Prof. Shuai Wang, Prof. Bojie Fu, Prof. Wenwu Zhao and collaborators published a review paper on 16 September 2025 in Nature Reviews Earth and Environment. The study reveals intensified vertical water cycling with increased evapotranspiration (+1.79 mm yr⁻²), alongside declining groundwater (-2.85 mm yr⁻¹) and soil moisture, threatening ecosystem resilience in the Yellow River Basin.

Meanwhile, sediment load has dropped over 90% due to engineering and vegetation restoration, alleviating siltation but causing new challenges like delta erosion and water intake difficulties. The research conceptualizes the evolving human-water feedback into four stages: Supply Expansion (1960s-80s), Resource Constraint (1980s-2000s), Integrated Management (2000-20), and a prospective Future Resilience stage.

To address these challenges—common to many arid basins—the authors recommend enhanced water storage monitoring, coupled human-water system modeling, integrated surface-groundwater management, and improved ecological compensation mechanisms to stabilize water fluxes and protect water stocks.

Yellow River Basin

Wang, S., Song, S., Zhang, H., Yu, L., Jiao, C., Li, C., et al. (2025). Anthropogenic impacts on the Yellow River Basin. Nature Reviews Earth & Environment, 6(10), 656–671. https://doi.org/10.1038/s43017-025-00718-2