The water resources carrying capacity (WRCC) is a crucial indicator for assessing the sustainability of regional development. This study integrates the gray water footprint (GWF) into the WRCC evaluation, constructing a comprehensive framework that encompasses five subsystems: water resources, society, economy, ecology, and climate. Using the CRITIC-TOPSIS model, the WRCC of Yunnan Province from 2012 to 2022 is analyzed, and a dynamic assessment is conducted through spatiotemporal hotspot and obstacle factor coupling analyses. The results show that the comprehensive WRCC of Yunnan decreased from 0.489 in 2012 to 0.477 in 2022, displaying an overall fluctuating downward trend with uneven spatial distribution. The per capita GWF and GWF load significantly impacted the WRCC within the social and ecological subsystems, respectively, highlighting the importance of water quality in the WRCC evaluation. The results reveal differing development trends in the dynamic changes of WRCC cold- and hotspots across various regions in Yunnan. Through coupling the obstacle factors of each regional subsystem, the main challenges and key measures for sustainable water resource development in each area are identified. This study optimizes the traditional evaluation framework by addressing shortcomings in water quality considerations, enriching the WRCC assessment, and providing a more comprehensive and accurate decision-support tool for regional development.

As a critical decision–support tool for sustainable development in alpine lake watersheds, ecosystem service valuation requires scientifically robust accounting systems to inform environmental management. This study addresses the significant interference caused by multi-source heterogeneity in indicator selection, methodology application, and parameter determination within current valuation systems. We innovatively developed a multi-dimensional accounting framework. Through establishing standardized systems for indicators, methods, and parameters, taking Xingyun Lake as the research area, we systematically elucidated the differential impact mechanisms of accounting elements on valuation outcomes. Empirical results demonstrate that structural differences in indicator systems induce 11.61% of valuation fluctuations. Methodological choices lead to 13.86% of deviations. Insufficient parameter localization generates errors up to 18.48%. The refined framework improved valuation accuracy by 16.22%. This study quantitatively evaluates the influencing factors of ecosystem services and confirms a cascading amplification effect of element sensitivity (parameters > methods > indicators) on valuation outcomes, establishing methodological foundations for alpine lake watershed ecological accounting benchmarks. It has important decision-making reference value for applying ecosystem service function evaluation to sustainable development.

Systematic assessment of the potential for realizing the value of ecological products in plateau lake basins, together with the identification of differentiated pathways, is essential for addressing structural tensions between ecological protection and regional development and for improving the precision of value-realization practices. Taking the nine major plateau lake basins in Yunnan Province as the study area, this study constructs a comprehensive indicator system covering three dimensions: supply potential, transformation conditions, and market demand. The k-means clustering method is then applied to classify basin types and identify dominant value-realization pathways. The results indicate that: (1) the VPPI ranges from 0.1594 to 0.7679, with the highest value in Dianchi Lake Basin and the lowest in Chenghai Lake Basin; the high-, medium-, and low-potential zones have mean VPPI values of 0.6928, 0.4033, and 0.2106, respectively; (2) four distinct types are identified, namely the regulatory service trading type, cultural tourism empowerment type, characteristic provisioning product premium type, and protection-priority reserve type; and (3) low-potential basins are mainly constrained by weak market demand, with a mean market-demand contribution of only 0.0386. These findings provide quantitative decision support for context-specific pathway design in plateau lake basins.