The ecological redline policy (ERP) is a key macro-level policy to manage different land-use functions in accordance with development and environmental limits. The effectiveness of the ERP is a central scientific question for both domestic and international concerns on sustainable development. In this study, we first analyzed the domestic and international progress of ecosystem services research and the connotation, demarcation process, and management requirements of China's ecological protection redline. We then proposed the technical framework and the basic ideas for an effectiveness evaluation of the ERP based on the analysis of the connection between the ERP and ecosystem services research and the challenges of the application of ecosystem services for the effectiveness evaluation of the ERP. We proposed to conduct a comprehensive policy analysis using field surveys and monitoring, remote sensing monitoring, questionnaires, and scenario simulations to evaluate the effectiveness of the ERP with the aims of 1) scientifically clarifying the impact of the ERP on the multi-scale stakeholders' costs and benefits to assess the protection efficiency of the ERP and to provide a framework and scientific method for the comprehensive study of the ERP; 2) simulating ecosystem services outcomes under alternative scenarios and provide the scientific basis for further optimization of the redline layout from a policy design standpoint; and 3) propose an institutional framework that complies with the implementation of the ERP from the point of institutional construction, to move institutional reforms from theory to practice.