ABSTRACT

Because water stress has intensified water use conflicts between various sectors in the heavily irrigated Yellow River Basin and in northern China, we need an improvement in the cumulative diagnosing threat framework for effective policymaking and global water security. To account for complex and diverse water systems that involve river dry-up, groundwater degradation, agricultural/urban water use, and dam/canal effects, a process-based National Integrated Catchment-based Ecohydrology (NICE) model series was coupled with complex submodels involving various factors in order to develop human and natural systems and to assess the impact of water degradation on ecosystem change. A combination of this numerical model, satellite imagery, and statistical analysis has shown a close relationship between water resources and economic growth, which has greatly affected ecosystem degradation and placed a serious burden on the surrounding environment. This integrated approach could help us to estimate the close relationship that exists between crop production, the hydrologic cycle, and water availability so as to overcome 410the substantial pressures of increasing food demand and declining water availability and to decide on appropriate measures for the management of all water resources in order to achieve sustainable development under sound socioeconomic conditions.