Regional Sustainable Strategy Based on the Coordination of Ecological Security and Economic Development in Yunnan Province, China

Abstract

Coordination between ecological security and economic development is crucial to sustainable development, with a development strategy that should be adjusted according to the type of region. Yunnan Province, China, is a treasure trove of biodiversity but is economically lagging. Clarifying the relationship between ecological security and economic development can provide a reference for the sustainable development of similar biodiversity hotspots in the world. The landscape index method and index evaluation method were used to calculate the ecological safety index (ESI) and the economic development index (EDI), respectively, and the median value of the indices was used for the comprehensive zoning. The coupled coordination degree model (CCDM) was used to assess the coordination status of ecological safety and economic development in each zone. The results show that (1) Yunnan’s ecological security pattern is high in the west and low in the east, mainly influenced by topography, climate, and human activities; its economic development is resource-dependent and shows a multi-point dispersed pattern due to poor transportation; (2) Yunnan was partitioned into the Coordinated Development Zone (CDZ), the Ecological Risk Zone (ERZ), the Economic Poverty Zone (EPZ), and the Dual Pressure Zone (DPZ). Among them, CDZs (15%) are mostly areas with outstanding advantageous resources, mature characteristic industries, and relatively spatially dispersed. There are two types of ERZs (35%): one is an area where the intensity of human activities exceeds the ecological carrying capacity, mainly located in the eastern plateau; the other is an area with fragile ecological background conditions, located in high mountains and river valleys. EPZs (35%) are mainly lagging in socioeconomics of DPZ (15%) and the fragile ecological environment constrains each to form a negative cycle. (3) Of the regional coordination levels in Yunnan Province, 76% are moderately coordinated, and there is still space for development from the high-quality coordination level. The order of the average coordination degree of each partition is CDZ > ERZ > EPZ > DPZ. The poor basis for coordination and the single approach to coordination have led to ecological safety and economic development often being more difficult to achieve in areas with large mountainous areas similar to Yunnan. (4) Due to the necessity for biodiversity protection, Yunnan Province should choose the sustainable path of ecological priority and green development. Specifically, CDZ should play to industrial advantages and brand effects, and promote industrial integration and innovative industrial development paths. The keys to ERZ are industrial restructuring, industrial ecologization, and ecological environment restoration and protection. EPZ should improve transportation and other infrastructure and revitalize economic development under the premise of ecological priority. Finally, DPZ should emphasize human and load reduction, and moderate development.

1. Introduction

In recent years, China’s economic development has made remarkable achievements. In 2020, the Chinese government announced the eradication of absolute poverty [1]. However, rapid economic development has also brought many ecological and environmental problems such as air pollution, deterioration of water quality, soil pollution, ecological degradation, and accelerated species extinction [2]. The United Nations has proposed 17 Sustainable Development Goals to address global challenges such as climate change, environmental degradation, and poverty; the Chinese government has proposed high-quality development goals that balance human well-being and ecological security [3]. Sustainable development of human society no longer supports trade-off development, and how to synergistically promote ecological conservation and economic development has become an important topic of concern for countries around the world, especially developing countries [4].

There are many definitions of ecological security; the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment (2003) defines ecological security as the minimum level of ecological populations required to provide support services [5]. According to Wu et al.,, the criterion for ecological security should be “a balance between ecological provisioning and ecological consumption that meets the needs of local survival and development” [6]. In this paper, a new definition proposed by Zhu and Hashimoto et al., is chosen: whether the ecosystem is sufficient to ensure a certain level of socioeconomic development or quality of life [7]. Exploring how to develop sustainably from the coupled and coordinated relationship between ecosystems and socioeconomic development has become a new perspective. Although there are many articles on ecological safety evaluation, ecological-economic development, and coupled coordination of multiple subsystems such as ecology-environment-economy-society, there are few studies discussing how to coordinate ecological safety and economic development. Xu and Hu combined a composite system model with entropy weights to measure the coordination of economic-social-environmental systems in Jiangsu Province, China [8]. Shi and Yang et al. used geographic and time-weighted regression (GTWR) to measure and analyse the coupling coordination and spatiotemporal heterogeneity of economic development and the ecological environment in 17 tropical and subtropical regions of China [9]. However, most studies are based on the synthesis of existing evaluation indexes and different index systems for evaluating ecological and economic development according to their respective research needs [10,11]. Due to the strong spatial heterogeneity of the ecological environment, evaluation indicators can only indirectly describe the ecological environment, while changes in landscape structure and land use can directly feedback on the interaction between humans and nature [12]. Therefore, this paper adopts the calculation of the landscape index based on land use to measure the ecological security level of Yunnan Province [13]. Considering the availability of data and the universality of evaluation methods, this paper selects the 10 most representative indicators to describe the level of economic development. The coupling coordination degree (CCD) model is often used to explore the socioeconomic and ecological coupling coordination relationship in different study areas [3,14]. The results are mostly discussed around the level of coordination, so it is easy to ignore the respective performances of ecology and economy in coordinated development; the reasons for the low or high coordination cannot be seen from it. This paper adopts the comprehensive zoning method to distinguish the state in which ecological security and economic development are combined [15,16]. Moreover, it is convenient to deeply analyse the influencing factors and regional differences of coupling coordination on this basis to propose a differentiated sustainable development strategy [17].

The 15th Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity (COP15) was held in Kunming, Yunnan, in 2022. Its ecological security has received high attention from the country and the world. However, the economic development of Yunnan has lagged; it used to be the province with the largest number of poor people and counties, and the deepest degree of poverty in China. The number of poverty-stricken counties reached 88, accounting for 68% of the province. Under the pressure of social and economic development, the ecological security of Yunnan is also facing severe challenges. Xiong et al. studied the spatiotemporal changes in ecological environmental quality in the Erhai Lake Basin in Yunnan [18]. Ou and Zhu et al assessed the ecological security level of Yunnan Province [19]. Chen and Wang gave early warning on the ecological security of the urban agglomeration in central Yunnan [20]. Ye et al. studied the coupling coordination between tourism development and the ecological environment in Yunnan Province using the PSR model [21]. Yang et al. studied the ecological and economic development patterns of ethnic minority areas in Yunnan [22]. However, articles about the coordination of ecological security and economic development in Yunnan are missing. Yunnan is not only an ecological security barrier in Southwest China but also a community of ecological density and ecological interests with the people of South Asia and Southeast Asia. It undertakes the major responsibility of maintaining regional, national, and even international ecological security [23]. At the same time, Yunnan is a relatively fragile and sensitive area for the ecological environment and has a heavy responsibility to protect the ecological environment and natural resources [24]. In the context of rural revitalization and ecological civilization construction, based on the urgency of ecological protection and the importance of economic development, it is particularly critical to study the coupling coordination between ecological security and economic development in Yunnan Province.

This study evaluates the ecological security and economic development of Yunnan Province separately and analyses the coupling and coordination status of the two by combining the coupling coordination degree model and the comprehensive zoning method. Based on a comprehensive analysis of the respective levels and coupling and coordination of ecological security and economic development, a detailed sustainable development path suggestion is given for regional differences combined with the historical background. This study not only supplements the research on the coordinated development of ecological security and economic development in Yunnan Province but also provides an important basis and policy reference for the construction of ecological civilization and sustainable social and economic development in Yunnan Province. This study will explore the following: (1) spatial pattern, temporal changes, and causes of ecological security and economic development in Yunnan Province; (2) spatial distribution, temporal changes, causes, and characteristics of each zone; (3) coordination and characteristics of ecological security and economic development in Yunnan Province; (4) sustainable development strategies of each zone.

2. Materials and Methods

2.1. Study Area

Yunnan Province is located on the Yunnan-Guizhou Plateau in southwestern China (21°8′ N~29°15′ N, 97°31′ E~106°11′ E). It is bordered by India and Myanmar in the west, and Laos and Vietnam in the south, and is at the intersection of the geographic centers of East Asia, Southeast Asia, and South Asia. The total area is $3.94\times {10}^5$ km², of which the mountain area accounts for 88.64%. The terrain is high in the northwest and low in the southeast and gradually descends from north to south (Figure 1). The climate of Yunnan belongs to the subtropical plateau monsoon type, and the vertical change in temperature with the terrain is abnormally obvious. Yunnan is extremely rich in biodiversity, mineral resources, energy resources, and is known as China’s “Kingdom of Animals and Plants” and “Kingdom of Nonferrous Metals”. It is also an ecological barrier in the upper reaches of the Yangtze River, Mekong River, Irrawaddy River, and other Southeast Asian rivers, and its ecological status is extremely important. In 2021, the GDP of Yunnan Province was 2714.676 billion yuan, an increase of 7.3% over 2020. The tertiary industrial structure was 14.3:35.3:50.4. The resident population was 46.9 million people, and the urbanization rate was 51.05%. Yunnan is the province with the largest number of ethnic minorities in China. Stable social and economic development will help promote the unity of all ethnic groups and maintain national stability.

2.2. Methods

2.2.1. Quantification of Ecological Security

(1) Ecological index calculation

This study uses the landscape index method to quantitatively assess the ecological security of Yunnan. The landscape indicators used are the landscape fragmentation index ($C_i$) [25], landscape isolation index ($N_i$), landscape fractal dimension index ($F_i$) [26], landscape disturbance index ($E_i$) [27], and landscape vulnerability index ($Vi$) [28,29]. The meaning and calculation of each index are as described in

Table 1. Meaning and calculation of landscape index.

Number	Landscape Index	Significance	Calculation	Annotation
(1)	The landscape fragmentation index $(C_i$)	It describes the fragmentation of an ecosystem under disturbance.	$C_i=\frac{n_i}{A_i}$	$n_i$ is the number of patches of the class, $A_i$ is the area of the ith class.
(2)	The landscape isolation index ($N_i$)	It shows the degree of separation of individual patches in a landscape class.	$N_i=\frac{1}{2}\times \sqrt{\frac{n_i}{A}}\times \frac{A}{A_i}$	$A$ is the total area of all class.
(3)	The landscape fractal dimension index ($F_i$)	It quantifies patch shape complexity.	$F_i=\frac{2\ln \left(\frac{P_i}{4}\right)}{ln{A}_i}$	$P_i$ is the perimeter of the ith class. A patch shape is simple and regular when the value is closer to 1.
(4)	The landscape disturbance index ($E_i$)	It reflects the degree of human disturbance to the landscape pattern.	$E_i=a{C}_i+b{N}_i+c{F}_i$	a + b + c = 1; the weights of a, b, and c are 0.5, 0.3, and 0.2, respectively.
(5)	The landscape vulnerability index ($V_i$)	It indicates the resistance of different classes to external disturbances.	The values of $V_i$ are: 1 for built-up lands, 2 for forestlands, 3 for grasslands, 4 for croplands, 5 for wetlands, and 6 for other lands.	When the value is larger, the vulnerability of the internal ecosystem is greater and the resistance to external disturbances is weaker.

. The land cover dataset used in the research comes from the nonpublic data of Yunnan Province in 2010 and 2015 provided by the Institute of Remote Sensing and Digital Earth, Chinese Academy of Sciences, with a spatial resolution of 30 m [30]. The land use types include forestland, grassland, cultivated land, wetland, artificial surface, and six other kinds of land. The evaluation units are 129 county-level administrative units in Yunnan Province. The processing software used is ArcGIS 10.7 and Fragstats v4.2.1.

(2) Data processing

Due to the different dimensions, indicators cannot be compared directly. Each indicator needs to be standardized. In this study, the MIN-MAX normalization method was used to address $C_i, N_i$, and $F_i$.

Standardization of positive indexes: The larger the indicator value is, the more positive the impact on ecological security.

$$y_{ij}=\frac{x_{max}-x_{ij}}{x_{max}-x_{min}}$$

(1)

Standardization of negative indexes: The larger the indicator value is, the more negative the impact on ecological security.

$$y_{ij}=\frac{x_{ij}-x_{min}}{x_{max}-x_{min}}$$

(2)

where $x_{max}$ is the maximum value of the index and $x_{min}$ is the minimum value of the index.

In this study, $V_i$ was applied to the normalized treatment. The value for built-up lands was 0.0476, for forestlands was 0.0952, for grasslands was 0.1429, for croplands was 0.1905, for wetlands was 0.2381, and for other lands was 0.2857 [12].

(3) Construction of ecological safety evaluation model

The ecological loss index ($R_i$) describes the ecological loss suffered by landscape types after disturbance. It can be comprehensively reflected by the landscape disturbance index ($E_i$) and the landscape vulnerability index ($V_i$). The calculation formula is:

$$R_i=E_i\times V_i$$

(3)

The ecological safety index ($ES{I}_k$) indicates the degree of regional ecological safety. The ecological security evaluation model is conducted according to the research of Zhang et al. [27]. The formula is as follows:

$$ES{I}_k={\displaystyle \sum }_{i=1}^N\frac{A_{ki}}{A_k}\left(1-10\times R_i\right)$$

(4)

where $A_{ki}$ is the area of the $i$th landscape class in the $k$th community, $A_k$ is the total area of the $k$th safe community, and $R_i$ is the ecological loss index of the $i$th landscape.

2.2.2. Quantification of Economic Development

(1) Selection of economic development assessment indicators

Considering the representativeness and availability of data and the universality of the evaluation system, this paper selects 10 indicators to construct the evaluation index system of economic development, as described in

Table 2. Economic development assessment indicators.

Number	Individual Indicators	Unit	Definition
X1	Gross domestic product (GDP)	Billion yuan	The final products produced by all resident units in a country during a certain period of time.
X2	Per capita GDP	Yuan	The ratio of absolute GDP to the average population for that year.
X3	The primary industry	%	Agriculture, forestry, animal husbandry, and fishery industries.
X4	The secondary industry	%	Mining and quarrying, manufacturing, production and supply of electricity, heat, gas and water, and construction.
X5	The tertiary industry	%	All other economic activities not included in the primary or secondary industries.
X6	Local governments’ general public budget revenue	Billion yuan	Income for the government finance through participating in the distribution of social products.
X7	Per capita disposable income of urban households	Yuan	Per capita income of urban households for the purpose of final expenditure and savings.
X8	Per capita disposable income of rural households	Yuan	Per capita income of rural households for the purpose of final expenditure and savings.
X9	Investment in fixed assets	Billion yuan	The volume of activities in construction and purchases of fixed assets of the whole country and related fees.
X10	Total retail sales of social consumer goods	Billion yuan	The amount obtained through direct sales of physical commodity to individuals, social institutions.

. The statistical data were obtained from the Yunnan Statistical Yearbook (2010 and 2015). To reduce the dimensions and summarize the complex information, the principal component analysis (PCA) method was used to calculate the economic development index (EDI).

(2) Extraction of the principal component

This research uses IBM SPSS Statistics 21 to realize the principal component analysis and processing, taking the 2015 data as an example to provide the calculation process. The calculation process in 2010 is the same.

As shown in

Table 3. Total variance explained.

Component	Initial Eigenvalues			Extraction Sums of Squared Loadings
	Total	% of Variance	Cumulative %	Total	% of Variance	Cumulative %
1	5.820	58.201	58.201	5.820	58.201	58.201
2	1.637	16.369	74.571	1.637	16.369	74.571
3	0.874	8.745	83.315	0.874	8.745	83.315
4	0.806	8.060	91.375	0.806	8.060	91.375
5	0.358	3.582	94.956
6	0.257	2.568	97.524
7	0.143	1.435	98.959
8	0.066	0.665	99.623
9	0.038	0.377	100.000
10	−2.914 × 10−16	−2.914 × 10−15	100.000

and

Table 4. Component score coefficient matrix.

	Component
	1	2	3	4
X1	0.158	0.014	−0.139	0.326
X2	0.154	−0.074	−0.014	−0.090
X3	−0.129	0.097	0.277	0.727
X4	0.069	−0.523	−0.325	−0.174
X5	0.063	0.484	0.065	−0.597
X6	0.163	0.049	−0.064	0.175
X7	0.070	−0.239	0.887	−0.208
X8	0.138	0.008	0.367	0.145
X9	0.157	0.073	−0.105	0.182
X10	0.150	0.152	−0.049	0.289

, principal components were extracted from 10 indicators, which were represented by $F_1, F_2, F_3,$ and $F_4$. The cumulative contribution rate of these four principal components reached 91.375%, indicating that they represent most of the information of the original variables.

The normalized index mark is $z_{Xi}$($i$= 1, 2, ..., 10). According to the principal component score coefficient matrix (Table 4), the expressions of $F_1, F_2, F_3,$ and $F_4$ can be obtained as follows:

$$F_1 = \left(0.158{\mathrm{ZX}}_1+0.154{\mathrm{ZX}}_2+\cdots +0.150{\mathrm{ZX}}_{10}\right)\times \sqrt{5.820}$$

(5)

$$F_2=\left(0.014{\mathrm{ZX}}_1-0.074{\mathrm{ZX}}_2+\cdots +0.152{\mathrm{ZX}}_{10}\right)\times \sqrt{1.637}$$

(6)

$$F_3=\left(-0.139{\mathrm{ZX}}_1-0.014{\mathrm{ZX}}_2+\cdots -0.049{\mathrm{ZX}}_{10}\right)\times \sqrt{0.874}$$

(7)

$$F_4=\left(0.326{\mathrm{ZX}}_1-0.090{\mathrm{ZX}}_2+\cdots +0.289{\mathrm{ZX}}_{10}\right)\times \sqrt{0.806}$$

(8)

(3) Calculation of the economic development index

The economic development level index was calculated through Equation (9):

$${\mathrm{F}}_{ }={\mathsf{\alpha }}_1{\mathrm{F}}_1+{\mathsf{\alpha }}_2{\mathrm{F}}_2+{\mathsf{\alpha }}_3{\mathrm{F}}_3+{\mathsf{\alpha }}_4{\mathrm{F}}_4$$

(9)

where α is the coefficient weight, which is calculated according to the percentage of variance. The coefficients were ${\alpha }_1$ = 0.7225, ${\alpha }_2$ = 0.1995, ${\alpha }_3$ = 0.0780, and ${\alpha }_4$ = 0.0780. The economic development index of communities in 2015 was calculated through Equation (10):

$${\mathrm{F}}_{ }=0.7225{\mathrm{F}}_1+0.1995{\mathrm{F}}_2+0.0780{\mathrm{F}}_3+0.0780{\mathrm{F}}_4$$

(10)

2.2.3. Comprehensive Zoning Method

The comprehensive zoning method divides the region into four combined types of ecological security and economic development based on the median values of the ESI and EDI (Figure 2). This method can intuitively reflect the relative state of ecological security and economic development. Specifically, areas with higher than both the ESI and EDI medians are called coordinated development zones (CDZs); areas with below the ESI median value but above the EDI median value are called ecological risk zones (ERZs); areas with higher than the ESI median value but lower than the EDI median value are called economic poverty zones (EPZs); and areas with below both the ESI and EDI medians are called dual pressure zones (DPZs) [16].

2.2.4. Calculation of Coupling Coordination Degree

Since the calculated EDI value is positive or negative, the EDI and ESI are standardized in advance to facilitate the calculation. ${\mathrm{Z}}_{ED}$ and ${ \mathrm{Z}}_{ES}$ represent the level values of the ecological subsystem and economic subsystem, respectively. The coupling coordination degree of EDI and ESI is calculated as follows:

$$C={\left[\frac{{\mathrm{Z}}_{\mathrm{ED}}{\ast \mathrm{Z}}_{\mathrm{ES}}}{{\left(\frac{{\mathrm{Z}}_{\mathrm{ED}}+{\mathrm{Z}}_{\mathrm{ES}}}{2}\right)}^2}\right]}^{\frac{1}{2}}$$

(11)

$$\mathrm{T}=\mathsf{\alpha }{\mathrm{Z}}_{\mathrm{ED}}+\mathsf{\beta }{\mathrm{Z}}_{\mathrm{ES}}$$

(12)

$$\mathrm{D}=\sqrt{\mathrm{C}·\mathrm{T}}$$

(13)

where C is the coupling degree between EDI and ESI; T represents comprehensive development; and the values of α and β represent the contribution coefficients of EDI and ESI, respectively (α$\in$ [0, 1], β$\in$ [0, 1], and α + β = 1). Since ecological security is as important as economic development, both are set to 0.5. D$\in$ [0, 1]. When D is closer to 1, the coupling coordination degree between EDI and ESI is higher, and vice versa, that is lower. Especially when the value of D is 0, the two subsystems are not coordinated, and there is a large contradiction.

3. Results

3.1. Evaluation of Ecological Security and Economic Development

This paper calculated the ESI and EDI for the 129 communities in 2010 and 2015. The values were divided into 10 levels based on the natural fracture point classification method. According to the ESI and EDI, the comprehensive zoning results are shown in Figure 3. There was a negative correlation between the ESI and EDI. This result shows that the ecological security and economic development of Yunnan Province are still under mutual restriction.

In

Table 5. Statistics and changes in the ESI and EDI.

	Ecological Security Index			Economic Development Index
	2010	2015	Change	2010	2015	Change
Maximum	0.7304	0.7866	+0.0562	8.7436	7.4248	−1.3188
Minimum	0.3867	0.3969	+0.0102	−1.6863	−1.4926	+0.1937
Range	0.3437	0.3897	+0.0460	10.4299	8.9174	−1.5125
Median	0.6270	0.6644	+0.0374	0.4866	0.5618	+0.0752
Average	0.6162	0.6532	+0.0370	−3.10 × 10−6	1.55 × 10−6	+4.65 × 10−6

, during 2010–2015, the maximum of the ESI increased from 0.7304 to 0.7866, the minimum increased from 0.3867 to 0.3969, and the range expanded from 0.3437 to 0.3897. The median and mean values also increased, indicating that ecological environmental protection and ecological civilization construction have gradually become a consensus, and the overall level of ecological security has increased. The maximum EDI decreased from 8.7436 to 7.4248, the minimum increased from −1.6863 to −1.4926, and the range decreased from 9.9409 to 8.9175. The median and mean values both increased, indicating that the economic situation of Yunnan has improved, but the gap between the rich and the poor is still large.

In Figure 4, the ecological security level of Yunnan Province generally shows a pattern of low in the east and high in the west, among which the ecological security levels of Kunming and Dali are significantly lower than those of the surrounding areas. Kunming and Dali are the provincial capitals and major tourist cities of Yunnan, indicating that intensive human activities will pose a serious threat to the ecological environment. The economic development pattern of Yunnan Province is multipoint and decentralized, with a large regional development gap. In addition, Kunming, Dali, Lijiang, Xishuangbanna, Diqing, and other major cities have a relatively small scope of influence and poor connectivity and have not yet formed economies of scale.

3.2. Temporal and Spatial Variation of Partitions

According to the median values of the ESI and EDI, Yunnan Province is divided into four zones: the CDZ, ERZ, EPZ, and DPZ (

Table 6. Quantity of partitions and changes.

	CDZ		ERZ		EPZ		DPZ
	2010	2015	2010	2015	2010	2015	2010	2015
Quantity	19	20	45	44	45	44	20	21
Proportion	14.7%	15.5%	34.9%	34.1%	34.9%	34.1%	15.5%	16.3%
Change		EPZ		DPZ		CDZ		ERZ
Quantity		5		2		6		1

). The partitioning in 2010 and 2015 is roughly similar. The EPZ and ERZ have the largest area, accounting for approximately 35% of the area; followed by the DPZ, accounting for 16%; and the area of CDZ is the smallest, accounting for 15%.

Most CDZs are located in the west and are relatively scattered. They mainly include Diqing and Lijiang in the northwest, Baoshan and Dehong in the west, Chuxiong and Yuxi in the middle, and Pu’er and Xishuangbanna in the south. Concentrated clusters of the ERZ are mainly distributed in central and eastern Yunnan, as well as in Diqing, Dali, Lijiang, and Baoshan. The EPZ is mainly distributed in western mountainous areas, part of Chuxiong, northern Zhaotong, and most counties in southern Yunnan. Most are former revolutionary base areas, areas inhabited by minority nationalities, remote and border areas, and poverty-stricken areas. DPZs are scattered in northwest Wenshan, Nujiang, north Dali, Lijiang, Zhaotong, part of Qujing, and south Chuxiong (Figure 5).

From 2010 to 2015, partitions in a total of 14 counties changed in four forms (Figure 6). Among them, Yunxian, Menghai, Mengla, Wuding, Shiping, and Funing changed from the EPZ to the CDZ, and economic development improved; Luxi changed from the DPZ to the ERZ. Although poverty has eased, environmental problems persist. Weixi, Yulong, Ning’er, Maguan, and Huaping changed from CDZ to EPZ. Most of these are areas with outstanding ecological resources but backwards economic development. Prioritizing the protection of the ecological environment will inevitably restrict regional economic development to a certain extent. Shuifu and Guangnan were changed from ERZ to DPZ. Serious damage to the ecological environment has brought obstacles to economic development.

3.3. Statistical Data Analysis of Different Partitions

(1) Population

From 2010 to 2015, the population proportion of the CDZ increased from 12.43% to 14.48%, and the density of the population increased from 75 people/km² to 81 people/km² (

Table 7. Statistics of different zones.

	Coordinated Development Zone		Ecological Risk Zone		Economic Poverty Zone		Dual Pressure Zone
	2010	2015	2010	2015	2010	2015	2010	2015
Numbers of Communities	19	20	45	44	45	44	20	21
Land occupation	19.85%	22.17%	27.16%	25.46%	36.33%	34.00%	16.66%	18.36%
Population
Density (people/km2)	75	81	207	223	85	85	110	110
Proportion	12.43%	14.48%	46.81%	45.81%	25.57%	23.45%	15.19%	16.26%
Proportion of agricultural population	80.76%		70.03%		90.64%		93.14%
Industrial structure
The primary industry	18.51%	19.58%	10.97%	10.36%	34.44%	29.78%	27.23%	25.04%
The secondary industry	41.18%	35.01%	49.08%	43.11%	31.02%	33.35%	37.63%	38.46%
The tertiary industry	40.31%	45.40%	39.96%	46.53%	34.54%	36.87%	35.14%	36.50%
Land use
Forestlands	78.19%	78.47%	52.75%	51.38%	79.83%	79.54%	60.10%	61.18%
Grasslands	9.62%	7.77%	21.48%	21.43%	3.97%	4.78%	18.92%	18.99%
Croplands	10.35%	11.84%	21.85%	22.59%	15.09%	13.93%	18.47%	17.27%
Construction lands	0.76%	0.80%	1.71%	2.06%	0.51%	0.59%	0.61%	0.61%
Transportation lands	0.07%	0.17%	0.18%	0.27%	0.04%	0.13%	0.06%	0.16%
Mining fields	0.01%	0.05%	0.03%	0.09%	0.01%	0.04%	0.00%	0.04%

). ERZ has the largest population, accounting for approximately 46%, and the density of the population has increased from 207 people/km² to 223 people/km². EPZ and DPZ remained unchanged, accounting for approximately 24% and 16%, respectively. Specifically, the DPZ in the northeastern region, limited by alpine terrain and lagging agricultural production, has a low level of economic development and a high level of population because it is a traditional, old revolutionary area. The quantity and density of the population in high-value economic areas are higher than those in low-value areas, while the ecological security of sparsely populated areas is better preserved.

In addition, the overly heavy proportion of the agricultural population in Yunnan has greatly limited the development of the regional economy. Taking the data of 2010 as an example, the proportion in the province is 83.41%. That in the DPZ and EPZ is as high as 90%, followed by that in the CDZ, where the proportion of the agricultural population is 80%. ERZ has the lowest percentage, but it is also as high as 70%. Combined with the industrial development of Yunnan, it can be inferred that the primary industry has a labor surplus, while the secondary industry is underdeveloped, and the tertiary industry needs a large number of service personnel. Therefore, transferring the surplus rural labor force and adjusting the employment structure and industrial structure are conducive to improving the per capita income and promoting the coordinated development of regions.

(2) Industrial structure

The industrial structure of Yunnan has great regional differences. For areas with high economic levels the proportion of the primary industry in the EPZ and DPZ is approximately 30% and 25%, respectively, which is much higher than that of the CDZ and ERZ. The proportions of the secondary and tertiary industries in the EPZ and DPZ are both 30–40%. This indicates that the economic development of regions with a high proportion of primary industry is lagging. In particular, it is difficult to carry out large-scale industrial production in EPZs, which are mostly mountainous areas and old, minority, border, and poor areas.

For areas with high economic levels, the proportions of the secondary industry in the CDZ and ERZ have decreased, while the proportions of the tertiary industry have increased significantly. It shows that the leading industries in the high-value economic areas are changing, closing industries with high energy consumption and high pollution, and actively developing ecological tourism. However, the secondary industry is still at a high level, indicating that there is still much room for the development of industrialization and urbanization in such areas.

(3) Land use

For natural land use, the proportion of forestland in the EPZ and CDZ was significantly larger than that in the other two partitions, both at approximately 79%. The proportions of forestland in the ERZ and DPZ were approximately 51% and 60%, respectively. Grassland and cropland were larger in the DPZ and ERZ than in the other two types of zoning. The proportion in the ERZ was approximately 21%, and that in the DPZ was approximately 18%. However, the proportion of grassland in the EPZ was the lowest, accounting for 3.97% and 4.78% in 2010 and 2015, respectively, and the proportion of cultivated land decreased from 15.09% to 13.93%. This may be related to the policy of returning farmland to grassland. The proportion of grassland in the CDZ decreased from 9.62% to 7.77%, while the proportion of cultivated land increased from 10.35% to 11.84%. This indicates that forestland has greater ecological benefits than grassland and cultivated land. Moreover, the areas with low ecological security are mostly grassland and cultivated land under the disturbance of human activities.

The proportion of artificial land is much lower than that of natural land types. This is determined by the fact that more than 90% of the land in Yunnan is mountainous and hilly, and the relatively flat terrain area is very limited. The proportion of construction land in each zone is significantly larger than that of transportation lands and mining fields. Among them, the ERZ accounted for the largest proportion of construction land, which increased from 1.71% in 2010 to 2.06%; none of the other three partitions had more than 1% construction land. This shows that the urbanization construction of Yunnan was in the initial stage, and the transportation facilities were not well-equipped. The overall environmental impact was not large, and the ecological crisis caused by over-construction only existed in individual areas.

3.4. Coupling Degree of Coordination and Variation

As shown in

Table 8. Statistics of CCD in each partition.

Quantity Classification	Degree of Coordination	CDZ		ERZ		EPZ		DPZ
		2010	2015	2010	2015	2010	2015	2010	2015
0–0.30	low coordination	0	0	1	1	3	0	0	1
0.30–0.60	moderate coordination	8	9	28	27	42	44	20	20
0.60–0.80	high coordination	11	11	14	14	0	0	0	0
0.80–1	extreme coordination	0	0	2	2	0	0	0	0

, the ecological security and economic development of most districts and counties in Yunnan are moderately coordinated, accounting for 76%. Twenty percent of the areas are highly coordinated. Only two districts in Kunming, Panlong and Wuhua, are extremely coordinated. The Yangbi in Dali, Jiangcheng and Ximeng in Pu’er, all ethnic autonomous counties, are of low coordination because of poverty. In 2015, the economic situation of the three counties improved, and the degree of coordination rose from low to moderate.

From the median (Figure 7), the order of CCD in the four types of zones is CDZ > ERZ > EPZ > DPZ, with the coordination level of the ERZ as higher than that of the EPZ, indicating that the economy plays a greater role in promoting coordinated development. In terms of the quartile difference, the order of the dispersion degree of the coupling coordination degree is ERZ > EPZ > CDZ > DPZ. The ERZ and EPZ have their own shortcomings, resulting in the uneven coordinated development of the ecology and economy in different regions. In addition, the ERZ has the largest dispersion, and both the highest and lowest CCDs appear in such zones. This shows that if there is no ecological protection constraint on economic development, the regional development will be seriously unbalanced.

The four partitions are divided according to the coordination level to obtain the coordination type-level combination (Figure 8). From the perspective of spatial patterns, the regional coordination of Yunnan is extremely unintegrated, and there are many “enclaves” in the continuous zoning types. For example, Shuangbai between Chuxiong and Yuxi, Malong in Qujing, and Linxiang in Lincang are all significantly different from the surrounding areas in terms of regional type and coordination degree. From the change in color block from dark to bright in the figure, it can be found that the CCD in many places has increased. However, the degree of spatial integration is still very poor, and the problem of unbalanced regional development will exist for a long time.

4. Discussion

4.1. Causes of Economic Development and Ecological Security Patterns

The ecological security pattern of Yunnan Province is affected by terrain, climate, and human activities. Yunnan is divided into three terrain areas: the eastern plateau, the southern tropical valley, and the northwestern alpine valley, each with different climatic conditions and different ecological environments. The terrain of the eastern plateau is flat and broad, with a temperate climate, which is suitable for large-scale industrial production and human life. However, there are also serious ecological problems, such as strong environmental development and utilization, and large resource consumption [31]. Drought, the shortage of water resources, frequent disasters, karst rocky desertification, and soil and water losses are serious and outstanding [32]. The southern part of Yunnan is distributed in the south subtropical region, with good thermal conditions, virgin forests, abundant wildlife resources, and abundant water resources. Economically, ecotourism, characteristic agricultural products, the hydropower industry, and forestry are the mainstays, with less damage to the ecological environment. In addition, the ecosystem here has high self-recovery ability and risk resistance ability, so the ecological security level of the southern region is much higher than that of other regions in the province. The northwestern part of Yunnan is located on the edge of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau and is the upper reaches of many rivers in Southeast Asia. It is not only the main ecological corridor and ecological reserve in Yunnan, but also an ecologically fragile area. Cities such as Diqing, Lijiang, and Dali vigorously develop tourism due to beautiful scenery. However, due to the influx of tourists, the expansion of arable land, and the low level of urban management, irreversible damage will be caused to the local ecological environment.

The economic development of Yunnan Province follows a typical resource-dependent model. The industrial type, layout, and economic scale depend on the resource type, reserves, and distribution. Kunming Prefecture, Qujing Prefecture, Yuxi Prefecture, and Chuxiong Autonomous Prefecture form the central urban agglomeration of Yunnan Province. It is not only the social and economic center of Yunnan Province but also an important component of Yunnan’s integration into the Belt and Road Initiative. It is rich in mineral resources and has most of the mineral resources in Yunnan. Kunming, as the capital city, integrates and concentrates the superior resources in the province. Economic development is better in cities where GDP is much higher than that in other cities [33]. It has advantageous industries such as health, tourism, and cultural creativity, and emerging industries such as the new energy automobile industry and biomedicine industry are also gradually developing. Diqing, Lijiang, Dali, Xishuangbanna, Baoshan, etc., have become economic centers by virtue of their superior resources and energy such as hydropower, solar energy, geothermal energy, nonferrous metals, coal and flue-cured tobacco, Chinese herbal medicine, fruits, and other characteristic agricultural and sideline products. However, the mountainous area of Yunnan Province is vast, accounting for 88.64% of the total area of the province, making it difficult to deploy the transportation network. It has seriously hindered the connection of various economic centers and the effect of the economic centers on the surrounding areas has been greatly weakened. This situation also indirectly leads to the limited growth scale of various economic centers, slow industrial development, and the inability to achieve timely upgrades. Therefore, the economic development of Yunnan Province presents a multipoint pattern as the development is extremely unbalanced.

4.2. Causes and Characteristics of Partitions

The CDZs are mainly areas with prominent advantageous resources and mature characteristic industries, which are relatively scattered in the area. Special agricultural product cultivation, clean energy production, ecotourism, and other green industries are the main types of industries. Diqing in the northwest is a national-level scenic spot (the hinterland of the three parallel rivers of Jinsha, Lancang, and Nujiang) with ecotourism as its main business. Baoshan, Dehong, and Lincang in the west rely on forestry, mineral, and hydropower resources to develop the hydropower industry and tourism. Chuxiong and Yuxi in the central area, are China’s main tobacco planting and production bases and an important food supply base in central Yunnan. Pu’er and Xishuangbanna in the southern area comprise rare tropical rainforest landscapes, characteristic ethnic customs, and characteristic agricultural products such as tea, rubber, and tropical fruits in China. The green industry allows the CDZ to obtain huge economic benefits while also protecting the ecological environment from damage. It is a model for the coordinated and sustainable development of ecology and economy.

There are two types of ERZ in Yunnan Province: one type is areas where human activities are highly concentrated and exceed the ecological carrying capacity, mainly distributed in the eastern plateau; the other type is areas where the ecological environment is fragile and cannot support large-scale construction, located in high mountains and valleys. The eastern plateau is where the population and industrial production are most concentrated in Yunnan, and the level of urbanization and industrialization is much higher than that of the western mountainous areas. High-pollution and energy-consuming industries here include metallurgy, energy, chemicals, building materials, etc., and will produce a large amount of wastewater, waste gas, and hazardous solid waste, which greatly pollute the local ecological environment. The ERZ in the northwestern region is mainly affected by the geological environment. Disasters such as soil erosion, avalanches, landslides, and mudslides occur frequently. Coupled with the interference of human activities, the fragile ecological environment is difficult to self-recover in a short time.

EPZs are mainly distributed in areas with concentrations of ethnic minorities, border areas, and areas with relatively high incidences of poverty, such as Zhaotong and Wenshan. Due to the complex terrain and distance from the regional development center, the construction of transportation facilities and infrastructure lags behind the central and eastern regions by a large margin. Such areas are still in the stage of agriculturalization and primary industrialization, and the lagging production methods keep the advantageous resources from being fully developed. In 2010, the proportion of units with an agricultural population greater than 90% accounted for as much as 68.89%. The excessive agricultural population ratio greatly restricted the transformation and upgrading of regional industries. With the advancement of comprehensive poverty alleviation and rural revitalization, these areas have become key areas for poverty alleviation.

DPZs lagging social economy and poor ecological environment restrict each other to form a negative cycle. Such areas are mainly distributed in the northwest and northeast of Yunnan and the north of Wenshan. Zhaotong is a city integrating mountainous areas, old revolutionary base areas, and ethnic scattered areas. The high population density of 221 people per square kilometer overwhelms the local ecological environment. The blocked traffic and lagging agricultural production in mountainous areas have exacerbated regional poverty; economic backwardness also makes ecological protection and restoration lack financial support, leading to the continuous deterioration of the ecological environment. The situation in the northwest mountainous area is similar to that in Wenshan. Loose geology and the frequent occurrence of disasters such as soil erosion, landslides, and mudslides make it difficult to restore the ecological environment once it is destroyed.

4.3. The Coordination of Ecological Security and Economic Development

From the study in Yunnan Province, China, a general conclusion can be drawn: ecological security and economic development are often less likely to be coordinated in areas with large mountainous areas. There are two main reasons for this conclusion:

(1) The coordination base between ecology and economy is poor. The rugged terrain is a double-edged sword that isolates external disturbances and protects the ecological environment [3], however, it also makes it difficult for internal development to access advanced production technology and information, resulting in serious lags in economic development. This is evidenced by the fact that almost all of China’s concentrated and contiguous special hardship areas are located in mountainous regions. Since the protection and management of the ecological environment requires large amounts of capital and personnel, the more lagging the economy is, the more difficult it is to achieve ecological protection; the deterioration of the environment will further restrict economic development, leading to a negative feedback dilemma in such areas. Moreover, the larger the mountainous area, the easier it is for the socio-economy to be concentrated at a certain point. The highly dense population and industrial concentration will greatly exceed the local resource and environmental carrying capacity, leading to serious environmental problems such as water pollution, air pollution, and soil pollution. Although these areas have higher levels of economic development and can pay for environmental restoration, such ecological damage is deeper, takes longer to recover, and requires higher investments.

(2) The approaches of coordinating ecology and economy need to be innovated. With the rise of ecotourism, mountainous areas have been given the opportunity to develop. This can turn ecological advantages into economic benefits and realize the transformation of “green water and green mountains” into “golden mountains”. Yunnan Province was an early province to start developing ecotourism and has a high reputation. However, due to the weak ecological carrying capacity of the mountainous areas, the tourism industry in the province is developed at a high intensity, and the ecological safety of places such as Dali and Lijiang has been seriously threatened. In addition, there has been an increase in homogeneous competition, not only within the province but also with the neighboring mountainous terrain of Guizhou and Sichuan provinces. The industrial development of these regions also tends to be homogeneous, and their over-reliance on seasonal tourism consumption makes them unable to withstand sudden changes in the economic situation. For example, during the COVID-19 epidemic, tourism almost came to a standstill, and regions with tourism as their mainstay fell into an economic depression. Therefore, it is more important for regions with better ecological resource endowments to expand their types of industries and carry out differentiated development strategies to improve the stability and sustainability of local economic development.

Choosing a production method that takes into account both ecological security and economic benefits is the key to improving the CCD in ecologically fragile and economically impoverished areas. The urbanization level of Yunnan is only 51.01%, which is lower than the national 64.71% (2021), indicating that the urbanization process will continue for a long time. The vast lagging rural areas are facing is the dual pressure of ecological construction and industrial development; ecological industrialization provides a new direction for the organic integration of the two [3]. Rural areas are enriched with abundant ecological resources. Eco-industrialization takes natural resources as production factors, provides ecological products and services through socialized large-scale production and market-oriented operation, and obtains economic benefits. This method has been proven effective in Anji County, Lishui City, Zhejiang Province, China, and has been promoted nationwide. “Clear waters and green mountains are as valuable as mountains of gold and silver”, revealing the dialectical relationship of the interdependence and mutual transformation of ecological protection and economic development. Eco-industrialization provides a way to transform resource advantages into economic advantages and realize the coordinated development of resources and industries while protecting the environment. Vigorously promoting rural ecological industrialization is conducive to consolidating the achievements of poverty alleviation and helping rural revitalization.

4.4. Regional Strategy for Each Partition

Due to the necessity of biodiversity conservation in Yunnan Province, a sustainable development path with ecological priority and green development should be chosen.

CDZ: The central city should strengthen cooperation with surrounding areas, taking advantage of the proliferation benefits of tourism to connect lagging areas with tourism routes for common development, and its tourism revenues should be used to compensate for ecological protection. It is also an attempt to integrate tourism with other industries to innovate the development path, for example, the integration of agriculture and tourism, forestry and tourism, fish and tourism, culture and tourism, and other diversified strategies. For agriculture, the brand effect of superior agricultural products such as walnuts, medicinal materials, commercial livestock, and tea should be expanded to build a high-quality modern agricultural and forestry product base. Additionally, the innovation of the energy structure should be promoted with clean energy such as hydropower, wind energy, geothermal energy, and solar energy.

ERZ: The key to the ERZ should be industrial structure adjustment, ecological restoration, and pollutant treatment. Industrial structure adjustment is the top priority to reduce environmental pollution and energy consumption. While upgrading and transforming heavy industries, it will focus on the development of emerging industries such as electronic information, new materials, and the medical industry. In terms of environmental protection, it is necessary to strengthen environmental governance and ecological restoration. In addition to comprehensive management of water and soil, returning farmland to forest and grassland, and mine restoration, it is also suggested to increase investment in projects such as waste gas pollution source treatment, urban sewage treatment, safe disposal of industrial solid waste, and domestic garbage treatment to alleviate damage to the environment.

EPZ: On the premise of avoiding damage to the ecological environment, improving the development environment to revitalize the economy such as building transportation networks, attracting investment, and improving infrastructure, is the primary task. Considering that such regions are relatively concentrated and vast, multiple central towns can be cultivated to form economic development corridors. The development of diversified industrial clusters such as wood processing, biological resource development, and building materials can not only absorb local labor but also increase residents’ income and local fiscal revenue. In addition, the government should actively adopt means such as transfer payments, vocational training, and ecological compensation to improve the local social and economic conditions.

DPZ: Ecological protection and economic development are equally critical to the DPZ. On the one hand, environmental governance, restoration, and prevention must be strengthened to improve environmental carrying capacity. It is supposed to strictly implement the ecological red line and seriously deal with violations of construction behavior. Establishing an ecological environment dynamic monitoring network is also requisite, which can provide timely feedback on environmental abnormalities and evaluate the ecological environment quality regularly. On the other hand, it is imperative to carry out scientific and rational urban and rural planning and design according to the ecological environment carrying capacity, resource supply capacity, and development space. For example, Zhaotong’s economic backwardness and ecological dilemma are rooted in overpopulation, and the local land load can be appropriately reduced by relocation.

5. Conclusions

This study explores how to use ecological advantages to improve the social economy of biodiversity hotspot areas with lagging economies to achieve high-quality and sustainable development. A comprehensive zoning method was implemented based on the assessment of ecological security and economic development levels, and spatial differences, temporal changes, causes, and zoning characteristics were analyzed. The coupled coordination degree of ecological security and economic development of each district and county in Yunnan Province was measured using the coupled coordination degree model. A conclusion can be drawn: Ecological security and economic development are often less likely to be coordinated and sustainable in areas with large mountainous areas. There are two main reasons: the foundation of coordination is poor, and the approaches of coordination need to be innovated.

For the regional sustainable strategy, the CDZ of Yunnan Province chose to develop ecotourism and enhance the local economy by expanding the brand effect. The same choice was made in most of the ecologically advantageous areas. However, overreliance on seasonal tourism consumption will not only intensify homogeneous competition but also further damage the ecological environment. Such regions must expand the types of industries to withstand the instability and potential risks of economic development. For the ERZ, population and industrial agglomerations are the main causes of great threats to the ecological environment. Existing industries should be reformed in aspects such as clean energy, efficient use of resources, and industrial structure to develop a green and circular economy. Complex terrain, poor traffic, and location disadvantages are objective shortcomings of EPZs. To improve this dilemma, we should first improve the basic infrastructure conditions so the development factors can freely circulate. The DPZ needs to be moderately developed to restore and protect the ecological environment. The causes of this predicament include poor ecological background conditions, excessive population density, and excessive development intensity. Differentiated governance should be carried out by strict restrictions on development, relocation of people from different areas, and restoration of the ecological environment.