China has become the largest consumer of chemical fertilizers. The excessive application of chemical fertilizers has resulted in a series of problems including environmental pollution, seriously threatening China’s sustainable development. Therefore, it is highly important to study the factors driving chemical fertilizer consumption. In this study, we used the panel data of 31 provinces in China and the Tapio decoupling model to explore the coupling relationship between fertilizer consumption, economic growth and crop yield increase, build the IPAT-LMDI model, and identify and analyze the factors driving the observed changes. The results show the following: (1) Since 2015, the consumption of chemical fertilizers in most provinces of China has decreased significantly, and the implementation of the zero-fertilizer policy in various regions has generally achieved remarkable results. (2) Since 1980, China’s crop production and economic development have undergone coordinated growth, but the decoupling relationship between chemical fertilizer consumption and economic growth has changed from weak to strong, and the dependence of China’s crop production on chemical fertilizers has gradually been reduced. (3) Fertilizer consumption in China is promoted by factors related to economic level (Pg), crop value (Cval), fertilizer efficiency (Feff), fertilization intensity (Fein), per capita arable land area (Clap) and population size (P), while it is restrained by factors related to science and technology level (Ffag), agricultural population (P1) and industrial structure (Inst). (4) Fertilizer consumption has arrived at its peak in East China, South China and Central China, while there is still room for growth in the western areas; gaps in economic and technological development between different provinces are the main factors affecting changes in fertilizer consumption. Finally, we offer specific suggestions for improving the efficiency of chemical fertilizers from the perspectives of farming modes and science and technology.

The protection of a water resource’s ecological environment is one of the most important tasks in the watershed in China. The evaluation of water resources carrying capacity (WRCC) is the foundation for the suitability of territorial space development. It is necessary to further analyze the weaknesses of the coordinated development of various dimensions of WRCC and explore the basis of territorial space development and optimization. This paper considers Chinese unique policy tasks, namely, “three water management together”, the types of main function areas, “red lines” control, and national spatial suitability evaluation, to construct the evaluation index system of WRCC. Monomial evaluation, integrated evaluation, and coupling coordination analysis methods are used separately to evaluate the carrying index, comprehensive carrying index, and coupling coordination degree of WRCC in the Qingjiang River Basin. The results show that: (1) As far as monomial evaluation is concerned, water resource supplies are often overloaded on the overall economy, industrial, and agricultural development; (2) The comprehensive indices of WRCC of the counties in the southwest are obviously better than that of the counties in the northeast; (3) The degree of coupling coordination of WRCC in the Qingjiang River Basin is not high, and is essentially in the primary or barely coordinated level; (4) the short board of WRCC in the Qingjiang River Basin presents obvious spatial characteristics, which from west to east are water environment, water resources and water ecology lagging, respectively. This paper measures WRCC for industry, agriculture, life, and ecology, which is helpful in promoting the suitability evaluation of land space development. Meanwhile, the case study of the Qingjiang River Basin provides reference for other regions to implement the “double evaluation”.

Water resources are an important aspect of China’s ecological governance. Due to the uneven spatial distribution of water resources in China, it is necessary to analyze the differences in the sustainable development level of water resources in different regions. This article combines the national policies of “promoting the coordinated development of the three waters” and “integration of people, city, industry, and economy” to construct an evaluation index system for the sustainable development of water resources in China using the water resources carrying capacity (WRCC). The spatial and temporal differentiation characteristics of water resources sustainable development in 31 provinces of China are analyzed. The results show that (1) the level of sustainable development of China’s water resources has significantly increased, with the index increasing from 6.229 in 2005 to 9.792 in 2021. (2) The spatial pattern of China’s WRCC shows an increasing trend from west to east and from north to south, and the aggregation status is obvious and fluctuates during the entire study period. (3) Currently, the strength of the expenditure of research and development funds for industrial enterprises and the sewage treatment capacity continue to increase, and the interaction between different factors shows a two-factor enhancement or nonlinear enhancement. To further improve the level of sustainable development of water resources, each province needs to formulate development plans based on local conditions and promote the coordinated development of industrial restructuring, environmental governance, and water resources development.