Abstract:Climate change will significantly alter the water and heat resources necessary for cultivating water-saving and drought-resistant rice, thereby affecting the suitable areas for such cultivation. A geographic information system (GIS) and a multi-criteria decision-making (MCDM) model (BCM-GIS) were established. The impacts of climate, topography, and soil were comprehensively considered to evaluate the suitability area for drought-resistant and water-saving rice in the Southwest China under both currents (2000—2019) and future climate change scenarios (RCP4.5 and RCP8.5). The results indicated that the BCM-GIS model had a high prediction accuracy with an area under curve (AUC) value of 0.884, confirming its applicability for suitability analysis of water-saving and drought-resistant rice cultivation areas. Annual rainfall, equal to or greater than 10℃ cumulative temperature during the reproductive period, slope, and soil texture had significant effects on the distribution of suitable cultivation of water-saving and drought-resistant rice. The current highly suitable zones for water-saving and drought-resistant rice were primarily located in Dehong, Lincang, Pu’er, Xishuangbanna, Wenshan, and Qujing in Yunnan Province;Qianxi, Anshun, Qiannan, Tongren, and Qiandongnan in Guizhou Province;Chengdu, Neijiang, Zigong, Dazhou, and Guang’an in Sichuan Province;and the central-western regions of Chongqing City. These areas accounted for 20.82% of the total cultivated land in Southwest China, approximately 3.279×104km2. The medium-suitability and low-suitability zones accounted for 43.83% and 35.25% of the total cultivated land in Southwest China, respectively, amounting to approximately 6.902×104km2 and 5.552×104km2. Under the future RCP4.5 and RCP8.5 climate scenarios, the areas of water-saving and drought-resistant rice in the highly suitable zone were increased significantly during 2020—2099 and showed a northward trend, while the areas of the medium suitable zone and the low suitable zone decreased to some extent. The latest multi-criteria decision-making methods were used and the response of suitable areas for water-saving and drought-resistant rice were analyzed.