Abstract: Constructing a scientific and systematic evaluation system for the level of ecological product value realization is an important tool for accurately measuring the practical outcomes of the “Two Mountains” concept and supporting natural resource management decisions. From a whole life cycle perspective, we clarified the input and output types across the entire process of forest ecological product value realization, and constructed an efficiency eva-luation index system for forest ecological product value realization. Using the super-efficiency SBM model and the Dagum Gini coefficient, and based on panel data from 30 Chinese provinces (excluding Xizang Autonomous Region and the regions of Hong Kong, Macao, and Taiwan) from 2012 to 2021, with capital, labor, energy, and forest resources as input variables and ecological, economic, and social values as output variables, we analyzed regional variations of lagged efficiency (efficiency that incorporated input and output time lag as lagged efficiency), and compared it with current efficiency (efficiency without such lag). The results showed the national lagged efficiency of forest ecological product value realization exhibited a fluctuating upward trend. At the regional level, the eastern region maintained at a high and stable level, while the central, western, and northeastern regions caught up. Shanxi, Xinjiang, and Yunnan ranked among the top in growth rate. Eleven provinces achieved an average lagged efficiency greater than 1, including Beijing, Tianjin, Shanghai, Jiangsu, Jiangxi, Shandong, Guangdong, Hainan, Chongqing, Guizhou, and Ningxia, indicating a relatively reasonable allocation of inputs and outputs. The remaining provinces had an average lagged efficiency below 1, indicating some redundancy in input factors. Redundancy in forestry investment completion amount and forestry system labor was the main reason for the lagged efficiency being less than 1. The lagged efficiency exhibited a downward trend, with inter-regional disparity being the main source of the overall differences in lagged efficiency. National lagged efficiency was generally higher than current efficiency, indicating that neglecting the time lags of input and output would underestimate the level of forest ecological product value realization. The differences between the two efficiency measures were significant in the central, western, and northeastern regions, which needed to fully consider input and output lag in policy formulation. The study could provide empirical evidence for differentiated value realization policies and coordinated regional development in four major regions of China.

Key words: whole life cycle, forest ecological product, value realization, lagged efficiency, current efficiency, redundancy