Explore the vast range of titles available.

【Objective】The Yangtze River Basin is the largest basin in China. Understanding ecological carrying capacity of its water resource and water stress in different sections is important for sustainable development in the basin. Taking the sub-basin of Yibin as an example, this paper analyzes industrial development in this region with water resource protection in consideration.【Method】The analysis was based on energy ecological water footprint model and the Tapio decoupling model. We investigated spatiotemporal variations in the ecological carrying capacity of water resources (WRECC), water stress (WS), and water use efficiency from 2010 to 2023 in the region.【Result】①Economic development in the region was within the sustainable limits of WRECC. Both WRECC and water ecological surplus showed significant dependence on precipitation. ② The development of primary industrial sectors and water resource pressure have become increasingly decoupled in the region. From 2011 to 2023, primary industrial sectors and water re

In Indonesia, the common method for determining water resources' carrying capacity in an area has been the comparison of water availability and water demand. However, water resources' carrying capacity constitutes a complex system with interrelated variables that interact and influence one another. This study employs both the System Dynamics and the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) approaches, which are subsequently integrated to develop an index that effectively represents the status of the water resources' carrying capacity, to investigate the water resources' carrying capacity in the Deli Watershed, one of the National Strategic River Regions and a raw water supplier for three cities/regencies in North Sumatera Province. The focus is on the quantity of water resources and designing scenarios to address challenges posed by economic and population growth that cause changes in land use. The results indicate that without intervention, the water resources' carrying capacity index declines, reaching a concerning status by 2038; however, integrated programs targeting birth and in-migration rates, domestic water use reduction, and land restoration can lead to a positive trajectory, emphasizing the unique integration of System Dynamics and AHP hold promise for sustainable water resources management practices.

In recent years, China’s rapid economic growth and urbanization have heightened the conflict between economic development and resource sustainability, leading to severe urban water challenges, including scarcity and environmental degradation. This study proposes a quantitative model that integrates the “Human-Water-City” (HWC) feedback mechanisms to assess and measure urban comprehensive water resources and environmental carrying capacity (CWRECC), aimed at addressing urban water sustainability challenges. The CWRECC integrates water quantity and quality dimensions following the principles of the “Cannikin Law”—selecting the lower envelope between water resources and water environment carrying capacities, which emphasizes the importance of weaknesses in enhancing the overall system. The maximum sustainable population and Gross Domestic Product (GDP) under the CWRECC constraints can be obtained using this quantitative method. A case study was conducted in Wuhan City. The results show that Wuhan has abundant water resources. From 2013 to 2020, if only considering the water quantity aspect, the water resources carrying capacity could support a population ranging from 22.63 to 61.17 million and a GDP between 1946.6 and 7988.9 billion yuan, maintaining a sustainable state throughout the period. However, when considering both water quantity and quality, the CWRECC revealed an overloaded state in 2013, 2014, 2018, and 2019, primarily attributable to significant water environmental issues. In 2013, 2014, 2018, and 2019, the quantified CWRECC could sustain populations of 9.88 million, 10.01 million, 10.33 million, and 10.57 million people, and support a GDP of 849.5 billion, 976.5 billion, 1402.9 billion, and 1538.9 billion yuan, respectively. Both the population and GDP capacities fell short of the actual recorded values for those years. The findings demonstrate that Wuhan needs to make greater efforts in water environmental protection to sustain the harmonious development within the HWC. This empirical study highlights the model’s potential to provide a scientific foundation for urban water resources management and environmental protection strategies.

Regional sustainable development is an important focus on natural resources management, and also is a critical requirement for socio-economic system’s sustainability. Water resource is one of the most important supports for the sustainable development of society and economy. The study proposed the concept of water resources carrying capacity (WRCC) to assess the scale of economy and population that the local water resources can support. And the study took Tianjin city of China for an example, and its population size and economic scale were chosen as two main indices. Based on the historical statistical datum, the carrying index ( CI ) and index of water supply–demand balance ( IWSD ) were evaluated, and then the current WRCC in Tianjin city and its dynamic tendency were evaluated by means of the method of carrying capacity of relative resources (CCRR). The results showed that the utilization of water resources in Tianjin is inefficient for now, the dynamic trend would be partly rational after the protection policy of water resource was put into practice in 2010 and 2020, and the WRCC of Tianjin city went beyond the average WRCC of China and was roughly equal to that of Beijing city. This paper showed that the rational policies and measures should be established and implemented to make sure utilize water resources efficiently in Tianjin city.

Water resources are fundamental to sustaining life, fostering social development, and maintaining ecological balance. This study focuses on Anhui Province (AP) as the research area, employing 22 indicators from the Water-Socio-Ecological (WSE) framework for the water resource-water environment carrying capacity (WR-WECC) of AP. The WR-WECC of AP is assessed via differential evolution projection pursuit modeling (DE-PPM). Additionally, the degree of coupled coordination model (DCCM) is utilized to analyze the coordinated development among the municipalities of AP, whereas the obstacle degree model is employed to identify the primary obstacles affecting the enhancement of the WR-WECC and to forecast them via autoregressive composite moving averages. The findings of the study are as follows: (1) WR-WECC in AP showed a steady upward trend, and the water, socio-economic, and ecological subsystems showed a fluctuating upward trend, with ES increasing the fastest. The overall WR-WECC of each city shows a fluctuating upward trend, and the spatial gap narrows, with Southern Anhui (SA) > Central Anhui (CA) > Northern Anhui (NA). (2) The DCC of the WSE carrying capacity of AP also shows a fluctuating upward trend, gradually transitioning from barely coordinated to well coordinated. The DCC level of the WR-WECC in SA is better than that in CA and NA, and the growth rate is greater than that in CA and NA, whereas the DCC level in CA is better than that in NA, and the DCCs of the three major regions show an upward trend. (3) The degree of obstruction at the criterion level of AP’s WR-WECC basically maintains the following order: WS > SS > ES. In the indicator layer, the water supply modulus, water production modulus, and proportion of tertiary industry are the main obstacle factors restricting the enhancement of the WR-WECC of AP. (4) The prediction results for 2025–2040 indicated that the WR-WECC level and the three subsystem levels of AP showed a continuous increasing trend. Measuring WR-WECC plays a crucial role in regional sustainable development.

Water-related problems are mostly caused by water imbalances between supply and demand. This study adopts the ecological footprint method to conduct an empirical study on the sustainable utilization of water resources in Japan. According to the basic principles and calculation methods of water ecological footprint (WEF), the characteristics of Japan’s water ecological footprint were investigated from the time and space dimensions, and a comparative analysis was made with the water ecological footprint of China. The results show that: from 1980 to 2020, the total water ecological footprint in Japan showed a downward trend in both the traditional account and pollutant account, and its spatial pattern was characterized by the relation that the higher the urbanization rate, the larger the water ecological footprint. In terms of water ecological footprint efficiency, Japan’s agricultural water ecological footprint efficiency was the lowest, and the domestic water ecological footprint efficiency was the highest. The water resources policies and measures that Japan and other developing countries should take to ensure the sustainability of water resources were analyzed separately.

【Objective】Ordos is located in semi-arid Northwestern China, and water scarcity and the uneven distribution of water resources constrain its sustainable socio-economic and ecological development. In this paper, we analyzed the carrying capacity of water resources in this region.【Method】A comprehensive evaluation index system of ‘water resources-socio-economy-ecological environment’ was constructed. The GRA-VIKOR model was used to evaluate the capacity of water resources at the county scale from 2000 to 2023 in the region. The entropy weight method was used to calculate indicator weights, with the computed Qi value serving as the comprehensive evaluation index. An obstacle-degree model was used to identify the main factors that limit water resource carrying capacity.【Result】①The water resource carrying capacity in Ordos steadily improved from 2000 to 2023. The comprehensive evaluation values for Jungar, Hangjin counties and Kangbashi District were relatively low at 0.754, 0.717 and 0.752, respectively, indicating lower water resource carrying capacity. In contrast, water resource carrying capacity in Yijinhuoluo, Otog Front and Uxin counties was relatively high, with evaluation values of 0.914, 0.891 and 0.872, respectively. ②Meeting the requirement for ecological water flow was identified as the most significant obstacle to improving water resource carrying capacity in the region.【Conclusion】The increase in comprehensive evaluation value of water resource carrying capacity from 2000 to 2023 in Ordos demonstrates the effectiveness of water-saving policies and technological upgrades, although meeting ecological water flow requirements remains a primary factor limiting further improvement. Establishing systems to regulate the allocation of reclaimed water resources and ecological water flow, and to incorporate biodiversity indicators, is essential for strengthening decision-making in water resource resilience management in this region.

The high distribution of water resources among provinces in China considerably impacts the development of society and economy in each region. Thus, it is of great practical significance to examine the water resources carrying capacity (WRCC) of each Chinese province. This paper constructs a comprehensive evaluation index system for the WRCC from two aspects: pressure and support. First, it analyzes dynamic changes in the WRCC of 31 Chinese provinces in China by using the decoupling model (DM). Second, it analyzes the key factors that hinder the improvement of WRCC by using the obstacle degree model (ODM). The study found that there are significant inter-provincial differences in China’s WRCC. Provinces with greater natural water resources have a higher WRCC. Under the condition of similar natural water resources, WRCC in economically developed provinces is higher. From 2008 to 2015, China’s overall WRCC has been increasing. Moreover, three-fifth of China’s provinces can be classified as Upward-type (Upward I, Upward II, and Upward III) provinces and their WRCC is in a good state by considering the decoupling type and trend of WRCC in two periods together. The main obstacle factors hindering the improvement of the WRCC are total water resources ( X 1 ), water supply per capita ( X 2 ), total water supply ( X 3 ), forest cover rate ( X 9 ), soil erosion control area ( X 10 ), water consumption saving ( X 12 ), and water usage penetration rate ( X 22 ). This study can provide a scientific basis for understanding change trend of WRCC in Chinese provinces and improve their WRCC.

To quantitatively evaluate and diagnose the carrying capacity of regional water resources under uncertain conditions, an index system and corresponding grade criteria were constructed from the perspective of carrying subsystem. Meanwhile, an improved entropy weight method was used to determine the objective weight of the index. Then, an evaluation model was built by applying set pair analysis, and a set pair potential based on subtraction was proposed to identify the carrying vulnerability factors. Finally, an empirical study was carried out in Anhui Province. The results showed that the consistency among objective weights of each index was considered, and the uncertainty between the index and grade criterion was reasonably dealt with. Furthermore, although the carrying situation in Anhui was severe, the development tended to be improved. The status in Southern Anhui was superior to that in the middle area, and that in the northern part was relatively grim. In addition, for Northern Anhui, the fewer water resources chiefly caused its long-term overloaded status. The improvement of capacity in the middle area was mainly hindered by its deficient ecological water consumption and limited water-saving irrigation area. Moreover, the long-term loadable condition in the southern part was due largely to its relatively abundant water resources and small population size. This evaluation and diagnosis method can be widely applied to carrying issues in other resources and environment fields.

Evaluating vegetation restoration sustainability is crucial to avoid conflicts between human water demand and ecosystem consumption, especially with the surge in leaf area index (LAI) due to revegetation projects in China. However, current methods for assessing vegetation sustainability are still limited. Here, we developed a sustainability index for vegetation systems (vegetation sustainability index, VSI) from water demand and supply aspects based on reliability, resilience, and vulnerability in arid and semi‐arid areas. VSI was built upon a vegetation overplanting index (dLAI) which is the difference between the maximum LAI supported by precipitation (LAIp) and the observed LAI (LAIobs). A case study in the mountainous area of the Haihe River basin reveals gradually declining VSI after 2000. Forests are the primary vegetation type in areas with VSI < 0.5, indicating decreased sustainability due to overplanting. The framework of VSI can be a useful tool for planning and implementing vegetation restoration strategies in arid and semi‐arid regions. Plain Language Summary Vegetation restoration stands out as a highly effective ecological engineering solution for overcoming land degradation and climate change mitigation with widespread implementation. However, overplanting can threaten the sustainability of vegetation systems, leading to increased evaporative water consumption, decreased catchment water yield and soil moisture in arid and semi‐arid regions. Evaluating the sustainability of vegetation restoration is vital for managing conflicts between human water demand and ecosystem needs in the context of increasing vegetation coverage resulting from revegetation efforts in China. Previous studies suggested using numerous variables to evaluate the sustainability, making it difficult to present or explain clearly. This study addresses the limitations of current methods for assessing vegetation sustainability by developing a novel sustainability index for vegetation systems (VSI) in arid and semi‐arid regions. The VSI framework incorporates aspects of water demand and supply based on reliability, resilience, and vulnerability. A case study in the mountainous Haihe River basin indicates a gradual decline in VSI after 2000, which may be attributed to the overplanting. The VSI framework offers a valuable tool for guiding vegetation restoration strategies in arid and semi‐arid regions, improving the management of water resources and ecosystem sustainability. Key Points A sustainability index for vegetation systems based on water demand and supply aspects was developed Water demand and supply were represented by the observed leaf area index (LAI) and maximum LAI supported by precipitation Decreased sustainability was found due to overplanting in forests