Ecological Security Under the SPMOR Paradigm: Spatiotemporal Assessment of Fanjingshan Region (2002–2022)

Ecological security is fundamental to achieving the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and maintaining ecosystem stability in ecologically sensitive regions. Mountainous protected areas, where ecological fragility and human pressure coexist, require dynamic evaluation frameworks that go beyond static pattern description. This study proposes an extended SPMOR (State–Pressure–Modelling–Optimization–Response) framework to assess the spatiotemporal evolution of ecological security in the Fanjingshan Mountain Region, a UNESCO World Heritage Site in Southwest China. Multi-source environmental and socio-economic datasets were standardized, objectively weighted using the CRITIC method, and integrated to construct a grid-based Ecological Security Index (ESI) for 2002, 2007, 2012, 2017, and 2022. Spatial autocorrelation analysis with global and local Moran’s I was employed to identify clustering patterns and temporal shifts. Results show that the average ESI increased from 0.4983 in 2002 to a peak of 0.5238 in 2012, before declining to 0.4945 in 2022. Global Moran’s I remained consistently high, ranging from 0.6516 to 0.6862, indicating persistent spatial clustering of ecological security. Spatially, the region exhibited a stable core–periphery structure, with high-security zones concentrated in the core reserve and low-security clusters distributed along human activity corridors. These findings suggest the coexistence of ecological restoration effects and renewed development pressures in mountainous protected areas. The proposed SPMOR framework provides a structured and potentially applicable approach for ecological security evaluation and offers practical insights for sustainable management of mountainous protected regions.