Abstract: Background The Three Gorges Reservoir Area (TGRA) is a unique ecological function area in China stemming from the establishment of the Three Gorges Dam water conservancy project, which has been an important ecological barrier and a critical area of water and soil conservation. As a key part of the TGRA, the ecological barrier areas play a vital role in safeguarding regional ecological security and promoting the sustainable development of the TGRA. Due to complex terrain, severe human-land conflicts, landscape fragmentation, and inappropriate forest stand structures, the TGRA has become one of the regions most affected by soil erosion. Methods Based on the three key belts (i.e., ecological protection belt, ecological utilization belt, and ecological ecotone belt) of the ecological barrier areas, this research applied multiple approaches including laboratory simulation, field test, located monitoring, and integrated demonstration simulations to carry out theoretical research and technical development. Then, this research selected Zigui, Xingshan, Yunyang, and Zhongxian as the representative demonstration areas for research and application of ecological restoration techniques to address the mechanisms of ecosystem stability and function enhancement, the coupling of shelterbelt forest structure with soil and water conservation, the synergy between water-nutrient regulation and production improvement, and landscape configurations aimed at erosion and pollution control, and carry out technological research, development, and verification. Results 1) Identified the limiting factors for soil and water conservation in artificial shelter forests, and developed near-natural forest structure renovation techniques, including broadleaf tree transformation, understory vegetation restoration, and root restructuring. 2) Clarified the characteristics of microhabitats and vegetation succession in rocky mountainous ecosystems, and developed techniques for microhabitat regulation and mixed forest silviculture across three succession stages: seedling transplantation, open shrubland formation, and degraded plantation recovery. 3) Focused on the dynamic relationship between soil water and nutrients of specialty economic forests, investigated soil improvement technologies for economic forests, exploring production-ecology synergy patterns through living grass mulching and the integration of water and fertilizer. 4) Studied the response of runoff, sediment, and nutrients to landscape patterns in ecological buffer zones, developing multi-landscape optimization technologies for establishing native vegetation communities and spatial configurations aimed at erosion control and pollution reduction, incorporating ecological ditches, multi-stage ponds, and vegetative buffer strips. 5) Clarified the formation mechanism of ecological risk and identified the core ecological restoration area of the ecological barrier areas. Established a multi-scale (slope-small watershed-regional) near-natural ecological restoration and ecological security assurance technology system for ecological barrier zones, integrating knowledge graphs of restoration technologies and digital virtual simulations of ecological landscapes. Conclusions This study addresses key technical challenges in enhancing soil and water conservation, restoring microhabitat vegetation in rocky mountain areas, and optimizing the synergy between production and ecological functions in specialty economic forests. A multi-scale near-natural ecological restoration digital twin simulation and decision-making platform for ecological barrier zones is developed. This research would produce adaptive strategies for ecological conservation and restoration and key technical patterns of ecological security guarantee for the ecological barrier zones and provide significant support for improving ecological function and promoting sustainable regional development in the TGRA.