Spatial Suitability Assessment and Differentiated Pathways for Ecological Products Value Realization

ABSTRACT: This study develops a dual-dimensional framework integrating development capacity and ecological function importance to assess ecological product value realization suitability across 76 cities in the Yellow River Basin. Using multi-source data and the CRITIC weighting method, we identified four suitability zones: suitable (25.02%), marginally suitable (6.11%), marginally unsuitable (38.59%), and unsuitable (30.28%). The basin generated an estimated USD 2.15 billion in ecological product value in 2020. We propose differentiated pathways, including ecologically safeguarded green industrial transformation in suitable zones, ecological restoration in marginally suitable zones, protection-oriented management in marginally unsuitable zones, and compensation mechanisms in unsuitable zones. Here, ‘suitable’ denotes conditional opportunity for low-impact value-realization instruments under ecological safeguards, not permission for unconstrained development. The framework links ecological-product accounting with spatial planning while acknowledging that social, cultural, and governance dimensions require complementary assessment.