To reveal the effects and heterogeneity of ecosystem services (ES) on regional sustainable development (RSD) in world natural heritage sites, address the challenges of coordinating heritage conservation and regional high-quality development, and to provide a scientific basis for sustainable management.

Taking the core zone of the Danxiashan world natural heritage site (a component of the China Danxia world heritage site) and its hosting Renhua County and Zhenjiang district as study units, this research utilized multi-source data across five key time points from 2000 to 2020. The InVEST model was employed to quantify four types of regulating and supporting services. Furthermore, an assessment framework for long-term time-series potential supply of recreational services and a five-dimensional comprehensive RSD index were constructed. Spearman correlation analysis, multivariate controlled regression models, and robustness tests were applied to identify the effects of different types of ES on RSD at different spatial scales.

1) The ES performance of the Danxiashan core zone is generally better than the county-level average. Regulating and supporting services remain stable, while recreational service potential increases by 10.89% in the core zone, higher than the 8.53% at the county scale. Declines in carbon storage and habitat quality are also lower in the core zone; 2) The RSD level increases significantly, with the composite index rising from 0.093 (Year 2000) to 0.903 (Year 2020), an absolute increase of 0.810. After the 2010 world heritage inscription, the region enters a rapid growth stage, and the increase from 2010 to 2015 is 3.7 times that of the previous decade; 3) The effects of different ES on RSD are significantly heterogeneous. Recreational services show a robust positive effect, while regulating services show a significant negative constraining effect. The effects of water yield and soil conservation show no stable statistical significance on RSD; 4) Pronounced spatial scale differences exist in the effects of ES on RSD, and the world heritage inscription policy plays a significant moderating role in the coupling relationship between ES and RSD.

The effects of ES on RSD in world natural heritage sites are characterized by significant type-specific heterogeneity and spatial scale dependencies. Differentiated management strategies should be formulated according to different service types and spatial units. Improving the transformation mechanism from ecological value to RSD is essential to promote the synergistic enhancement of heritage protection and regional sustainable development.