Assessment of the Happy River Index as an Integrated Index of River Health and Human Well-Being: A Case Study of the Yellow River, China

Zuo, Qiting; Hao, Ming; Zhang, Zhizhuo; Jiang, Long

doi:10.3390/w12113064

Cited by 16 publications

(8 citation statements)

References 40 publications

(49 reference statements)

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“…Recently, research has identified the need for a new index for rivers-the Happy River Index (HRI). This measure analyses the state of the river in the context of two aspects: river health and human well-being [133]. The integration of the anthropopressure aspect in river assessments is critical.…”

Section: Plos Onementioning

confidence: 99%

The concept for innovative Comprehensive Assessment of Lowland Rivers

Kocięcka¹,

Kupiec²,

Hämmerling³

et al. 2023

PLoS ONE

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Current river assessment methods focus on evaluating a single aspect (e.g. the physical and chemical quality of the water or its hydromorphological state) and usually do not integrate various factors. The lack of an interdisciplinary method makes it difficult to correctly assess the condition of a river as a complex ecosystem significantly influenced by humans. This study aimed to develop a novel Comprehensive Assessment of Lowland Rivers (CALR) method. It is designed to integrate and evaluate all-natural and anthropopressure-related elements that influence a river. The CALR method was developed using the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP). The application of the AHP allowed the assessment factors to be determined and given weights to define the importance of each assessment element. As a result of AHP analyses, the following ranks were determined for the six main parts of the CALR method: hydrodynamic assessment (0.212), hydromorphological assessment (0.194), macrophyte assessment (0.192), water quality assessment (0.171), hydrological assessment (0.152) hydrotechnical structures assessment (0.081). In the comprehensive assessment of lowland rivers, each of the six elements listed above is rated on a scale of 1–5 (where 5 means very good and 1 bad) and multiplied by an appropriate weighting. After summing up the obtained results, a final value is obtained, classifying the river. CALR can be successfully applied to all lowland rivers thanks to its relatively simple methodology. The widespread use of the CALR method may facilitate the assessment process and enable the comparison of the condition of lowland rivers worldwide. The research conducted in this article is one of the first attempts to develop a comprehensive method for evaluating rivers that considers all aspects.

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Section: Plos Onementioning

confidence: 99%

The concept for innovative Comprehensive Assessment of Lowland Rivers

Kocięcka¹,

Kupiec²,

Hämmerling³

et al. 2023

PLoS ONE

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“…The results showed that with the change in LUCC, the health of the ecosystem exhibited a downward trend, and that human well-being had increased exponentially. The study [145] constructed the Yellow River health assessment framework on three spatial scales, used the Happy River Index to integrate trends in river health and human well-being, and provided suggestions for improving human well-being in the Yellow River region.…”

Section: Ecosystem Healthmentioning

confidence: 99%

Integrating Land Use, Ecosystem Service, and Human Well-Being: A Systematic Review

et al. 2022

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Global change, population growth, and urbanization have been exerting a severe influence on the environment, including the social system and ecosystem. To find solutions based on nature, clarifying the complicated mechanisms and feedback among land use/land cover changes, ecosystem services, and human well-being, is increasingly crucial. However, the in-depth linkages among these three elements have not been clearly and systematically illustrated, present research paths have not been summarized well, and the future research trends on this topic have not been reasonably discussed. In this sense, the purpose of this paper is to provide an insight into how land use/land cover changes, ecosystem services, and human well-being are linked, as well as their relationships, interacting ways, applications in solving ecological and socioeconomic problems, and to reveal their future research trends. Here, we use a systematic literature review of the peer-reviewed literature to conclude the state of the art and the progress, emphasize the hotspot, and reveal the future trend of the nexus among the three aspects. Results show that (1) ecosystem services are generally altered by the changes in land use type, spatial pattern, and intensity; (2) the nexus among land use change, ecosystem services, and human well-being is usually used for supporting poverty alleviation, ecosystem health, biodiversity conservation, and sustainable development; (3) future research on land use/land cover changes, ecosystem services, and human well-being should mainly focus on strengthening multiscale correlation, driving force analysis, the correlation among different group characteristics, land use types and ecosystem service preferences, and the impact of climate change on ecosystem services and human well-being. This study provides an enhanced understanding of the nexus among the three aspects and a reference for future studies to mitigate the relevant problems.

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“…In addition to assessing arable land, water bodies, and meteorological drought risks, some scholars have also used Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) to evaluate soil erosion 19 . In terms of basin evaluation, Zuo et al 20 established the Happiness River Index (HRI) evaluation framework, aiming to provide a basis for the ecological environment protection and governance of the Yellow River Basin. Zhou et al 7 constructed a “five-in-one” Yellow River comprehensive evaluation system composed of economic, political, cultural, social, and ecological dimensions.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Water ecological security assessment and spatial autocorrelation analysis of prefectural regions involved in the Yellow River Basin

Qiu

Zuo

et al. 2022

Sci Rep

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To have a more comprehensive understanding of the water ecological security status of the Yellow River Basin, this paper constructs a water ecological security evaluation index system founded on the Pressure-State-Response (PSR) model. The indicators are selected by considering factors such as meteorological conditions, population, economy, water resources, water environment, water ecology, land ecology, ecological service functions, pollution control, and capital investment. Then, the “single index quantification-multiple indices syntheses-poly-criteria integration (SMI-P) method was used to determine the water ecological security index (WESI) of 62 cities in the Yellow River Basin, to classify the safety levels, and combined with the spatial autocorrelation analysis to study the regional characteristics. The results prove that: (a) The overall water ecological security of the Yellow River Basin is relatively poor. Half of the 62 cities have reached the second-level warning level, and most of them are concentrated in the upper and middle reaches of the basin. (b) Wetland area is a long-term key factor in the construction of water ecological safety, and the greening rate of built-up areas has an increasing impact on water ecological safety. (c) The overall water ecological security index shows a slow upward trend, with the annual average growth rate was 0.59%. (d) The water ecological security of 62 cities in the Yellow River Basin shows significant spatial autocorrelation. The findings can offer a practical basis for the water ecological management to promote the high-quality development of the Yellow River Basin.

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Assessment of the Happy River Index as an Integrated Index of River Health and Human Well-Being: A Case Study of the Yellow River, China

Cited by 16 publications

References 40 publications

The concept for innovative Comprehensive Assessment of Lowland Rivers

The concept for innovative Comprehensive Assessment of Lowland Rivers

Integrating Land Use, Ecosystem Service, and Human Well-Being: A Systematic Review

Water ecological security assessment and spatial autocorrelation analysis of prefectural regions involved in the Yellow River Basin

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