Nature-based tourism in nature reserve: Coexistence and trade-off in Chinese story

Nature reserve (NR) serves as essential entities bridging natural environment and human society, in which the coordination of ecological protection and tourism utilization representing a critical challenge in Sustainable Development Goals. Based on the logical framework of “theoretical foundation - coordination mechanism - core element evaluation - status evaluation - coordinated development strategy”, this study constructs a theoretical framework and evaluation index system for the coordination of NR and Nature-based Tourism (NBT). Using the “indicator evaluation - coupling coordination - MaxEnt analysis” methodology, this study identifies the coordination status, distribution patterns, and contributing factors of NR and NBT in Chinese story. It also achieves multi-scenario coordination enhancement and targeted development through vertical analysis across geographical, economic and cultural divisions, and comparative verification of various NR cases. The findings indicate that the impact intensity of NBT within NR in China has been steadily increasing; however, it remains within a controllable range while preserving the paramount importance of ecosystem integrity and ecological function. The peripheral concentration of NBT's influence on NR has led to heterotypic characteristics of coordination, exhibiting an expanding trend influenced by geographical, economic, and cultural overlays. Achieving the NR-NBT trade-off requires considering contribution factors, there are notable differences in both types and contribution degrees from various perspectives, among which the significant factors predominantly cluster around dimensions such as social development, tourism economy and tourism branding. This study breaks away from traditional disciplinary paradigms by constructing an analytical framework of NR and NBT coordination, addressing the long-standing debate on the feasibility of developing NBT in global NRs. It contributes the research template of systematic coordination evaluation framework and method-institutional synergy for global sustainable development. Furthermore, it can deliver Chinese case study for future policy-making, such as NBT activity scope delineation, visitor capacity regulation, facility capacity optimization and management system improvement.