Social–ecological challenges in the Yellow River basin (China): a review

Abstract

The human-environment relationship within the Yellow River basin has a long history, because favorable environmental circumstances allowed the early emergence of societies along the river banks, and hence, the Yellow River basin was the birthplace of ancient Chinese civilization. On the other hand, the Yellow River is ''China's sorrow'' due to the constant occurrences of flooding events throughout history. In recent decades, the Yellow River basin is facing a spectacular economic boom, but mainly achieved at the expenses of the environment by over-exploiting the natural resources provided within the basin, which causes various challenges on ecology and society. Water scarcity, pollution, and ecosystem degradation accompanied with biodiversity decline have been further aggravated by anthropogenic-induced climate change. To address the pressing socio-ecological challenges, various conservation and management plans and strategies have been issued, often consulted by international bodies. This article is a comprehensive overview of the current state and recent developments that have occurred in the Yellow River basin and presents and discusses current and pressing socio-ecological challenges. Additionally, we address different policy and management instruments that have been launched to ensure a long-term sustainable development within the basin.

Anthropogenic, Direct Pressures on Coastal Wetlands

“…In particular, the protecting ecosystem service of coastal wetlands gained recognition after the 2004 Banda Aceh tsunami (Spalding et al, 2014). Some of these efforts are transdisciplinary and bring together scientists, policy makers and environmental managers, as in the case of the Huang He (Yellow River) delta and coastal wetlands management plan (Wohlfart et al, 2016). This is also the case for mangrove wetlands.…”

Spatio-Temporal Patterns of Coastal Aquaculture Derived from Sentinel-1 Time Series Data and the Full Landsat Archive

“…The Yellow River has a comparatively low water flow, but transports the highest sediment loads worldwide, which originate in the country's Loess Plateau and supply the floodplains with valuable nutrients [29]. The delta region is characterized by rapid economic growth and urban expansion, both accompanied by heavy pollution [30][31][32][33]. In addition, groundwater extraction reaches alarming proportions, which are mainly caused by aquaculture, and the salt content exceeds that of seawater in some parts of the delta [18].…”

“…Therefore, it can be assumed that an increase in aquaculture production in the investigated deltas is contributing to a deterioration of water quality. Urban and industrial activities cause additional water pollution with heavy metals [15], water quality is especially poor in Chinese delta regions [10,30,32]. As water for aquaculture farming is mainly withdrawn from the Pearl River, the polluted water within the aquaculture ponds is absorbed by the farmed aquatic species, and heavy metals can be detected in cultured fish [16,65].…”

Farmers’ Willingness as Well as Its Compensation Strategy to Prevent and Control Agricultural Non-Point Source Pollution in Water Source Areas-Based on a Comparative Analysis of Pesticide and Fertilizer Inputs

“…Survey showed that, in China, the annual chemical fertilizer consumption is 6535.34 tons; the pesticide consumption is 138.96 tons; the daily domestic sewage discharge is 1106 tons, and daily garbage produce is 73.62 tons, and these pollutants are destroying the local ecological environment and causing typical agricultural non-point source pollution [2]. The watershed is dynamic in space and time, and the change of any single component will affect the entire watershed [3]. Now, more and more evidences show that it is impossible to fundamentally solve water pollution problem without controlling the pollution of agricultural non-point sources.…”