Spatio-temporal Evolution of the Decoupling Relationship between Water Ecological Footprint and Economic Growth in the Poyang Lake Basin

SYSTEMATICALLY REVEALING THE SPATIOTEMPORAL EVOLUTION LAW OF THE DECOUPLING RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN WATER RESOURCE UTILIZATION AND ECONOMIC GROWTH IS OF GREAT GUIDING SIGNIFICANCE FOR REGIONAL WATER RESOURCE MANAGEMENT AND THE FORMULATION OF ECONOMIC POLICY SCHEMES. THIS STUDY CALCULATES THE PER CAPITA WATER ECOLOGICAL FOOTPRINT AND ECOLOGICAL CARRYING CAPACITY OF CITIES IN THE POYANG LAKE BASIN USING THE WATER ECOLOGICAL FOOTPRINT MODEL. IN ADDITION, THE TAPIO DECOUPLING MODEL IS ADOPTED TO QUANTITATIVELY EVALUATE THE COORDINATION BETWEEN WATER RESOURCE UTILIZATION AND ECONOMIC GROWTH. THE RESULTS SHOW THAT DURING THE STUDY PERIOD, AGRICULTURAL WATER USE CONTRIBUTED THE MOST TO THE WATER ECOLOGICAL FOOTPRINT OF THE STUDY AREA, AND THE PER CAPITA WATER ECOLOGICAL FOOTPRINT OF YICHUN CITY WAS HIGHER THAN THAT OF OTHER REGIONS. FOR THE WATER ECOLOGICAL FOOTPRINT OF 10⁴ RMB GDP, THERE WERE SIGNIFICANT SPATIAL DIFFERENCES—THE AVERAGE MAXIMUM VALUE (YICHUN CITY) WAS 3.23 TIMES THE AVERAGE MINIMUM VALUE (NANCHANG CITY). ON THE TEMPORAL SCALE, IT SHOWED A DYNAMIC DOWNWARD TREND OVERALL, INDICATING THAT THE WATER RESOURCE UTILIZATION EFFICIENCY OF EACH CITY WAS CONTINUOUSLY IMPROVING. THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN WATER RESOURCE CONSUMPTION AND ECONOMIC GROWTH IN THE POYANG LAKE BASIN AND ITS CITIES WAS CHARACTERIZED BY STRONG AND WEAK DECOUPLING STATES IN MOST YEARS. IN COMPARISON, NANCHANG CITY, YINGTAN CITY, AND GANZHOU CITY HAD BETTER DECOUPLING PERFORMANCE BETWEEN WATER RESOURCE CONSUMPTION AND ECONOMIC GROWTH. IN GENERAL, THE WATER RESOURCES IN THE STUDY AREA AND EACH CITY CAN MEET THE NEEDS OF NORMAL SOCIAL OPERATION AND ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT. HOWEVER, WITH CHANGES SUCH AS THE UPDATING OF THE ECONOMIC SYSTEM AND THE TRANSFORMATION OF ECONOMIC GROWTH MODES, HIGHER REQUIREMENTS ARE PUT FORWARD FOR WATER RESOURCE SUPPLY. EACH CITY SHOULD TAKE GREEN DEVELOPMENT AS THE CORE AND ENSURE THE SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT OF WATER RESOURCE UTILIZATION BY IMPROVING THE AGRICULTURAL WATER PRICE FORMATION MECHANISM, STRENGTHENING THE OPTIMAL ALLOCATION AND MANAGEMENT OF WATER RESOURCES, AND IMPROVING VARIOUS WATER USE QUOTAS.