The economic and social development evaluation system with the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) as the leading indicator is no longer applicable to the current social progress in China. It is essential to carry out an assessment of the Gross Ecosystem Product (GEP) to integrate ecological benefits into the economic and social evaluation system and promote sustainable socio-economic development. This study took Guangxi, an important province in South China, as the study area. We used four periods of land use and land cover data (LULC), meteorological data, soil data and yearbook statistics to construct a GEP assessment framework based on geographic information system (GIS) and remote sensing (RS) technologies. We accounted for the provisioning services, regulating services, and tourism services provided by Guangxi in 2005, 2010, 2015, and 2020 and analyzed the region’s and municipalities’ spatial–temporal pattern characteristics and trends of change in GEP. In addition, this study also discusses the relationship between GEP and GDP. The results showed that many important products and services provided by natural ecosystems in Guangxi had enormous economic benefits. GEP had increased from CNY 15,657.37 billion in 2005 to CNY 36,677.04 billion in 2020, and the distribution of GEP showed obvious spatial heterogeneity. The value of ecosystem regulation services was about 65–89% of GEP, which is the main component of GEP. From 2005 to 2020, natural ecosystem protection and socio-economic development have achieved coordinated development in Guangxi. GEP and GDP showed upward trends in general. Although Guangxi is relatively backward in terms of economic development, the scientific quantification of the unrealized value of the services provided by the ecosystem through GEP accounting makes it possible to transform ecological advantages into economic advantages. It could help the local government and people to re-recognize the value of ecological resources and realize the beautiful vision of lucid waters and lush mountains as invaluable assets.

The ecosystem in the Northeast Forest Belt (NFB) can provide various ecosystem services, such as soil conservation, habitat provision, water conservation, and so on. It is essential for maintaining the ecological environment in Northeast China and the entire country. In the face of increasingly severe environmental problems, the comprehensive and accurate evaluation of ecosystem conditions and their changes is significant for scientific and reasonable recovery and protection measures. In this study, the NFB was taken as the research area. The spatio-temporal changes in ecological quality from 2005 to 2015 and the main driving factors behind them were analyzed by constructing the comprehensive ecosystem evaluation index. The results showed that: The landscape types of the NFB were mainly forest, cropland, and grassland. And the better ecological environment of the NFB was mainly distributed in the south of Changbai Mountains (CBM), the middle of Lesser Khingan Mountains (LKM), and the northwest of Greater Khingan Mountains (GKM). In contrast, the northeast of CBM, the southwest of LKM, and the edge of southern GKM were relatively poor. During 2005–2015, the ecosystem in the NFB was in a relatively good state as a whole, showing a steady-to-good development trend. However, more attention needed to be paid to some areas where degradation still existed. Land use/cover, climate (annual average rainfall, etc.), and human disturbance were potential factors affecting ecosystem evolution in the NFB. This study aims to provide an effective scientific basis and policy reference for the environmental protection and construction of the NFB.