Objectives Understanding the evolution of land use change and ecosystem service value (ESV) is important for optimizing land use structure and improving ecosystem service value.

Methods Based on the remote sensing monitoring data of land use in Fujian Province from 2010 to 2020, we used land use change measurement, geographical detector and geographically weighted regression (GWR) to quantitatively evaluate ecosystem service value, and analyzed the spatial-temporal evolution characteristics and driving factors of ecosystem service value in Fujian Province.

Results (1) From 2010 to 2020, the cultivated land and forest land in coastal cities of Fujian Province have been greatly transformed into construction land, and the changes in inland and coastal land types were obviously different. (2) From 2010 to 2020, the ESV in Fujian Province decreased from 432.288 billion yuan to 430.206 billion yuan, showing the distribution characteristics of high in inland areas and low in coastal areas. (3) The explanatory effect of each driving factor on ESV differed. Economic factors had the strongest explanatory effect on ESV, followed by natural factors, and social factors had the weakest effect. (4) The dominant driving factors affecting the change of ESV were average annual precipitation, population density and total retail sales of social consumer goods. The average annual precipitation on ESV showed a decreasing trend from southeast to northwest, from positive to negative. The population density was negatively correlated with ESV, and the intensity gradually increased from east to west. The total retail sales of social consumer goods showed an increasing trend from the south to the north, transitioning from negative to positive values.

Conclusions Land use change directly caused a decline in ecosystem service value. During the study period, a significant amount of agricultural land in the coastal areas of Fujian Province was transformed into construction land. The value of ecosystem services was declining and the spatial heterogeneity was significant. In the future, it is important to coordinate the economic development of inland and coastal areas, while also balancing the mutual transformation between agricultural land and construction land. This will promote economic and social development, as well as protect the ecological environment.