Coupling Coordination between Ecological Resilience and Regional Economy in the Yangtze River Economic Belt

In recent years, the Yangtze River Economic Belt has faced significant challenges in balancing ecological environmental protection with economic development. The Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and the State Council have clearly emphasized the need to prioritize ecological protection and green development, with the goal of promoting high-quality development in the Yangtze River Economic Belt. Based on a city-level analysis perspective, this paper measures the ecological resilience and regional economy of 24 prefecture-level cities in the Yangtze River Basin from 2018 to 2022. A coupling coordination model is constructed to analyze the coupling coordination between ecological resilience and regional economy. The results show that: (1) In terms of coupling coordination, there are notable regional differences. Most cities are in a state of mild or moderate imbalance, and some cities in moderate imbalance are showing a trend toward mild imbalance; (2) Regarding the scores of ecological resilience and regional economic levels based on the entropy weight method, regional differences in ecological resilience are significant, with cities in the middle and upper reaches performing much better than those in the lower reaches. The regional economic level is generally stable, with some cities showing slight upward fluctuations. Overall, cities in the lower reaches have a higher level of economic development than those in the middle and upper reaches. Based on the findings, it is recommended that all regions accelerate the comprehensive green transformation and upgrading of economic and social development, strengthen regional connections, and promote coordinated development driven by large urban agglomerations.