Ecosystem restoration has been widely concerned with the damage and degradation of ecosystems worldwide. Scientific and reasonable formulations of ecological restoration zoning is the basis for the formulation of an ecological restoration plan. In this study, a restoration zoning index system was proposed to comprehensively consider the ecological problems of ecosystems. The linear weighted function method was used to construct the ecological restoration index (ERI) as an important index of zoning. The research showed that: (1) the ecological restoration zones of the Qilian Mountains can be divided into eight basins, namely the headwaters of the Datong River Basin, the Danghe-Dahaerteng River Basin, the northern confluence area of the Qinghai Lake, the upper Shule River to middle Heihe River, the Oasis Agricultural Area in the northern foothills of the Qilian Mountain, the Huangshui Basin Valley, Aksay (corridor region of the western Hexi Basin), and the northeastern Tsaidam Basin; (2) the restoration index of the eight ecological restoration zones of the Qilian Mountains was between 0.34–0.8, with an average of 0.61 (the smaller the index, the more prominent the comprehensive ecological problem representing the regional mountains, rivers, forests, cultivated lands, lakes, and grasslands, and thus the greater the need to implement comprehensive ecological protection and restoration projects); and (3) the ecological problems of different ecological zones are frequently numerous, and often show the phenomenon of multiple overlapping ecological problems in the same zone.

Using Linkage Mapper corridor simulation software, which is based on minimum cost distance, we identify ecological corridors and build potential ecological networks in response to recent land cover changes in Xinjiang, China. Based on the analysis of land use/cover changes, the change of landscape pattern index is also calculated. The results show that: (1) During the year 2000–2015, cultivated land and built-up areas of Xinjiang showed an increasing trend. Due to urbanization, Xinjiang’s landscape connectivity is getting worse, and the landscape is becoming more and more fragmented and isolated. (2) We have constructed 296 ecological corridors, with a total length of 2.71 × 10⁴ km and an average corridor length of 90.98 km. A total of 145 ecological source patches and 500 ecological nodes were connected by 296 ecological corridors. (3) The ecological corridor of Xinjiang presents the characteristics of “dense-north and sparse-south” in space. The areas with dense distribution of ecological corridors mainly include Urumqi, Changji, Turpan, Tacheng, Kizilsu Kirgiz, Karamay, and Yining, and the Taklimakan desert fringe. The sparse distribution is mainly in the whole Taklimakan desert.

Land is the carrier of the production and living activities of human society and the basis of survival and development of all living organisms. With the continuous development of the social economy, the unreasonable use of land is becoming more and more serious, aggravating the deterioration of the ecological environment. Most studies in this field have mainly focused on land use changes and the corresponding impacts on the ecological environment, but relatively few studies have delinked the relationship between land use intensity and the ecological environment. Based on data on these two factors for Gansu Province from 1998 to 2017, we used the Tapio decoupling model to evaluate the decoupling relationship between land use intensity and ecological environment. From 1998 to 2017, the comprehensive land use intensity in Gansu province increased by 107.77%, and the comprehensive ecological environment index increased by 63.76%. In general, the relationship between land use intensity and ecological environment experienced five states, namely weak decoupling, strong negative decoupling, strong decoupling, expansive negative decoupling, and declining decoupling. During 1999–2013 and 2013–2016, land use intensity and ecological environment had decoupled, and the main reasons were as follows: (1) The Chinese government introduced a series of farmland protection policies and measures, controlled the area of newly added construction land, and reduced urban land expansion; (2) ecological restoration projects for mountains, forests, fields, lakes, and grassland strengthened the environmental protection in Gansu Province; and (3) in the process of economic development, the increased investment of technology and capital improved the land use efficiency, finally realizing the “double growth” of land use intensity and environmental quality. Based on these results, land use intensity and environmental quality are not necessarily contradictory, and a moderate improvement of land use efficiency and environmental protection can probably result in increased land use intensity and higher environmental quality.