Downscaling of planetary boundaries and sustainability management: A nexus analysis of water, land and major functions at the national-provincial level

Abstract

This study introduces planetary boundaries as a global sustainability benchmark to expand the evaluation of the major function zoning. We established the relationship between the resource boundaries and China's sustainability management system while calculating the national and provincial indicators of land and water boundaries and major functions. The results showed that the efficiency of land resources was related to the distribution of forest, grassland, and wetland ecosystems; the efficiency of water resources was related to the basin and economic distribution. Linear downscaling methods are less applicable and effective in studies of planetary boundaries. The provincial water and land boundary are not consistent with the top-down decomposition results of planetary boundaries. The spatial mismatch between regional development and population will lead to the overexploitation of national resources and the environment. For basin regions rich in water resources and biome regions rich in ecological resources, the boundary threshold should be increased for major function clustering based on efficiency advantages. For main agricultural production zones and key ecological function zones beyond the water boundary, water allocation should reduce industrial and residential water use, and improve agricultural and ecological water efficiency to ensure food security and ecological safety. For optimization development zones, industrial transfer to the surrounding areas would optimize the industrial water structure and reduce virtual water consumption.