# Spatio-temporal heterogeneity and coupling effect of mining economy, social governance and environmental conservation: Evidence from Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, China

## TL;DR

This study examines how mining economy, social governance, and environmental conservation interact in Guangxi, China, revealing uneven development and offering policy suggestions.

## Contribution

A novel coupling analysis model is proposed to evaluate interactions among mining economy, governance, and conservation in resource-based regions.

## Key findings

- Mining economy and environmental conservation levels remain stable, while social governance shows an upward trend.
- Resource-rich areas show strong mining advantages, but environmental conservation effectiveness is uncertain.
- Coupling between mining economy and governance is stronger than with environmental conservation, with random synergies among all three.

## Abstract

In order to solve the problem of coordinated development among mining economy, social governance and environmental conservation in global resource-based cities, we choose Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region as the research area. The advantage of resource endowment and resource industry was measured by location quotient and input-output method. The panel data related to mining governance from 2010 to 2021 were selected to build the evaluation and coupling analysis model between mining economic, social governance and environmental conservation, and the spatial-temporal heterogeneity and coupling effect of them were analyzed by comprehensive empowerment evaluation, spatial autocorrelation analysis and barrier degree methods. The results show that: (1) Except for the overall upward trend of social governance, the development level of mining economy and environmental conservation are basically stable; (2) The resource-rich areas have obvious mining economic advantages, and the central cities have good social governance capabilities, and the environmental conservation effectiveness is uncertain; (3) The coupling effect between mining economy and social governance is stronger than that between mining economy and environment conservation, and the synergistic coupling effect of the three is relatively random. Finally, we put forward some policy response strategies to Guangxi, and theoretical and practical reference would be provided for resource-based cities around the world.