Enhanced biomass utilization efficiency reshapes spatiotemporal shifts of China's HANPP

Escalating global population and economic expansion are fueling unprecedented demand for natural resources, making a robust understanding of human impacts on biomass flows critical for achieving the Sustainable Development Goals. The Human Appropriation of Net Primary Production (HANPP) is a key metric for quantifying human effects on ecosystem biomass flows; however, a lack of research on the dynamics of HANPP utilization efficiency has likely led to an overestimation of biomass resource pressure and an oversight of the separation between HANPP and socioeconomic development driven by improvements in utilization efficiency. To fill these gaps, we generated annual 1-km HANPP maps for China (1990–2022) and developed a two-dimensional conceptual framework to characterize dynamic interactions between biomass utilization and retention. Our findings show that, during the early period of socioeconomic development (1990–2000), biomass utilization and retention exhibited a trade-off, marked by a low utilization efficiency of 55.33%. Subsequently, with the growth of socio-ecological systems, strong demand fueled a steady increase in NPP utilization intensity—yet enhanced biomass utilization efficiency simultaneously mitigated this upward trend by reducing NPP losses, with utilization efficiency rising from 64.16% (2000–2010) to 73.94% (2010–2022). This efficiency-driven shift not only moved utilization-retention interactions toward coordination but also facilitated the separation of HANPP from socioeconomic development. Our findings underscore the need for strategies to enhance biomass utilization efficiency, thereby supporting sustainable resource use. • First annual 1-km HANPP maps based on China's prefecture-level stats. • A novel 2D framework characterizes utilization-retention interactions. • Over past 30 years HANPP efficiency rise eased ecological pressure. • Urbanization suppresses HANPP growth by enhancing resource-use efficiency. • Boosting biomass use efficiency drives HANPP-socio system separation.