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In order to promote the sustainable development of a social economy and ecology, the social–economic–natural compound ecosystem (SENCE) conceptual framework was used to construct the water environmental carrying capacity index system. Taking the Gansu section of the Yellow River basin as an example, 18 indexes were selected from the 3 subsystems of social, economic, and natural ecology. Based on the unascertained measure theory and the obstacle factor model, the comprehensive level of water environmental carrying capacity in the Gansu section of the Yellow River basin from 2015 to 2020 was empirically evaluated, and the obstacles that hindered the water environmental carrying capacity were identified and analyzed. The results showed that the comprehensive level of water environmental carrying capacity fluctuated and increased overall, and it was grade III (critical load) from 2015 to 2017 and in 2019 and grade IV (weak load) in 2018 and 2020. Considering the ranking of the obstacle degree of each index, the obstacle factors were concentrated in the natural ecological subsystem, among which the obstacle factors were the discharge of wastewater, the population density, the urbanization rate, and the water resources development and utilization rate, which should be examined in the future. The research results and methods described in this paper could provide a theoretical reference for the evaluation of water environmental carrying capacity for other rivers and lakes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ecotourism is vital for coordinating regional ecological protection with socio-economic development. The Gansu section of the Yellow River Basin is a typical ecologically fragile area in China, and it holds a distinctive position in ecological protection and high-quality development. This study explores spatial differentiation in ecotourist perceptions and their distinct effects on ecotourist satisfaction, revisitation, and recommendation. It uses four cities (Gannan, Linxia, Lanzhou, and Baiyin) in the Gansu section of the Yellow River (mainstream) as examples, employing a questionnaire survey to collect ecotourists' perception data and applying a random forest model and one-way ANOVA for analysis. It was found that: (1) rich ecotourism potential exists in the Gansu section of the Yellow River Basin as an ecologically fragile area; (2) there is spatial differentiation in ecotourist perceptions, and among the four regions, Baiyin stands out for its nature and atmosphere perception, and Lanzhou excels in accessibility and service perception; (3) spatial disparities exist in the influencing factors of ecotourist satisfaction, revisitation, and recommendation. Ecotourists in districts with unique natural resources, such as Gannan and Baiyin, prioritize nature perception, whereas districts with abundant natural resources and an established foundation for ecotourism development, such as Linxia and Lanzhou, emphasize service and atmosphere perception. This study constructs a new research framework to explore spatial variations in ecotourists' perceptions, assisting ecotourism destinations to meet the needs of ecotourists from the supply side, and presents distinctive strategies and recommendations for the development of ecotourism in similar ecologically fragile areas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• A framework was proposed for the allocation of PES funds under future scenarios. • The ESV is highest in ecological conservation scenario, while fund is the lowest. • In the future, financial investment in the Qinghai Province needs to be increased. • The exploration of horizontal compensation mechanisms should be encouraged. Reasonable payments of Ecosystem Services (PES) standards are crucial to provide eco-environment management countermeasures. However, existing research on the unified coordination of future PES from the overall perspective is insufficient. This paper proposes a framework derived from the patch-generating land-use simulation (PLUS) model and the ecosystem services value (ESV) assessment method for allocation PES funds. The Yellow River Basin (YRB) was taken as a case study, which is a highly integrated and interconnected entity. The PLUS model was used to analyze various land-use situations from 2010 to 2020, and predict future land-use status under different development scenarios including natural development (ND), cropland conservation (CC) and ecological conservation (EC). The ESV approach was applied to calculate the ESV in nine provinces of the YRB, and propose optimized fund distribution schemes. The results showed that (1) The most significant land-use changes during 2010–2020 were impervious, forests, grasslands, and croplands, where the impervious increased by 22.47 % (4642 km2) and the forest increased by 9 % (7623 km2). (2) The total ESV in the YRB will be highest under EC scenario in 2030, at 729.16 billion CNY, and Qinghai, Sichuan, Gansu and Shandong will have the highest ESV under EC scenario. (3) The funds will reach lowest under EC scenario, at 13.35 billion CNY, while reach highest under CC scenario, at 13.58 billion CNY. (4) In any scenario, Qinghai and Gansu province will get the highest PES funds among nine provinces, and financial investment in the Qinghai Province needs to be increased. Based on our results, it is recommended to foster the exploration of horizontal compensation between the downstream provinces of Henan and Shandong, and the upstream provinces of Qinghai, Sichuan, and Gansu, in order to enhance the protection of the eco-environment. The findings can provide scientific guidance for improvement of the PES funds allocation in the YRB, and methodological references for other river basins. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Water resources is one of the basic resources for human social development. In the context of China's rapid economic development, how to achieve the sustainable development of water resources, social economy and ecological environment has become an urgent issue. Water Resources Carrying Capacity (WRCC) is an important indicator of the degree of coordinated social, economic and ecological development that can be supported by water resources in a certain region. Based on the internal mechanism of WRCC, this paper constructs the evaluation system of WRCC, and estimates WRCC of 9 provinces in the Yellow River Basin (YRB) from 2009 to 2018 by the entropy method. Using the Logarithmic Mean Divisia Index (LMDI) model, we analyze the driving effects of WRCC differences in the YRB from both spatial and temporal aspects. Main conclusions are as follows: (1) There is an inherent mechanism between water resources, social economy and eco-environment, and the coordinated development of the three subsystems can promote the improvement of WRCC; (2) From 2009 to 2018, WRCC of the YRB showed a relatively stable upward trend, in which the sewage treatment effect and the technical effect were the main factors promoting WRCC, while the economic effect had a negative weakening function throughout the research period; (3) There were obvious differences in the WRCC of each province. We choose Shandong and Gansu as the comparison objects, then analyze the factors causing differences of WRCC through the driving effects decomposition analysis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Yellow River basin (YRB) plays an important role in China's economic and social growth. Based on different dimensions, we adopted the radial basis function (RBF) neural network model and the obstacle degree model to examine the water resource carrying capacity (WRCC) of the YRB. From 2005 to 2020, the WRCC of the entire YRB, as well as the upstream and midstream regions, improved, but the WRCC of the downstream region remained poor, revealing spatial differences. The overall improvement in the WRCC of the Yellow River's nine provinces is good, but the WRCC of Inner Mongolia and Henan is poor, suggesting regional differences. From the standpoint of obstacle factors, the development and usage rate of surface water resources are the main challenges. In 2020, the obstacle degree of the YRB reached 87.4871%. The irrigated area rate in Gansu was the primary obstacle factor, and the obstacle degree reached 73.0238%. Qinghai's industrial aspects mostly hindered the improvement of its WRCC, with an obstacle degree of 31.36%. The results provide a theoretical reference for the high-quality development of the YRB. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Droughts and floods have proven to be threats to food security worldwide. This research used the standardized precipitation index (SPI) to examine the spatiotemporal characteristics of drought and wet events from 1961 to 2020 in the Yellow River basin (YRB). Grain yield data were combined to assess how drought and wet frequency have affected the agricultural system. The occurrence frequency of drought was greater than that of wetness in time, drought frequency decreased, and wetness increased. Spatially, the frequency of drought in all provinces except Shanxi was higher than that of wetness. The grain yield per unit area of the YRB was generally highest in Shandong province and lowest in Gansu province. The grain yield per unit area have shown a significant growth trend in the nine provinces of the YRB since 1961. Drought had a negative effect on the grain yield per unit area in each province, while wetness had a positive effect on the grain yield per unit area in all provinces except Shandong. In general, the influence of drought on grain yield per unit area decreased, while the influence of wetness on grain yield per unit area increased. The results indicate that human activities are effective against preventing and controlling drought and wet disasters and can provide a reference for other parts of the world. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In 2021, The People's Republic of China proposed goals for peaking carbon dioxide emissions before 2030 and carbon neutrality before 2060, in the 15 counties (districts) of the Main Stream Area of the Yellow River Basin in Gansu that plays an important role in ecological protection and green development. Next the CO2 equivalents were converted according to the IPCC2 standard, the total agricultural GHG emissions was calculated, the relationship with the agricultural output value was analyzed, and the discretization of the space was analyzed by the coefficient of variation and standard deviation. Firstly, the total agricultural GHG emissions in 15 counties (districts) of the Main Stream Area of the Yellow River Basin increased 55.54% in 2000–2019, and 2.35% annually, roughly divided into three stages: the rapid growth period (2000–2008), the slow decline period (2009–2014) and the rapid decline period (2015–2019). The economic efficiency is significantly improved, with an average annual decline of 6.49%, roughly divided into three stages: the slow-descent stage (2000–2004), the period of slow-growth stage (2005–2008) and the period of fast-decline (2009–2019). Secondly, based on the characteristics of the total GHG emissions, Maqu County has the largest GHG emissions increase, from 26.8842 kt in 2000 to 38.9603 kt, in 2019, an increase of 44.92%, while the smallest GHG emissions, in Anning District, decreased 87.33% from 111 t in 2000 to 14.1 t in 2019; In the rate of increase in the total GHG emissions, Dongxiang County had the largest rate of increase from 2000 to 2019, an increase of 160.28% and an average annual increase of 4.90%. The smallest rate of decrease in GHG emissions was seen in Chengguan District, where they decreased 92.11% from 2000 to 2019, an average annual decrease of 11.93%. The characteristics of agricultural GHG emissions intensity is a significant declining trending and agricultural production efficiency has been significantly improved. Finally, to provide a basis for the formulation of differentiated agricultural energy conservation and emissions reduction policies, reduce agricultural GHG emissions intensity and reduce the use efficiency of resources by formulating differentiated emission targets, tasks and incentive measures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]