Evaluation of the Public Welfare of China’s Nature Reserves

To achieve the sustainable development of nature reserves, the public welfare associated with these areas has been assessed based on ecological supply and social demand. The Public Welfare Index comprehensively incorporates ecological factors, such as landforms, resource endowment, and ecological quality, as well as socio-economic factors, including travel costs, economic base, and population distribution. This index reflects both the ecological supply capacity of nature reserves and the equity with which they provide welfare to different groups. The findings indicate that the Public Welfare Index is an effective measure of the rationality of welfare distribution. Currently, the public welfare of nature reserves in China exhibits a spatial pattern of high welfare in the west and low welfare in the east. This issue of welfare inequality in nature reserves is highly pronounced. The primary objective of this research is to identify the characteristics of welfare distribution and to offer novel perspectives and strategies for optimizing the spatial layout of nature reserves and informing policy decisions.