Exploring the combined impact of ecosystem services and urbanization on SDGs realization

The impact of ecosystem services (ES) or urbanization on Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) realization has been widely recognized. However, in the context of complex social-ecological coupling, the combined impact of ES and urbanization on SDGs lacked quantitative analysis. In this study, we selected four types of ES and three types of urbanization factors, and further used geographical detector to compare the impact intensity and temporal changes of ES-ES combination, urbanization-urbanization combination, and ES-urbanization combi-nation on social SDGs, ecological SDGs, and economic SDGs from a spatial perspective. The results showed that the economic SDGs was most highly impacted by the ES-urbanization combination with stable intensity of impact (average score of 0.66). The ecological SDGs was most strongly impacted by ES-ES combination (average score of 0.3), and the intensity of impact gradually increased. The social SDGs was most strongly impacted by ES-urbanization combination (average score of 0.57), but the intensity of impact gradually decreased. In conclu-sion, policymakers should focus on the impact of ES-urbanization combination on social SDGs and economic SDGs, and focus on the impact of ES-ES combination on ecological SDGs. This study provided a social-ecological decision guidance for SDGs realization in developing countries and regions.

Automated summary

This study compared the impact of ecosystem services and urbanization on the realization of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) using a geographical detector method. The results showed that the combination of ecosystem services and urbanization had the highest impact on social SDGs and economic SDGs, while the combination of ecosystem services had the highest impact on ecological SDGs.