Performance Evaluation of Watershed Environment Governance—A Case Study of Taihu Basin

Abstract

The rapid development of urbanization and industrialization brings a series of problems of environment governance, and several basins are facing huge pressure. This paper selects the Taihu basin in the Yangtze River Delta of China as the study area, establishes the DPSIR model to measure the water environment governance performance of the region (), analyzes the causes of changes in the five subsystems (the governance performance of the subsystems is recorded as ), and uses the diagnostic model to identify the barrier factors that restrict the improvement of in the last 5 years. The results show that during the study period， of the driving force subsystem generally tends to increase and maintains a steady growth, which is closely linked to economic growth in the basin; of the pressure subsystem increases with a small fluctuation, and the pollution generation still needs attention; in the state subsystem, shows a large fluctuation, and varies significantly in a cyclical manner, corresponding to the short maintenance time and repeated treatment of pollution in the watershed; of the impact subsystem shows an overall upward but a slightly slower trend, and it is related to the fact that the industrial structure of the basin still needs to be improved; and of the response subsystem shows an overall upward trend and a slightly larger increase, and the multi-actor collaborative management has helped a lot. The main barrier factors include key cross-sections’ water quality compliance rate, the water quality compliance rate of key water function areas, water consumption per 10,000 yuan of industrial added value, and the lake trophic status index. Based on the results of the study, the article gives recommendations for watershed governance, such as controlling pollution generation, optimising industrial structure, using technological tools to help governance, sharing the cost of governance among multiple parties and strengthening supervision The findings help to make scientific environmental protection planning and policies of the study region. The research can also provide experience for other countries and regions in watershed governance.

Monitoring and Evaluation of Eco-Environment Quality Based on Remote Sensing-Based Ecological Index (RSEI) in Taihu Lake Basin, China

“…Rapid economic development has accelerated urbanization in this region, resulting in dramatic changes in regional land-use and the conversion of a large amount of cultivated land and forest land into construction land [24,25]. The dramatic change in land-use has caused a series of environmental problems, including the degradation of ecosystem services, a reduction in water quality, vegetation destruction, and urban heat islands [25][26][27][28][29]. Therefore, this paper uses the GEE platform to obtain the RSEI of the Taihu Lake Basin; to subsequently monitor the spatiotemporal patterns and evolution trends in the eco-environment quality of the basin; and to explore the mechanisms behind the spatial distribution patterns of the eco-environmental quality, and the relationship between ecological-environmental and land-use changes.…”

Identification of driving factors for chlorophyll‐a in multi‐stable shallow lakes of China employing machine learning methods

“…External factors mainly include human activities, hydrological and geological conditions and meteorological factors such as temperature, light intensity and wind field, which provide favourable conditions for algal growth, reproduction and hydrodynamics (Xu et al, 2023). In response to the direct impact of water eutrophication and the indirect impacts of lake currents, monsoons and temperature, the government of Jiangsu and Zhejiang provinces, on the basis of scientific demonstrations and pilot projects, implemented sediment dredging in areas with serious pollution of Taihu Lake bottom sediment, limited distribution of aquatic plants, insufficient aquatic biodiversity and frequent occurrence of algal blooms (Huang et al, 2022). They also extended and expanded the construction of new canals to divert water from Meiliang Bay and Zhushan Lake Bay into the Yangtze River through Zhihu Port, Wujin Port and Yapu Port, enabling the ability to divert water from the Yangtze River into Taihu Lake in the emergence in response to sudden water pollution events.…”

Design and Application of an Early Warning and Emergency Response System in the Transboundary Area of the Taihu Lake Basin

“…Many are high-pollution and high-risk industries, such as the chemical, printing, and dyeing industries [22,23]. Although the situation has improved in recent years after the restructuring of several industries, the problem has not been solved, and there is a hidden danger of sudden cross-border pollution accidents [24].…”