Analysis on the decoupling of China's economic development and water resources utilization under the rigid constraint of water resources

chuanjian li ¹ siyu qian ¹ Jianxu Liu ² Yameng Wang ^1*

• ¹ Qufu Normal University, Qufu, China
• ² Shandong University of Finance and Economics, jinan, China

China faces severe water scarcity, with water resources unevenly distributed across country-abundant in the south, and to better understand the degree of decouping between China’s economic development and the water resource utilization, this paper uses panel data from prefecture-level cities between 2010 and 2019 to examine the degree of decoupling between economic growth and the ecological footprint of water resources, providing a more comprehensive description of water resource consumption. The findings show that: (1) The number of cities achieving strong decoupling is still relatively small, and the share of cities experiencing weak decoupling is also limited, indicating that most cities’ economic growth still heavily depends on water resources. (2) A comparison of decoupling levels across different river basins in China shows that water resource utilization efficiency remains low, with an acute conflict between economic growth and water resources. Additionally, the ecological footprint of both agricultural and industrial water use continues to grow, highlighting the urgent need to improve water resource utilization efficiency. (3) An analysis based on the decoupling catch-up index model shows that most less-developed cities have been unable to achieve a win-win situation in their pursuit of economic growth and improvements in water resource utilization efficiency. Moreover, the gap in per capita GDP between most less-developed cities and developed cities is increasingly widening. This paper offers valuable theoretical support and practical guidance for enhancing the sustainable use of water resources and fostering the coordinated development of regional economies. Additionally, its findings have broad application prospect in advancing water resource management tailored to local conditions.