Ecosystem services (ESs) serve as the foundation for sustaining human life and development, with vegetation status playing a crucial role in influencing the supply of these services. This study focuses on the Yellow River Basin (YRB), where we quantitatively examined the main ESs indicators from 2010 to 2020. We explored the trends in fractional vegetation cover (FVC) and ESs, as well as the constraint relationship between FVC and total ecosystem services (TES). The findings are as follows. (1) From 2010 to 2020, FVC, landscape aesthetics (LA), soil conservation (SC), food production (FP), and TES in the YRB demonstrated an upward trend, whereas water yield (WY) exhibited a downward trend. (2) A constraint relationship exists between FVC and LA, SC, WY, and TES, with the constraint line taking on a hump-like shape. (3) The threshold value of the constraint line between FVC and LA, SC, WY, and TES are approximately 80%. Below this value, FVC does not impose a constraint effect on LA, SC, WY, and TES, but above 80%, a strong constraint effect emerges, leading to a reduction in LA, SC, WY, and TES. These results offer a valuable data reference for guiding future vegetation restoration and ecological engineering efforts in the region.

As a key pathway to address climate change and biodiversity loss, and to promote sustainable development, Nature-based Solutions (NbS) have increasingly emerged as a vital theoretical framework and practical tool in global environmental governance. This study provides a comprehensive overview of the primary categories of NbS, including ecological restoration approaches, issue-specific ecosystem-related approaches, infrastructure-related approaches, ecosystem protection approaches, and ecosystem-based management approaches. It also reviews the many ecological, social, and economic benefits generated by NbS practices globally and in China, such as enhanced carbon sequestration, disaster risk reduction, water purification, livelihood improvement, and increased tourism revenue. The findings highlight that the effectiveness of NbS is influenced by a variety of factors, including climatic conditions, spatial patterns, socio-economic contexts, and governance capacity. In addition, the delayed ecological responses and potential trade-offs among ecosystem services present challenges for the long-term implementation and upscaling of NbS. To improve the scientific rigor and applicability of NbS, future efforts should focus on long-term ecological monitoring and dynamic evaluation, developing integrated performance assessment frameworks, and strengthening the integration of local knowledge with supportive policy mechanisms. This review offers theoretical insights and practical guidance for enhancing the implementation of NbS in ecosystem management and policy-making.