International basins are divided into sub-basins that are managed at the national and local levels, within the territory of each country, before reaching the level of international concern. The management of international basins could be developed using an integrated water management, based on multi-level governance model in which many actors are involved, from local to international scale. However, in the La Plata River Basin this model is not working, even with international agreements such as the La Plata Basin Treaty, which was signed in 1969. The understanding of political interests behind the law helps to explain its inefficiency. Therefore, considering the lack of a systemic view in an international watershed, it could be possible to have accumulating effects caused by the transformations of watercourses in the sub-basins. Then, the 2014 water crisis in the State of São Paulo, Brazil, is an example of the possible consequences arising from the lack of an integrated water management in the La Plata River Basin. Finally, this article demonstrates that the only way to have water resources utilization efficiency in an international basin is considering it as an integrated ecosystem, in order that any local problem may affect the whole basin.

A regional modern river-sand geochemical mapping study in the majority of the Timor-Leste territory, including the research area, has not been previously reported. This study demonstrated the potential of modern river sand geochemical mapping as an effective method for lithological mapping, particularly in areas that face challenges in conducting efficient geological fieldwork and have limited geological information. A total of 53 modern river sand samples were collected and analyzed. Before examining the samples using wavelength-dispersive X-ray fluorescence for ten major elements, the loss-on-ignition method was employed. In the Clerec drainage basin, SiO2, CaO, and K2O showed positive correlations, and CaO was positively correlated with MnO. Similarly, in the Sahe River catchment, a positive relationship was observed between CaO, MnO, and TiO2. These findings suggested the presence of quartz, manganese, secondary K-bearing minerals, and secondary Ti-bearing minerals in carbonate rocks that have undergone silicification and other alteration processes. The principal component analysis results corroborated the SiO2/Al2O3 and K2O/Na2O ratios and the ICV findings. PC1 was related to the variations in Ca-poor and Ca-rich rocks; PC2 indicated notable inputs from SiO2-rich and SiO2-poor rocks; and PC3 revealed the possibility of contributions from secondary mineral assemblages related to silicification and low-grade metamorphic processes.

The composition and pattern of ecosystems are important factors determining the overall status and spatial differences of ecosystem service functions. However, under the background of differential land policies and ecological protection policies, research on the trend of ecological system pattern changes in the Fenhe River Basin is insufficient. Taking the upper and middle reaches of the Fenhe River Basin as the study area, based on long-term NDVI index and multi-period LUCC remote sensing images, this study used spatial statistics and time trend analysis methods to analyze the spatio-temporal dynamic changes of vegetation, land use, landscape pattern, and explored the impact of major driving factors on ecosystem changes. The results show that: (1) From 2010 to 2020, the vegetation cover in the upper and middle reaches of the Fenhe River Basin increased, with an annual NDVI increment of 0.003 (P<0.001). NDVI showed an increasing trend spatially, with significant statistics (P<0.001) and significant changes (P<0.05) in vegetation in high-altitude mountain areas, and the vegetation cover was mostly forests or grasslands. There was no significant change in vegetation cover in the low-lying urban agglomeration area. (2) From 2010 to 2020, the area of water bodies or wetlands in the study area significantly decreased, with 51.3% converted to arable land and 33.9% transferred to construction land, while only 2.2% remained as water bodies or wetlands. From 2015 to 2020, the trend of water body changes slowed down, with the proportions of conversion to arable land and construction land being 44.0% and 18.4% respectively, while the area of wetlands or water bodies remained at 16.3%. During the period of 2015-2020, the area of water bodies or wetlands converted to other land types increased by more than 14% compared to 2010-2015. This proportion reached more than 30% compared to the 13th Five-year Plan Period. (3) From 2010 to 2020, the spatial changes of landscape diversity (SHDI) and evenness (SHEI) of LUCC showed heterogeneous characteristics. In the high-altitude areas near the river basin boundary, the values of SHDI and SHEI were below 1.0. While in the low-altitude plain areas and urban areas with relatively frequent human activities, the values of SHDI and SHEI were above 1.0, and the values in urban areas could reach above 1.5. The evolution of ecosystem patterns in the upper and middle reaches of the Fenhe River Basin in the past decade has been clarified, providing a scientific basis for the construction and management of ecological environment governance and restoration projects in the Fenhe River Basin, and providing practical references for ecological protection and high-quality development practice in the Yellow River Basin.

The survey findings reveal that rivers worldwide carry an annual sediment load of 15 billion tons into the sea, and the Yellow River basin alone contributes 1.6 billion tons of sand. Therefore, understanding the science of wind and sand in the Yellow River is crucial to ensuring the safe development of similar basins across China and the world. This study examines the midstream wind and sand area of the Xiliugou tributary, a part of the upper Yellow River. The researchers used a stepped sand collector combined with an anemometer to measure the sand transport flux at 0-50 cm height on various underlying surfaces of the basin. Then, they estimated the amount of wind and sand entering the Yellow River using a function model based on the measured factors. Furthermore, the team analyzed the particle size composition of wind-eroded sand to better understand the principles of wind and sand erosion and accumulation in the basin. The results of the study show that the sand transport flux per unit area varies significantly across different underlying surfaces. Moreover, the contribution of moving sandy land, semi-fixed sand, and fixed sand to wind and sand deposition in the Yellow River basin was 77.08%, 15.30%, and 7.62%, respectively. The vertical change of sand transport rate on the basin's surface demonstrates that the total sand transport rate is an exponential function of wind speed. Based on this relationship, the researchers estimated that the total annual average wind and sand entering the Yellow River basin via the Xiliugou tributary is approximately 8.09×105t. Due to the basin's unique geography and sand source, the particle size composition of wind-eroded sand differs between the east and west sides of the river channel. On the west side, desert sand, mainly fine sand, and very fine sand constitutes the sand source. Conversely, on the east side, sand collected in the riverbed by secondary wind erosion is the primary sand source. Furthermore, human activities have disturbed the grain composition, mainly comprising powder and clay particles. This phenomenon, known as "wind-blown mud and water-washed sand," is evident in this geographical unit. In conclusion, the Yellow River basin still faces significant ecological security hazards. Understanding the coupling relationship between desert-basin-sand and wind is the foundation for effectively controlling wind and sand flow into the Yellow River basin.

A scientific carbon accounting system can help enterprises reduce carbon emissions. This study took the enterprise in the Yangtze River basin as a case study. The accounting classification of carbon emissions in the life cycle of lime production was assessed, and the composition of the sources of carbon emission was analyzed, covering mining explosives, fuel (diesel, coal), electricity and high temperature limestone decomposition. Using the IPCC emission factor method, a carbon life cycle emission accounting model for lime production was established. We determined that a total of 354,200 tons of carbon emissions were generated from producing 321,000 tons of lime in a year. The decomposition of limestone at a high temperature was the largest carbon emission source, accounting for 62.34% of the total carbon emission. Coal combustion was also an important source of carbon emissions, accounting for 32.66% of total carbon emissions. The carbon emission for one ton of activated lime was 1.46kg, 1.49kg, 1100kg and 1102.95kg respectively for the open-pit, mining stage, crushing stage, and the calcination stage. Based upon the main sources of carbon emission for lime production, carbon emission reduction should focus on CO2 capture technology, fuel optimization and energy control. Using our analysis of carbon emissions, the carbon emission factor of producing unit quicklime of the lime enterprise in the Yangtze River basin was determined. Furthermore, the research into carbon emission reduction for lime production can provide a point of reference for the promotion of carbon neutrality in the same industry.

A quasi-two-dimensional (quasi-2D) modelling approach is introduced to mimic transverse mixing of an inflow into a river from one of its banks, either an industrial outfall or a tributary. The concentrations of determinands in the inflow vary greatly from those in the river, leading to very long mixing lengths in the river downstream of the inflow location. Ideally, a two-dimensional (2D) model would be used on a small scale to capture the mixing of the two flow streams. However, for large-scale applications of several hundreds of kilometres of river length, such an approach demands too many computational resources and too much computational time, especially if the application will at some point require ensemble input from climate-change scenario data. However, a one-dimensional (1D) model with variables varying in the longitudinal flow direction but averaged across the cross-sections is too simple of an approach to capture the lateral mixing between different flow streams within the river. Hence, a quasi-2D method is proposed in which a simplified 1D solver is still applied but the discretisation of the model setup can be carried out in such a way as to enable a 2D representation of the model domain. The quasi-2D model setup also allows secondary channels and side lakes in floodplains to be incorporated into the discretisation. To show proof-of-concept, the approach has been tested on a stretch of the lower Athabasca River in Canada flowing through the oil sands region between Fort McMurray and Fort MacKay. A dye tracer and suspended sediments are the constituents modelled in this test case.

Green innovation has become the mainstream of the era, and New Urbanization is an inevitable choice in the process of urbanization in China. Focusing on the topics of green innovation and new urbanization, much work has been done to find their factors respectively while the relationship between the two remains to be explored. Hence, in this article, representative indicators of new urbanization and green innovation are selected to study the Yangtze River Delta City Group from the perspective of both the entire urban agglomeration and a single city, in terms of time and space, using the entropy method and the coupling model. The results show that (1). Green innovation promotes the new urbanization development and there is a synergistic effect between the two systems. (2). The level of economic development is an important factor that affects the degree of coupling degree and coordination degree between the two interactions, and its influence is better than the spatial effect. (3). Green innovation and new urbanization have positive spatial autocorrelation and regional agglomeration (there are High-High, Low-Low, and High-Low collections).

Studying hydro-meteorological factors variations and its links to large-scale atmospheric circulation systems can facilitate the understanding of the hydrological processes and sustainable water resources management in the source region of the Yangtze River (SRYR). Currently, researches mostly focused on the temporal and spatial variation characteristics in hydro-meteorological factors; however, researches on the hydro-meteorological variations and its links to large-scale atmospheric circulation systems in the SRYR are scarce. Based on long-term hydro-meteorological and reanalysis data, this research investigated multiscale variations of hydro-meteorological factors and its links to large-scale atmospheric circulation characteristic indices during 1957~2012 in the SRYR. The results showed that the amounts of streamflows and precipitation in the SRYR declined during the 1990s. Since the 2000s, the amounts of streamflows and precipitation had increased significantly climate in the SRYR. The change trends of precipitation and streamflows in the SRYR are synergetic at annual and seasonal scales, and have three significant periods, namely 3~5 years, 15–20 years and 30–40 years. The South Asia monsoon (SAM) plays a relatively more important role in the hydro-meteorological factors changes in the SRYR. The relative contributions of SAM to streamflows and precipitation changes were 83.6% and 78%, respectively. During the driest (wettest) year, the SAM is relatively weak (strong), and brings less (more) southwest airflow into the SRYR, less (more) precipitation and streamflows will be generated in the SRYR.

Wetlands, which is composed of soil, vegetation and water, has sufficient water supply and is sensitive to climate change. This study analyzed the coupling degree between wetlands and atmosphere, and discussed the influence of environmental factors (solar radiation and water vapor pressure deficit) on latent heat flux by using the experimental data from the Maduo Observatory of Climate and Environment of the Northwest Institute of Eco-Environment and Resource, CAS and WRF model. The results showed, during the vegetation growthing season, the average value of Ω (decoupling factor) is 0.38 in alpine wetlands, indicating the coupling between wetlands and atmosphere is poor; Solar radiation is the main factor influencing the latent heat flux in the results of both observation data analysis and model simulation, and solar radiation and water vapor pressure deficit still have an opposite reaction to latent heat flux; when solar radiation and water vapor pressure deficit increase by 30%, the average daily amount of latent heat flux increases from 5.57 MJ·m-2 to 7.50 MJ·m-2 and decreases to 5.17 MJ·m-2, respectively. This study provides a new research approach for the study of the parameterization of latent heat flux and evapotranspiration under the context of global climate change.

This study selected the Yangtze River Delta urban agglomeration as the research area, combining it with the current situation of the transportation development of the Yangtze River Delta urban agglomeration to construct the urban agglomeration transportation integration index system and evaluate the development status of the Yangtze River Delta urban agglomeration transportation integration. The study examined the influence mechanism of transportation infrastructure on service industry agglomeration. The results are as follows: (1) From 2011–2020, the Yangtze River Delta urban agglomeration’s transportation integration index showed a clear upward trend. (2)The development of transport integration in urban agglomerations has heterogeneous effects on local service agglomeration. The development of the integration level of local transportation has a certain inhibitory effect on the agglomeration of local service industry. The transportation integration of the Yangtze River Delta urban agglomeration plays an important role in promoting the agglomeration of local wholesale and retail industry, transportation, storage and postal services. (3) The transportation integration of urban agglomeration can affect the agglomeration of service industry through the knowledge spillover brought by the free flow of various factors. The knowledge spillover effect caused by local transportation integration can promote the agglomeration of local service industry to a certain extent. The Yangtze River Delta urban agglomeration needs to accelerate the construction of trans-provincial and trans-municipal transportation infrastructure, and further improve the connectivity level of the urban agglomeration, so as to promote the integrated development of high-quality transportation in the Yangtze River Delta urban agglomeration.

The article studies the Venetsiansky (Hydropark) Island (the Dnipro River, Kyiv, Ukraine) landscape structure applying the genetic landscape science method and the European landscape classification (LANMAP) approach. The aim of the article is to determine the best way to study the river islands landscapes analyzing the Venetsiansky Island landscape structure by the both methods. Methodology. The genetic landscape science method consists in the next steps: 1) the island’s territory information collecting; 2) the preliminary landscape map creating; 3) field study; 4) the final landscape map creating. The LANMAP method consists on: 1) the climate study; 2) the altitude study; 3) the parent material study; 4) the land cover study. The results. The genetic landscape science method demonstrates that the Venetsiansky Island is not a landscape, but a structural part of the landscape – the tract. The LANMAP study reveals that the Venetsiansky Island is naturally homogeneous, but land cover differs. The conclusion. The both methods’ study shows that the river island cannot be the entire landscape by the natural criteria, but only the part of it. The genetic landscape science explores the landscape forming while the LANMAP reveals the current state of the landscape.

Due to the advantages of wide coverage and continuity, remotely sensed data are widely used for large-scale drought monitoring to compensate the deficiency and discontinuity of meteorological data. However, few researches have focused on the capability of various remotely sensed drought indices (RSDIs) for representing the spatio-temporal variations of the meteorological droughts. In this study, five RSDIs, namely Vegetation Condition Index (VCI), Temperature Condition Index (TCI), Vegetation Health Index (VHI), Modified Temperature Vegetation Dryness Index (MTVDI) and Normalized Vegetation Supply Water Index (NVSWI) were calculated using Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) monthly NDVI and LST. The monthly NDVI and LST data were filtered by Savitzky-Golay (S-G) filtering method. Meteorological station-based drought index represented by Standardized Precipitation Evapotranspiration Index (SPEI) was compared with RSDIs. And the dimensionless Skill Score (SS) method was adopted to identify the spatiotemporally optimal RSDIs for presenting the meteorological droughts in the Yellow River basin (YRB) from 2000 to 2015. The results indicated that (1) RSDIs revealed a decreasing trend to the overall YRB consistent with SPEI except for in winter, and different variations of seasonal trends spatially; (2) the optimal RSDIs in spring, summer, autumn and winter were VHI, TCI, MTVDI and VCI, respectively, and the average correlation coefficient between the RSDIs and SPEI was 0.577 (=0.05); (3) different RSDIs have a 0–3 months’ time-lags compared with meteorological drought index.

Pathogens such as bacteria, fungi and viruses are important components of soil and aquatic communities, where they can benefit from decaying and living organic matter, and may opportunistically infect human and animal hosts. One-third of human infectious diseases is constituted by sapronotic disease agents that are natural inhabitants of soil or aquatic ecosystems. They are capable of existing and reproducing in the environment outside of the host for extended periods of time. However, as ecological research on sapronosis is infrequent and epidemiological models are even rarer, very little information is currently available. Their importance is overlooked in medical and veterinary research, as well as the relationships between free environmental forms and those that are pathogenic. Here, using dynamical models in realistic aquatic metacommunity systems, we analyze sapronosis transmission, using the human pathogen Mycobacterium ulcerans that is responsible for Buruli ulcer. Our work constitutes the first set of metacommunity models of sapronotic disease transmission, and is highly flexible for adaptation to other types of sapronosis. The importance of sapronotic agents on animal and human disease burden needs better understanding and new models of sapronosis disease ecology to guide the management and prevention of this important group of pathogens.

The Yellow River Basin (YRB) is a crucial ecological zone and an environmentally vulnerable re-gion in China. Understanding the temporal and spatial trends of terraced-field areas (TRAs) and the factors underlying them in the YRB is essential for improving land use, conserving water re-sources, promoting biodiversity, and preserving cultural heritage. In this study, we employed ma-chine learning on the Google Earth Engine (GEE) platform to obtain spatial distribution images of TRAs from 1990 to 2020 using Landsat 5 (1990－2010) and Landsat 8 (2015－2020) remote sens-ing data. The GeoDa software platform was used for spatial autocorrelation analysis, revealing distinct spatial clustering patterns. Mixed linear and random forest models were constructed to identify the driving force factors behind TRA changes. The research findings reveal that TRAs were primarily concentrated in the upper and middle reaches of the YRB, encompassing provinc-es such as Shaanxi, Shanxi, Qinghai, and Gansu, with areas exceeding 40,000 km2, whereas other provinces had TRAs of less than 30,000 km2 in total. The TRAs exhibited a relatively stable trend, with provinces such as Gansu, Qinghai, and Shaanxi showing an overall upward trajectory. Conversely, Shanxi and Inner Mongolia demonstrated an overall declining trend. When com-pared with other provinces, the variations in TRAs in Ningxia, Shandong, Sichuan, and Henan appeared to be more stable. The linear mixed model (LMM) revealed that farmland, shrubs, and grassland had significant positive effects on the TRA, explaining 41.6% of the variance. The ran-dom forest model also indicated positive effects for these factors, with high R² values of 0.983 and 0.86 for the training and testing sets, respectively, thus outperforming the LMM. The findings of this study can contribute to the restoration of the YRB's ecosystem and support sustainable devel-opment. The insights gained will be valuable for policymaking and decision support in soil and water conservation, agricultural planning, and environmental protection in the region.

This paper presents a methodology to detect the erosion and progradation effects in the Atrato river delta, located in the Gulf of Urabá in Colombia using SAR (Synthetic Aperture Radar) data. Other authors have studied this area by using optical images, encountering difficulties given the persistent presence of clouds in this region. SAR imagery is rescaled, despeckled, composed, classified, registered and processed to obtain a heatmap that shows the overall changes during eight years (2016–2023) in one single image. Since this technology uses microwave active signals, the presence of clouds and other environmental phenomena was not a problem, and all the images from the selected dates could be processed and analyzed. Also, detection of the dynamic processes was obtained for every period considered in this study with respect to the previous one in time, calculating areas and detecting the regions subject to the erosion and progradation processes. The multitemporal analysis performed found that the newly created mouth is the most active area for these processes, coinciding with other studies. A comparison of these findings with the Oceanic Niño Index (ONI) showed a relative delayed coupling to the erosion process and a coupling of progradation with dry and wet seasons.

Currently, there is increasing industrial demand for rare earth elements (REE) as these elements are now integral to the manufacture of many carbon-neutral technologies. The depleting REE ores and increasing mining costs are prompting to look for alternative sources for these valuable metals, particularly from waste streams. Although REE concentrations in most of the alternate resources are lower than current REE ores, some sources such as marine sediments, coal ash, and industrial wastes like red mud are looking promising with significant concentrations of REE in them. This review focuses on the alternative resources for REE such as ocean bottom sediments, continental shelf sediments, river sediments, stream sediments, lake sediments, phosphorites deposits, industrial waste products like red mud, and phosphogypsum, coal, coal fly ash, and related materials, waste rock sources from old and closed mines, acid mine drainage, and recycling of e-waste. Possible future Moon exploration and mining for REE and other valuable minerals are also discussed. It is evident that REE extractions from both primary and secondary ores alone are not adequate to meet the current demand, and sustainable REE recovery from the alternative resources described here is also necessary to meet the growing REE demand. An attempt is made to identify the potential of these alternative resources and sustainability challenges, benefits, and possible environmental hazards to meet the growing challenges in meeting the future REE requirements.

Electrification coverage in Sarawak is the lowest at 78.74%, compared to Peninsular Malaysia at 99.62% and Sabah at 82.51%. Kapit, Sarawak with its 88.4% populations located in rural areas and mostly situated along the main riverbanks has great potential to generate electrical energy by hydrokinetic system. Yearly water velocity data is the most significant parameter to perform hydrokinetic analysis study. Nevertheless, the data retrieved from local river databases are inadequate for river energy analysis, thus hindering its progression. Instead, flow rates and rainfall data had been utilised to estimate the water velocity data. This signifies no estimation of water velocity in an unregulated river by using water level data had been made. Therefore, a novel technique of estimating the daily average water velocity data in unregulated rivers is proposed. The modelling of regression equation for water velocity estimation was performed and two regression model equations were generated to estimate both water level and water velocity on-site and proven to be valid as the coefficient of determination values had been R² = 87.4% and R²=87.9%, respectively. The combination of both regression model equations can be used to estimate long-term time series water velocity data for type-C unregulated river in remote areas.

One important motivation for the implementation of the Water Framework Directive is the creation of non-market environmental benefits such as improved ecological quality, or greater opportunities for open-access river recreation via microbial pollution remediation. Pollution sources impacting on ecological or recreational water quality can be uncorrelated but non-market benefits arising from riverine improvements are typically conflated within benefit valuation studies. Using stated preference choice experiments, we seek to disaggregate these sources of value for different river users, thereby allowing decision makers to understand the consequences of adopting alternative investment strategies. Our results suggest anglers derive greater value from improvements to the ecological quality of river water, in contrast to swimmers and rowers for whom greater value is gained from improvements to recreational quality. We also find three distinct groups of respondents: a majority preferring ecological over recreational improvements, a substantial minority holding opposing preference orderings and a small proportion expressing relatively low values for either form of river quality enhancement. As such, this research demonstrates that the non-market benefits which may accrue from different types of water quality improvements are nuanced in terms of their potential beneficiaries and, by inference, their overall value and policy implications.

A method for calibrating models of agricultural production and resource use presented by Howitt [1] for policy analysis is proposed to leverage multidisciplinary agricultural research at the National Center for Alluvial Aquifer Research (NCAAR). An illustrative example for Sunflower County, MS is presented to show how plot-level research can be extended to draw systemic region or basin wide implications. A hypothetical improvement in yields for dryland soybean varieties is incorporated to the model and shown to have a positive impact on aquifer outcomes and producer profits. The example illustrates that a change in one practice-crop combination can have system-wide impacts as evidenced by the change in acreages for all crops and practices.