An assessment system integrating FESLM and SDGs for sustainable use of black soil: Quantifying cross-framework objective consistency

Black soil degradation in Northeast China threatens regional sustainable development. Conducting a scientific assessment of sustainable use of black soil is of great significance. The Food and Agriculture Organization's Framework for Evaluating Sustainable Land Management (FESLM) and the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) provide authoritative frameworks for guiding sustainable land use assessment, but there has long been a lack of quantitative evidence regarding the consistency of their objectives. In this study, we first integrated these two frameworks to develop an assessment system for sustainable land use tailored to the Black Soil Region. Second, we employed the unsupervised dimensionality reduction and resynthesis process of canonical correlation analysis (CCA) to quantitatively measure the degree of consistency between the two frameworks. Then, using combined weighting method based on game theory (CWGT), we estimated the levels of sustainable use of black soil across 111 counties and districts from 2010 to 2020, and explored their spatiotemporal evolution patterns. Finally, using root mean square deviation (RMSD), we explored the trade-offs and synergies among different assessment dimensions and SDG targets across counties and districts. The results indicate that (1) the two frameworks exhibited high objective consistency, with the first three canonical correlation coefficients reaching 1.000 and the remaining two reaching 0.983 and 0.671; (2) levels of sustainable use of black soil were generally low, with 107 counties and districts (96.4%) having average scores below 0.4 and high-value clusters concentrated in the Harbin–Changchun Urban Agglomeration; (3) counties and districts with high viability scores generally had advantages in industrial and investment indicators, whereas those with lower viability scores often had advantages in primary-sector output; (4) the degree of synergy among the five FESLM dimensions and among the SDG targets was generally low, with 88.3% and 95.5% of counties and districts, respectively, having average RMSD values above 0.3 during 2010–2020; and (5) high overall scores could coexist with uneven performance across dimensions, while low RMSD values could coexist with low scores across dimensions. These findings support the integration of FESLM and SDGs in assessing sustainable use of black soil and highlight the need to consider overall performance and multidimensional balance together when identifying regional management priorities.