Ecological degradation caused by coal mining is one of the most severe problems, especially in arid and semi-arid areas of northwestern China, where poor soil structure, low water content, and lack of nutrients obstruct vegetation restoration. Improving water and nutrient use efficiency is essential for successful revegetation in these environments, yet optimal regimes remain unclear. In this study, we evaluated the native shrub Caragana korshinskii as a candidate species for restoring coal mine-damaged areas by testing combinations of water (W), nitrogen (N), and phosphorus (P) supply. Under low-water regimes, plants exhibited marked reductions in height, stem diameter, biomass, photosynthetic traits, and relative water content, while N-P fertilization offered little benefit. When sufficient water was available, the combined application of N and P significantly enhanced growth. Water and nutrient limitation upregulated antioxidant enzymes (superoxide dismutase, catalase, peroxidase, and ascorbate peroxidase), leading to reduced oxidative damage. Our results indicate that supplying approximately 121 mm of water per year along with 54 kg ha(-1) N and 55 kg ha(-1) P optimizes the growth of C. korshinskii. These findings provide a practical and sustainable strategy for revegetation of coal-minedegraded lands and contribute to broader ecological restoration efforts. (c) 2025 International Research and Training Center on Erosion and Sedimentation and China Water and Power Press. Publishing services by Elsevier B.V. on behalf of KeAi Communications Co. Ltd. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/ 4.0/).