The Yellow River Basin and the Yangtze River Economic Belt provinces in China. Urbanization significantly impacts ecological environments and climate resilience, necessitating data-driven approaches to balance economic growth with sustainable land use and climate action. This study employs the super-efficiency SBM-DEA model to quantify the ecological efficiency of the Yellow River Basin and the Yangtze River Economic Belt, integrating a panel threshold model to assess the impact of new urbanization on ecological efficiency. (1) Although new urbanization and ecological efficiency of the two regions are showing an upward trend, the overall level of the Yangtze River Economic Belt is better than that of the Yellow River Basin. (2) Economic development and technological innovation, as threshold variables, strengthen the positive effect of new urbanization on ecological efficiency in both regions in the early stages. In the later development stages, the positive effect weakens. It has practical significance for regions managing large interjurisdictional river systems to balance water resources, ecosystems, and urban expansion. • New urbanization shows a panel threshold effect on ecological efficiency. • Interaction conditions vary across different river basins. • Balance urbanization expansion with ecological efficiency improvement.
Huang et al. (Thu,) studied this question.
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