Abstract: Vulnerable eco-environment restricts the high-quality development of the Yellow River Basin. The assessment of eco-environment vulnerability is an important foundation for the coordinated advancement of large-scale governance in the Yellow River Basin. Taking 410 counties in the Yellow River Basin as the objects, we assessed spatiotemporal patterns of eco-environmental vulnerability in the basin by integrating Big Earth Data with socio-economic statistic records during 2001-2020 and using Exposure-Sensitivity-Adaptability model. The results showed that: (1) The eco-environment of the basin was generally vulnerable. Counties with moderate-level or higher eco-environmental vulnerability indices (EVIs) accounted for 57.02% of the total area of the basin. EVIs showed a pattern of high in the north and lower reaches while low in the west. (2) Over the past 20 years, the EVIs in the central and downstream counties had been intensified, with obvious high-high agglomeration. The EVIs in the western and eastern counties in the middle reaches had been weakened, with obvious low-low agglomeration. (3) Spatial pattern of EVIs was correlated with urban agglomeration development and ecosystem vulnerability. The conflicts and competitions caused by administrative barriers and fragmented management led to the lagging governance effectiveness. In particular, EVIs in the junction of Inner Mongolia, Shanxi, and Shaanxi provinces and the junction of Shandong and Henan provinces increased. The contradictions among ecology, economy, and society at the junction of Inner Mongolia, Shanxi, and Shaanxi provinces were prominent. The sharp increase in water demand caused by population growth and urbanization, as well as the destruction of the eco-environment, had exacerbated the eco-environment vulnerability. In the county-level industries within Henan Province at the junction of Shandong and Henan, the water and energy consumption was high, and the uncoordinated relationship between the eco-environment and socio-economic development was prominent. Cross-regional, cross-sector, and multi-subject collaborations are an important starting point to promote the great governance of the basin.

Key words: Yellow River Basin, Exposure-Sensitivity-Adaptability model, spatial concentration, collaborative governance