Performance Evaluation of an Ecological Restoration Project from the Perspective of the Harmonious Coexistence of Humans and Nature

Abstract

The Shan-Shui Initiative ecological restoration project launched in China in 2016 is a leading initiative to ensure national ecological security and green development and has become a landmark project for China’s environmental protection. Although neither the core mechanism of the ecological restoration project nor the coupling mechanism between various elements is clear at this stage, the concept of harmonious coexistence of man and nature put forward by the General Secretary in 2023 for the field of ecological environmental protection provides a scientific position for ecological restoration projects in China. This study intends to construct a performance evaluation indicator based on the harmonious coexistence of human and nature as the core function of the ecological restoration project, and verify the feasibility of the evaluation system through empirical research. We found that, the Shan-Sui Initiative can effectively promote the harmonious coexistence of humans and nature. This effect is more pronounced for municipalities located in the west-central region or with a lower administrative level. This finding provides a scientific argument for taking the harmonious coexistence of human and nature as the core performance indicator of ecological restoration projects.

Keywords: Harmonious coexistence of humans and nature, ecological restoration project, performance evaluation