

    (College of Public Administration and Law, Hunan Agricultural University, Changsha 410128, China)

Abstract

Based on the framework of the United Nations 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, this study takes Hainan Province of China as a typical case. It evaluates a comprehensive sustainable development assessment system covering six dimensions: economic development, social welfare, resources and environment, consumption and emission, governance and protection, and agricultural development through the entropy method. It quantifies the sustainable development levels of the entire province from 2015 to 2023 and of 18 cities and counties in 2023 using cluster analysis. It also analyzes the mechanism of the local government’s role through policy text analysis. The study shows that, firstly, the comprehensive sustainable development level of Hainan Province has been steadily rising. Economic development, social welfare, resources and environment, and consumption and emission have generally improved, but the governance and protection and agricultural development indicators have shown significant phased fluctuations. Secondly, in 2023, the sustainable development levels of cities and counties in Hainan Province presented a “stepwise distribution” spatial differentiation feature. Central cities such as Haikou and Sanya have developed ahead, while the development in the central and western regions has been relatively moderate. Thirdly, local governments have achieved multi-dimensional goal coordination through policies such as industrial structure optimization and ecological compensation mechanisms. The study suggests that while strengthening the leading role of local governments, it is necessary to build a multi-party collaborative mechanism involving enterprises, social organizations, and the public to address the regional imbalance in the implementation of SDGs.

Suggested Citation

  • Xiaolin Xu & Hezhen Yang, 2025. "Analyzing the Effective Contributions of Local Governments in Promoting Regional Sustainable Development: Evidence from Hainan, China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 17(11), pages 1-35, June.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:17:y:2025:i:11:p:5173-:d:1671928
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/17/11/5173/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/17/11/5173/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Miquel Salvador & David Sancho, 2021. "The Role of Local Government in the Drive for Sustainable Development Public Policies. An Analytical Framework Based on Institutional Capacities," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(11), pages 1-17, May.
    2. Xuening Fang & Bingbing Zhou & Xingyue Tu & Qun Ma & Jianguo Wu, 2018. "“What Kind of a Science is Sustainability Science?” An Evidence-Based Reexamination," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(5), pages 1-16, May.
    3. Tieli Wang & Dingliang Wang & Zhiwei Zeng, 2024. "Research on the Construction and Measurement of Digital Governance Level System of County Rural Areas in China—Empirical Analysis Based on Entropy Weight TOPSIS Model," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 16(11), pages 1-23, May.
    4. Manohar Patole, 2018. "Localization of SDGs through Disaggregation of KPIs," Economies, MDPI, vol. 6(1), pages 1-17, March.
    5. Matthew Cohen, 2017. "A Systematic Review of Urban Sustainability Assessment Literature," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 9(11), pages 1-16, November.
    6. Fang Su & Nini Song & Nannan Ma & Altynbek Sultanaliev & Jing Ma & Bing Xue & Shah Fahad, 2021. "An Assessment of Poverty Alleviation Measures and Sustainable Livelihood Capability of Farm Households in Rural China: A Sustainable Livelihood Approach," Agriculture, MDPI, vol. 11(12), pages 1-16, December.
    7. Longyu Shi & Linwei Han & Fengmei Yang & Lijie Gao, 2019. "The Evolution of Sustainable Development Theory: Types, Goals, and Research Prospects," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(24), pages 1-16, December.
    8. Kanzari, Emna & Fazio, Gioacchino & Fricano, Stefano, 2024. "Analysing the energy landscape in Africa using cluster analysis: Drivers of renewable energy development," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 195(C).
    9. Aleksandra Płonka & Mariusz Dacko & Łukasz Satoła & Aneta Dacko, 2022. "The Idea of Sustainable Development and the Possibilities of Its Interpretation and Implementation," Energies, MDPI, vol. 15(15), pages 1-19, July.
    10. Gilma Gabriela Uquillas Granizo & Soledad Janett Mostacero & Mariana Isabel Puente Riofrío, 2024. "Exploring the Competencies, Phases and Dimensions of Municipal Administrative Management towards Sustainability: A Systematic Review," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 16(14), pages 1-35, July.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Jerin Jacob, 2025. "A Background History of the Sustainable Development Goals," Sustainable Development, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 33(3), pages 3747-3759, June.
    2. Javier García López & Raffaele Sisto & Javier Benayas & Álvaro de Juanes & Julio Lumbreras & Carlos Mataix, 2021. "Assessment of the Results and Methodology of the Sustainable Development Index for Spanish Cities," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(11), pages 1-29, June.
    3. Wenyao Guo & Xianzhong Mu, 2022. "Identification of Cities in Underdeveloped Resource-Rich Areas and Its Sustainable Development: Evidence from China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(20), pages 1-16, October.
    4. Junuguru Srinivas & Naveen Kolloju & Akanksha Singh & Siriman Naveen & Sudhaveni Naresh, 2024. "The COVID-19 Pandemic and Its Impact on Sustainable Development Goals-2030," Journal of the Knowledge Economy, Springer;Portland International Center for Management of Engineering and Technology (PICMET), vol. 15(4), pages 15485-15498, December.
    5. Jiajun He & Xin Fan & Lin Chen & Zirui Huang & Yiming Zhao & Chenzhi Zhang, 2023. "Improving the Livelihood Resilience of Poverty-Stricken Population under Rural Revitalization: A Case Study of Chongqing M Reservoir Area," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(18), pages 1-19, September.
    6. Kamran Khan & Thomas Henschel, 2024. "LCT-Based Framework for the Assessment of Sustainability: From the Perspective of Literature Review," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 175(3), pages 1-20, December.
    7. Bing-Bing Zhou & Jingyuan Liu & Xiaoke Wang, 2025. "Advancing Sustainability Through Land-Related Approaches: Insights from NRC (1999) and a Bold Call to Action," Land, MDPI, vol. 14(4), pages 1-11, April.
    8. Leah V. Gibbons, 2020. "Regenerative—The New Sustainable?," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(13), pages 1-18, July.
    9. Walter Leal Filho & João Henrique Paulino Pires Eustachio & Lucas Veiga Ávila & Maria Alzira Pimenta Dinis & Paula M. Hernandez‐Diaz & Karina Batista & Bruno Borsari & Ismaila Rimi Abubakar, 2025. "Enhancing the contribution of higher education institutions to sustainable development research: A focus on post‐2015 SDGs," Sustainable Development, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 33(2), pages 1745-1757, April.
    10. Attila Buzási & Bettina Szimonetta Jäger, 2021. "Exploratory Analysis of Urban Sustainability by Applying a Strategy-Based Tailor-Made Weighting Method," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(12), pages 1-18, June.
    11. Yang, Xiaoxi & Zhang, Dansha & Masron, Tajul Ariffin, 2024. "The impact of smart city construction on achieving peak carbon neutrality: Evidence from 31 provinces in China," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 147(C).
    12. Xiaowei Ni & Yongbo Quan, 2023. "Measuring the Sustainable Development of Marine Economy Based on the Entropy Value Method: A Case Study in the Yangtze River Delta, China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(8), pages 1-16, April.
    13. Rong Wang & Jinlong Wang & Wenhao Chen, 2023. "The Coordinated Development of Ecosystem Services and Farming Household Livelihood Security: A Case Study of the Dongting Lake Area in China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(14), pages 1-18, July.
    14. Å pela VerovÅ¡ek & Tadeja ZupanÄ iÄ & Matevž JuvanÄ iÄ & Simon PetrovÄ iÄ & Matija Svetina & Miha Janež & Žiga PuÅ¡nik & Iztok Lebar Bajec & Miha MoÅ¡kon, 2021. "The Aspect of Mobility and Connectivity While Assessing the Neighbourhood Sustainability," Academic Journal of Interdisciplinary Studies, Richtmann Publishing Ltd, vol. 10, May.
    15. Pingtao Yi & Xiaoqin Zuo & Weiwei Li & Lu Wang, 2024. "Urban sustainability assessment based on sentiment analysis and entropy weight method: case study in Liaoning, China," Environment, Development and Sustainability: A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Theory and Practice of Sustainable Development, Springer, vol. 26(3), pages 7973-7997, March.
    16. Andrzej Raszkowski & Bartosz Bartniczak, 2019. "Sustainable Development in the Central and Eastern European Countries (CEECs): Challenges and Opportunities," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(4), pages 1-18, February.
    17. Charlotte Glennie, 2020. "Growing Together: Community Coalescence and the Social Dimensions of Urban Sustainability," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(22), pages 1-25, November.
    18. Saba Alnusairat & Jenan Abu Qadourah & Rawan Khattab, 2023. "Assessing the Future City Post COVID-19: Linking the SDGs, Health, Resilience, and Psychological Impact," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(1), pages 1-24, January.
    19. Freddy Marín-González & Sharmila Rani Moganadas & Ana Judith Paredes-Chacín & Sook Fern Yeo & Subhacini Subramaniam, 2022. "Sustainable Local Development: Consolidated Framework for Cross-Sectoral Cooperation via a Systematic Approach," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(11), pages 1-33, May.
    20. Cui, Yu & Khan, Sufyan Ullah & Sauer, Johannes & Kipperberg, Gorm & Zhao, Minjuan, 2023. "Agricultural carbon footprint, energy utilization and economic quality: What causes what, and where?," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 278(PA).

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:17:y:2025:i:11:p:5173-:d:1671928. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.