Resources Science ›› 2021, Vol. 43 ›› Issue (2): 412-422.doi: 10.18402/resci.2021.02.18

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Evaluation of harmonious development of economy-population-resource-environment in the lower reaches of the Yellow River

LIU Jianhua1,2(), HUANG Liangchao1(), ZUO Qiting2,3   

  1. 1. School of Management Engineering, Zhengzhou University, Zhengzhou 450001, China
    2. Yellow River Institute for Ecological Protection & Regional Coordinated Development, Zhengzhou University, Zhengzhou 450001, China
    3. Center for Water Science Research, Zhengzhou 450001, China
  • Received:2019-12-31 Revised:2020-05-05 Online:2021-02-25 Published:2021-04-25
  • Contact: HUANG Liangchao E-mail:ljh@zzu.edu.cn;hlc@gs.zzu.edu.cn

Abstract:

With the rapid progress of industrialization and urbanization, the relationship between the economy, population, resources, and environment of the lower reaches of the Yellow River became increasingly complicated with clear conflicts. Quantitative assessment of their harmonious development level is of great significance for the high-quality development of the lower Yellow River Basin. This study constructed a harmonious development level evaluation index system from four aspects: economy, population, resources, and environment, adopting a single indicator quantification-multiple indicator synthesis-multiple criteria integration evaluation method to evaluate the harmonious development level of the economy, population, resources, and environment in 17 cities in the lower reaches of the Yellow River in Henan and Shandong Provinces from 2010 to 2018. Radar chart and boxplot were used to analyze the time-varying process, and Kriging interpolation was used to analyze the spatial change process. The results show that: (1) The overall degree of harmony in the lower reaches of the Yellow River is only moderate, but it has been steadily increasing year by year. The economic subsystem shows the highest development level, followed by the environmental subsystem, and the population and resources subsystems show a lower development level; (2) In terms of spatial distribution, the level of harmonious development presents a high-level cluster centered on Zhengzhou and Jinan, and low-level clusters in the peripheral cities of the two provinces. Finally, based on the characteristics of the lower reaches of the Yellow River, the advantages and disadvantages of the harmonious development process were analyzed by different urban agglomerations, and suggestions for promoting the harmonious development of the lower reaches of the Yellow River were proposed from the perspective of structural adjustment. This study aimed to provide data support and policy recommendations for the harmonious development of the lower reaches of the Yellow River by quantifying the level of the harmonious development of economy, population, resources, and environment.

Key words: economy-population-resources-environment, harmonious development, evaluation system, quantification method, spatiotemporal change, lower reaches of the Yellow River