Decoupling analysis of water consumption and economic development of arid and semiarid regions in Northwest China

The contradiction between China's economic development, its need for resources and the protection of the environment is ctitical. Scarce water resources have resulted in a considerable bottleneck restricting the economic development of water-deficient areas. An objective evaluation of the decoupling state of water consumption and economic development has become an important indicator of regional economic sustainable development. Based on panel data from 2000 to 2017 for six provinces in the arid and semiarid regions of Northwest China, the Logarithmic Mean Divisia Index method is employed to decompose the factors of the decoupling index and establish a decoupling relationship model between water consumption and economic development. The reasons that affect the decoupling state of water resource utilization and economic development are herein discussed, and the stability of the decoupling trend is analysed. Based on the overall regional trend, the decoupling state of the arid and semiarid regions in Northwest China improved from weak to strong, but the high decoupling stability index varied among the provinces. The intensity and structure were promotional factors for decoupling water consumption and economic development, and the contribution rate of the intensity factor was higher than that of the structure factor. Income and population were inhibiting factors for decoupling water consumption and economic development, and the contribution rate of the income factor was higher than that of the population factor. Based on these results, corresponding policy recommendations are provided.