Spatiotemporal Coupling of Forest Ecological Product Realization and High-Quality Development in China

Forest ecological products (FEPs) embody both marketable outputs and critical ecosystem services, yet how their value realization coordinates with regional high-quality development (RHQD) remains insufficiently documented at the provincial level. This study constructs a forest-specific measurement framework that distinguishes the FEP value level from FEP value-realization efficiency, synthesizes them into a comprehensive FEP index, and couples it with an RHQD index for 30 Chinese provinces over 2014–2024. Coupling-coordination degree models, Dagum Gini decomposition, kernel density estimation, spatial autocorrelation and σ/β-convergence tests are applied as descriptive tools. The results show that: (1) the national coupling-coordination degree rose from 0.528 (2014) to 0.637 (2024), entering the primary-coordination stage, with a Central > East > West gradient formed by 2024; (2) global spatial clustering is significantly positive throughout (Moran’s I ranging from 0.396 to 0.546), with high–high agglomeration contracting from seven southern provinces in 2014 to four in 2024; (3) inter-regional disparities contribute about 64% of total inequality, and national polarization has gradually mitigated; and (4) absolute and conditional β-convergence are both significant, whereas σ-convergence is absent, indicating conditional catch-up without an absolute narrowing of gaps. As a pattern-oriented descriptive analysis rather than a causal identification, this study provides verifiable forest-oriented evidence for region-differentiated forest economy policies in China.