水贫困 长江流域

As a basic natural and strategic resource, water is of great significance to the sustainable development of economies and societies. Owing to population growth, industrialization, the acceleration of urbanization, and global warming, water poverty is gradually increasing in some parts of the world. Effectively assessing water poverty from different dimensions is still a serious challenge for global water resources planning. This paper establishes a framework of multidimensional water poverty (MWP) from six dimensions: water management, water technology, water assets, water welfare, water resources, and water environment. The measurement model of MWP is built based on the Back Propagation Neural Network (BPNN), and the Spatial Correlation Analysis tool is used to visualize the spatial effects of MWP. The Yangtze River Economic Belt (YREB) was used as a case study and the main factors affecting the MWP of the YREB were determined by the Geodetector. When analyzing the results the following observations were made: (1) In terms of time distribution, the level of MWP in the YREB has gradually increased, and the poverty gap between the upper reaches, as well as the middle and lower reaches, shows an increasing trend. (2) With respect to spatial distribution, there is a continuously increasing agglomeration effect that shows a gradient-increasing distribution pattern of "West-Central-East." (3) The MWP in the YREB is mainly affected by these indicators in the three dimensions consisting of water resources, water technology, and water management. Specifically, R&D expenditure as a percentage of GDP, the proportion of water-saving irrigation area in the cultivable land area, the urban daily wastewater treatment capacity, the land surface water resources per capita, and the groundwater resources per capita play an important role in the MWP. Based on the above findings, targeted policy recommendations are proposed to alleviate the MWP in the YREB.

Under the influence of climate change and human activities, water scarcity and uneven spatial distribution have become critical factors constraining societal development and threatening ecological security. Accurately assessing changes in blue and green water resources (BW and GW) caused by human activities can reveal the actual situation of water scarcity. However, previous research often overlooked the calibration of GW and human water usage, and it rarely delved into the primary human factors leading to water scarcity and potential impact mechanisms. Therefore, based on the PCR-GLOBWB model that considers human impacts, and with reasonable calibration of B/GW and human water usage, hydrological processes were simulated under both human-influenced and natural conditions. A comprehensive assessment of the impact of human activities on BW and GW was conducted. The results show that: (1) BW and GW exhibit a spatial pattern of increasing from northwest to southeast in the basin. From 1961 to 2020, the proportion of BW showed an upward trend, while GW was decreasing; (2) The impact of human activities on changes in water resources is mainly concentrated in the midstream and dowmstream of the basin. Due to human influences, the green water flow (GWF) increased by 3-24.4 mm, and the BW volume increased by 67.2-146.4 mm. However, the green water storage (GWS) decreased by 5.6-75.4 mm; (3) The impact of human activities on blue water scarcity (BWscarcity) is significantly greater than green water scarcity (GWscarcity). The worsening of GWscarcity does not exceed 0.2, while areas where BW reaches significant deterioration (BWscarcity > 1.5) account for 1.3 %, 9.8 %, and 17 % of the upstream, midstream and downstream, respectively. (4) Irrigation activities are the main factor causing water resource scarcity. In the future, it is important to reasonably develop the potential for GW utilization and optimize BW management measures to address water resource crises.

… However, water resources are dynamic, and the linkages between water scarcity and poverty incorporate complex cause-effect relationships. Water poverty should thus be addressed in …

Securing water supply in the face of increasing water scarcity is one important challenge faced by humanity in sustainable development. Inter-basin water transfer is widely applied to provide water supply security in regions where water demand exceeds water availability. However, the effect of inter-basin water transfer on alleviating water scarcity and its inequality is poorly understood especially at the national scale. Based on a newly compiled database of inter-basin water transfer projects in China, here we report a first national assessment of their effect on securing water supply in different basins. We developed a number of indices to facilitate quantifying the effect of water transfer on water scarcity and its inequality. The capacity of inter-basin transfer projects has been steadily increased, which achieved ~48.5 billion m3 yr-1 by 2016 (equivalent to ~8% of the national water use). The results indicate that water transfer has impacted water supply of 43 sub-basins out of a total of 76 sub-basins, but it hardly changes a basin's water scarcity level (e.g., from water scarcity to low water scarcity). Approximately three quarters of people in China are affected by water transfer. More than a half of the national population (705 million) benefit from alleviated water scarcity, leading to the inequality coefficient reduced from 0.64 under natural water availability condition to 0.59 considering water transfer in 2016. However, 357 million people in water transfer source basins are subject to increased water scarcity, in which ~21% are from water stressed sub-basins. This study reveals for the first time water transfer induced water scarcity and inequality change across sub-basins in China, and highlights the challenges to secure water supply across basins.

Water security is of great significance in social development, ecosystem sustainability, and environmental management. The Upper Yangtze River Basin (UYRB), which feeds >150 million people, is faced with aggravating water security risks due to more frequent hydrometeorological extremes and increasing human water withdrawals under a changing environment. Based on five RCP-SSP scenarios, this study systematically evaluated the spatiotemporal evolution patterns of water security in the UYRB under future climatic and societal changes. The future runoff was projected using Watergap global hydrological model (WGHM) under different Representative Concentration Pathway (RCP) scenarios and hydrological drought was further identified by the run theory. The water withdrawals were predicted based on the recently developed shared socio-economic pathways (SSPs). Then, a comprehensive risk index (CRI) for water security was proposed combining the degree of water stress and natural hydrological drought. The results show that the future annual average runoff across the UYRB is projected to increase, and hydrological drought tends to be more severe, especially in the upper and middle reaches. Dominated by water withdrawals in the industry sector, the future water stress in all sub-regions is estimated to increase substantially, with the largest change ratio of WSI in the middle future spatially ranging from 64.5 % to 301.5 % (66.0 % to 314.1 %) under RCP2.6 (RCP8.5). Based on the spatiotemporal variation of CRI, the UYRB is projected to face more severe comprehensive risks for water security in the middle and far future periods, and hotspot sub-regions are identified as Tuo River and Fu River, which are densely populated and economically prosperous, threatening regional sustainable social-economic development. These findings highlight the urgent need for adaptive countermeasures of water resources administration in response to more severe water security risks in the future UYRB.

… one of the most abundant water resources globally, the Yangtze River Basin (YRB) region … water resource provisioning in YRB under current and future conditions on the sub-watershed …

The process of urbanization, which leads to increased population density, changes in land use patterns, and heightened demand for industrial and domestic water use, exacerbates the contradiction between the supply and demand of water resources. This study examines the discrepancies between the supply and demand of water resources amidst urbanization, utilizing data from 110 cities within the Yangtze River Economic Belt (YREB) spanning from 2012 to 2021. The research employs the projection pursuit clustering model and the Dagum Gini coefficient method to evaluate the developmental status of water resources. While the Yangtze River Delta (YRD) region maintains a leading position with a water resources development score of 9.827 in 2023, there is a 2.2% increase in intra-regional disparity. The water resources development score for the City Cluster in the Middle Reaches of the Yangtze River (CCRYR) has experienced a decline, from 8.263 in 2012 to 8.016 in 2021; however, a reduction in intra-regional disparities has been observed since the implementation of the 2016 Outline of the Yangtze River Economic Belt Development Plan (YREBP), which suggests the policy’s efficacy. The Chengdu-Chongqing Economic Zone (CCEZ), despite its initially lower level of development, has demonstrated significant growth, with scores rising from 7.036 in 2012 to 7.347 in 2021. Collectively, the water resources development in the YREB exhibits an upward trend, yet the development remains uneven. The CCRYR shows a catching-up effect because of the YREBP, and the differences in other regions are widening. The research results provide decision-making support for water resources planning and management, and are of great significance in promoting the sustainable use of water resources.

… In five megacities in the Yangtze River basin, Chang et al. … of water poverty was developed for assessing water security in … basic data with the concept of water poverty. Among them, the “…

… The Yangtze River Basin (YRB) is a region of vital economic and ecological importance in China, facing challenges of water scarcity and flooding underpinned by complex, yet …

… water vulnerability. This paper improves understanding of the status and trends of water resources in the Yangtze River Basin. … driving forces of water scarcity. Integrated assessment of …

Abstract Having intensive economic development and rapid urbanization, the Yangtze River basin, namely the heart of China’s prosperity, has faced challenges in the accompanying deterioration of water security. How to closely inspect the features and development of water security for the major cities in the basin and to compare the water security conditions between the major cities at the basin scope is a keystone to better support water management practice in the cities as well as regions. Hence, this study refined the previous framework by applying 19 indicators to describe the conditions of resource, infrastructure, waterway, efficiency, risk, and capacity and then integrated the data-driven weighting approach, the Criteria Importance Through Inter-criteria Correlation (CRITIC) method, to objectively evaluate the development and characteristics of water security of the megacities in the Yangtze River basin, i.e., Shanghai, Nanjing, Wuhan, Chongqing, and Chengdu, during 2011–2017. Based on the aggregated scores, Chongqing had the best overall water security condition (0.696) in 2017, followed by Chengdu (0.613), Shanghai (0.581), Nanjing (0.496), and Wuhan (0.471). During 2011–2017, Chongqing and Shanghai had a greater improvement in the water security condition, while Wuhan had the least. From a basin perspective, the upstream megacities had the advantage of their water availability and depletion conditions, river quality, pollutant discharge, government’s support of water affairs, and the societal investment in water conservancy. On the other hand, the middle- and downstream megacities had shown the better performance of the water affordability, the density of the sewage network, and water intensity. The sensitivity analysis detected the average of the standard variations of the score changes as 2.03% in the context of different indicator sets and thus assured the outcome robustness. This study enhances the assessment frameworks, facilitates the applications of temporal and spatial comparative evaluation of water security conditions on city and river basin level, and identifies the policy gaps for enhancing water management in the magacities and the basins.

… water-related aspects, as well as a conceptual framework to organize all indicators and variables. Firstly, we develop water poverty … of the Yangtze River, with a dense water network and …

… water consumption growth. Under climate change and population growth, the population under water stress (water … for understanding the status of water resources in the UYR and offers …

… water to other cities, thereby exacerbating local water stress of these cities. The inter-city virtual water flows within the Yangtze River … the inequality of urban water scarcity among cities …

Grain production consumes a large amount of water and is affected by the degree of water scarcity and participation in the grain trade in various regions. The grain trade has changed the food security risks in regions where grain exports and imports. Therefore, it is crucial to consider regional water scarcity to understand food security risks from the grain trade network. Here, we construct a new framework for measuring regional food security risks associated with water scarcity, grain production, and grain trade based on a cross-city grain trade network combined with virtual water flows to evaluate the regional food security risks in the Yangtze River Delta region (YRD) of China in 2017. The results show that under the current domestic grain trade pattern in China, the YRD and its four provincial-level administrative regions are in a net grain import state. The grain trade within the YRD is concentrated in exports from the two major grain-producing areas of Anhui and Jiangsu to Zhejiang and Shanghai, especially from northern Jiangsu to southeastern Zhejiang. The net import results of virtual blue water in most cities indicate that the YRD has shifted its water resource pressure to other grain exporting regions in China, with Shanghai and Zhejiang being the greatest beneficiaries. Extreme risk only exists in Shanghai, and severe and moderate risks are concentrated in Jiangsu. The current grain trade has reduced the overall food security risk in the YRD by 1.3 % but increased the risks in Shanghai and Zhejiang by 2.1 % and 0.8 % respectively. This study highlights the potential risks that excessive production of food in water-scarce areas in the grain trade system may bring to a stable food supply, providing useful information for a comprehensive understanding of the food and water security situation and for future trade-offs.

… Yangtze River Basin (UYRB) provides almost half of the total runoff volume of the entire Yangtze River … resources management to tackle the elevated risk of water shortage and more …

Abstract The looming impacts of changing climate and ever increasing water and energy demands make it important to quantify expected water and energy availabilities and develop strategies to mitigate expected shortfalls. Keeping these aspects in mind, in this paper, hydrological modeling is performed on the Upper Yangtze River Basin (UYRB) to simulate the inflows to the Three Gorges Reservoir (TGR) based on the Hydrologic Engineering Center’s Hydrologic Modeling System (HEC-HMS) model and a Multiple-input single-output Linear Systematic Model (MLSM). These models are derived for historical (1960–2005) and future (near: 2021–2050 and far: 2061–2090) time periods using bias corrected climate projections from an ensemble of 6 RCMs available through the COordinated Regional Downscaling EXperiment in East Asia (CORDEX-EA) under Representative Concentration Pathway (RCP) 4.5 and 8.5. Simulating with and without snow, hydrological responses to both the historical and future climates are fed into a daily reservoir simulation model where the operation of the TGR follows the designed operating rule curves which can be regarded as a standard operating policy (SOP). The results indicate marginal reduction in mean annual precipitation, inflow and hydropower generation and mean hydropower generation reliability for the future scenarios under RCP 8.5 with the decreases for far future being more prominent than those for near future. The inflow decreases strongly reduce the hydropower generation of the TGR in November and May and have limited impact on other months because of the regulation ability of the SOP. Hydropower generation responses to extreme variations in annual inflow are projected to aggravate the water and energy security stress of the TGR. The without snow projections alter the inflow patterns as well as the hydropower generation patterns of the TGR with respect to the with snow projections and are likely to have positive impact on the water impounding and hydropower generation for both the historical and future time periods.

Abstract Drought is a multifaceted natural hazard that occurs in virtually any component of the hydrological cycle. Drought monitoring and prediction from multiple viewpoints are essential for reliable risk planning and management. This study presents a joint prognosis of meteorological (M-drought), hydrological (H-drought) and agricultural (A-drought) droughts for the period 2021–2100 over the Yangtze River basin (YRB). The prognosis uses an ensemble of 10 models from the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project Phase 5 (CMIP5) for two future emission scenarios (RCP4.5 and RCP8.5). Precipitation, runoff, and soil moisture are used to quantify M-drought, H-drought, and A-drought, respectively. The results indicate that the raw CMIP5 multimodel ensemble for the YRB generally overestimates precipitation while underestimating temperature. The precipitation, runoff, and soil moisture are all projected to increase in the coming decades at the spatial scale of the entire YRB. Moreover, the magnitudes of drought shift from moderate and severe in the past (1954–2013) to extreme and exceptional in the future. The durations of drought are anticipated to prolong in the future, especially for the A-droughts. A-droughts are projected to be more severe than M- and H-droughts. Furthermore, the headwater areas and the areas surrounding the intersection of Sichuan, Guizhou and Chongqing are anticipated to increase in A-drought severity. These findings provide insight to inform drought planning and management in the YRB, and improve our understanding of the ability of precipitation, runoff, and soil moisture to describe droughts under global warming scenarios.

This paper explored the drought propagation phenomenon based on meteorological, hydrological, and agricultural aspects in the Yangtze River basin (YRB), China. To evaluate …

… water stress index (CWSI) and distinguished different types of water scarcity in the Yangtze River basin… Nearly 9.52 % of grid cells were threatened by ecology-based water scarcity. The …

… in the Yangtze River Delta urban agglomeration (YRDUA) by using an extended Multi-attribute Border Approximation Area Comparison (MABAC) method based on cloud model-CRITIC …

… which all users have reliable access to a safe water supply. Water insecurity arises from changes in the supply, demand, and/or the institutions that determine access to safe water (…

As an important agricultural production area in China, the Yangtze River Economic Belt has a large amount of water resources and rich types of energy. Water and energy resources are the supporting basis of food production, and the production and use of energy also need to consume a large amount of water resources. The three affect each other and are interdependent. Paying attention to the synergistic security of water-energy-food system in the Yangtze River Economic Belt is important for regional economic development. This paper uses the pressure-state-response (PSR) model and selects 27 indicators to build an evaluation index system of the regional water-energy-food system. We use the random forest model to evaluate the security level of the Yangtze River Economic Belt from 2008 to 2017, and the Haken model is employed to identify the driving factors that dominate the synergistic evolution of the system. Then we take the identified factors as the key control variables under each scenario and launch a scenario simulation of some provinces in the Yangtze River Economic Belt in 2025. The results show that due to the improvement of water and energy utilization efficiency and the advancement of agricultural production technology, the level of water-energy-food security in the Yangtze River Economic Belt improved significantly from 2008 to 2017. Each province performs differently in different subsystems, with water resources security being better in the upper reaches and Zhejiang and Shanghai in the lower reaches, and food security being better in the middle and lower reaches. The level of energy security is high in Sichuan, Yunnan, and Guizhou in the upper reaches and Shanghai and Anhui in the lower reaches. According to the results of scenario prediction for Jiangsu Province and Hubei Province in 2025, implementing moderate management in accordance with current management objectives can increase the overall security of the system to level 4. The two provinces should focus on controlling water resources and energy consumption and improving the utilization efficiency of water and energy in agricultural production.

… factors that give rise to the risk of water insecurity in Shanghai. There is an extensive and … This is followed by a discussion of the trends in water availability in the Yangtze catchment, …

The Yangtze River Basin serves as the socioeconomic core of China, and rapid development in recent years has intensified the conflict in the area between economic growth and ecological conservation. This study evaluated the spatiotemporal evolution of the land ecological security (LES) across 11 provinces and municipalities in the Yangtze River Basin from 2008 to 2023 by using the framework of the drivers, pressures, state, impact, and response model of intervention. We forecasted the trends of LES (2024–2033) by using a grey prediction model and identified the key obstacles to it through an obstacle degree model. The findings revealed the following: (1) Economic density (D3) and per capita water resources (S4) had significantly high weights, disproportionately impacting LES. Shanghai scored highest for Drivers, Impact, and Response subsystems, while Tibet led in Pressures and State. (2) Basin-wide LES scores improved from “less safe” to “critical safe” but saw no fundamental breakthrough. LES exhibited a three-tier spatial pattern: higher in the middle-lower reaches (e.g., Shanghai, Jiangsu) and lower in the upper reaches (e.g., Qinghai). Tibet remained “critical safe” with minor fluctuations; other regions improved gradually yet mostly remained “less safe” or “critical safe”. (3) Forecasts (2024–2033) indicate continued overall LES improvement. Shanghai and Jiangsu are projected to reach “safe” status, Qinghai will remain “unsafe”, while most others persist as “critical safe”. Basin LES remains fragile, requiring intervention. (4) The Drivers (D) and State (S) subsystems were the primary constraints on LES. Critical obstacle indicators included economic pressure (per capita GDP (D2), D3), resource availability (S4, ratio of effectively irrigated area (I1)), land productivity (agricultural/forestry output per unit area (I3)), and forest coverage rate (R6). Enhancing LES necessitates implementing regionally tailored policies addressing spatial variations, prioritizing urban economic optimization, strengthening water resource management, and ensuring effective cross-regional governance.

China's rapid population urbanization over recent decades has posed significant challenges to sustainable urban development, particularly in ensuring water resource security. Within the sustainable development goals (SDGs) framework, this study explores the multidimensional mechanisms underlying population urbanization and water resource security by integrating spatial and econometric analyses. Spatial kernel density estimation and obstacle degree model were employed to assess the dynamic trends of population urbanization and water resource security across China. Subsequently, econometric analyses using random effects models, difference‐in‐differences models, and spatial durbin models were conducted to evaluate causal relationships and spatial dependencies. Empirical results demonstrate that China's population urbanization enhances water resource security largely due to the agglomeration effect of population density and improved water infrastructure development. However, regional economic growth often occurs at the expense of environmental quality, highlighting the critical need for strengthened protection of wetlands and forests and enhanced regulation of industrial wastewater discharge. Further analysis confirms that: (1) the impact of population urbanization on water resource security remains consistent with the benchmark regression results in both short‐term and long‐term effects; (2) population density and years of education positively moderate the relationship between population urbanization and water resource security; (3) spatial heterogeneity is evident, showing negative externalities from population urbanization in eastern and central provinces on neighboring regions' water resource security, whereas population urbanization in western provinces significantly improved local water resource security without significant externalities. Based on these insights, this study proposes targeted management strategies to mitigate negative spillovers, enhance regional cooperation, and integrate water resource governance into sustainable urban planning.

… managing water resource in China. In this study, a countrywide and comprehensive water … as the average of water shortage degree, water pollution level, and water-related hazard …

Large‐scale reforestation can potentially bring both benefits and risks to the water cycle, which needs to be better quantified under future climates to inform reforestation decisions. We identified 477 water‐insecure basins worldwide accounting for 44.6% (380.2 Mha) of the global reforestation potential. As many of these basins are in the Asia‐Pacific, we used regional coupled land‐climate modeling for the period 2041–2070 to reveal that reforestation increases evapotranspiration and precipitation for most water‐insecure regions over the Asia‐Pacific. This resulted in a statistically significant increase in water yield (p < .05) for the Loess Plateau–North China Plain, Yangtze Plain, Southeast China, and Irrawaddy regions. Precipitation feedback was influenced by the degree of initial moisture limitation affecting soil moisture response and thus evapotranspiration, as well as precipitation advection from other reforested regions and moisture transport away from the local region. Reforestation also reduces the probability of extremely dry months in most of the water‐insecure regions. However, some regions experience nonsignificant declines in net water yield due to heightened evapotranspiration outstripping increases in precipitation, or declines in soil moisture and advected precipitation.

… on the spatial–temporal dynamics of water security with considering water disaster risk index (WDRI), water environment risk index (WERI), and water supply–demand. WERI centers on …

… Supply–Demand Index (SSDI), based on the water balance method using the same … of the drought characteristics in the Yangtze River Basin (YRB). The results show that (1) the drought …

… Yangtze River Basin (YRB) is the most important strategic base of water resources in China, … combine water storage deficit index (WSDI) with a modified run theory to extract precisely …

Abstract The ability of Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment (GRACE) to monitor large scale drought events has been explored well during past few years. We develop an alternative method viz.,weighted water storage deficit (WWSD) to characterize drought events over Yangtze river basin (YRB) based on water storage deficit (WSD) method by combining GRACE RL06 sphere harmonic (SH) coefficient data and WaterGAP Global Hydrology Model(WGHM) data. We use component contribution ratio (CCR) of single terrestrial water compartment as weight to compute WWSD, comparing with other commonly employed drought indices and precipitation data from Global Precipitation Measurement(GPM). The results show that precipitation is the major trigger of water storage variation over YRB, which both have significant seasonal change. Our findings also indicate different terrestrial water component contributes distinctly to terrestrial water storage (TWS) variability and responds differently to drought features in YRB according to water component storage deficit (WCSD). Eleven drought events are identified in YRB based on WWSD with 2003, 2006 and 2011 experiencing the severest drought with drought intensity of −1.22 cm, −1.34 cm and −1.02 cm, respectively. Our study suggests that it is more realistic and reasonable to treat water components unequally to construct drought index derived from GRACE.

Summary Changes in lake hydrological regimes and the associated impacts on water supplies and ecosystems are internationally recognized issues. During the past decade, the persistent dryness of Poyang Lake (the largest freshwater lake in China) has caused water supply and irrigation crises for the 12.4 million inhabitants of the region. There is conjecture as to whether this dryness is caused by climate variability and/or human activities. This study examines long-term datasets of catchment inflow and Lake outflow, and employs a physically-based hydrodynamic model to explore catchment and Yangtze River controls on the Lake’s hydrology. Lake water levels fell to their lowest during 2001–2010 relative to previous decades. The average Lake size and volume reduced by 154 km 2 and 11 × 10 8  m 3 during the same period, compared to those for the preceding period (1970–2000). Model simulations demonstrated that the drainage effect of the Yangtze River was the primary causal factor. Modeling also revealed that, compared to climate variability impacts on the Lake catchment, modifications to Yangtze River flows from the Three Gorges Dam have had a much greater impact on the seasonal (September–October) dryness of the Lake. Yangtze River effects are attenuated in the Lake with distance from the River, but nonetheless propagate some 100 km to the Lake’s upstream limit. Proposals to build additional dams in the upper Yangtze River and its tributaries are expected to impose significant challenges for the management of Poyang Lake. Hydraulic engineering to modify the flow regime between the Lake and the Yangtze River would somewhat resolve the seasonal dryness of the Lake, but will likely introduce other issues in terms of water quality and aquatic ecosystem health, requiring considerable further research.

Droughts are some of the worst natural disasters that bring significant water shortages, economic losses, and adverse social consequences. Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment (GRACE) satellite data are widely used to characterize and evaluate droughts. In this work, we evaluate drought situations in the Yangtze River Basin (YRB) using the GRACE Texas Center for Space Research (CSR) mascon (mass concentration) data from 2003 to 2015. Drought events are identified by water storage deficits (WSDs) derived from GRACE data, while the drought severity evaluation is based on the water storage deficit index (WSDI), standardized WSD time series, and total water storage deficit (TWSD). The WSDI is subsequently compared with the Palmer drought severity index (PDSI), standardized precipitation index (SPI), standardized precipitation evapotranspiration index (SPEI), and standardized runoff index (SRI). The results indicate the YRB experienced increased wetness during the study period, with WSD values increasing at a rate of 5.20mm/year. Eight drought events are identified, and three major droughts occurred in 2004, 2006, and 2011, with WSDIs of -2.05, -2.38, and -1.30 and TWSDs of -620.96mm, -616.81mm, and -192.44mm, respectively. Our findings suggest that GRACE CSR mascon data can be used effectively to assess drought features in the YRB and that the WSDI facilitates robust and reliable characterization of droughts over large-scale areas.

Rapid global vegetation greening has been observed for the past two decades, but its implications to the hydrological cycle are not well understood in many regions, including the Yangtze River Basin (YRB). This study used a remote sensing‐driven ecosystem model, the Coupled Carbon and Water model, to fully examine the individual and combined hydrological effects of vegetation and climate changes through a series of modeling experiments. During the study period (2001–2018), the vegetation showed a significant greening trend with the mean annual normalized difference vegetation index increasing at a rate of 0.4% per year (p < 0.001). In contrast, climate exhibited a marginal wetting trend with annual precipitation increasing at a rate of 6.7 mm/yr (p = 0.08). Annual evapotranspiration (ET) in the YRB significantly increased (3.1 mm/yr, p = 0.01) primarily due to enhanced ecosystem productivity associated with vegetation greening, rather than climatic factors. However, the enhancement in ET did not lead to a significant decline in total water yield at the YRB scale. The large inter‐annual variability of precipitation masked the effects of vegetation greening on water yield. Overall, our study indicated that the recent land “greening up” has accelerated the regional hydrological cycle through increasing ET and resulted in enhanced risks of water resource shortage. Our findings highlighted the close connection between land cover dynamics and hydrological cycle under climate variability in one of the world’s largest river systems. Effective basin water resource management must consider hydrological response to vegetation greening and climate change.

Understanding the impacts of drought and climate change on vegetation dynamics is of great significance in terms of formulating vegetation management strategies and predicting future vegetation growth. In this study, Pearson correlation analysis was used to investigate the correlations between drought, climatic factors and vegetation conditions, and linear regression analysis was adopted to investigate the time-lag and time-accumulation effects of climatic factors on vegetation coverage based on the standardized evapotranspiration deficit index (SEDI), normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI), and gridded meteorological dataset in the Yellow River Basin (YLRB) and Yangtze River Basin (YTRB), China. The results showed that (1) the SEDI in the YLRB showed no significant change over time and space during the growing season from 1982 to 2015, whereas it increased significantly in the YTRB (slope = 0.013/year, p < 0.01), and more than 40% of the area showed a significant trend of wetness. The NDVI of the two basins, YLRB and YTRB, increased significantly at rate of 0.011/decade and 0.016/decade, respectively (p < 0.01). (2) Drought had a significant impact on vegetation in 49% of the YLRB area, which was mainly located in the northern region. In the YTRB, the area significantly affected by drought accounted for 21% of the total area, which was mainly distributed in the Sichuan Basin. (3) In the YLRB, both temperature and precipitation generally had a one-month accumulated effect on vegetation conditions, while in the YTRB, temperature was the major factor leading to changes in vegetation. In most of the area of the YTRB, the effect of temperature on vegetation was also a one-month accumulated effect, but there was no time effect in the Sichuan Basin. Considering the time effects, the contribution of climatic factors to vegetation change in the YLRB and YTRB was 76.7% and 63.2%, respectively. The explanatory power of different vegetation types in the two basins both increased by 2% to 6%. The time-accumulation effect of climatic factors had a stronger explanatory power for vegetation growth than the time-lag effect.

… reaches of the basin. In this paper, the Yangtze River and Yellow River basins are taken as … Based on the standardized precipitation index (SPI) characterizing meteorological drought …

In this study, hydrological drought in the Yangtze River basin (YRB) is characterized based on Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment (GRACE) total water storage (TWS). An artificial neural network approach is applied to extend the GRACE TWS observations (2003–12) to a longer TWS time series (1979–2012), which is well matched (Nash–Sutcliff efficiency of 0.83) to the GRACE data. Hydrological drought is identified by water storage deficit (WSD; the shortfall in TWS from the average value) in three consecutive months. The method builds on previous research by considering potentially ineffective interdrought events and by characterizing drought recovery time from a multidecadal TWS time series. The results show that the YRB was in hydrological drought 29 times during 1979–2012, and the three subbasins of the YRB (upper, middle, and lower YRB) experienced between 21 and 28 hydrological drought events during the same period. The drought recovery time, defined as the time required for WSD to recover to average conditions, is evaluated by a simple statistical approach based on the empirical cumulative distribution function. The average drought recovery time is 3.3 months for the entire YRB and ranges from 2.3 to 3.4 months for the three subbasins. The severest YRB drought occurred during 2003–08 as a result of below-average precipitation, high temperatures, and intense human activities. The results demonstrate that GRACE data are useful for reconstructing the TWS time series for a large river basin, from which hydrological drought can be characterized, and for investigating spatial and temporal trends in water storage conditions.

… The primary (major) continental watersheds, such as the Mississippi River, the Rhine River, or the Yangtze River, comprise sub-watersheds, and sub-watersheds themselves contain …

Water shortage is a common problem around the world, especially in developing countries. Water shortage is closely linked to natural and social conditions, but the linkages between these natural and social conditions and their underlying temporal and spatial variation are less well explored. This paper details an application of the Driving‐Force‐Pressure‐State‐Impact‐Response (DPSIR) model, a holistic and sustainable tool for resources planning and management, and uses comprehensive weights to evaluate the water poverty (wp) in China from 1997 to 2014. This study applies the Kernel density estimation model to analyze the temporal variation trend and uses the least square error model to analyze the spatial pattern of wp. The results show the level of wp is gradually declining over time and the improvements in the coastal and inland wp situation are not spatially harmonious, and there are four primary types of wp in China based on drivers and causal mechanisms: D‐P‐I, D‐P‐I‐R, D‐P‐S‐I, and D‐P‐S‐I‐R. Furthermore, we analyze the main causes of spatial difference of wp and put forward corresponding countermeasures. The research findings are intended to provide a new insight for the evaluation of wp in the context of sustainable development, breaking past limitations that arise in simplified analyses using a single method, and to provide a strategy for regional water resources management to relieve wp.

… Thus the aims of this paper are to revise the method of the calculation of Water Poverty Index (… Shanghai is located in the downstream of Yangtze River and the Lake Tai basin, and has …

The Yangtze River Economic Delta (YRED) faces inequality in water use in large proportions due to rapid industrialization. This study adopted the Gini coefficient and Global Moran’s index to calculate inequality, its spatial spread and water use efficiency of cities in the YRED and categorized them into types based on the spatial spread of inequality. In general, inequality is reducing, but water use efficiency is poor. Inequality was rated 0–1; zero being the highest equality while 1 indicates the highest inequality. There is relatively high inequality (0.4–0.5) in Shanghai, Suzhou and Hefei. Most cities (20), however, showed equality (below 0.2). Nine (9) cities showed relative equality (0.2–0.3), while Wuxi, Bengbu and Zhenjiang were neutral (0.3–0.4). No city scored above 0.5. Water use efficiency in the majority of cities was poor. Only 11 out of 35 cities scored more than 50% efficiency. Poor irrigation, income and industrial water demand are the factors driving inefficiency and inequality. The categorization of cities into groups produced nine city types according to the spatial disposition of inequality. A combined effort to formulate policies targeting improved water use efficiency, reduced industrial consumption and improved irrigation, tailored towards the specific situation of each city type, would eliminate inequality.

… Even rarer are studies that incorporate both water quantity and quality in … of water supply–demand imbalance in the Yangtze River Economic Belt (YREB), considering both water …

… of water demand and water supply positions non-overlapped spatial distribution, tends to overestimate water stress … In this study, we used a non-overlapping water supply-and-demand …

… Demand-driven scarcity has emerged as … spatial heterogeneity, with the downstream region significantly surpassing the middle and upper reaches, and the downstream Yangtze River …

… water supply shortfall than industry in all rivers except the Yangtze River, while it has less water scarcity … Considering the serious water shortage of Mintuo River and Jialing River, we …

… and lower reaches of Yangtze River had generally increased… increases led to prolonged water shortages during the wheat … , both demonstrating clear spatial distribution regularities (Fig. …

… and temporal variability of the impact of climate change on rice irrigation water requirements in the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River, China - ScienceDirect …

With the intensification of human activities, the vulnerability of water, energy, food and ecology systems has become more and more prominent, and the research on the vulnerability of the water-energy-food-ecology (WEFE) nexus is significant to realizing regional sustainable development. This study aims to make a comprehensive measurement of the vulnerability of the WEFE nexus in the Yangtze River Economic Belt (YREB) from 2008 to 2019, clarify the evolutionary trend of its vulnerability, and predict the vulnerability of each province (municipality) in the future, to formulate policies to reduce vulnerability. This study firstly constructs a vulnerability evaluation index system of the WEFE nexus based on the VSD framework and uses the neighborhood rough set (NRS) to reduce the attributes. Then, the TOPSIS model is used to evaluate the vulnerability of the WEFE nexus. Finally, by comparing the training accuracy of the random forest, decision tree and support vector machine (SVM) model, the SVM model is selected to predict the vulnerability of the WEFE nexus under different scenarios in 2025. The results show that the vulnerability of the WEFE nexus in the YREB showed a fluctuating downward trend from 2008 to 2019. The decline is faster in the middle and upper reaches, and slower in the lower reaches. In 2025, under a strong resource management scenario, the vulnerability of the provinces (municipalities) in the YREB will decrease significantly, while the weak and moderate resource management scenarios are not conducive to reducing vulnerability and even worsening. Therefore, in the future, the provinces (municipalities) in the upper, middle and lower reaches should make reasonable use of the resource endowments, take measurements actively according to local conditions, and continuously strengthen the management of water, energy, food and ecological resources, thus promoting the continuous improvement of the vulnerability of the WEFE nexus.

To reasonably evaluate the water resource security state, this research built a water resource security evaluation index system of the Yangtze River Economic Belt (YREB) based on the driving force-pressure-state-impact (DPSI) concept framework, established a water resource security evaluation model by combining the entropy weight method with the fuzzy set pair analysis method and conducted quantitative evaluations of the water resource security states from 2008 to 2016. All the work above was based on the comprehensive consideration of the water resource characteristics in different areas of the YREB, following the index system construction principles. The results have shown that on the whole, the water resource security state of the YREB has generally undergone a process from getting worse to getting better in the latest nine years. From the aspect of the percentages of the water resource security grades, the spatial distribution of water resource security in the YREB is highest in the downstream area, second in the middle reaches, and lowest in the upper reaches. From the aspect of the DPSI security evaluation results, the driving force and state of the water resource are the important factors affecting the water resource security

… Drought-induced ecological vulnerability is intensifying under global climate change, … Using the Yangtze River Basin (YRB) as a case study, we constructed a Drought Vulnerability …

… Therefore, a multi-region blue/grey water management system is developed in this study … Yangtze River Economic Belt (YREB). In detail, both blue water footprint (BWF) and grey water …

… , vulnerability, and exposure. A comprehensive evaluation of drought risk in the Yangtze River Basin … for 58% of the Yangtze River Basin, while drought vulnerability exhibits a noticeable …

… Socio-economic data In this study, the socio-economic data primarily included population density and gross domestic product (GDP) per capita, which were obtained from the 2006– …

Global water governance has increasingly focused on resilience as a means to manage cross-scale complexity and change. In this paper, rather than proposing a rigid new framework, …

… Thus, impact assessment of climate change on water … study, water resource spatiotemporal patterns exposed to IPCC scenarios A2 and B2 in the upstream Yangtze River are assessed. …

… Therefore, taking the Yangtze River Economic Belt (YREB) as a case study, this paper firstly … evaluation index system of WECC based on the coupling system of water resources-water …

… The middle reaches of Yangtze River Basin (MYRB) are rich in water resources, with a large number of rivers and lakes… The Yangtze River is the main river of China, providing important …

… of water yield in the basin. This study reveals the temporal and spatial evolution characteristics of water yield in the Yangtze River Basin … and water resources management in the basin. …

The Yangtze River (hereafter referred to as the YZR), the largest river in China, is of paramount importance for ensuring water resource security. The Yangtze River Basin (hereafter referred to as the YRB) is one of the most densely populated areas in China, and complex human activities have a significant impact on the ecological security of water resources. Therefore, this paper employs theories related to ecological population evolution and the Driving Force-Pressure-State-Impact-Response (DPSIR) model to construct an indicator system for the ecological security of water resources in the YRB. The report evaluates the ecological security status of water resources in each province of the YRB from 2010 to 2019, clarifies the development trend of its water resource ecological security, and proposes corresponding strategies for regional ecological security and coordinated economic development. According to the results of the ecological population evolution competition model, the overall indicator of the ecological security of water resources in the YRB continues to improve, with the safety level increasing annually. Maintaining sound management of water resources in the YRB is crucial for sustainable socioeconomic development. To further promote the ecological security of water resources in the YRB and the coordinated development of the regional economy, this paper proposes policy suggestions such as promoting the continuous advancement of sustainable development projects, actively adjusting industrial structure, continuously enhancing public environmental awareness, and actively participating in international ecological construction and seeking cooperation among multiple departments.

In this study, we analyze 32 yr of terrestrial water storage (TWS) data obtained from the Interim Reanalysis Data (ERA-Interim) and Noah model from the Global Land Data Assimilation System (GLDAS-Noah) for the period 1979 to 2010. The accuracy of these datasets is validated using 26 yr (1979–2004) of runoff data from the Yichang gauging station and comparing them with 32 yr of independent precipitation data obtained from the Global Precipitation Climatology Centre Full Data Reanalysis Version 6 (GPCC) and NOAA’s PRECipitation REConstruction over Land (PREC/L). Spatial and temporal analysis of the TWS data shows that TWS in the Yangtze River basin has decreased significantly since the year 1998. The driest period in the basin occurred between 2005 and 2010, and particularly in the middle and lower Yangtze reaches. The TWS figures changed abruptly to persistently high negative anomalies in the middle and lower Yangtze reaches in 2004. The year 2006 is identified as major inflection point, at which the system starts exhibiting a persistent decrease in TWS. Comparing these TWS trends with independent precipitation datasets shows that the recent decrease in TWS can be attributed mainly to a decrease in the amount of precipitation. Our findings are based on observations and modeling datasets and confirm previous results based on gauging station datasets.