Assessment of coupling coordinated degree and driving mechanism of population-resource-environment-economy (PREE) system in Yellow River Basin, China

Rapid urbanization and industrialization in China have brought economic growth and improved living standards, while environmental degradation and resource overexploitation occurred simultaneously. Yellow River Basin (YRB) also faces priorities of ecological protection and high-quality development. Therefore, it is essential for YRB to coordinate the relationship between socioeconomic and eco-environment. This study constructed a population-resource-environment-economy (PREE) system to evaluate basin sustainable development from 2011 to 2021, along with the entropy-TOPSIS method, coupling coordination degree model (CCDM), spatial autocorrelation method, Kernel density estimation, and GeoDetector model, to analyze the spatiotemporal distribution, spatial agglomeration characteristics, evolutionary trends, and driving mechanism. The results revealed that: (1) CCD in the YRB was at a medium level with an upward trend, while subsystems showed clear differences. (2) CCD's geographical distribution exhibited a clustering feature, with high value concentrating downstream and low value concentrating upstream. (3) Evolutionary trends illustrated the differences in basin location and resource dependency. (4) Population density, green innovation level, and openness were the dominant driving factors of the PREE system. Relevant policies were proposed to manage and coordinate the human-nature relationship.