IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jsusta/v17y2025i10p4261-d1651485.html

Research on the Evolutionary Game of Rural River Governance Under the River Chief System

Author

Listed:
  • Chengqing Pan

    (Office of Discipline Inspection Commission, Jiangsu University of Technology, Changzhou 213001, China)

  • Li Wang

    (School of Statistics and Information, Shanghai University of International Business and Economics, Shanghai 201620, China)

  • Haishu Lu

    (School of Economics, Jiangsu University of Technology, Changzhou 213001, China)

  • Tianyu Lu

    (School of Mathematics, Hohai University, Nanjing 211100, China)

Abstract

The river chief system (RCS) has been progressively integrated into rural river governance, resulting in notable improvements in river environments. However, the governance involves multiple stakeholders with conflicting interests and challenges, including low efficiency in collaborative governance. Based on evolutionary game theory, this paper explores the strategy evolution mechanism of multiple stakeholders in rural river governance under the RCS. A four-party evolutionary game model is constructed, involving the government, rural river chiefs, functional organizations, and villagers. By employing phase diagrams, Jacobian matrices, and Lyapunov’s first method, we investigate the evolutionary process of the four-party game and analyze its asymptotic stability. The study identifies the following two evolutionary stable strategies: lenient supervision, no patrol, governance, and participation and lenient supervision, no patrol, governance, and non-participation. Then, numerical simulation analysis is conducted using MATLAB 2024b to validate the scientific rigor and effectiveness of the evolutionary game model and analyze the impact of key parameters’ changes on the strategy choices of each stakeholder. The findings provide guidance for improving the efficiency of multi-stakeholder collaboration in rural river governance and the smooth implementation of the RCS in rural areas.

Suggested Citation

  • Chengqing Pan & Li Wang & Haishu Lu & Tianyu Lu, 2025. "Research on the Evolutionary Game of Rural River Governance Under the River Chief System," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 17(10), pages 1-29, May.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:17:y:2025:i:10:p:4261-:d:1651485
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/17/10/4261/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/17/10/4261/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Shiwang Yu & Jianxia Bao & Wen Ding & Xue Chen & Xiaonan Tang & Jianli Hao & Wei Zhang & Prateek Singh, 2021. "Investigating the Relationship between Public Satisfaction and Public Environmental Participation during Government Treatment of Urban Malodorous Black River in China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(6), pages 1-17, March.
    2. Dasgupta, Partha, 2003. "Population, poverty, and the natural environment," Handbook of Environmental Economics, in: K. G. Mäler & J. R. Vincent (ed.), Handbook of Environmental Economics, edition 1, volume 1, chapter 5, pages 191-247, Elsevier.
    3. Quanxi Wang & Ni Wang & Haodong Wang & Yuan Xiu, 2022. "Study on Influencing Factors and Simulation of Watershed Ecological Compensation Based on Evolutionary Game," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(6), pages 1-23, March.
    4. Yinghong Li & Jiaxin Tong & Longfei Wang, 2020. "Full Implementation of the River Chief System in China: Outcome and Weakness," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(9), pages 1-16, May.
    5. Friedman, Daniel, 1991. "Evolutionary Games in Economics," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 59(3), pages 637-666, May.
    6. Flavio Comim & Pushpam Kumar & Nicolas Sirven, 2009. "Poverty and environment links: An illustration from Africa," Journal of International Development, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 21(3), pages 447-469.
    7. Li, Meng & Lu, Shibao & Li, Wei, 2022. "Stakeholders′ ecological-economic compensation of river basin: A multi-stage dynamic game analysis," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 79(C).
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Gao, Liyan & Pan, Qiuhui & He, Mingfeng, 2025. "The effect of ecological compensation on a coevolutionary common pool resource game," Applied Mathematics and Computation, Elsevier, vol. 490(C).
    2. Yali Lu & Linfang Fan & Luyu Zhai, 2023. "Evolutionary Game Analysis of Inter-provincial Diversified Ecological Compensation Collaborative Governance," Water Resources Management: An International Journal, Published for the European Water Resources Association (EWRA), Springer;European Water Resources Association (EWRA), vol. 37(1), pages 341-357, January.
    3. Qianru Chen & Hualin Xie & Qunli Zhai, 2022. "Management Policy of Farmers’ Cultivated Land Abandonment Behavior Based on Evolutionary Game and Simulation Analysis," Land, MDPI, vol. 11(3), pages 1-23, February.
    4. Lichi Zhang & Yanyan Jiang & Junmin Wu, 2022. "Evolutionary Game Analysis of Government and Residents’ Participation in Waste Separation Based on Cumulative Prospect Theory," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(21), pages 1-16, November.
    5. Gu, Tianqi & Xu, Weiping & Liang, Hua & He, Qing & Zheng, Nan, 2024. "School bus transport service strategies’ policy-making mechanism – An evolutionary game approach," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 182(C).
    6. Wang Mingbao & Du Zhiping & Duan Hong, 2017. "Study on Participant Behavior Game of Electronic Products Reverse Supply Chain Based on ECP," Journal of Systems Science and Information, De Gruyter, vol. 5(5), pages 411-434, October.
    7. Sun, Yong & Liu, Baoyin & Sun, Zhongrui & Yang, Ruijia, 2023. "Inter-regional cooperation in the transfers of energy-intensive industry: An evolutionary game approach," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 282(C).
    8. Jialu Li & Meiying Yang & Wei Xing & Xuan Zhao, 2018. "Information Acquisition Behavior: An Evolutionary Game Theory Perspective," Dynamic Games and Applications, Springer, vol. 8(2), pages 434-455, June.
    9. Hongxia Sun & Yao Wan & Huirong Lv, 2020. "System Dynamics Model for the Evolutionary Behaviour of Government Enterprises and Consumers in China’s New Energy Vehicle Market," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(4), pages 1-21, February.
    10. Song Yang & Jincai Zhuang & Aifeng Wang & Yancai Zhang, 2019. "Evolutionary Game Analysis of Chinese Food Quality considering Effort Levels," Complexity, Hindawi, vol. 2019, pages 1-13, November.
    11. Bergstrom, Theodore C & Stark, Oded, 1993. "How Altruism Can Prevail in an Evolutionary Environment," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 83(2), pages 149-155, May.
    12. Yinglin Wang & Leqi Chen & Jiaxin Zhuang, 2024. "Research on ESG Investment Efficiency Regulation from the Perspective of Reciprocity and Evolutionary Game," Computational Economics, Springer;Society for Computational Economics, vol. 64(3), pages 1665-1695, September.
    13. Mengyang Cui & Yuhong Wang, 2025. "Research on New Energy Vehicle Power Battery Recycling Deposit System Based on Evolutionary Game Perspective," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 17(9), pages 1-22, April.
    14. Ning, Jiajun & Xiong, Lixin & Shao, Changhua, 2025. "Dynamic evolution analysis of enterprises digital technology innovation strategies in energy supply chain collaboration: A bargaining theory perspective," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 151(C).
    15. Guohui Song & Yongbin Wang, 2021. "Mainstream Value Information Push Strategy on Chinese Aggregation News Platform: Evolution, Modelling and Analysis," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(19), pages 1-17, October.
    16. Zhaoyang Cai & Ge Song & Ruiqing Su & Yue Wang, 2025. "New insights to sustainable utilization of cultivated land: a synergistic path for coordinating competition of cultivated land utilization for crops based on multiple stakeholders," Environment, Development and Sustainability: A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Theory and Practice of Sustainable Development, Springer, vol. 27(11), pages 28309-28332, November.
    17. Sandholm,W.H., 2003. "Excess payoff dynamics, potential dynamics, and stable games," Working papers 5, Wisconsin Madison - Social Systems.
    18. Jin, Tao & Jiang, Yulian & Liu, Xingwen, 2023. "Evolutionary game analysis of the impact of dynamic dual credit policy on new energy vehicles after subsidy cancellation," Applied Mathematics and Computation, Elsevier, vol. 440(C).
    19. Han, Minglong & Liu, Yupeng, 2026. "Dynamic pricing mechanisms for generative artificial intelligence models across heterogeneous scenarios: An evolutionary game and complex network approach," Applied Mathematics and Computation, Elsevier, vol. 516(C).
    20. Viossat, Yannick, 2008. "Evolutionary dynamics may eliminate all strategies used in correlated equilibrium," Mathematical Social Sciences, Elsevier, vol. 56(1), pages 27-43, July.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:17:y:2025:i:10:p:4261-:d:1651485. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.