Ecological management zoning based on the supply-demand relationship of ecosystem services in China

Ecological management zoning has practical significance in the protection, management, restoration, and reconstruction of ecosystems. Existing studies have mostly divided ecological management zones from the ecosystem services (ESs) supply perspective, with few studies combining the relationship between ESs supply and demand (S&D). In this study, we divided the ecological management zones in China based on the matching degree of S&D (MD-S&D) and coordination degree of S&D (CD-S&D). The results indicate spatial differences in the distribution of MD-S&D and CD-S&D. The overall values of the two indicators are 3.03 (excellent match) and 0.86 (moderate coordination), respectively. Counties in important urban agglomerations have low MD-S&D values and the CD-S&D values in the eastern region were significantly higher than those in the western region. The county units in China can be divided into five primary and 15 secondary ecological management zones. Among different ecological management zones, ecological conservation zones and ecological restoration zones contain more than 90% of the county units, whereas ecological maintenance zones and ecological improvement zones contain few county units. In the future, more targeted ecological protection, remediation, and reconstruction policies should be implemented according to the specific conditions of different zones to promote sustainable development.