Bibliometric Insights into the Impact of Vegetation on Water Erosion in the Qinghai–Tibet Plateau Under Climate Change

In the past 25 years, the Qinghai–Tibet Plateau has experienced a significant climate transition, which directly triggers vegetation degradation. Vegetation degradation also aggravated the water erosion process in the Qinghai–Tibet Plateau. The accelerated warming from 2011 led to the emergence of degraded patches in the central region. The spatial heterogeneity of erosion intensity in the degraded area of Northwest China is significantly enhanced by the extreme climate events after 2021. In recent years, under the influence of human activities, vegetation degradation has aggravated the water erosion phenomenon. Based on the above content, this study analyzes the literature on the impact of vegetation on water erosion in the Qinghai–Tibet Plateau under climate change from 2008 to 2025 from the perspective of bibliometrics. CiteSpace software v.6.3.R1 was used to visualize the knowledge map of the 206 selected articles, and the research hotspots, topics, and development process in this field were analyzed. The results show that the main research hotspots in this field are climate change, basin, CO2 consumption, etc., which can be divided into eight main research topics; after three stages of development, the research relationship between climate–vegetation–water erosion has gradually become clear. By identifying research gaps, future research can consider three aspects: cross-scale multi-dimensional analysis, technical method innovation, and policy collaborative research to address the dual challenges of vegetation degradation and water erosion in the Qinghai–Tibet Plateau under the dual pressures of climate change and human activities.