Global river economic belts can become more sustainable by considering economic and ecological processes

Wang，Yichu1,2; Ni，Jinren2,3; Wan，Jinbo4; Xu，Jianhua5; Zheng，Chunmiao6; Borthwick，Alistair George Liam7,8

2024-12-01

10.1038/s43247-023-01189-3

Communications Earth and Environment   影响因子和分区

2662-4435

High-quality regional development requires coupling of socioeconomic and natural domains, but it remains unclear how to effectively integrate the regional economy with river basin ecosystems. Here we establish a developmental perspective of 65 river economic belts, formed through history along the main stems of the world’s great rivers, covering initial, developing, and developed stages. We find that river economic belts characterized by basin-based regional integration can substantially upgrade their eco-efficiency through the harmonization of enhanced regional economic growth and efficient utilization of basin resources, once key prerequisites (e.g., gross domestic product per capita, de-industrialization status, and human development index) are met for river economic belts entering the developed stage. Importantly, primary concerns such as resource stress, environmental pollution, and biodiversity loss are also inherently addressed. Under representative scenarios of regional development planning and climate change (2015–2050), the basin-based regional integration strategy would provide river economic belts with new opportunities and pathways towards sustainability in emerging regions worldwide.

SCI

英语

其他

2-s2.0-85181504503

Scopus

1.College of Water Sciences,Beijing Normal University,Beijing,100875,China
2.Eco-environment and Resource Efficiency Research Laboratory,School of Environment and Energy,Peking University Shenzhen Graduate School,Shenzhen,518055,China
3.State Environmental Protection Key Laboratory of All Materials Fluxes in River Ecosystems,Ministry of Ecology and Environment,Beijing,100871,China
4.Institute of Strategic Consulting,Chinese Academy of Sciences,Beijing,100190,China
5.Department of Environmental Management,Peking University,Beijing,100871,China
6.Center for World’s Large Rivers,Southern University of Science and Technology,Shenzhen,518055,China
7.Institute of Infrastructure and Environment,School of Engineering,The University of Edinburgh,Edinburgh,The King’s Buildings,EH9 3JL,United Kingdom
8.School of Engineering,Mathematics and Computing,University of Plymouth,Drake Circus,Plymouth,PL4 8AA,United Kingdom

Wang，Yichu,Ni，Jinren,Wan，Jinbo,et al. Global river economic belts can become more sustainable by considering economic and ecological processes[J]. Communications Earth and Environment,2024,5(1).

Wang，Yichu,Ni，Jinren,Wan，Jinbo,Xu，Jianhua,Zheng，Chunmiao,&Borthwick，Alistair George Liam.(2024).Global river economic belts can become more sustainable by considering economic and ecological processes.Communications Earth and Environment,5(1).

Wang，Yichu,et al."Global river economic belts can become more sustainable by considering economic and ecological processes".Communications Earth and Environment 5.1(2024).