Abstract
The interrelationship between regional water, energy, food, and land systems is extremely complex. Hence, accurately assessing the coupling coordination relationship and identifying the influential factors of the water-energy-food-land nexus (WEFL nexus) are of utmost importance. This study proposes a novel analytical framework and evaluation index system for exploring interactions across the WEFL nexus. The comprehensive benefit evaluation index (CBEI), coupling coordination degree (CCD) model, and obstacle factor diagnosis model are integrated to assess and analyze the coupling coordination relationship and spatiotemporal dynamic evolution of the WEFL nexus in the Yangtze River Economic Belt (YREB) from 2006 to 2020. The results indicated that (1) the CBEI and CCD generally increased from 0.23 to 0.79 and 0.45 to 0.88, respectively, revealing the upward trend of the coordination development levels of the WEFL nexus in the YREB. (2) The lower reaches achieved a relatively higher coordination development degree than the upper and middle reaches of the YREB. (3) The findings of obstacle factors reveal that agricultural non-point source pollution control, waterlogging disaster prevention, industrial solid waste efficient treatment, and urban water-saving are the essential fields that need to be improved in YREB’s future development. This study helps to understand the complex interrelation of the WEFL nexus at different spatial–temporal scales and provides a novel framework that can be used as an evaluation system and policy insights for a region’s integrated resources, environmental management, and green sustainable development.
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Data availability
The data sets used in the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.
Abbreviations
- CBEI:
-
Comprehensive benefit evaluation index
- CCDM:
-
Coupling coordination degree model
- OFDM:
-
Obstacle factor diagnosis model
- WEFL:
-
Water-energy-food-land
- YREB:
-
Yangtze River Economic Belt
- AFP:
-
Application of fertilizer and pesticide
- CVM:
-
Coefficient of variation method
- EWM:
-
Entropy weight method
- GDP:
-
Gross domestic product
- NPS:
-
Non-point source
- PSR:
-
Pressure-state-response
- NA:
-
Natural-artificial
- OF:
-
Obstacle factor
- OD:
-
Obstacle degree
- NO:
-
Number of occurrences
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Funding
This work is supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (no. 52179022, 51909174, and 71974053) and the Fundamental Research Funds for Central Public Welfare Research Institutes (no. Y722003 and Y722007).
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The original draft of the manuscript was written by Jing P.R., and all authors commented on previous versions of the manuscript. Writing—original draft preparation: Jing P.R.; conceptualization: Jing P.R., Hu T.S., Sheng J.B.; methodology: Jing P.R., Hu T.S.; writing—review and editing and supervision: Hu T.S., Sheng J.B., Mahmoud A.; formal analysis and investigation: Jing P.R., Yang D.W., Guo L.D., Li M.X.; data curation and software: Jing P.R., Liu Y., Wu Y.T.; funding acquisition: Hu T.S., Sheng J.B., Yang D.W., Guo L.D. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.
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Jing, P., Hu, T., Sheng, J. et al. Coupling coordination and spatiotemporal dynamic evolution of the water-energy-food-land (WEFL) nexus in the Yangtze River Economic Belt, China. Environ Sci Pollut Res 30, 34978–34995 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-022-24659-1
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-022-24659-1