Abstract
In response to the severe situation of water and land resources in China, this paper uses the DPSIR (driving force–pressure–state–impact–response) model and two-stage network DEA (data envelopment analysis) model to evaluate the carrying capacity and utilization efficiency of land and water resources in 31 provinces of China from 2009 to 2017. The empirical results show that the carrying capacity and the efficiency values of land and water resources in most areas of China do not perform well and show a downward trend during the sample period. Specifically, the carrying capacity of land and water resources show a decreasing trend from north to south and from east to west. In addition, the response to the current situation of land and water resources has an important influence on the carrying capacity. The utilization efficiency of water and soil resources is significantly different in the two stages in most regions, indicating that the efficiency of economic benefit transformation is far greater than land and water resources development. Our results shed some insights on land and water utilization efficiency management and provide political recommendations for different regions.
Highlights
With the rapid growth of population and industrialization, as well as urbanization, global water and land resources security is facing severe challenges [1,2]
The economic growth mainly depends on increasing the amount of water and land resources to improve the output value, which could further aggravate the deterioration of the environment such as serious land erosion, land desertification, and water resource depletion
The comprehensive carrying capacity of land and water resources can be defined as the maximum supporting capacity that can provide for the social and economic development of each region corresponding to its resource endowment and utilization efficiency under existing strict environmental regulations
Summary
With the rapid growth of population and industrialization, as well as urbanization, global water and land resources security is facing severe challenges [1,2]. Due to the imbalance of economic development and spatial distribution of resources, there is a significant regional difference in terms of water and land resources usage pattern. The carrying capacity of water and land resources are two important indicators to measure the space of regional development. The water resources and land resources should be combined and used together in the real-life world In this way, the comprehensive carrying capacity of land and water resources can be defined as the maximum supporting capacity that can provide for the social and economic development of each region corresponding to its resource endowment and utilization efficiency under existing strict environmental regulations. This paper intends to use the DPSIR model and the network DEA model to analyze the carrying capacity and utilization efficiency of water and land resources. The last section concludes the main findings and provides policy implications
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