Traditional villages are the historical and cultural heritage of people around the world. With the increases in urbanization and industrialization, the continuation of traditional villages and the inheritance of historical and cultural heritage are facing risk. Therefore, to grasp the spatial characteristics of them and the human–nature interaction mechanism in Southwest China, we analyzed the distribution pattern of traditional villages using the ArcGIS software. Then, we further analyzed the spatial clustering characteristics, influencing factors and landscape pattern, and put forward relevant protection countermeasures and suggestions. The results revealed that traditional villages in Southwest China were clustered, being mainly distributed in areas with relatively low elevation, gentle slopes, low relative positions, nearby water sources, and convenient transportation. They can be divided into four categories due to obvious differences in influencing factors such as elevation, slope, relative position, distance to the nearest river, population density, etc. The landscape pattern of traditional villages differed among the different clusters, being mainly composed of forests, shrubs, and cultivated land. With the increase in the buffer radius, the landscape pattern of them changed significantly. The results of this study reflect that traditional villages and the natural environment are interdependent, so the protection of traditional villages should carry out measures according to local conditions.

This study utilized annual precipitation data collected from 76 meteorological stations located on the Loess Plateau and its adjacent regions. It employed empirical orthogonal function (EOF) analysis, the Mann–Kendall trend test (M-K), and continuous wavelet transform (CWT) to investigate the spatial distribution patterns, temporal trends, and periodicity of annual precipitation from 1961 to 2016. The results showed the following: (1) The long-term averages of annual rainfall on the Loess Plateau exhibited a general decline from the southeast to the northwest, with certain areas demonstrating a trend of reduction radiating outward from the central region. This precipitation regime was fundamentally governed by the interplay between geographic coordinates and topo-graphical characteristics. Nevertheless, this spatial distribution pattern is expected to undergo changes in the future. (2) Annual precipitation in the southern and eastern parts decreased significantly, while the western part reported the greatest increase, and thus the spatial variability of precipitation will decrease in the future. (3) Annual precipitation on the Loess Plateau generally has a period of about 4 years. The wavelet coherence analysis reveals that El Niño events, occurring over a brief 4-year interval, correlate with diminished precipitation patterns across the eastern and southern sectors of the Loess Plateau, consequently attenuating the precipitation’s spatial variability throughout the entire geographical domain. Therefore, in the future, when El Niño occurs, it is necessary to prevent droughts in the eastern and southern regions of the Loess Plateau.

China has been facing serious water scarcity, and improving the supply and utilization of water resources from the perspective of resource endowment, economic development and water infrastructure is of great significance toward sustainable water development. In this work, two index systems for evaluating the water supply capacity (WSC) and the water infrastructure construction level (WICL) were constructed; the water resource utilization efficiency (WRUE) was measured by applying a super slack-based measure model; the ordinary least squares and geographically weighted regression models were used to explore the heterogeneity of spatial relationships. The results showed that both WSC (0.15~0.67) and WRUE (0.25~1.18) had spatial heterogeneity. WSC was positively correlated with water resource accessibility and GDP per capita (R² = 0.406, p < 0.01), which represented water resource endowment and economic development, respectively. WRUE was positively correlated with GDP per capita but was negatively correlated with accessibility (R² = 0.654, p < 0.01). The relationship of WICL with accessibility and GDP per capita varied over the study’s area. We found that the WSC in the southeast, WRUE in the north and WICL in the south were mainly associated with water resource endowments. The WSC in the north, WRUE in the southwest and WICL in the north were mainly associated with the economic development level. Noteworthily, strengthening the construction of water conservancy is one of the effective ways to improve water supply. Suggestions on improving WSC and WRUE were provided based on different accessibility and economic conditions, to promote the sustainable development of water resources.

Eco-environmental variability was the basis of ethnic diversity with a persistent influence on the regional development. The unique geographic conditions and multi-ethnic characteristics in southwest China were valuable for exploring sustainable development of ethnic regions. In this study, the regional features of distribution areas of ethnic groups in southwest China were analysed, and it was found that average altitude, slope, water coverage and water form ratio of each ethnic group differed apparently. Additionally, regional features of southern minorities were relatively stable, while those of northern minorities changed evidently from 1990 to 2010. Furthermore, taking the spatial coordinates and regional features as parameters, fifty-eight ethnic groups were clustered into six categories via spatial cluster analysis. Moreover, based on the county-level population data, the ethnic similarities in southwest China were identified by correlation analysis, and the results were in accordance with those of spatial cluster analysis but more detailed. In addition, the eco-environmental adaptability of various ethnic groups was discussed in terms of living and production as well as regional sustainable development. This research was of referential meaning for population settlement, natural resources utilization and biodiversity conservation in multi-ethnic regions.