A comprehensive framework for detecting economic growth expenses under ecological economics principles in China

Recent centuries have witnessed a considerable economic growth, but have also been accompanied by ecological deterioration which has led to the utility decline in every hard-won material wealth. Here we proposed a comprehensive framework for detecting these economic growth expenses, combining the ecosystem services chain with ecological economics principles. Remote sensing products, biophysical process modeling, and inferential geostatistics were comprehensively used in tracing the quantity and quality of natural capital, the total amount, and the fairness of human well-being in both ecological and economic aspects in the last two decades of China. We find that although the natural capital condition and ecosystem services in most parts of China are rising, they are declining in the most economically developed regions where the vast majority of the people lives. Furthermore, this decline is unequal, affecting different people due to the spatial mismatch between population and ecological services. Further promoting China's environment-friendly industrial system and the transaction of ecological products may help alleviate the decline and inequity of ecological well-being. This framework aims to provide an interdisciplinary dashboard to help identify and deal with risks on our way to prosperity for regions either within or beyond China.