Evaluation of resources, environment, and ecological carrying capacity from the perspective of “production-living-ecology” spaces: A case study of western Jilin Province, China

China’s rapid socioeconomic development and increasing consumption of resources has greatly intensified environmental pollution and ecological degradation across the country over recent decades. Regional differences and interactions among various elements enhance the complexity of addressing these issues, which not only makes resource and environmental management challenging, but also requires flexible and dynamic management strategies to cope with multilevel and multidimensional conflicts and uncertainties. Moreover, effective management of resources and environmental impacts requires the integration of numerous factors and adaptative strategies to respond to the continuously changing environmental conditions and evolving societal needs. Here, we introduce a conceptual framework and evaluation index system for resource and environmental carrying capacity (REECC) from "production-living-ecology" spaces(PLES) perspective. We used this framework to quantitatively evaluate REECC in the western Jilin Province and to conduct in-depth analyses of its internal drivers and climate impacts. The REECC and direction of movement of the center of gravity of different land-use types were also assessed. Spatial and temporal changes in REECC in this region over the period of 2005-2020 were particularly striking. In 2005, areas with an REECC between 0.4-0.5 accounted for 47.89% of total areas, but this fell to 37.16% in 2010 before leveling off at 41.76% in 2015–2020. Population density was the primary influencing factor, followed by EVI and PM2.5. Precipitation was significantly positively correlated with REECC, whereas temperature was significantly negatively correlated with REECC. The direction of the REECC trend was found to be consistent with that for grasslands, and the position of the center of gravity was shifted.