As the protection layer of world natural heritage sites, the buffer zone should enable economic development while protecting the environment. To carry out agricultural activities in the buffer zone, it is necessary to balance agricultural development and environmental protection. In addition, the development of agroforestry has the benefits of developing the economy, maintaining biodiversity, and protecting the environment. In order to promote the coordination of environmental protection and community economic development, it is particularly important to scientifically select agroforestry planting patterns in the buffer zone of world natural heritage sites. This study utilized a mixed-methods research approach that included qualitative and quantitative research. Taking the buffer zone of Shibing Karst Heritage Site in southern China as an example, based on the seven agroforestry planting patterns surveyed in the buffer zone of the world natural heritage site, the four dimensions of net output value, carbon emission, environmental cost, and comprehensive livelihood score of different agroforestry planting patterns were calculated. The sorting scores of the values were calculated as Borda numbers. The sorting scores of the seven agroforestry planting patterns were B(A1) = 17, B(A2) = 18, B(A3) = 8, B(A4) = 8, B(A5) = 14, B(A6) = 12, and B(A7) = 7. The results showed that the priority sequence of seven agroforestry patterns was A2 > A1 > A5 > A6 > A3 = A4 > A7. A2 was the best among the seven agroforestry planting patterns, and A7 ranked last. The results can provide a quantitative evaluation basis for scientific optimization of agroforestry development planting patterns, and provide a reference for promoting the protection of world natural heritage.

In the face of increasing development pressure, how to fulfill the obligations under the World Cultural and Natural Heritage Convention and maintain the integrity of the Natural World Heritage Site (NWHS) is a major problem to be solved at present. Agroforestry (AF) development in the buffer zone maintains the integrity of NWHS and promotes sustainable ecological and economic development in the buffer zone. Still, few studies on the knowledge system of integrity protection of NWHS and AF development in the buffer zone research have been conducted. To fill this gap, this study conducts a systematic literature review based on 128 related articles retrieved from the Web of Science (WoS) database and the China National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI) database. Firstly, quantitative studies were conducted to analyze the annual numbers, content and study regions of the published literature. Secondly, the main research progress and achievements of integrity protection of WNHS and AF development in the buffer zone are classified and summarized. On this basis, this paper proposed key scientific issues that remain to be addressed in future, as well as exploring the implications for the World Heritage (WH) karst. This study is a scientific reference for the balanced development of NWHS integrity protection and AF in the buffer zone.