Abstract

Tibet is the province with the largest international rivers and water resource reserves in China. However, due to its special ecological environment, the utilization of water resources has become an inevitable problem. Considering the undesirable outputs in water resource utilization, the Super-efficiency Slack-based Measure (SE-SBM) model is used to measure water utilization efficiency of Tibet and the Tibetan areas (four provinces where Tibetan areas are located) from 2006 to 2016. The mixed and random panel Tobit model is used to investigate the driving factors of water efficiency and a horizontal comparison between provinces is made on this basis. The results show that the water utilization efficiency of Tibet and the Tibetan areas in four provinces shows a “U-shaped” trend. The water utilization efficiency of most provinces is greater than or close to 1 and the water utilization efficiency of each province shows a constant convergence trend. Environmental regulation and technological innovation have a significant positive effect on water utilization efficiency. Urbanization and foreign direct investment (FDI) have a significant negative effect on water utilization efficiency. Per capita Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and water resource endowment have no significant effect on water utilization efficiency. It is necessary to select a new type of urbanization suitable for the Tibetan Plateau, eliminate the backward production capacity, high water consumption, or high emissions industries, and to strengthen the research and development of water-saving and emission-reduction technology innovation in Tibet.

Highlights

  • At present, the issues of water shortage, water pollution, and deterioration of water’s ecological environment are serious in China; these have become major problems restricting the sustainable development of the economy and society

  • While Ma proposed that the positive effects of technological progress, urbanization, and per capita Gross Domestic Product (GDP) were significant, the lack of management and production scale severely restricted the further improvement of water resource efficiency when exploring the impact of Xinjiang urbanization on water resource utilization efficiency [18]

  • A small number of studies involving Tibetan areas only used water intensity as a characterization of their water resource utilization efficiency, but failed to consider the further distinction between undesirable output in water utilization and effective decision-making units, which is the work of this paper

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Summary

Introduction

The issues of water shortage, water pollution, and deterioration of water’s ecological environment are serious in China; these have become major problems restricting the sustainable development of the economy and society. While Ma proposed that the positive effects of technological progress, urbanization, and per capita GDP were significant, the lack of management and production scale severely restricted the further improvement of water resource efficiency when exploring the impact of Xinjiang urbanization on water resource utilization efficiency [18]. A small number of studies involving Tibetan areas only used water intensity as a characterization of their water resource utilization efficiency, but failed to consider the further distinction between undesirable output in water utilization and effective decision-making units, which is the work of this paper This will have important practical significance for rationally formulating water utilization policies and improving water utilization efficiency

SE-SBM Model
Tobit Model
Input–Output Indicators
Water Utilization Efficiency Results
Driving Factors Estimation
Tobit Model Estimation
Temporal and Spatial Differences in Water Utilization Efficiency
Findings
Driving Factors Discussion
Conclusions

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