Investigation on spatial and temporal variation of coupling coordination between socioeconomic and ecological environment: A case study of the Loess Plateau, China.

• Construct index system to evaluate coupling coordination degree of socioeconomic and ecological environment in the Loess Plateau, China. • The coupling coordination degree in the Loess Plateau has been improved during 2013–2018 but not ideal. • Provide an excellent comprehensive evaluation method for the regional sustainable development. • Coupling coordination degree in the Loess Plateau show distinct spatial characteristics. The underdeveloped areas are facing many challenges in ecological environment and social transformation. The benign interaction relationship between socioeconomic development and ecological environment is essential to achieve sustainable development goals (SDGs) for underdeveloped areas. This paper selected the prefecture-level cities on the Loess Plateau as the study case, by evaluating the coupling coordination degree (CCD) between socioeconomic (SE) and ecological environment (EE), the temporal and spatial variations of the Loess Plateau was discussed. Based on the evaluation index system constructed, the dynamic deviation maximization method and coupling coordination degree method were adopted to evaluate the CCD from 2013 to 2018. The evaluation results showed that the coupling coordination degree of the Loess Plateau is not ideal, and most prefecture-level cities have low CCD score. More than 70% of the cities showed primary coordination and tiny coordination, and no city located to good coordination. There are 17 cities (70.83%) with CCD growth rates below 2%, and four cities showed a decreasing trend of CCD. To achieve sustainable cities and society, the government should increase financial support and reduce tax for green industries, and increase the income level of employees to avoid the loss of labor force. In addition, by increasing the intensity of environmental regulation and policy support for scientific and technological innovation, which can promote the transformation of resource-based cities and high-polluting enterprises, and reduce the damage to the ecological environment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]