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The Pearl River is one of China's large rivers, the second-largest river and the fourth-longest river in China. Its unique geography, landform, and climate conditions create unique fluvial geomorphological processes. Affected by human activities and climate change, the fluvial geomorphological processes in the Pearl River Basin have undergone significant changes in recent decades, seriously affecting the river's sustainable development. This paper critically reviews changes in fluvial geomorphological processes and analyzes influencing factors in the Pearl River Basin with a focus on possibilities for policy overhaul and strategic adjustments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

High-quality development of socio-economic, ecological environment, tourism industry and natural resources in the Yellow River Basin is a major strategic task for national development. High-quality development in the Yellow River Basin still has a lot of room for improvement, so it is important for the coupled and coordinated development of water resources-socio-economic-ecological environment-tourism industry in the Yellow River Basin region. In this study, we focus on the major strategic issues of high quality development in the Yellow River Basin in the context of the above-mentioned background and the current forms and policies of sustainable development in China, and conduct research on the theory and methods of assessing the sustainable development of regional water resources-socio-economic-ecological environment-tourism industry. However, by analyzing the existing research literature on sustainable development assessment, we find that most of them focus on a single area or two combinations of modal development studies, and focus on exploring micro-coupling mechanisms, so the generality of macro policy support is rather mediocre, which we fill this gap through this study. The study relies on an innovative macroscopic research perspective that draws pioneeringly on the quality function deployment (QFD) theory in the field of product quality management in marketing, which, it is worth stating, allows for a framework of research perspectives from a systematic and holistic perspective. In this framework, we will propose a G1-entropy value method for indicator importance (weight) assessment. It is worth stating that the G1 method used in this paper is different from the traditional G1 method in that we will introduce the identity information weights of experts to improve the reliability of the subjective assignment method. We will also construct an indicator system for studying the regional sustainable development issues in the Yellow River Basin on this basis, so as to complete the ranking and analysis of the nine provinces and the importance of indicators in the Yellow River Basin. This study will provide a comprehensive theoretical basis for Chinese government and related departments to formulate policies for the high-quality development of water resources, socio-economic, ecological environment and tourism industry in the Yellow River Basin, and also provide theoretical and empirical references for the analysis and assessment of similar international regional sustainability cases. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The implementation of the 10-year fishing ban compensation policy in the Yangtze River basin is the first practice of the river ecological compensation project in China, which has a milestone value to protect China's ecological sustainability and boost green development. Based on the survey data of 212 retired fishing households in Ma'anshan city, this paper constructs a livelihood capital evaluation system, coupled with coordination model and mobility matrix to analyze the policy effect on participants' livelihood from the changes of livelihood capital amounts on structure and mobility. The key results are threefold. (1) Policy implementation has significantly raised retired households' livelihood capital index; (2) The households livelihood capital coupling coordination degree has significantly improved, and the capital structure has transitioned from imbalanced to coordinated; and (3) Households' livelihood capital exhibits a high mobility, and the gap between rich and poor has been narrowed. This paper theoretically contributes to the research on ecological compensation by providing a more comprehensive perspective of policy effect analysis, and it can also provide a micro level empirical basis for policymakers to optimize the follow-up fishing ban policy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Based on China's new development philosophy, and following the idea of "assessing the overall levels firstly, then anchoring the subsystems contributions and finally identifying the obstacle factors", an evaluation system of high-quality development (HQD) levels is constructed from five subsystems of innovative development (ID), coordinated development (CD), green development (GD), open development (OD) and shared development (SD). In this paper, the entropy weight TOPSIS model is used to measure the HQD levels of 19 provincial units located in the Yellow River Basin (YRB) and the Yangtze River Economic Belt (YREB) in 2010–2019, and with the assistance of the Obstacle Degree Model, the obstacle factors affecting the HQD of both are depicted. The results show that: (1) between 2010 and 2019, the HQD indices in YRB and YREB have been on an increasing trend, and the subsystems indices all show a trend of "GD > CD > SD > ID > OD", but the overall levels of HQD in both is not high, and there is still much room for improvement. (2) YREB has a significantly higher HQD level than YRB. From 2010 to 2019, the average values of the HQD indices in YRB and YREB were 0.2886 and 0.4073, respectively, but the index in YRB improves at a faster pace than YREB, and the gap of HQD levels between the two show a trend of continuous reduction towards regional balance and coordination. (3) The analysis of obstacle factors shows that while OD and ID are the main obstacles to HQD in both basins, the impact of both on the resistance to HQD in both basins is on a decreasing trend. GD is another bottleneck for the HQD of YRB, and the pressure on GD in the middle and upper reaches of the provincial units in the basin is increasing, and the obstacles are on a rising trend. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Basin Horizontal Ecological Compensation Mechanism (BHEC) is a significant institutional innovation in China's water environment management, aimed at achieving green, low-carbon, and high-quality development in the basin. This paper examines the current status of the spatial association network of green low-carbon development in Xin'an River basin, using social network analysis based on data from prefecture-level cities between 2006 and 2019. Using a dual difference model, the paper explores the important role of BHEC in promoting green low-carbon development from the perspectives of production and consumption and analyzes the path of BHEC's promotion of green low-carbon development in detail. The results indicate that (1) the green low-carbon development in the Xin'an River basin is universally connected in space, but this connection is uneven among the cities in the basin, presenting a network spatial structure with the central region as the core and the north and south regions approaching the core. (2) BHEC contributes to green low-carbon development, and the "two-wheel drive" of green technology progress and green technology efficiency is essential to improve green low-carbon development. (3) From the perspective of consumption affecting green low-carbon development, the positive impact of BHEC on green low-carbon development is inseparable from the synergistic guarantee of public participation. (4) From the production side of green low-carbon development, the ecological effect, structural effect, and technological effect are significant transmission factors of compensation policies affecting green low-carbon development. (5) The "blood transfusion" pilot policy is more helpful to improve green low-carbon development, and compensation policy has positive spillover effects. Finally, the paper argues that the trans-basin ecological compensation policy is expected to become a long-term mechanism to promote green low-carbon and high-quality development in the basin, providing a theoretical and practical basis for developing countries to achieve green low-carbon development through an ecological compensation system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

How to raise the ecological compensation fund for the Yellow River Basin is one of the key difficulties for executing the ecological compensation mechanism and ensuring the high-quality development of the entire basin. This paper, which is based on systems theory, analyzes the social-economic-ecological compound system of the Yellow River Basin. It makes the point that the goals of human-water harmony, ecological compensation efficiency improvement, and coordinated regional development should be achieved in raising ecological compensation funds. Guided by the raising targets, a two-layer fundraising model based on efficiency and fairness is constructed for ecological compensation. The upper-level model is built to calculate the ecological compensation efficiency of each compensation subject from an input–output perspective. The initial fundraising scheme was further determined to implement the efficiency principle. Within the framework of sustainable development theory, the lower-level model adheres to the fairness principle based on efficiency. The social-economic development level of the compensation subject is considered to discriminate and optimize the initial scheme. Additionally, the two-layer model was utilized to conduct an empirical analysis with the data of the Yellow River Basin from 2013 to 2020. The results show that the optimized fundraising scheme is in line with the actual development level of the Yellow River Basin. This study can provide a reference for the fundraising of horizontal ecological compensation and promote the sustainable development of the whole basin. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Yilong Lake is the southernmost plateau freshwater lake in China. The health of its watershed ecosystem is of special strategic significance to maintain the ecological security and ensure the sustainable development of regional economy and society. This paper analyzed the characteristics of landscape type in Yilong Lake Basin of 1990, 1995, 2000, 2005, 2010, 2015 and 2018 and discussed the impact of landscape pattern type changes and its effect on ecosystem services values (ESV). The results showed that: (1) The landscape types of Yilong Lake are mainly forest land and the largest dynamic degree of comprehensive 1andscape type in the six stages is 2010–2015 and the smallest is 2015–2018. (2) Spatially, the most frequent conversion was arbor forest land, which turned to shrub forest land and garden land. The rapid expansion of construction land and transportation land were turned by cultivated land area. (3) Temporally, from 1990 to 2018, the total ESV also increases year by year, and the regional distribution of high ESV is consistent with the distribution of water areas and gardens. The comprehensive analysis shows that the implementation of governance projects such as ecological protection and governance of Yilong Lake surface mountain are conducive to increase the landscape types and the total ESV. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Reducing agricultural emissions and promoting carbon sequestration are vital for China to achieve its dual carbon goals. Achieving the green transformation of agricultural watersheds requires a thorough understanding of the internal transmission relationships within the watersheds and the underlying spatial correlation structures. This paper used the SBM-3E model to calculate the agricultural ecological efficiency of 17 prefecture-level cities in the Hanjiang River Basin (HRB) from 2010 to 2020, taking agricultural carbon emissions and a comprehensive non-point source pollution index as the unexpected output. The Gravity model and social network analysis methods were used to analyze the evolution characteristics of the network structure of agricultural ecological efficiency, and the secondary assignment procedure method was used to identify the driving factors from the planting structure, water use structure, and resource endowment. First, from 2010 to 2020, the overall agricultural ecological efficiency in the HRB demonstrates a declining trend, with efficiency values of 12.15, 9.40, and 6.67 in the upper, middle, and lower reaches, respectively. Second, the spatial correlation network density of agricultural ecological efficiency in the HRB is 0.17, with a network efficiency of 0.89. The correlation among units within the basin is relatively low, but stability is high. Moreover, the individual network spillover absorption capacity exhibits heterogeneity, and the status of each subject within the watershed follows a "core-edge" structure. Third, total water consumption and corn cultivation have a positive impact on the agricultural ecological efficiency network in the HRB, whereas agricultural water use and rice cultivation negatively influence the network. We propose policy recommendations to facilitate the advancement of green development in China's agricultural watersheds and the achievement of the dual carbon goals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Yellow River Basin (YRB) is China's substantial energy consumption base. The issue of carbon emission efficiency directly affects the ecological protection and high-quality development of the YRB. It is the key to achieving carbon peak in 2030 and carbon neutralization in 2060 ("30.60") double carbon emission reduction targets. Therefore, taking YRB as the research object, this paper first calculates the carbon emission and the decoupling state in the YRB. Secondly, the super-efficiency slacks-based measurement (SE-SBM) model is combined with the Malmquist index to analyze the temporal and spatial evolution characteristics of YRB's carbon emission efficiency from static and dynamic perspectives. Thirdly, the dynamic evolution characteristics of carbon emission efficiency are analyzed with the help of the Kernel density function. Finally, the Tobit model analyzes the influencing factors of YRB's and China's carbon emission efficiency. The results show that: (1) Among the nine provinces of YRB, the decoupling state between carbon emissions and economic growth in most provinces changes from weak decoupling to strong decoupling, and the decoupling elasticity index shows a fluctuating downward trend. (2) There are significant differences in carbon emission efficiency among provinces, but on the whole, it shows a stable growth trend. The high-value area of carbon emission efficiency is increasing, and the phenomenon of two-level differentiation is improving. The decline of the technological progress index causes the Malmquist index in Qinghai and Ningxia. On the contrary, the rise of the Malmquist index in the other seven provinces is caused by improving the technical efficiency index. (3) Industrial structure, economic development, and industrialization are the main positive factors affecting YRB's carbon emission efficiency. Urbanization level, green development level, and energy consumption level are the leading negative indicators hindering YRB's improvement of carbon emission efficiency. Therefore, targeted emission reduction suggestions should be formulated according to YRB's resource endowment and development stage characteristics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The ability to retrospectively evaluate the vulnerability of a watershed can identify potential risks influencing sustainable water development over time. More importantly, the effect of watershed management policies can be evaluated to help government assess and improve current policies. In order to identify vulnerability factors and evaluate the vulnerability state of a watershed, this paper proposes a time-series-based vulnerability analysis framework that integrates several approaches and methods, including: (1) a combined driving force-pressure-state-impact-response (DPSIR) and hydrology-environment-life (HEL) framework for the selection and classification of evaluation parameters; (2) the coefficient of variation method to determine the weights of the evaluation parameters; and (3) the space geometry model to determine the vulnerability level. In addition, the paper describes a robustness analysis that was performed to evaluate the impact of changing the evaluation parameters on the results. A case study of the Xiang Jiang watershed in China is presented; empirical analysis showed that hydrologic vulnerability experienced large interannual variations. The environmental vulnerability of the Xiang Jiang watershed is subject to a high level of risk, whereas the living vulnerability is subject to a low level of risk. Despite many challenges, Xiang Jiang watershed water development is sustainable; this was determined based on the decreasing trend of total vulnerability. The findings demonstrated the effectiveness of the local government's policies for watershed management. Moreover, the results of the robustness analysis showed that the proposed vulnerability analysis framework was adaptable to using slightly different evaluation parameters in cases in which data for the proposed parameters are not readily available. The proposed framework can be used by local governments and decision makers to effectively manage the sustainable development of watersheds. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Based on the research background of the new economic norm and the construction of "non-waste city" in China, this paper studies the coordinated development between the industrial green development system and the regional "non-waste" system of the Yangtze River Economic Zone. First, using the data from 11 provinces from 2013 to 2017 as samples, the comprehensive evaluation index systems for the industrial green development system and the regional "non-waste" system are constructed, respectively. Then, considering the multi-source heterogeneous characteristics of the evaluation index data, the two-tuple linguistic entropy weight method, and gray relational analysis method are applied to filter the evaluation indexes and determine the index weights respectively. Third, combined with the dynamic TOPSIS idea, a new improved coupling coordination degree model is proposed to study the coordination development between the two systems. Finally, an empirical analysis is made, and the result shows that the overall degree of coupling coordination of the two systems shows a fluctuating upward trend. Moreover, the provinces are mainly low-level coupling coordination, and the factors that are hindered in various regions are different. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Guilin is a typical representative of karst landform in South China. Because of its unique geographical landform and hydrological environment, Lijiang River Basin has received a certain degree of attention in field of ecology and sustainable development. Explore and visualize the hotspots and frontiers of Guilin Lijiang River Basin Ecology and Sustainable Development (GLRBESD) by using bibliometrics, CiteSpace, and VOSviewer. Results showed that number of published papers was in a fluctuating upward trend from 1992 to 2022 and from 2011 to 2022, respectively. Work of scholars in this field has been continuously strengthened and deepened, and overall scientific research results show an increasing trend. Research objects and topics are mainly aimed at the water resources, climate, and environment of GLRB Landscape ecology and SDG index construction. Research of GLRBESD-published documents has the characteristics of multi-disciplinary and interdisciplinary integration. High-frequency keywords in research field focus on ecotourism, ecological restoration, and sustainable development, mainly based on the research of ecotourism development. Impact of environmental factor changes and human activities on land use change in different periods is an important research topic. Core research field of GLRBESD on macro-scale can be divided into ESV and function, ecological compensation and ecotourism, ecological environment and ecological restoration, ecological network and ecological risk assessment, and sustainable development. This research provides systematic scientific research basis for enhancing sustainable development ability and ecosystem functions and services of World Natural Heritage Site. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the context of promoting high-quality development in the Yellow River Basin (YRB) of China, urgent action is needed to achieve the “Dual Carbon” goal through energy savings, emission reductions, and industrial upgrading. This study measures carbon emissions from eight types of energy consumption across 43 industries from 2000 to 2019. Using the KayaLMDI model, factors affecting carbon emissions are analyzed, and the relationship between industrial structure and carbon emissions is explored through the coefficient of variation (CV). The findings reveal that coal consumption remains significantly higher than other energy sources, and the effect of energy structure adjustment on carbon emission reduction is limited compared to the impact of energy consumption increase on carbon emission growth. Moreover, the economic output effect is identified as the primary driving factor of carbon emissions, while energy utilization rate is crucial in achieving energy savings and emission reductions. Finally, the CV of carbon emissions across 43 industries is increasing. Based on these results, we suggest several policy recommendations, including prioritizing ecological concerns, developing comprehensive and scientifically sound plans, optimizing energy consumption structure, improving energy utilization efficiency, and adjusting industrial structure to promote sustainable development in the YRB. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The continuous supply of ecosystem services is the foundation of the sustainable development of human society. The identification of the supply--demand relationships and risks of ecosystem services is of considerable importance to the management of regional ecosystems and the effective allocation of resources. This paper took the Yihe River Basin as the research area and selected water yield, carbon sequestration, food production, and soil conservation to assess changes in the supply and demand of ecosystem services and their matching status from 2000 to 2018. Risk identification and management zoning were also conducted. Results show the following: (1) The spatial distribution of the four ecosystems service supply and demand in the Yihe River Basin was mismatched. The food production supply levels in the middle and lower reaches and the upstream water yield, carbon sequestration, and soil conservation supply levels were high. However, most of the areas with high demand for ecosystem services were concentrated downstream. (2) From 2000 to 2018, the supply of water yield and carbon sequestration in the Yihe River Basin decreased, while that of food production and soil conservation increased. The demand for the four ecosystem services also increased. (3)Water yield faced considerable supply--demand risks. Fifty percent of the sub-basins were at a high-risk level, and the risk areas were concentrated in the middle and lower reaches. The three remaining services were mainly at low-risk levels. The Yihe River Basin was divided into eight types of supply--demand risk spatial management zones based on the ecosystem service supply and demand levels, which will help promote refined regional ecosystem management and sustainable development. The supply and demand assessment of ecosystem services from a risk perspective can integrate the information of natural ecosystems and socio-economic systems and provide scientific support for watershed spatial management. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The digital transformation is of great significance to green and high-quality development of logistics industry (L-GHD). This paper analyzes the theoretical mechanism of digitalization affecting the L-GHD. In the meantime, taking the urban data of China's Yellow River Basin as an example, a fixed effect model is established to empirically test the impact of digitalization on the L-GHD. The results show that: (1) digitalization can significantly promote the L-GHD. (2) Digitalization indirectly promotes the L-GHD through technological innovation input and output, optimized allocation of labor and capital elements. (3) The heterogeneity test of city types shows that the impact of digitalization on the L-GHD is more significant in non-resource-based cities. Urban location heterogeneity test shows that digitalization has a more significant impact on L-GHD in the middle and lower reaches of the Yellow River Basin. Finally, it puts forward suggestions to accelerate the healthy development of digitalization and help the L-GHD in the Yellow River Basin of China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In order to achieve China's carbon peaking and carbon neutrality (double carbon) targets and to advance ecological conservation and high-quality development in the Yellow River Basin, it is essential that China reduces its energy intensity and increases its energy efficiency. This research developed an evaluation index system for energy efficiency and green development in the Yellow River Basin based on panel data collected from 64 of its prefecture-level cities and covering the period from 2011 to 2020. Each city's energy efficiency and green development level index was calculated, and was analyzed together with the characteristics of its spatial pattern progression. The STIRPAT model was then used to investigate the influence mechanism of energy efficiency on green development. The final step in the analysis was to assess the process by which technical innovation influences the rise in energy efficiency from a green development point of view. The findings of this study indicate that: (1) There was a marked improvement in energy efficiency and green development levels across the Yellow River Basin over the study period of 2011 to 2020, but there are notable disparities among prefecture-level cities, with higher levels found in capital cities and cities in the lower reaches of the basin. (2) The improvement in energy efficiency has had a positive impact on the transition to green development, with factors such as human capital, urbanization levels, and the upgrading of industrial structures contributing significantly, while the level of foreign direct investment has had a limited impact. (3) Technological innovation plays a partial role in mediating the relationship between energy efficiency and green development in the Yellow River Basin, and passes the single-threshold test. When technological innovation surpasses the threshold value, the effect of energy efficiency on green development is significantly strengthened. This study indicates that improving energy efficiency, stimulating emerging industries, and enhancing technological innovation capabilities can significantly promote transformative green and high quality development in the Yellow River Basin of China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ecosystem services (ESs) are crucial for sustainable development, as they impact human well-being. However, changes in land use/land cover (LULC) caused by climate change and social development can negatively affect ESs, particularly in arid river basins. This study focuses on current and future changes in LULC in the Kaxghar River Basin (KRB) in Xinjiang, China, to determine how these changes will affect the region's ESs. The integrated PLUS-InVEST model was used to investigate the spatiotemporal distribution and changing patterns of habitat quality (HQ) and carbon storage (CS) under the natural increase scenario (NIS), economic development scenario (EDS), and water protection scenario (WPS). Additionally, the Ecosystem Service Contribution Index (ESCI) was also calculated to evaluate the contribution of LULC changes to ESs. The results show the following: (1) from 2000 to 2020, the average value of HQ in the KRB gradually decreased from 0.54 to 0.49 and CS trended slightly upward, with a total increase of 0.07 × 106 t. Furthermore, the changes in CS were highly consistent with changes in LULC. (2) From 2020 to 2030, the area of low-grade (0–0.2) HQ saw a continuous increase, with the fastest growth occurring in 2030 under the EDS. Meanwhile, under the WPS, HQ significantly improved, expanding by 1238 km2 in area. Total CS under the three test scenarios tended to decline, with the NIS showing the smallest decrease. (3) The expansion of cropland and unused land had a negative impact on ESs, particularly on CS, whereas the conversion to grassland and forestland had a significant positive impact. In conclusion, these insights will enrich our understanding of ESs in the study area and contribute to balancing the relationship between ecological conservation and socioeconomic development in the Kaxghar River Basin, as well as in other parts of China's arid Northwest and similar regions around the world. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Yellow River Basin (YRB) is an important ecological defense and economic zone in China and occupies a very important position in the economy and society of China. Premise condition of ecological protection and development of high quality in YRB is the greening of the industry. Based on the data of 35 cities in YRB in 2012, 2015, and 2018, this paper constructs an evaluation index system for the industrial green development (IGD) and explores spatial differentiation characteristics of the IGD by the exploratory spatial data analysis (ESDA) method. On this basis, this paper uses the geographical weighted regression (GWR) model to analyze the influencing factors. The results indicate the following: (1) in general, IGD in YRB shows an upward trend. (2) The Global Moran's I index of IGD shows a small increase; the distribution of local spatial correlation is basically unchanged. (3) There are obvious regional differences in the influencing factors of IGD. The degree of influence of each factor on IGD is openness > industrial upgrading index > urbanization rate > science and technology expenditures > reduction rate of energy consumption. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper selects energy consumption data of 11 provinces in YRB and 19 provinces and cities in non-YRB from 2014 to 2016 and constructs a shared border Metafrontier non-radial directional short model, adding CO2 and AQI indicators as undesirable factors, in order to evaluate the total efficiency and the input and output efficiencies of these two regions. The results are as follows. (1) From the changes in the score and ranking of the two regions' total environmental efficiency, only two provinces in YRB show a slight decrease, while most of them show a stable or rising trend; seven provinces in non-YRB have a low rising rate. This means during the study period that YRB made more progress at energy conservation, emission reduction, and pollution control than other provinces and cities in non-YRB. (2) The efficiency scores of energy consumption, GDP, CO2, and AQI emissions are different in each province. Overall, the situation of YRB is better than that of non-YRB. Not only is the efficiency score of each index higher, but the efficiency difference between provinces and cities within the region is small, which is conducive to the linkage effect of the region and the realization of green coordinated development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The issue of water resources is a perennial topic for achieving human sustainable development goals. Over the last decade, a renewed watershed governance regime, River Chief System emerged to solve the issue of river pollutions in China, and attracted attentions across the world. In this review article, we profiled River Chief System, including its origin, principle and characteristics, and found that the primary feature of River Chief System is its hierarchical structure and the implementation of responsibility. By triangulating bibliometric measurement of the Citespace tool, database of the Web of Science and the China National Knowledge Infrastructure, the development, research trends and hotspots of River Chief System research have been reviewed systematically. The number of publications of River Chief System is showing a significant growing trend, and their foci are diverse: water environmental effects, mechanisms of River Chief System, public participation and supervision and localization of River Chief System, and the implement of "One River, One Policy" plan. Finally, theoretical and practical suggestions for the future study of River Chief System are proposed. This review systematically introduces China's experience on river management to the world, which is of great significance for the world to fully understand the River Chief System of China and further improve and promote it. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With rapid industrialization and urbanization, the contradiction between the human exploitation of land production and living functions and natural ecosystem service functions has intensified. The issues of how to coordinate the exploitation and conservation functions of land and guide the rational distribution of human activities have become important for global sustainable development, especially considering the realization that multifunctional land use is an effective way to relieve land pressure and improve land use efficiency, that land multifunction has significant spatio-temporal heterogeneity, and that there is a mutual promotion and stress relationship between multifunctional land use. However, few existing studies have discussed the decoupling relationship among land use functions. In this study, a system of 10 sub-functions and 25 indicators was established based on the production function (PDF), living function (LVF), and ecological function (ELF) for 59 cities in the Yellow River Basin (YRB). There are both subjective and objective procedures employed to determine the weights, while an exploratory spatial data analysis is used to analyze the time-based and territorial changes in various functions of land use in the study area from 2000 to 2020. The decoupling relationship between the three functions is detected utilizing the theoretical foundation of the decoupling analysis. The results show that land use is multifunctional, LUFs develop unevenly, and their spatial distribution varies substantially. The results of the decoupling analysis demonstrate that the predominant types of correlations among the land use ELF and PDF and LVF over the research period are strong decoupling and strong negative decoupling correlations, with the former being a dilemma and the latter being a sustainable type of development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Water, energy, food, and ecology are essential for achieving sustainable development in a region, and in order to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals, their security is also essential at a river basin scale. This study investigated the interrelationships among the water system, food system, energy system, and ecosystem in China's Upper Han River, in alignment with Goals 2, 6, 7, and 15 of the United Nations' Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). To evaluate the achievement of the SDGs in the Upper Han River, this water–energy–food–ecology system was evaluated by a thorough evaluation index system according to Goals 2, 6, 7, and 15, and the weights of the indices were given using a combination of the CRITIC weighting method and entropy approach. The level of coupling coordination of the system from 2000 to 2021 was quantitatively evaluated by using a coupling coordination degree model. The autoregressive integrated moving average model was built to forecast the process of the indices from 2022 to 2041, and the predicted processes of the system were evaluated by the coupling coordination degree model. The degree of coupling coordination improved from 0.396 to 0.845, and the comprehensive assessment development index increased by 113% from 2000 to 2021, demonstrating that it was a stable development period in general. The fragile support capacity of the water system for the energy system, food system, and ecosystem had a great impact on the overall comprehensive evaluation index. SDG2 (food system), SDG6 (water system), SDG7 (energy system), and SDG15 (ecosystem) all have higher levels of internal conflict. These bi-directional dynamics tended to converge in the sufficiency development mode in the future period as well as the historical period. The analysis of the relationship showed that there were inherent connections and interactions between the four goals, as presented by the high level of coupling that persisted between SDG2, SDG6, SDG7, and SDG15. In the process of promoting the achievement of these goals, the coupling degree also tends to be coordinated from 2022 to 2041. The results offer a view for the river basin's sustainable development and management. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cultural space (CS) holds significant importance for inheriting regional culture, serving people's lives, and boosting sustainable community development. In this study, based on the research case of the Hanzhong section of the Hanjiang River Basin (HSHRB), the demand and supply matching relationships between three groups of people, namely residents, employees, and tourists, and four types of CS—memorial or religious space (MRS), cultural heritage space (CHS), cultural facilities space (CFS), and cultural industries space (CIS)—is analyzed, with communities as the units. Findings: (1) The CS demand–supply matching relationship exhibited the spatial distribution characteristics of high value balance in urbanized areas, significant lag in suburban supply, and low value balance in rural areas. (2) For the CS demands of residents, employees, and tourists, the total supply was in a substantial shortage, in general balance, and in significant surplus, respectively. (3) There were significant differences in the fairness and adequacy of the demand–supply matching of the four types of CS, with MRS and CHS more equitable and better able to meet the needs of different regions and populations. (4) Six community types with significantly different demand and supply characteristics were classified based on the demand–supply relationship within the community and the supply environment of neighboring communities. They presented a spatial structure of circles outward in the order of high-value-balanced communities, deprived communities, insufficient-supply communities, low-value-balanced communities, and shared communities, with urbanized areas as the core. Deprived communities and shared communities have shown spatial dynamics of urban expansion and village decay, respectively, and they require urgent attention. The study employs a more systematic categorization of CS supply and a more diverse perspective of demand entities, offering new evidence for the equitable distribution of cultural resources among heterogeneous groups and regions. Ultimately, it presents strategies for optimizing demand and supply as well as policy recommendations for community governance, bringing fresh insights into promoting sustainable community development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In conjunction with socioeconomic development in watersheds, increasingly challenging problems, such as scarcity of water resources and environmental deterioration, have arisen. Watershed management is a useful tool for dealing with these issues and maintaining sustainable development at the watershed scale. The complex and uncertain characteristics of watershed systems have a great impact on decisions about countermeasures and other techniques that will be applied in the future. An optimization method based on scenario analysis is proposed in this paper as a means of handling watershed management under uncertainty. This method integrates system analysis, forecast methods, and scenario analysis, as well as the contributions of stakeholders and experts, into a comprehensive framework. The proposed method comprises four steps: system analyses, a listing of potential engineering techniques and countermeasures, scenario analyses, and the optimal selection of countermeasures and engineering techniques. The proposed method was applied to the case of the Lake Qionghai watershed in southwestern China, and the results are reported in this paper. This case study demonstrates that the proposed method can be used to deal efficiently with uncertainties at the watershed level. Moreover, this method takes into consideration the interests of different groups, which is crucial for successful watershed management. In particular, social, economic, environmental, and resource systems are all considered in order to improve the applicability of the method. In short, the optimization method based on scenario analysis proposed here is a valuable tool for watershed management. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The environmental effects of the urban agglomeration planning policy (UAPP) are an exploration by rapidly developing China and a concern for countries seeking development and urban reform around the world. This paper takes the three regional urban agglomerations in the Yellow River Basin (YRB) as the research object and collects the panel data of 106 prefecture-level cities from 2006 to 2019 to study the reduction effects of UAPP on the industrial wastewater discharge (IWD). The empirical results from Difference-in-Differences models indicate that UAPP can significantly inhibit IWD. UAPP reduces IWD by promoting green innovation, and the development of service industries can strengthen this effect. UAPP shows a stronger IWD reduction effect in the northeast YRB than that in the southwest region. Compared to urban agglomerations with a single provincial jurisdiction, UAPP exerts stronger IWD reduction effects on urban agglomerations with multiple jurisdictions. Moreover, there exist spatial spillover effects of UAPP on IWD. These findings provide support and references for urban reform and the development of green cities in countries around the world, especially in developing countries. • Urban agglomeration planning policies can reduce industrial wastewater discharge. • Green innovation is the main intermediary factor. • Service industry development strengthens the discharge reduction effects. • The discharge reduction effects are stronger with multiple jurisdictions. • There exist spatial spillover effects of the discharge reduction effects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Chinese soil loss equation model was used to estimate long-term soil erosion. • Soil erosion rates increased in the basin from 2010 to 2017. • Interactions between main driving factors analyzed using boosted regression trees. • The B factor was the primary driver of soil erosion. Soil erosion reduces soil fertility and land productivity while enhancing desertification, which seriously threatens ecological security, carbon sequestration, and sustainable economic and social development. Therefore, it is fundamental to precisely assess the long-term dynamics of soil erosion and explore its drivers to control the risk of soil erosion. Currently, machine learning-based analyses of the factors driving soil erosion are lacking in the Beiluo River Basin (BRB), China. This paper aimed to investigate the spatiotemporal dynamics of soil erosion by the Chinese soil loss equation coupled with the gully erosion factor, and then reveal its driving factors using the Boosting Regression Tree method (BRT) and estimate the influence of drivers' interactions on soil erosion in the BRB between 1990 and 2017. The findings demonstrated that the expanded Chinese soil loss equation accurately explained the variations in soil erosion in the BRB. The range of average soil erosion rates was 2,852.83–800.35 t km−2 a−1. Steep gully farmland, particularly areas with relatively rough terrain, was more vulnerable to intense erosion. Soil erosion rates for different geomorphologies decreased as follows: hilly–gully areas > gully–plateau areas > alluvial river plains > Rocky Mountains. The major drivers affecting the soil erosion rate were the biomass control factor (B) and slope, followed by slope length (L) and slope steepness (S). B–soil erodibility (1990), B–LS (2000), LS–rainfall erosivity (2010), and slope–rainfall erosivity (2017) interactions had the greatest influence on soil erosion, with interaction intensities of 32.3%, 17.75%, 46.05%, and 35.69%, respectively. The average soil erosion rates according to land classification types decreased as follows: farmland > grassland > forest. The results indicate that water and soil conservation in the study area benefited greatly from implementation of the Grain for Green Program, with forests reducing erosion more effectively than grassland. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Basin ecological compensation policy is a regulatory policy that coordinates environmental protection, economic construction, and social development in a watershed. The policy helps alleviate problems such as unequal responsibilities for environmental protection and large disparities in economic conditions in different basin regions, enabling better implementation of scientific and green development. Although different regions implement policies differently, studying the factors influencing the diffusion of these policies can help develop an understanding of the elements that promote or hinder policy implementation. Such work can provide a reference for different provinces to develop implementation plans suitable for their regions. Using watershed ecological compensation policy data from 31 provincial administrative regions in China from 2005 to 2018, an interprovincial event history analysis was conducted to study the factors influencing the diffusion of watershed ecological compensation policies. Our findings show that financial support, proximity diffusion, and vertical pressure significantly affect the diffusion of watershed compensation policies at the level of p<0.01 ; below the poor quality of Class 3 cross section, and regional watershed area are correlated with the diffusion of watershed compensation policies at the level of p<0.05. In contrast, water pollution events, forest cover, water resources per capita, and gross domestic product per capita were not directly correlated with national diffusion variables at the 0.05 level. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study develops a four-module-based multimodel framework, coupled with the projections of general circulation models (GCMs), a hydrological model (SWAT), and two sets of evaluation indicators [Indicators of Hydrologic Alteration (IHA) and River Regime Index (RRI)], to systematically quantify the response of ecohydrological regimes to climatic change. The Jinsha River Basin (JRB) was selected as a target area for both framework verification and application analysis because of its precious natural conditions, privileged abundant hydropower, and extremely rich fish resources. Results revealed that: (1) temperature and precipitation in the JRB would show increasing trends to varying degrees in the future. The increase in temperature would be much higher than that in precipitation, and the increment would be more significant during the end of the century (2068–2097). (2) The future runoff in the JRB may face an overall decreasing trend, leading to more and more frequent drought disasters. (3) The disturbances in the ecohydrological regime would result in more concentrated runoff and smoother hydrological pulse fluctuations in the JRB, meaning human-assisted participation would be required for the conservation of reproduction and development of ecological resources like Coreius guichenoti. Our findings suggest that effective management of future watershed resources can only be accomplished if an in-depth and comprehensive hydrological evaluation of changing climate is made, and the protection and sustainable development of ecological resources of the JRB in the future will require the participation of stakeholders. Figuring out the alteration in ecohydrological regimes under natural variation and its potential hazards may guide the degree of human participation in futural river protection. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

River basin management is an important strategy for ensuring the sustainable development and utilization of water resources. With the rapid growth in GDP and the accelerated industrialization and urbanization in China, water catchment management becomes one of the most formidable challenges that this nation faces. Since the news spread in December 2014 that the middle route of the ambitious South-to-North Water Diversion Project in China had started supplying water to Beijing, the status of management of its river basins has become again a hot public debate. This paper describes the current situation and various issues regarding China's river water resources. It looks especially at the management difficulties and shortcomings of authority organizations and offers some appropriate recommendations to improve water management in China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• The high-quality development index is introduced into STIRPAT model. • The average yield of ecological footprint is updated. • High-quality development can effectively reduce the increase of ecological footprint. • The improvement of population quality helps ease pressure on the environment. • Lower energy consumption intensity helps improve ecological quality. It is urgent to coordinate the development of economy and environment under the "dual carbon" goal. As China's new development stage and mode, high-quality development takes into account both the speed and quality of economic, providing the possibility of achieving a "win-win" situation for the economy and the environment. In order to test the practical impact of high-quality development on ecological, based on the STIRPAT model, this paper introduces high-quality development index instead of per capita GDP, so as to measure the current economic situation in China, and explore the relationship between high-quality development and ecological footprint, and demonstrates the feasibility from theory and practice. At the same time, it pays attention to the complex effects of population and technology on environmental quality. The results show that the contradiction between economy and ecology still exists in China. The ecological footprint index of 30 provinces in the past 21 years has increased as a whole, and the fworst ecological footprint has concentrated in the Yellow River basin. But since 2012, the growth of the footprint has slowed. The slow down time and low value region of ecological footprint were observed, and it was found that they overlapped with the proposed time and the high value area of high-quality development. The level of high-quality development in China has also continued to rise, with regional differences but gradually narrowing. Among them, green development and shared development contribute more to the improvement of high-quality development level. Compared with the traditional economic development mode, high-quality development can reduce the increase of ecological footprint, and the longer the time, the smaller the increase, more conducive to long-term sustainable development. In addition, population and technology factors are also profoundly affecting China's ecological pattern. The increase in population size and population density, as well as the increase in the proportion of coal-based energy consumption structure, will lead to increased environmental pressure. The improvement of population quality and the reduction of energy consumption intensity will help alleviate ecological pressure. The research is helpful to provide policy guidance and path combination reference for China's sustainable development, and also provide new ideas for the global coordination of the relationship between economy and environment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Grain security is the foundation for national stability and prosperity. In China, grain production depends heavily on irrigation water, direct energy for machinery use, and indirect energy (such as fertilizers, pesticides, and agricultural film), resulting in growing pressure on water supply and demand and high carbon emissions. Therefore, it is urgent to study the regulation of planting structures to reduce the irrigation water input and carbon emissions on the premise of grain security. It is within the scope of the water–energy–food nexus. In China, water resources are mostly managed at the basin scale. Because of missing or inadequate basin-scale data, in this study, the Yellow River Basin (YRB) was chosen as an example to shed light on basin scale regulation analysis; YRB is an important grain production base in China, but it is facing serious water shortage and severe environmental problems. First, production and consumption of diverse grain species in the basin were estimated using remote sensing and statistical data simultaneously. Then, the blue water and carbon footprints were calculated to analyze the water use and carbon emission characteristics of grain production. Finally, the grain planting structure was regulated to reduce the irrigation water input and carbon emissions. Our findings suggest that, with effective planting structure regulation, 4.11×108 m3 irrigation water and 16.98×104 tons CO2 equivalents could be reduced and the grain production increased by about 31×104 tons in the YRB. This study can be viewed as a step towards the use of multisource data to facilitate the analysis of diverse grain species characteristics and sustainable grain development while considering the water–energy–food nexus. A combination of effective planting structure regulation in arid regions and policies will contribute to an increase in grain production as well as saving of resources. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Oasification and desertification are two essential processes of land use and cover (LULC) change in arid regions. Compared to desertification, which is widely regarded as the most severe global ecological issue, the importance of oasification has not received universal recognition. However, neglecting oasification can lead to detrimental outcomes to the effectiveness of ecological governance by affecting the comprehensiveness of environmental policies proposed only based on desertification. Therefore, this study incorporates oasification into the examination of desertification by analyzing land use data for five representative periods spanning from 1980 to 2020, as well as socioeconomic and environmental data from 2000 to 2010. The aim is to evaluate the spatial and temporal dynamics of oasification and desertification in the Manas River Basin and identify the underlying factors driving these processes. The findings indicated that (1) the general trend of oasification and desertification exhibited the expansion of oases and the retreat of deserts. Specifically, the oasification area showed a "decrease-increase-decrease" pattern over time, while the desertification area consistently decreased. (2) In terms of spatial distribution, oasification and desertification displayed a transition from scattered and disordered patterns to an overall more organized pattern, with the hotspot area of desertification shifting from Shawan County to Manas County over time. (3) Population density, average land GDP, soil type and annual precipitation significantly influenced the degree of oasification, with driving force q-values above 0.4, which were the key factors driving oasification. Population density and average land GDP significantly affected the degree of desertification, with driving force q-values above 0.35, which were the key factors driving desertification. The driving force of all factors increased significantly after the interaction, and socioeconomic factors influenced oasification and desertification more than other factors. The study's findings aim to provide a scientific basis for land resource use, ecological governance and sustainable development in the Manas River basin. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Available water resources are decreasing in river basins around the world. Some reseachers have suggested various indicators and methods that should be used to allocate water resources. This paper attempts an integrated approach to water allocation that accounts for a wide range of factors at the river basin level. Using the Hai, Huai, and Yellow River Basins of Shandong Province in China, 19 indicators were assimilated into a water scarcity index and weighted based on surveys collected from 82 multidisciplinary experts. Fuzzy set probability was then used to quantify water scarcity for each river basin. A water allocation method was also calculated using 13 indicators and objectively weighted using the analytical hierarchy process. Results show that all river basins in Shandong Province have severe water scarcity and highlight that economic factors play the most critical role in water scarcity, followed by water supply factors then water demand. Water allocation indicators were prioritized according to water resource pressure and utilization proportionality among districts in the Huai River Basin. The results should provide direction for future research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Rapid economic development has led to urban sprawl and threatens river systems. In this paper, we used geographic information system (GIS) techniques to examine the effects of urbanisation on the water resources of the Yanggong River watershed in Lijiang City, and analysed the temporal changes in river systems and their impacts on watershed ecosystem functions. The total length of the river systems in the Yanggong River watershed decreased from 786.9 km in 1995 to 674.2 km in 2009 and is predicted to continue to decrease by 35.5 km in the next 11 years according to various data sources. The decrease in river system density started in the Old Town of Lijiang and gradually spread to the surrounding areas. Our analysis shows that urbanisation is failing to take into account the impacts on river systems and their functions, which could cause a reduction in the size of the river systems and degradation of watershed ecosystem functions in the Yanggong River watershed of Lijiang City. It is suggested that protecting the natural river network and making full use of the advantages of the distinctive terrain in the Yanggong River watershed could contribute to the sustainability of urban development in Lijiang City. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

[Display omitted] • Trying to break out of the stereotypical thinking of inherent study areas. • Use of a three-stage DEA model to make efficiency results more scientific. • Multidimensional identification of differences between strategic areas. • Valuable regionally targeted policy recommendations are made. The Yangtze River Economic Belt and the Yellow River Basin are important economic regions and ecological barriers in China. Promoting the development of the Yangtze River Economic Belt and promoting ecological protection and high-quality development in the Yellow River Basin are major regional strategies implemented by the Chinese government, and the green growth of the two regions is important for the high-quality sustainable development of the whole China. To investigate the regional differences in green growth efficiency of the same type of geographical units, this paper measures the green growth efficiency and decomposition indicators of the Yangtze River Economic Belt and the Yellow River Basin from 2010 to 2020 using a three-stage DEA model and the Malmquist index method and establishes a panel Tobit model to identify the influencing factors of green growth efficiency. The results show that: ①After using the three-stage DEA model to remove the influence of external environment and stochastic factors, the mean values of green growth efficiency of Yangtze River Economic Zone and Yellow River Basin from 2010 to 2020 are 0.996 and 1.089, respectively. The change of green growth efficiency of Yangtze River Economic Zone is slightly higher than that of Yellow River Basin. ②The Malmquist indexes of the Yangtze River Economic Belt and the Yellow River Basin have generally increased, with the Technological Progress Index, which characterizes technological innovation, being the main endogenous driver of green growth efficiency in the Yellow River Basin, while the technical efficiency index, which characterizes factor mix and management level, is more significant in the Yangtze River Economic Belt. ③The Tobit model regression results show that the factors influencing green growth efficiency are also different in the two regions. Among them, the urbanization rate has a significantly positive effect on the two regions, while the effects of environmental regulation and research intensity are not significant. External openness has a suppressive effect on green growth efficiency in the Yangtze River Economic Belt, while the level of financial development and human capital negatively affect green growth efficiency in the Yellow River Basin. Therefore, green development in the new era should pay attention to the differences between different regions, and make appropriate development policies according to the local conditions of the development status of different regions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the continuous promotion of the rural revitalisation strategy, the planning and organisation of individual villages can hardly adapt to the current development needs of rural areas, causing synergistic development among villages to become a critical goal in promoting the sustainable development of rural areas. Reconstructing the development space of traditional village clusters can reduce their development gaps and promote coordinated development. Understanding the connections between traditional village units can support adaptive reconstructions of village spatial network structures and offer scientific and reasonable development planning strategies. Based on geographical and economic data publicly released in 2022, this study takes the traditional villages of the Fuchun River Basin in China as an example and uses village development quality and the shortest traffic time crawled in real time by Python to construct a spatial connection model of traditional villages in the Fuchun River Basin. The study also uses social network analysis to analyse the characteristics of the spatial network structure. The results show that (1) the intensity of spatial connections in these traditional villages is severely polarised and imbalanced. (2) The spatial network structure is in the development stage; few villages act as intermediaries, and the networks have poor connectivity and integrity. (3) The connection density within cohesive subgroups varies considerably. No complete transmission path exists among the subgroups, and the path of collaborative development is imperfect. These findings can optimise and reconstruct the selected spatial network of traditional villages to integrate and upgrade their development. The framework system also holds reference significance for other similar rural traditional villages. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Based on sustainable development theory and the method of system dynamics and multi-agent simulation, the environment-economy-society relationship model of Liaohe River Basin is constructed by coupling the system dynamics model with the multi-agent model in the software-NetLogo. This paper selects the Qinghe, Fanhe and Puhe River of Liaohe River Basin which are located in Shenyang and Tieling City as the study boundary, then the overall situation of environment, economy and society development is analyzed. At the same time, in order to simulate and predict the overall operation of the model under different policies, three kinds of development scenarios are established by changing some key variables including pollution abatement investment, fixed assets investment and industrial waste water production of ten thousand yuan industrial output value. The results show that the development under different policies can be simulated and predicted by this model, which will provide support for macroeconomic regulation and control the sustainable development strategy of Liaohe River Basin. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ecological security is the state achieved once an ecosystem maintains its stability under external stress. The Yellow River Basin (YRB) is the largest river basin in northwest and north China and an important area for grain and energy production. The assessment and attribution of ecological security in the YRB are important for protecting the natural environment and ensuring sustainable development. Here, the ecological security of the YRB was assessed by the ecological security index (ESI), a comprehensive index based on the oxygen cycle, and its drivers were attributed to climate change, human activities, vegetation, and soil factors. The spatial pattern of ecological security in the YRB showed high heterogeneity. Ecological insecurity occurred mainly in the middle reaches and regions where the major stream of the Yellow River passes through. The ESI decreased at a rate of − 0.82/year since 2000, which indicated the natural environment continued to be improved in the YRB. Climate change dominated the evolution of ecological security in the upper reaches. The level of ecological security has been improved in the middle reaches after a series of ecological restoration projects conducted. With higher intensity of industrial activity, human activities played a more critical role in ecological security in the lower reaches. Our results suggested that government and local people need to adopt different strategies and actions based on the dominant drivers in the upper, middle, and lower reaches to ensure protection of the natural environment and achieve sustainable development targets. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The objective of this study is to attempt to assess the effect of green finance in reducing carbon emissions in China, analyze the transformative role of policy impact in the development of green finance markets, and investigate the impact mechanisms of how green finance affects carbon dioxide emissions. Our time frame from 2007 to 2018 is selected for the empirical study by integrating the availability of data due to the scarcity of relevant statistics in the early days of green finance. Location of this study is in China where 30 provinces are included, excluding Tibet due to severe data shortage. As for methodology, we construct a green finance evaluation index system containing five indicators by entropy weight method, choose dynamic spatial Durbin model (DSDM) for empirical research, and perform mechanism analysis of restructuring industry and greening technology as intermediary channel. Our findings demonstrate that green finance in China does significantly reduce carbon emissions, and its spatial spillover effect and long-term effect are also verified. Furthermore, green finance tends to reduce CO2 emissions through restructuring industry and greening technology. Correspondingly, policy implications are recommended. First, improving green financial market and strengthening information disclosure of green financial market are crucial to facilitate green finance development. Local governments formulate carbon emission reduction strategies focusing on space by joint conference or coordination mechanism like river head system. Lastly, a mechanism should be developed to strengthen the transformation of industrial structure and to promote greening technology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

GIS and GPS technology was applied to construct spatial database of ecotourism resources in the Lijiang River Basin, the process of constructing database was elaborated, data collection and processing as well as specific schemes of building graphic database and attribute database were introduced, in order to provide data support for optimizing the development spaces of regional tourism resources, regulating development activities, and realizing sustainable development of ecology, environment, tourism economy and society. In addition, this paper also offered data support for eco-environment monitoring building tourism resource management information system and "Digital Lijiang". [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The driving effects of landscape metrics on water quality have been acknowledged widely, however, the guiding significance of human activity intensity and landscape metrics based on reference conditions for water environment management remains to be explored. Thus, we used the self-organized map, long- and short-term memory (LSTM) algorithm, and geographic detectors to simulate the response of human activity intensity and landscape metrics to water quality in Taihu Lake Basin, China. Fitting results of LSTM displayed that the accuracy was acceptable, and scenario 2 (regional heterogeneity) was more efficient than scenario 1 (regional consistent) in the improvement of water quality. In the driving analysis for the reference conditions, clusters I and II (urban agglomeration areas) were mainly affected by the amount of production wastewater per unit of developed land and the amount of livelihood wastewater per unit of developed land, respectively. Their optimal values were 0.09 × 103 t/km2 (reduction of 35.71%) and 0.2 × 103 t/km2 (reduction of 4.76%). Cluster III (agricultural production areas) was mainly affected by interference intensity, and the optimal value was 2.17 (increased 38.22%), and cluster IV (ecological forest areas) was mainly affected by the fragmentation of cropland, and the optimal value was 1.14 (reduction of 1.72%). The research provides a reference for the prediction of water quality response and presents an ecological and economic sustainability way for watershed governance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Drought and flood are two of the most destructive natural disasters with the most significant impact and greatest losses in the Dadu River basin (DRB). However, their impacts on people's life have not attracted enough attention from scholars. In this study, the Standardized Precipitation Index (SPI) describing the drought/flood situation and the Composite Index of Human Well-being (CIHW) are calculated, and a framework is further constructed to assess the impacts of drought and flood disasters on human well-being in the DRB. The results show that the annual and seasonal SPI in the DRB generally exhibit an increasing trend in fluctuations during 2000–2009, indicating a wetting climate in this basin. Overall, the upper reaches of the DRB have experienced an evolution of flood-drought-flood state transition, where the variation amplitude of the SPI in the western sub-basin is greater than that in the eastern sub-basin. In addition, the lower reaches of the DRB have suffered more dramatic and periodic changes from the drought/flood disasters in terms of the SPI. For human well-being during 2000–2019, Maerkang City in the upper reaches, Kangding City in the middle reaches, and Shimian County in the lower reaches of the DRB are at a relatively higher level, with the CIHW decreasing from administrative centers to the around. Moreover, the CIHW over the whole basin increases gradually from 2000 to 2019. The SPI has significantly negative effects on different capitals, following a descending order of financial, social, physical, human and natural capitals. The counties of the basin are divided into four groups, namely the group with high disaster risks and high human well-being, the group with high disaster risks and low human well-being, the group with low disaster risks and high human well-being, and the group with low disaster risks and low human well-being. The panel regression results suggest that the construction of water conservancy facilities, the financial inputs in agriculture and meteorology, and the educational level have positive impacts on human well-being, but the impacts differ from different groups. The construction of water conservancy facilities has highly significant impacts on human well-being in all groups; the education level has no significant impact on the group with high disaster risk and high human well-being, which has not passed the significance test; while the financial inputs in agriculture and meteorology have relatively higher impacts on the whole basin and on the group with low disaster risk and low human well-being compared with other groups. Therefore, it is suggested that the negative impacts of drought and flood disasters can be mitigated through strengthening infrastructure construction, responding appropriately to climate change, avoiding disasters at the source of major projects and improving the disaster prevention and mitigation systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

High-quality utilization of land resources (HULR) is critical to the security of land ecosystem and sustainable socioeconomic development. To promote HULR, we explored the spatiotemporal differences and influencing factors of HULR in the Yellow River Basin (an important ecological barrier in China) by using entropy method, spatial panel regression model, and geographically and temporally weighted regression model. We found that the HULR values were 0.22 to 0.28 from 2008 to 2019, showing an increasing trend with obvious spatiotemporal differences. The spatial connectivity, technological innovation, industrialization, industrial upgrading, and marketization are important factors influencing HULR, and different factors have different spatial effects in different regions. Therefore, the important principle of HULR is to pursue the sustainable land utilization within the ecological environment carrying capacity, taking into account the unique ecological and socioeconomic conditions of each region. We hope that our study can provide references for HULR around the world. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Owing to the publicity and externality of watershed governance, collaborative governance among cities has become an inevitable choice to improve watershed governance performance and promote sustainable development of watersheds. Existing studies have provided many enlightenment on promoting watershed collaborative governance (WCG), while most of them investigated WCG from single or several dimensions with scanty quantitative empirical studies. Against this background, this study aims to establish a comprehensive WCG research framework involving multiple phases and diverse actors to empirically measure the synergy degree of WCG. Specifically, this study constructs a WCG index system composed of resource investment, open cooperation, and performance supervision subsystems that involves actors of government, enterprise, and the public. Using the complex system synergy model, an empirical analysis is performed to evaluate the synergy degree of Taihu Basin collaborative governance among and within cities in Jiangsu province, China during 2014–2020. The results reveal that the Tai Basin collaborative governance among cities was still in the run-in adaptation stage, which was primarily constrained by the discrete open cooperation subsystems among cities. The synergy degree of Taihu Basin collaborative governance within cities presented significant differences. Several targeted implications are proposed according to the results. This study provides a comprehensive index system for synergy degree measurement of WCG and could offer effective guidance for policymakers to design effective strategies for improving WCG performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

China's economic development has shifted from a high-speed growth stage to a high-quality development stage, which promotes the sustainable economic development of the Yangtze River (YR) and also improves the response capacity of the YR basin's resilience system to floods. Flood resilience (FR) is not only just the achievement of high-quality economic development (HQED) but also the key to mitigating flood damage (FD). Therefore, based on panel data from 2000 to 2019 from provincial administrative regions (PARs) in the Yangtze River basin (YRb), the entropy weight method and the quantitative regression analysis method were used to empirically investigate the impact of HQED and FR on FD in the YRb. The empirical analysis results show the following. (i) HQED has an inverted U-shaped effect on FD in the YRb, meaning that HQED will reach a certain point and reduce flood losses. (ii) The HQED model, which has been pushed forward, will significantly improve the level of FR. Various mediating effect test methods revealed that FR has a significant negative mediating effect on the process of HQED to mitigate FD. Taken together, this reveals the importance of insisting on implementing an HQED model to mitigate FD in the YRb, gradually deriving an FR that is adapted to floods and has a high self-organizing and self-restoring capacity through high-quality development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Evaluating the spatial‐temporal dynamics in ecological risk and understanding its impact on water quality in reservoirs could optimize watershed land use and protect reservoir water quality. However, this impact remains elusive due to the lack of long‐term field data, the heterogeneity of land use, and scale effects. Therefore, Danjiangkou Reservoir area was selected as the study area, where rapid urban expansion and ecological conservation and restoration measures have significantly changed the ecological environment, altering the water quality. We investigated the spatial‐temporal changes of land use from 1990 to 2020 and evaluated how landscape ecological risk changed, as well as explored the impact of landscape ecological risk changes on water quality. The landscape ecological risk was calculated by landscape vulnerability and landscape disturbance (based on fragmentation, separation, and fractal dimension). The results indicated that the growth rate of water bodies surged (7.65 km2/a) and cropland experienced an apparent reduction (14.39%) over the past 30 years. These landscape changes decreased ecological risk, especially after the water transfer. The results revealed that the impacts of ecological risk on water quality were better explained at the riparian scale than at the reach and catchment scales. Specifically, the ecological risk was strongly relevant to dissolved oxygen, Turbidity, Cl− and NO3− ${{\text{NO}}_{3}}^{-}$, and moderately correlated to Ca2+ and pH. While it was not correlated with total nitrogen, total phosphorus, and F−, possibly due to the irregular reservoir operations, occasional excessive use of fertilizers, and rock weathering. This study preliminarily discloses the impact of landscape ecological risk on water quality in a basin reservoir and provides a theoretical basis to take measures in advance for the sustainable development of a reservoir basin. Plain Language Summary: Assessing the spatial and temporal dynamics of ecological conditions (denoted by ecological risk) and understanding their impact on reservoir water quality is not only important for optimizing land use in the basin, but also for protecting reservoir water quality. However, this impact remains elusive due to the limitations of existing studies and data. Therefore, the Danjiangkou Reservoir area was selected as the study area, where rapid urban expansion and major ecological conservation and restoration measures around the reservoir have significantly altered the ecological environment and water quality. We evaluated the changes in landscape ecological risk based on an investigation of spatial and temporal changes in land use between 1990 and 2020, and explored the impact of changes in landscape ecological risk on water quality. The results show that the rate of growth of water bodies has increased dramatically and the area of cropland has decreased significantly following the implementation of the dam raising project and water transfer. These landscape changes reduced ecological risk, improved ecological conditions and ultimately improved water quality. This study provides preliminary insights into the effects of landscape ecological risk on water quality and provides a theoretical basis for sustainable development of reservoir basins. Key Points: The ecological conditions and water quality in the rainy season were generally better than in the dry season during the same yearThe effect of the water transfer project on local ecological quality and water quality has been positiveThe improvement in eco‐environment quality reduced pollution sources and improved water self‐purification capacity, improved water quality [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this study is to explore the impact of pollution control on industrial production efficiency in 31 provinces and cities in the Yellow River and Non-Yellow River basins in China from 2013 to 2017, using the methods of the directional distance function (hereinafter referred to as DDF) and the technology gap ratio (hereinafter referred to as TGR) in parallel, while taking the industrial production sector (labor force, total capital formation, energy consumption and industrial water consumption) and the pollution control sector (wastewater treatment funds and waste gas treatment funds) as input variables. Undesirable outputs (total wastewater discharge, lead, SO2 and smoke and dust in wastewater) and an ideal output variable (industrial output value) are taken as output variables. It is found that the total efficiency of DDF in the Non-Yellow River Basin is 0.9793, which is slightly better than 0.9688 in the Yellow River Basin. Among the 17 provinces and cities with a total efficiency of 1, only Shandong and Sichuan are located in the Yellow River Basin. The TGR values of 31 provinces, cities and administrative regions are less than 1, and the average TGR value of the Yellow River Basin is 0.3825, which is lower than the average TGR value of the Non-Yellow River Basin of 0.5234. We can start by improving the allocation of manpower and capital, implementing the use of pollution prevention and control funds, improving the technical level of industrial production, improving pollutant emission, and increasing output value to improve overall efficiency performance. This study uses the parallel method, taking the industrial production department and the pollution control department as inputs, to objectively evaluate the changes in industrial production efficiency and technology gap in the Yellow River and Non-Yellow River basins, which is conducive to mastering the situation of pollution control and industrial production efficiency, and provides the reference for SDG-6- and SDG-9-related policy making. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Downscaling methods assist decision makers in coping with the uncertainty regarding sustainable local area developments. In particular, they allow investigating local heterogeneities regarding water, food, energy, and environment consistently with global, national, and sub-national drivers and trends. In this paper, we develop a conceptual framework that integrates a partial equilibrium Global Biosphere Management Model (GLOBIOM) with a dynamic cross-entropy downscaling model to derive spatially explicit projections of land uses at 1-km spatial resolution from 2010 to 2050 relying on aggregate land demand projections. The fusion of the two models is applied in a case study in Heihe River Basin to analyze the extent of potential cropland, grassland, and unused land transformations, which may exacerbate already extensive water consumption caused by rapid expansion of irrigated agriculture in the case study region. The outcomes are illustrated for two Shared Socioeconomic Pathway scenarios. The kappa coefficients show that the downscaling results are in agreement with the land use and land cover map of the Heihe River Basin, which indicates that the proposed approach produces realistic local land use projections. The downscaling results show that under both SSP scenarios the cropland area is expected to increase from 2010 to 2050, while the grassland area is projected to increase sharply from 2010 to 2030 and then gradually come to a standstill after 2030. The results can be used as an input for planning sustainable land and water management in the study area, and the conceptual framework provides a general approach to creating high-resolution land-use datasets. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Research Highlights: Land use/cover change (LUCC) has an impact on the water use efficiency (WUE) of green space in the Haihe River Basin. Background and Objectives: The Haihe River Basin has historically been one of the most water-stressed basins in China. With the increase in green space and economic development, land use and water use in the Haihe River Basin have changed significantly. In order to contribute to the sustainable development of basin water management, the impacts of LUCC on the WUE of the Haihe River Basin were assessed with the goal to support decision makers with regard to water resources planning and watershed management. Materials and Methods: (1) Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) data and land use data were used to produce land use/land cover and other related maps. (2) The WUE equation was used to calculate the green space WUE. (3) The contribution rates of changes in land use were assessed to illustrate how LUCC affected green space WUE. Results: (1) Artificial surfaces increased and large areas of farmland were converted to non-agricultural use, accompanied by the addition of green space. (2) Green space WUE increased significantly from 2005 to 2015. The average annual WUE exhibited a relatively uniform spatial distribution in the Haihe River Basin. Except for the central area of urban land, the WUE of most areas exhibited an increasing trend. (3) The impact of LUCC on WUE was mainly a result from the conversion of farmland and artificial surfaces and the increase in green space. Ecological restoration and crop adjustment contributed greatly to the improvement in green space WUE in the basin. Conclusions: Green space WUE of the Haihe River Basin was significantly affected by LUCC and there is room for improvement in the WUE of green spaces in the basin. The paper concludes with recommendations for further research to assist in planning for green space to promote sustainable development related to land use and water management. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]