Improving the Value Realization Level of Eco-Products as a Key Pathway to Achieving Sustainable Ecological Protection and Economic Development in Highly Regulated Rivers

More than half of the world’s highly regulated rivers are currently experiencing an unsustainable balance between ecological protection and economic development. The value realization of river eco-products is considered a key pathway to addressing this challenge; however, its effectiveness remains to be empirically verified. Therefore, the objective of this study is to develop an integrated framework for evaluating the sustainability of river ecological protection and economic development through eco-product value realization. The framework integrates the classification of river eco-products, the estimation of their potential and realized values, and the analysis of value realization pathways. Taking the Baoji section of the Weihe River (BSWHR) as a case study, the framework is applied with hydrological, hydraulic, and socio-economic datasets to empirically evaluate the coordination between ecological protection and economic development. The main results showed that: (1) River eco-products are divided into three types: public, operational, and physical operational eco-products; (2) The potential ecological value of all river eco-products in the BSWHR is estimated at 549 million CNY; (3) The realized value of all river eco-products is 288.75 million CNY under current realization paths, corresponding to a sustainability index of 0.63, indicating that the BSWHR is less sustainable and represents an asset liability river; and (4) Enhancing the protection level of river ecological flow (e-flow) and establishing a multi-stakeholder compensation mechanism can improve the sustainability of ecological protection and economic development in highly regulated rivers. The proposed framework provides a practical basis for assessing river sustainability and guiding the effective allocation of ecological protection funds.