A Harmony-Based Approach for Assessing and Regulating Human-Water Relationships: A Case Study of Henan Province in China

A multi-index comprehensive evaluation method for assessing the water use balance between economic society and ecology considering efficiency-development-health-harmony

Quantitative assessment of the water use balance between economic society and ecology (EEWB) is the basis for coordinating the competitive relationship of water use between human activity and ecological requirements and. It is of great significance for optimizing the water resources carrying capacity and achieving a healthy regional water balance. Based on the concept of harmonious balance, this paper puts forward the definition and connotation of EEWB regarding the competition in water use between economic society and ecology. And, a novel framework for assessing the EEWB is proposed. It has four aspects relating to water resources, economic society, ecology, and human-water relationship. Linked to these aspects the Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) technique, Water Ecological Footprint (WEF) model, InVEST model and indicators system of human-water relationship are used to establish a water resources efficiency index (IEEWB-W), economic society high-quality development index (IEEWB-ES), ecology health index (IEEWB-E), harmony index of human-water relationship (IEEWB-H). The four indices were then integrated into the water use balance between economic society and ecology index (IEEWB) with Euclidean distance, thus forming the EEWB quantification method system. Finally, the temporal and spatial characteristics of EEWB during 2010-2022 was diagnosed in Henan Province and cities of China. Results reveal that: (1) The water resources utilization efficiency exhibit a changing trend of initial decrease followed by subsequent increase; (2) Southern cities in Henan Province have a higher economic society development level compared to northern cities; (3) IEEWB-E in Henan Province is below 0.60, indicating that the regional ecology health remains consistently vulnerable; (4) IEEWB-H in Henan Province shows an increasing trend, indicating that a gradual improvement and overall upward development in the human-water relationship; (5) IEEWB multi-year average was within [0.53, 0.65] in Henan Province, indicating a state of Proximity imbalance. The low level of ecological health is the primary influencing factor. These findings will contribute to a better understanding of the water use balance between economic society and ecology and provide scientific reference for achieving a healthy regional water balance.

System dynamics simulation and regulation of human-water system coevolution in Northwest China

The human-water system synergy in Northwest China has become more significant as the ecological civilization construction continues and the implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development in China proceeds. In this study, taking the Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region as a typical research region, the human–water system coevolution model was established by coupling SD (System Dynamics) model and coevolution model from the theoretical perspective of complex system synergies, to simulate the human-water system’s coevolution trends from 2010 to 2030 in this region. Five regulation schemes were then designed to enhance the synergy of the human-water system by adjusting sensitive decision variables. The results revealed that the supply to demand ratio of water and the synergy index of the human-water system obtained by the status continuation scheme would decline from 1.02 and 0.39 in 2020 to 0.81 and 0.35 in 2030, respectively, indicating the growing gap between water supply and demand and revealing the worsening human-water relationship. Under the comprehensive optimization scheme, the supply to demand ratio of water and the synergy index of the human-water system would be higher than under the other schemes, demonstrating a substantially improved human-water relationship. Hence, a comprehensive optimization regulation scheme is proposed. This scheme combines improving pro-environmental water consumption, adapting industrial structures, and carrying out water conservation and pollution prevention. This research renders a decision-making basis for regulating regional water resources and finding paths to developing a harmonious relationship between humans and water.

The Coordinated Development and Regulation Research on Public Health, Ecological Environment and Economic Development: Evidence from the Yellow River Basin of China

The dual problems of the public crisis from the global epidemic and the deterioration of the ecological environment constrain the economic development in the Yellow River Basin. To promote the sustainable and balanced development in the Yellow River Basin, this paper takes public health, ecological environment, and economic development, as a whole, to study the coordinated development of the Yellow River Basin. Based on coupling coordinated theory, we use the SMI-P method to evaluate the coordinated development index of public health, the ecological environment, and economic development in the Yellow River Basin. Moreover, we use the coordinated regulation and obstacle factor diagnosis to identify the main influencing factors and design regulation methods to optimize the coordinated development index. The results found that (1), during the research period, there is spatiotemporal heterogeneity in the coordinated development level in the Yellow River Basin. From 2009 to 2019, the overall development index increased steadily, while the regional disparity in the coordinated development level was obvious. (2) The ecological environment indicators contribute more to the relevance and obstacle factors, such as the average concentration of fine particulate matter, per capita arable land area, afforestation area, etc. (3) After regulating the overall development level of the Yellow River Basin, we prove that Path 4, which comprehensively considers the relevance and obstacle factors, performs better.

Analysis and Regulation of the Harmonious Relationship among Water, Energy, and Food in Nine Provinces along the Yellow River

China has proposed “ecological conservation and high-quality development of the Yellow River Basin” to a major national strategy, which puts forward higher requirements for water, energy, and food along the Yellow River (TYR). However, the water–energy–food nexus (WEF) system in TYR basin is very complicated. Based on the theory and method of harmonious regulation, this paper puts forward a new WEF harmony framework (WEFH) to study the harmonious balance of WEF in TYR. WEFH cannot only evaluate the harmonious balance of WEF, but also identify the main influencing factors, and further study the harmonious regulation of WEF. For the key steps of regulation and control, we provide a variety of methods to choose from in this framework. In practice, we apply this framework to the regulation of WEF in the nine provinces along TYR. The results show that during 2005–2018, the harmony degree of WEF in the nine provinces along TYR is between 0.29 and 0.58. The harmony degree of WEF has improved over time, but there is still a lot of room for improvement. Among them, per capita water resources, hydropower generation ratio, carbon emissions, and another 12 indicators have great influence on the harmony of WEF. We have established eight control schemes for nine of these indicators. In eight control schemes, most areas have reached a moderate level of harmony degree. These results show that the framework proposed in this paper is helpful to the comprehensive management of regional WEF and provides a viable scheme for the optimization of WEF.

Evaluation of Regional Water Resources Management Performance and Analysis of the Influencing Factors: A Case Study in China

Water resources management (WRM) is a global strategic issue. Effectively evaluating WRM performance and analyzing its influencing factors have strong practical significance for improving regional WRM performance. Data envelopment analysis (DEA) is one of the most popular models to measure the efficiency of decision-making units (DMUs). Taking regional WRM performance as efficiency DMUs, this paper proposes the indicator system to quantify WRM performance from the perspectives of resource endowments, economic and technological development, and ecosystem protection. The WRM performance of 31 provincial administrative regions in mainland China from 2013 to 2019 are measured, and the temporal and spatial changes are explored using the window DEA model and the Malmquist index model. Finally, the Tobit model is used to quantitatively analyze the affecting factors. The results indicate that: (1) in 2015 and 2019, WRM performance of Sichuan, Shaanxi, Xinjiang, Inner Mongolia, and Guangxi were slightly higher than that in other years, and the areas with more room for WRM performance improvements were areas with abundant water resources; (2) from 2013 to 2019, China’s overall WRM performance showed a slow rise, and there were obvious fluctuations in 2018; (3) the improvement in WRM performance was primarily the result of an improvement to comprehensive technical efficiency changes (EC), whereas technological progress changes (TC) have largely restricted China’s WRM performance; (4) the main influencing factors of WRM performance in China were as follows: industrial development level, water resources utilization rate, and urban sewage discharge per capita.