Arid Zone Research ›› 2025, Vol. 42 ›› Issue (4): 682-694.doi: 10.13866/j.azr.2025.04.10

• Ecology and Environment • Previous Articles     Next Articles

Research and prediction of the degree of coupling coordination of water resources, socioeconomic development, and the ecological environment: A case of the Inner Mongolia section in the Yellow River Basin

MENG Qingshuai1(), GONG Yu1,2,3,4, LIU Xiaoyan1,2,3,4(), TONG Xin1,2,3,4, WANG Dongmin5, XIE Guoying6, LIU Tingxi1,2,3,4   

  1. 1. Water Conservancy and Civil Engineering College, Inner Mongolia Agricultural University, Hohhot 010018, Inner Mongolia, China
    2. State Key Laboratory of Water Engineering Ecology and Environment in Arid Area, Inner Mongolia Agricultural University, Hohhot 010018, Inner Mongolia, China
    3. Inner Mongolia Key Laboratory of Ecohydrology and High-Efficient Utilization of Water Resources, Hohhot 010018, Inner Mongolia, China
    4. Collaborative Innovation Center for Integrated Management of Water Resources and Water Environment in Inner Mongolia Section of the Yellow River Basin, Hohhot 010018, Inner Mongolia, China
    5. Water Conservancy Bureau of Aohan Country, Chifeng 024300, Inner Mongolia, China
    6. Development Center for Water Conservancy in Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, Hohhot 010010, Inner Mongolia, China
  • Received:2024-09-27 Revised:2025-03-04 Online:2025-04-15 Published:2025-04-10
  • Contact: LIU Xiaoyan E-mail:menqinshu@163.com;liuxy6675@163.com

Abstract:

With rapid socioeconomic development, competition between human activities and the natural environment has intensified significantly, making the balance between socioeconomic development and environmental protection critical. This study constructs a coupling coordination model for a water resources-socioeconomic-ecological environment system to assess the coordination status of the Inner Mongolia section in the Yellow River Basin from 1998 to 2022. Additionally, an improved LSTM model is employed to predict the development trends over the next five years under four integrated regulation scenarios. The results indicate that: (1) The evaluation indices of the water resources, socioeconomic, and ecological environment subsystems across cities in the Yellow River Basin are 0.47-0.57, 0.47-0.87, and 0.42-0.58, respectively, reflecting moderate overall coordination level in the water resources and ecological environment subsystems, whereas the socioeconomic subsystem exhibits relatively higher values but still has room for improvement. (2) The coupling coordination degree of the system in each city shows a gradual upward trend (0.67-0.80), with an overall increase of 19%. (3) Future scenario predictions reveal that joint regulation of water resources and socioeconomic factors leads to the most significant improvements in Alxa, Bayannur, and Ulanqab, whereas joint regulation of socioeconomic and ecological environment factors yields the greatest improvements in Wuhai. Meanwhile, joint regulation of water resources and the ecological environment proves most effective in Baotou, Hohhot, and Ordos.

Key words: coupling coordination degree, spatial and temporal distribution characteristics, improved LSTM, the Inner Mongolia section in the Yellow River Basin