Exploration of multi-scale ecological regulation pathways in the arid northwest region of China from the perspective of ecosystem health

Understanding the factors influencing ecosystem health and formulating regulatory strategies are vital for maintaining regional ecosystem stability and environmental protection. This study focuses on the northwest arid region of China(NWAC), calculating the Ecosystem Health Index (EHI) from 2000 to 2020 using multi-source data and VORS model (Vigor-Organization-Resilience-Ecosystem Service Value). A Geographically Weighted Regression (GWR) model is applied to explore spatial-heterogeneous drivers, and targeted governance paths are proposed. The results show that: (1)Temporally, the average value EHI of NWAC was approximately 0.35 from 2000 to 2020, improving during 2000–2010 before stabilizing, Spatially, the lowest-value areas accounted for 36 %, low-value 28 %, medium-value 23 %, and high/higher-value 13 %. The medium-value areas expanded, while the proportion of the lowest-value areas declined. Higher EHI was observed in the Yili Valley, Altai Mountains, and Qilian Mountains, whereas lower levels occurred in southern/eastern Xinjiang and western Inner Mongolia. (2)The imbalance of EHI distribution in the research area is relatively low, with an average Dagum Gini coefficient of 0.34 from 2000 to 2020. The overall imbalance of EHI and the imbalance between regions have decreased, while the imbalance within regions is intensifying. (3) The importance of precipitation (30.64 %), soil organic carbon (29.72 %), and landscape shape index (20.74 %) for EHI is significantly higher than other factors. (4) There are significant spatial differences in the impacts of climate, topography, soil properties, air quality, agricultural and socioeconomic factors on EHI.(5) The region is divided into 4 regional and 15 county-level management units, with tailored regulation strategies for each scale, providing a hierarchical framework for environmental supervision.