Eco‐Effectiveness of the Ecological Resettlement Project for Millions of People in Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region, China: Based on the Assessment of Long‐Term <scp>NPP</scp> , <scp>SE,</scp> and <scp>LULC</scp>

ABSTRACT Globally, the sociological, ethnological, economic, demographic, and psychological aspects of migration have been studied extensively. However, a critical gap remains in the systematic quantitative assessment of its ecological effectiveness, particularly concerning planned ecological resettlement projects (ERP). This study examined the interrelationships among ERP implementation, climate change (CC), land use and land cover (LULC) change, net primary productivity (NPP), and soil erosion (SE) dynamics. We propose a new spatiotemporal analytical framework integrating geostatistical methods to explore how ERP influences land‐use patterns, soil conservation, and land productivity. Focusing on 19 counties and districts in Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region, the study utilizes MODIS‐derived NPP data, LANDSAT‐based LULC classification, SE, ECMWF Reanalysis v5 (ERA5) meteorological data (2001–2022), and demographic statistics from the Ningxia Statistical Yearbook (1985–2022) to evaluate the spatiotemporal changes and drivers of ecological quality in out‐ and in‐migration areas before and after ERP implementation. Key findings include: (1) All 19 counties participated in the ERP, resettling approximately 974,800 migrants between 1999 and 2020. (2) The project substantially reconfigured land‐use patterns. In out‐migration areas, the urban impervious area increased by 152.5%, while cropland decreased by 31.7%. Conversely, in in‐migration areas, the urban impervious area increased by 262.0%, while cropland increased by 30.1%. (3) Although regional NPP demonstrated an overall increasing trend, the per‐unit‐area growth rate (∂NPP) of dominant land covers—cropland and grassland—was markedly higher in out‐migration areas (83.7%, 80.8%) than in‐migration areas (18.1%, 38.2%). These results provide robust support for the targets or indicators of the SDGs and offer valuable insights for policymakers devising social‐ecological migration and land rehabilitation strategies.