Study on the coupling and interaction of ecological civilization subsystems in China's Yangtze river economic belt: from the perspective of "production-living-ecological space"

For developing countries, how to find a balance between social development and ecological environmental protection is a difficult problem. To enrich the theoretical framework and practical experience of watershed ecological civilization, this paper systematically studies the ecological civilization system (ECS) of 108 cities along the Yangtze River Economic Belt (YREB). First, the comprehensive index of production space (PS), living space (LS), and ecological space (ES) is measured by the entropy method. Second, the coupling coordination model is used to analyze the coupling coordination development level of the ECS. Finally, the PVAR model is used to analyze the internal response of the "production-living-ecological" subsystem. The results show that: (1) The PS, LS, and ES in the ECS of the YREB have been significantly improved during the study period. (2) The coupling coordination degree (CCD) of the ECS in the YREB is in the stage of bare coordination [0.5,0.6) and primary coordination [0.6,0.7) during most of the time and region. The level of the CCD is not very high, and the CCD has obvious spatial heterogeneity. The CCD level of the ECS in the YREB shows a gradually decreasing trend from north to south. (3) The ECS of the YREB has not formed a good interaction effect, especially since the contribution of ES to PS and LS is weak. The marginal contributions of this paper are probably: (1) Enrich the existing research perspectives and theoretical foundations on the construction of ecological civilization; (2) Identify suitable entry points and focus points for the enhancement of ecological civilization. The conclusions of this paper can provide insight for steering YREB to take the strategy of "ecological priority and green development", and contribute to the environmental protection and governance for both China and the world.