Abstract:
Under the context of ecological civilization construction and the reform of the national park system, giant panda conservation has shifted from single-factor recovery toward multi-dimensional interactive governance involving ecological, institutional, and social dimensions. Based on the Social-Ecological Systems (SES) framework, this study takes 49 distribution counties as samples and employs fuzzy-set Qualitative Comparative Analysis (fsQCA) to identify the configurational pathways that synergistically drive conservation effectiveness. The findings reveal: ① Total habitat area serves as the sole core condition for achieving high conservation effectiveness, representing an indispensable structural foundation for species persistence. ② Three distinct pathways lead to successful conservation: the “Low Pressure–Government Support” type, which relies on basic fiscal investment and favorable ecological endowments under low development pressure; the “Institutional Compatibility” type, which balances human–land conflicts in economically active regions through high ecological compensation and corridor construction; and the “Comprehensive Governance” type, which achieves optimal performance through high-intensity input across all dimensions coupled with strict management.