Poverty alleviation and ecological resource consumption across different agricultural zones: a case study of Inner Mongolia based on HANPP.

Investigating the linkage between resource utilization and economic development is crucial for achieving Sustainable Development Goals. This study focuses on the relationships between human appropriation of net primary productivity due to harvest (HANPP_h) and rural income across agricultural, pastoral, and agro-pastoral transition areas in Inner Mongolia, China, from 2001 to 2020. Spatiotemporal variations in ecological resource utilization and the decoupling index between resource utilization and rural income were quantified. Findings indicate an increase in overall ecological resource utilization. The agro-pastoral transition areas exhibit the highest resource utilization among traditional agricultural and pastoral regions but have the lowest rural income. No absolute decoupling between ecological resource utilization and rural income growth has been achieved in any region. Most of the land, accounting for 43.3% of the region, falls under a relatively sustainable type of relative decoupling, supporting notable increases in rural income and limited growth in ecological resource consumption, despite having a low population density. Conversely, 37.0% of the rural population reside on lands where resources are overused, constraining income growth. This suggests a spatial mismatch in the sustainable development of land and population. For long-term sustainability, balancing economic development and resource utilization is essential, necessitating appropriate goal setting and promotion of economic decoupling from resource utilization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]