Harmonious human-nature relationship supports China's sustainable development goals

Over the past decade, the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) have made progress; however, nearly half of the indicators have advanced slowly. A comprehensive assessment and understanding of the interconnections between the human-nature relationship and the SDGs can enhance global sustainable development. Employing a multi-model framework, we assessed the spatiotemporal evolution of China's human-nature relationship (2001–2020) and its role in driving SDG progress. Our findings indicate that regions with a barely coordinated human-nature relationship represented the largest proportion (39%), followed by moderately coordinated regions (27%). Over two decades, more than one-fifth of China's regions exhibited a significant improvement in the human-nature relationship. Regarding the progress of the SDGs, approximately 94% of provinces demonstrated advancements in at least 9 SDGs. Notably, SDG1, SDG2, and SDG3 showed improvements across all provinces. By 2020, the uniformity levels of SDG achievement surpassed 0.5, with seven SDGs exceeding a level of 0.8. Additionally, our findings indicate that the human-nature relationship can facilitate progress in 6 SDGs, exhibiting nonlinear relationships with 5 SDGs. Regulatory management should take into account the state of social-ecological systems, industrial transformation, and resource allocation. This study addresses a research gap concerning the interplay between human-nature relationship and SDGs, offering novel perspectives to inform targeted decision-making aimed at harmonizing the human-nature relationship and thereby advancing sustainable development.