Abstract
The Water-Energy-Food-Ecology (W-E-F-E) nexus is related to the realization of the goal of high-quality economic development in Northwest China. This paper analyzed the dynamic change trend, spatial evolution characteristics, and spatial convergence of identified W-E-F-E nexus in Northwest China utilizing the coupling coordination degree model, an ESDA instrument, and the spatial convergence model. The results show that: first, the W-E-F-E nexus in Northwest China presents a “V” shaped trend of decreasing first and then rising in time dimension. After a decline of 25.1% in 2002–2012, it increased by 29.7% in 2012–2017. Second, the W-E-F-E nexus in Northwest China shows positive spatial autocorrelation, and the Moran’s I index of this is about 0.15. In spatial dimension, it shows a trend of high-value agglomeration around provincial capitals, and the distribution pattern is relatively stable. Thirdly, the W-E-F-E nexus in Northwest China has significant spatial convergence, that is, the W-E-F-E nexus gap between the prefectures in Northwest China is shrinking, and the convergence rate is between 2.83 and 3.16. Moreover, with the development of the economy, the rational allocation of land and labor resources, and the optimization of fiscal expenditure structure, the W-E-F-E nexus in Northwest China will converge to the same steady state level after a long period of time. In general, in the process of improving the W-E-F-E nexus in Northwest China, the heterogeneous characteristics of prefectures should be fully considered, and a trans-regional cooperative management and restriction mechanism of the W-E-F-E nexus should be explored to achieve high-quality development of the region.
Highlights
In recent years, the most prominent non-traditional security issues have been water, energy, food, and ecological security
In September 2019, the Forum on Ecological Protection and High-Quality Development of the Yellow River Basin made it clear that promoting the intensive use of water resources, developing modern agriculture, and strengthening ecological and environmental protection were the current goals for ecological protection and high-quality development of the Yellow River Basin
Energy, food, and ecology are studied as a whole, and the synergy of the four is enhanced and the overall efficiency of the system is improved, can high-quality regional development be more conducive to the realization of regional development
Summary
The most prominent non-traditional security issues have been water, energy, food, and ecological security. How to promote the upgrading of the coupling system of water, energy, food, and ecology in Northwest China, where the contradiction between supply and demand of resources is prominent, so as to realize the intensive utilization of regional water resources, the efficient and unblocked energy channels, the security and stability of food supply, and the significant improvement of ecological environment, has become an important proposition concerning high-quality development in Northwest China and even the whole country It has important reference value for many countries and regions in the world with the same climate and resource distribution characteristics
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