Coupling Coordination Between Ecosystem Services and Sustainable Development Goals from a County-Level Perspective in Jiangsu Province, China

Ecosystem services (ES) serve as a critical link between ecosystems and the sustainable development goals (SDGs). Exploring the relationship between ES and SDGs is of great significance for promoting regional sustainable development. This study proposes a conceptual framework to examine the interlinkages between ES and SDGs. First, the equivalent factor method is employed to estimate the county-level ES value in Jiangsu Province from 2005 to 2020. Second, the entropy-weighted TOPSIS model is used to assess SDG performance. Third, the coupling coordination degree model is applied to quantify the synergistic relationship between ES and SDGs, based on which regional typologies are constructed. Finally, a geographically and temporally weighted regression (GTWR) model is utilized to investigate the spatial–temporal impacts of various ecosystem service functions on SDGs. The results reveal that (1) over the past 15 years, the value of ES in Jiangsu Province has shown an overall upward trend, with a peak followed by a slight decline; (2) that the SDGs performance exhibited an increasing trend until 2015, after which it began to decline; (3) the coupling coordination degree between ES and SDGs has increased annually and that, based on the coupling results, four types of regions are identified: potential development zones, ecological deficit zones, priority improvement zones, and high-quality synergy zones; and (4) that the relationship between different ecosystem service functions and SDGs demonstrates significant regional heterogeneity. Future efforts should focus on enhancing provisioning services in counties within the Yi-Shu-Si River Basin, balancing economic development and ecological protection in the Yangtze River Basin, and improving cultural services in western counties of both the Yangtze River Basin and the Taihu Lake Basin. The findings offer insights for regional SDG strategies from the perspective of ES in Jiangsu Province.