Evaluation Of Sustainable Development In Gansu Province Based On Water Ecological Footprint Theory And Its Decoupling From Economic Development

Water is an important resource related to national planning and livelihood and ecological balance.With the rapid development of society and economy,the gap between the supply and demand of water is getting bigger and bigger,and the shortage of water resources has become a hot issue in China today.Under the requirements of"development is hard truth"and"green water and green mountains are golden mountains",the sustainable development of water and the relationship between economic development and water are the key issues to be explored at present.Gansu Province is in the arid and semi-arid region,and is one of the most water-scarce provinces in China.How to solve the imbalance between supply and demand of water in Gansu Province and alleviate the increasingly acute contradiction between ecological and economic development in the region is an important challenge for water resources research in Gansu Province.To solve this problem,it is necessary to study the sustainable use of water in Gansu Province and its relationship with economic development.This paper takes Gansu Province as the research object,measures the ecological footprint of water(EFW)and ecological carrying capacity(ECC),introduces water ecological footprint deficit/surplus,water ecological pressure index,water ecological coordination coefficient and water sustainable use index to analyze water,and explores the decoupling between water ecological footprint and economic development from 2005 to 2019 by combining the decoupling model,and summarizes the following conclusions.(1)From 2005 to 2019,EFW in Gansu Province shows a decreasing trend,indicating that the area of biological production of water in Gansu Province that needs to absorb and absorb human activities is decreasing.The city with the largest EFW is Jiuquan,with an average value of 3,053,320,000 hm~2,and the smallest city is Gannan,with an average value of 71,090,000hm~2.ECC in Gansu Province has slightly increased,and shows a decreasing trend from northwest to southeast in space.The largest ECC is Jiuquan city,with an average value of951.04 million hm~2,and the smallest city is Jiayuguan city,with an average value of 0.983million hm~2.(2)During the study period,water resources in Gansu Province were in an ecological deficit throughout the year,which was a major limitation to socio-economic development.For the prefecture-level cities,the only area that showed an ecological surplus of water resources throughout the year was Gannan Prefecture.Gansu Province has been in a state of excessive ecological pressure on water resources for a long time.Each prefecture-level city shows different trends,with the largest increase in the water resources ecological stress index being Gannan Prefecture,with a 158%increase,and the largest decrease being Lanzhou City,with a60.8%decrease.The ecological coordination coefficients of water resources in Gansu Province are all in a fluctuating state,and water resources may be over-exploited.Among the prefecture-level cities,the ecological coordination coefficient of water resources in Gannan Prefecture approaches 1 year by year,and the ecological coordination of water resources is poor.Gansu Province shows an unsustainable state throughout the year,and eight of the prefecture-level cities are in a strongly unsustainable situation for more than half of the years,accounting for57.1%of the province,and the only city in a sustainable state overall is Gannan Prefecture.(3)A total of nine years from 2005-2019 in Gansu Province show a strong decoupling and five years show a weak decoupling.A strong decoupling means that the water ecological footprint is decreasing while GDP is increasing,which is the best state for both,indicating that economic development and water ecological footprint are in a harmonious development.Weak decoupling means that both GDP and water ecological footprint are increasing,but the economic growth rate is greater than EFW growth rate.At present,Gansu Province water use and economic development are in a relatively balanced state,but the coordination between the two is gradually weakening.New ways should be found to shift the economic growth and water resources use to a strong decoupling state.The economic development and water ecological footprint of each municipality in Gansu Province show different decoupling states,with only Zhangye City showing full decoupling throughout the year and Jiuquan City,Jiayuguan City,Jinchang City,Baiyin City,Qingyang City and Gannan Prefecture being the main ones with poor decoupling.This indicates that the coordination between economic development and the use of water resources in Gansu Province is unstable,and the relationship between the two is highly susceptible to influence,and the industrial structure should be actively adjusted to reduce the proportion of industries that consume more water,so that the relationship between economic development and water resources tends to be stable.Based on the above conclusions,we put forward four suggestions,which are rational development and utilization of water,strengthening the construction of water protection projects,increasing the promotion of water conservation technology application and adjusting the industrial structure.It is hoped that the sustainable development of water resources in Gansu Province will be improved accordingly,and the relationship between water resources utilization and economic development in Gansu Province will be turned into a highly coordinated development.