Carrying Capacity and Coupling Coordination of Water and Land Resources Systems in Arid and Semi-arid Areas: A Case Study of Yulin City, China

Quantitatively assessing the carrying capacity of water and land resources systems in arid and semi-arid areas is crucial for achieving the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals.In this work,taking Yulin City in China as a case study and employing the Criteria Importance Through Intercriteria Correlation(CRITIC)method,a modified model of coupling degree was developed to evaluate the car-rying capacity of water and land resources systems endowment and utilization,as well as their coupling coordination degree from 2013 to 2020.Our findings indicate that the water and land resources of Yulin are diminishing due to declines in agriculture,higher industrial water use,and wetland shrinkage.However,reallocating domestic water for ecological sustainability and reducing sloping farmland can mitigate this trend of decline.Temporally,as the coupling coordination between water and land resources system endowment in Yulin continuously improved,the coupling coordination between water and land resources system utilization first decreased and then in-creased with 2016 as the turning point.Spatially,the carrying capacity of water and land resources systems,the coupling coordination degree between water and land resources system endowment,and the coupling coordination degree between water and land resources system utilization in Yulin exhibited the same pattern of being higher in the six northern counties than in the six southern counties.Improving the water resources endowment is vital for the highly efficient use of water and land resources.

Optimization of water-urban-agricultural-ecological land use pattern:A case study of Guanzhong Basin in the southern Loess Plateau of Shaanxi Province,China

Extensive land use will cause many environmental problems.It is an urgent task to improve land use efficiency and optimize land use patterns.In recent years,due to the flow decrease,the Guanzhong Basin in Shaanxi Province is confronted with the problem of insufficient water resources reserve.Based on the Coupled Ground-Water and Surface-Water Flow Model(GSFLOW),this paper evaluates the response of water resources in the basin to changes in land use patterns,optimizes the land use pattern,improves the ecological and economic benefits,and the efficiency of various spatial development,providing a reference for ecological protection and high-quality development of the Yellow River Basin.The research shows that the land use pattern in the Guanzhong Basin should be further optimized.Under the condition of considering ecological and economic development,the percentage change of the optimum area of farmland,forest,grassland,water area,and urban area compared with the current land use area ratio is+2.3,+2.4,-6.1,+0.2,and+1.6,respectively.The economic and ecological value of land increases by14.1%and 3.1%,respectively,and the number of water resources can increase by 2.5%.

Climate change, water resources and sustainable development in the arid and semi-arid lands of Central Asia in the past 30 years

The countries of Central Asia are collectively known as the five "-stans": Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, Turkmenistan, Tajikistan and Kazakhstan. In recent times, the Central Asian region has been affected by the shrinkage of the Aral Sea, widespread desertification, soil salinization, biodiversity loss, frequent sand storms, and many other ecological disasters. This paper is a review article based upon the collection, identification and collation of previous studies of environmental changes and regional developments in Central Asia in the past 30 years. Most recent studies have reached a consensus that the temperature rise in Central Asia is occurring faster than the global average. This warming trend will not only result in a higher evaporation in the basin oases, but also to a significant retreat of glaciers in the mountainous areas. Water is the key to sustainable development in the arid and semi-arid regions in Central Asia. The uneven distribution, over consumption, and pollution of water resources in Central Asia have caused severe water supply problems, which have been affecting regional harmony and development for the past 30 years. The widespread and significant land use changes in the 1990 s could be used to improve our understanding of natural variability and human interaction in the region. There has been a positive trend of trans-border cooperation among the Central Asian countries in recent years. International attention has grown and research projects have been initiated to provide water and ecosystem protection in Central Asia. However, the agreements that have been reached might not be able to deliver practical action in time to prevent severe ecological disasters. Water management should be based on hydrographic borders and ministries should be able to make timely decisions without political intervention. Fully integrated management of water resources, land use and industrial development is essential in Central Asia. The ecological crisis should provide sufficient motivation to reach a consensus on unified water management throughout the region.

Study on the Sustainable Use of Land-water Resources in Shandong Province of China Based on Food Security

After the analysis of food security of Shandong Province since 1990s, based on the change of grain output and per unit grain yield, it was considered that food production of Shandong Province was generally stable; through comparing the proportion of per capita possession of grains and per unit grain yield of Shandong Province in the whole country, it revealed that they were higher than the national average level. On this basis, the relationship between land-water resources and food security had been analyzed, and it summarized that Shandong water resources were insufficient, agricultural water was not enough and water had been seriously polluted; and that cultivated area was large and the overall quality was high. Meanwhile, it had analyzed the spatial pattern of land-water resources and the loss of water and soil. Finally, suggestions for the sustainable use of land-water resources in Shandong Province based on food security had been proposed. It should enhance the construction of basic agricultural facilities and implement united dispatching of multiple water resources; strengthen the supervision of cultivated land resources and comprehensively develop reserve resources of cultivated lands; and intensify the treatment of land-water resources and prevention of the loss of water and soil in key areas.

Interactions between water-land resources and oasis urban development at the northern slopes of the Tianshan Mountains,Xinjiang,China

Urban development in arid and semi-arid regions is largely constrained by fragile physical environ- ments. The characteristics of an urban settlement are different from those in other regions of China. This paper analyses the coupling characteristics and spatio-temporal variations for oasis urban development and water-land resources at the northern slopes of the Tianshan Mountains by principal component analysis and a coupling degree model. The result shows that the degree and change in regional use of water and land resources are different among the studied cities/counties during their development. The built-up areas of these cities/counties have changed little with increasing populations and urbanization levels, which well reflects that the urban development in arid and semi-arid regions is limited by oasis areas. Per capita amount of water supplied, however, presented a trend of slowed growth with increasing levels of urbanization. Water consumption gradually increased with urban development and the improvement of people＇s living standards, accompanied by enhanced water use efficiency. The level of urbanization can be assessed through the coupling degree between oasis urban development and the use of water and land resources. A high coupling degree represents a high level of comprehensive urban devel- opment and use of water-land resources. Alternatively, a low coupling degree denotes a low level of urban devel- opment and water-land resource use.

Problems of Sustainable Use and Management of Water and Land Resources in Uzbekistan

In this paper, the problems of rational use, protection and management of water and irrigated land resources of Uzbekistan are discussed. Uzbekistan is using more than 50% water resources of the region and therefore it’s more vulnerable to the problems of water deficiency and pollution caused by mismanagement, use of outdated technologies, and climate change impact. Utilization of water resources on main branches of economy (irrigation, industry and drinking water supply) from 2000-2009 and in some cases beyond this period was analyzed. Based on the data analyzed, the conditions of irrigated land degradation in Uzbekistan are estimated. The results of this analysis suggest several possibilities toward a sustainable use of irrigated lands: i) reduction of the groundwater table depth;ii) decrease of the level of mineralization of groundwater, and iii) improvement of ameliorative conditions of irrigated lands. The causes resulting in degradation of the irrigated lands and practical measures on the reduction of salinization of the irrigated lands are also recommended.

DEVELOPMENT STRATEGIES OF WATER AND LAND RESOURCES IN THE HEXI REGION,CHINA

Hexi region is located in the northwest arid zone in China,being both the base of industry and agriculture,and the prop of developing northwestern China on a large scale in the next century.On the basis of the study on exploitation and utilization process of water and land resources in past 40 years,and present productivity,this paper approaches the utilization trend and development potential of water and land resources;analyses the characteristics,problems and directions of resource utilization in the future;and proposes the countermeasures of rational development of water and land resources.

The Coupling Coordination Evolution Research of Economy - Ecology - Society System in Xinjiang：Based on the Interaction Perspective of Water Resources

Under the water resources perspective,coupling coordination of economy-ecology-society system in Xinjiang was taken as the research object. By building the coupling evaluation index system of the water resources-economy-ecology-society system,quantitative evaluation and analysis of the coupling coordination of the water resources-economy-ecology-society system from 2001 to 2014 were conducted. The results showed that benefit indexes of economic system and social system grew rapidly,while benefit indexes of water resources system and ecosystem fluctuated smoothly from 2001 to 2014; coupling state of the whole system was at rival stage,and coupling coordination was reluctant coordination type,and the coupling index was slightly higher than the coupling coordination index. Moreover,it showed that the more the coupling systems,the lower indices of coupling and the coupling coordination.

Coupling of water and land resources and its application in regionalization

This paper focuses on the coupling of water and land resources based on several factors related closely to either water or land resources, which have become a topical subject due to the economic expansion and their sustainable development in recent years. A case of Qihe County in Shangdong Province, China has been used to demonstrate the methodology of the coupling and its application in regionalization with the help of geographical information system (GIS) tool. Field observation and measurement of soil salt and moisture in several profiles are used to verify the results of the coupling, which gives reasonable distribution of different areas regarding to the advantages and disadvantages for sustainable agriculture.

The supporting capability of Water and land resources for sustainable increase of yield in North China Plain

The potential of yield increase in the North China Plain is about 30 billion kg by ameliorating the low yield and medium low yield farmlands and 4 billion kg by reclaiming unused land. Water shortage will be the main limitation to the further increase of grain crop yield. The amount of water shortage is 8 200 million m3 at present, and will be 17 720 million m3 in 2 000. Yield increase can not be realized by using more water in the future. Other factors such as decrease of the area of cultivated land and the grain crop growing area, deterioration of environment and destruction of resources will also affect the development of grain production. Some suggestions have been proposed in the paper for attaining sustainable increase of yield in the plain.

Soil and Water Resources and Land Sustainable Productivity in the Catchment Area with Intensive Management in Hilly Red Soil Regions,China

Taking an example of Majiayu Catchment Area (14.15 ha) in Taoyuan County of HunanProvince, the soil and water resources dynamics, fertility evolution characteristics andland productivity changing situation were studied. Fixed observation results from 1993to 2002 showed that pools covering about 15% of total area could store up 10% of surfacerunoff, keep 78.1% of eroded soil and 65.4% of lost nutrients. The yearly ratio ofinterception and evapotranspiration in land, storage in pools and drainage was 7:2:1,which ensured the resources and nutrients equilibrium and a benign recycle in thecatchment area system, and benefited the aquatic culture and helped to resist seasonaldrought. Moreover, the results showed that soil erosion modulus decreased significantly,equal to or lower than soil loss tolerance (≤500 tkm-2) in reddish yellow soil regions.Soil organic matter, total and available N content in sloping land, dryland and paddyfield increased steadily (>10%); water storage enhanced by more than 20% in sloping landand dryland in drought season; crop production increased by more than 20%; and productionof trees, fruits, tea and fish as well as land productivity increased yearly.

2015 IWA Alternative Water Resources Conference Nanjing,China(May 26-28,2015)

The IWA Alternative Water Resources（AWR）Conference is organized by the International Water Association,Hohai University,the IWA China Chapter of the AWR Cluster,and the Seawater Desalination and AWR Utilization Research Center of Hohai University.

Study on ecological and economic effects of land and water resources allocation in Sanjiang Plain

The pattern of groundwater usage and industrial development in the Sanjiang Plain remains a concern of Chinese government. In accordance with the Water Conservancy Planning of the Sanjiang Plain, this paper presents a Sanjiang Plain resources allocation model which is established to be used in controlling water, land, ecology and economy in consideration of 50%-level and 75%-level years, planting structure adjustment, industry development by 2020, and different transit water exploitation schemes. Lingo10 global optimization has been adopted in solving the model. The results show that by 2020 the output of three industries will increase to a certain degree, the grain yields will satisfy state demand, and regional service value will decrease dramatically. Such results provide theoretical basis and practical significance for instructing the development and exploitation of the Sanjiang Plain.

基于“人-地-水”平衡的流域国土空间格局优化--以长江经济带国土空间规划为例

以长江经济带国土空间规划的探索实践为例,围绕流域“人-地-水”的统筹平衡与高质量发展,对国土空间格局优化的技术方法进行了研究。建立了张力评价--平衡策略--平衡韧性的技术路径和模型框架体系,构建了多尺度“人-地-水”规模平衡+流域治理的空间格局优化方法,针对长江经济带形成了上、中、下游及二级流域的人口增长控制、耕地资源保护、水资源跨区域调配等空间优化策略,并提出二级流域系统治理的多目标多区域管控传导体系。

Impact of Climate and Land-Use Changes on Water Security for Agriculture in Northern China

North China is the most important food basket of China, where the majority of wheat and corn are produced. Most crops grown in North China are irrigated, thus water security is food security. Since the 1980s, drying has been frequently observed, as shown by a reduction in precipitation, cutoff in riverflow, and shrinkage of lakes. This increase in drying cannot be explained by climate change alone. We propose that intensive land-use in this area in recent decades has had a significant impact. The objectives of the study are to develop a quantitative model of the concurrent processes of climate change and land-use in North China, and to estimate the relative contributions of each on the observed drying. We integrated relevant socioeconomic data, land-use data, and climate data in the model, and carried out a detailed multi-temporal （decade, year, day） analysis. Results showed that land-use has greatly changed since 1999. This change is mainly associated with an extremely important 1999 national policy of ＂returning farmland and grazing land to forest and grassland＂. We found an interesting interaction between climate change and land use policy on riverflow, runoff, and evapotranspiration. During 1970s and 1980s, climate change explained more than 80%, while the land-use change explained only 10% of the riverflow change. The relative contributions were 45 and 45% in the 1980s-1990s and 35 and 55% in the 1990s-2000s respectively for climate change and land-use change. Since the 1990s land-use change has also contributed more to runoff change than climate change. The opposite trend was found for changes in evapotranspiration. Water availability for agriculture in northern China is simultaneously stressed by extensive changes in land-use and rapid climate change. Adaptation of ecological principles, such as the ＂returning farmland/grazing land to forest and grassland＂ policy, and other adjustments of economic developmental strategies can be effective tools to mitigate the water shortage problem in northern China and promote sustainable agricultural and food development.

水资源环境约束下“流域-城市”用地布局的情景模拟方法建构

以水定城是空间规划编制应遵循的基本原则,情景模拟是支持空间规划编制的重要技术方法,但当前有关水资源环境约束下城市用地布局的情景模拟研究尚缺乏对流域与城市之间关联关系的仿真表达。文章从水资源环境承载约束的视角出发,整合流域管理与空间规划相关理论,提出多维度、多尺度理论框架下的水资源环境与城市用地布局的关联机理;而后,交叉融合多学科技术方法,探讨基于水资源环境的“流域-城市”用地布局的关联模拟模型的结构框架,并提出包含模拟模型建立、模拟方案设定、模拟结果评价全过程的情景模拟技术路线。希望通过对考虑“流域-城市”关系的城市用地布局情景模拟方法的研讨,为促进城市与水系统的协调发展提供空间规划编制技术支持。

盐碱地肥沃耕层构建水肥盐综合调控机理与技术研究进展

盐碱地是我国重要的后备耕地资源,我国历来高度重视盐碱地的改良和利用工作,但目前盐碱区淡水资源短缺严重制约了盐碱地的改良利用。如何在水资源约束下,优化调控土壤水肥盐动态是当前盐碱地可持续利用中亟待解决的关键科学问题。近年来,大量研究利用有机培肥、耕作、节水灌溉、田间覆盖、咸水利用等农艺措施,在盐碱地建立“控盐、保肥、保水”的肥沃耕作层,显著改变了水肥盐在土壤-植物-大气连续体中的运移过程,实现了盐碱地质量和产能快速提升,上述内容也日益成为盐碱地改良利用中的重要研究方向。本文系统总结了盐碱地改良和肥沃耕层构建等方面的研究进展,并针对盐碱地肥沃耕层构建下土壤水肥盐综合调控及其与植物生长的协同关系等进行了展望,以期为盐碱地可持续改良利用提供参考。

How Water-Development Nexus Can Reunite Central Asia?

The following article has been retracted due to the fact that it cannot be accepted by the author’s university as a scientific peer-reviewed publication. The Editorial Board takes a very strong respect to the author’s situation on this matter. This paper published in World Journal of Engineering and Technology Vol.2 No.3B, September 2014, has been removed from this site.

考虑水土互馈关系的区域水土资源联合优化配置

针对水土资源空间不匹配、水资源总量不足及土地资源利用程度不高等问题,以二元水循环理论为基础,构建考虑水土互馈关系的区域水土资源联合优化配置模型。该模型包括产水模块、水土联合配置模块和土地模拟模块,以GDP最大和基于生态绿当量的区域植被覆盖率(EGE-RVC)最高为目标函数,并提出了一种耦合约束法、逐次逼近法和非线性规划的三层嵌套算法进行求解。以河南省洛阳市为例对模型和方法进行验证,结果表明,洛阳市可利用水量增加了4463万m^(3),GDP提高了12.5%,EGE-RVC增加了2.6%,各用地类型缺水率不同程度下降。研究成果能够为区域水土资源优化配置研究提供新的思路和技术参考。

流域国土空间水资源承载力评价及保护方法研究

量化测度水资源承载力并制定相应的水资源保护措施,对于区域国土空间可持续发展极为重要。运用DPSIR框架,评价了梁子湖流域的水资源承载力,并对评价结果进行空间落位。基于评价结果,使用FLUS模型模拟未来发展趋势,划定了区域国土空间功能优势区,并综合评价模拟结果,确定了梁子湖流域的水环境保护格局。从量化测度和情景模拟两个方面构建了一套切实可行的流域国土空间水资源保护规划技术路径,可为区域水资源保护目标导向下国土空间规划与生态保护提供参考。