A WEE-RDH framework for resilience assessment of the water-ecology-economy system in the Tarim River basin
4 affiliations
- 1State Key Laboratory of Desert and Oasis Ecology, Key Laboratory of Ecological Safety and Sustainable Development in Arid Lands, Xinjiang Institute of Ecology and Geography, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Urumqi 830011, China; Akesu National Station of Observation and Research for Oasis Agro-Ecosystem, Akesu 843017, Xinjiang, China; University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China
- 2State Key Laboratory of Desert and Oasis Ecology, Key Laboratory of Ecological Safety and Sustainable Development in Arid Lands, Xinjiang Institute of Ecology and Geography, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Urumqi 830011, China; Akesu National Station of Observation and Research for Oasis Agro-Ecosystem, Akesu 843017, Xinjiang, China
- 3College of Geographic Science and Tourism, Xinjiang Normal University, Urumqi 830054, China
- 4School of Geographical Sciences, Nanjing University of Information Science & Technology, Nanjing 210044, China
Abstract
The human-nature nexus is central to the resilience of water-ecology-economy (WEE) systems in arid regions, yet it remains insufficiently represented in existing assessment frameworks. This study extends conventional resilience assessment by explicitly incorporating a harmony (H) dimension and proposing the WEE-RDH framework, which integrates system resistance, development capacity, and human-nature harmony. The CRITIC-entropy combined weighting method was used to assess the spatiotemporal dynamics of system resilience and identify key influencing factors in the ‘Four Headwaters and One Mainstream’ region of the Tarim River Basin from 2001 to 2020. The overall resilience index increased from 0.38 in 2001 to 0.44 in 2020. The dominant resilience dimension shifted over time: development dominated during the early stage, resistance became increasingly important during the later stage, and harmony was predominant over the full study period. Groundwater supply ratio, per capita water consumption, irrigation water quota, forest coverage rate, total power of agricultural machinery, and R&D expenditure ratio contributed most strongly to variation in the composite resilience index. The WEE-RDH framework provides an approach for distinguishing sub-basin differences in composite resilience and identifying their dominant influencing factors. These findings can inform water resource management, ecological restoration, and economic-development planning, thereby promoting sustainable human-nature harmony in arid regions.
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BibTeX
@article{meng2026weerdh,
title = {{A WEE-RDH framework for resilience assessment of the water-ecology-economy system in the Tarim River basin}},
author = {Jie Meng and Fengzhi Shi and Yu Sheng and Yong Zeng and Chengyi Zhao},
journal = {Ecological Indicators},
year = {2026},
month = oct,
doi = {10.1016/j.ecolind.2026.115476},
url = {https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecolind.2026.115476},
note = {CC BY},
}
RIS
TY - JOUR
TI - A WEE-RDH framework for resilience assessment of the water-ecology-economy system in the Tarim River basin
AU - Jie Meng
AU - Fengzhi Shi
AU - Yu Sheng
AU - Yong Zeng
AU - Chengyi Zhao
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/10/23
JO - Ecological Indicators
DO - 10.1016/j.ecolind.2026.115476
UR - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecolind.2026.115476
AB - The human-nature nexus is central to the resilience of water-ecology-economy (WEE) systems in arid regions, yet it remains insufficiently represented in existing assessment frameworks. This study extends conventional resilience assessment by explicitly incorporating a harmony (H) dimension and proposing the WEE-RDH framework, which integrates system resistance, development capacity, and human-nature harmony. The CRITIC-entropy combined weighting method was used to assess the spatiotemporal dynamics of system resilience and identify key influencing factors in the ‘Four Headwaters and One Mainstream’ region of the Tarim River Basin from 2001 to 2020. The overall resilience index increased from 0.38 in 2001 to 0.44 in 2020. The dominant resilience dimension shifted over time: development dominated during the early stage, resistance became increasingly important during the later stage, and harmony was predominant over the full study period. Groundwater supply ratio, per capita water consumption, irrigation water quota, forest coverage rate, total power of agricultural machinery, and R&D expenditure ratio contributed most strongly to variation in the composite resilience index. The WEE-RDH framework provides an approach for distinguishing sub-basin differences in composite resilience and identifying their dominant influencing factors. These findings can inform water resource management, ecological restoration, and economic-development planning, thereby promoting sustainable human-nature harmony in arid regions.
SN - 1470-160X
SN - 1872-7034
ER -