One of the world’s major issues is climate change, which has a significant impact on ecosystems, human beings, agricultural productivity, water resources, and environmental management. The General Circulation Models (GCMs), specially the recently released (coupled model intercomparison project six) CMIP6 are very indispensable to understand and support decision makers to identify adaptation strategies in response to future climate change in a basin. However, proper selection of skillful GCMs and future climate assessment is a prior task to climate impact studies.

Soil erosion is a significant form of land degradation worldwide, leading to ecological degradation and a decline in agricultural productivity. The middle section of the northern slopes of Tianshan Mountain (MNSTM) in northwestern China is a high-priority area for soil water erosion prevention, and soil water erosion is a serious problem in the region. Despite this, there is a lack of research on soil water erosion in the MNSTM, and the trends and priority risk areas of soil water erosion remain unclear.

Land degradation and the release of contaminants such as heavy metals into the environment due to mining activities is a concerning issue worldwide. The bioaccumulation of heavy metals in the environmental matrix can severely damage flora and fauna and negatively impact human health. The poor physicochemical properties of mine spoil generated through mining operations make restoration of such contaminated and degraded lands challenging.