Abstract: Ecological and environmental zoning control in river basins is an environmental management system designed to safeguard basin ecological functions and improve environmental quality. It operates by implementing differentiated zoning control and precision governance on the basis of variations in the overall and unit-level ecological carrying capacity of the basin and its constituent ecological factors. Grounded in the collaborative governance SFIC model and spatial governance theory, this study constructs a “complex system–institutional catalysis–spatial adaptation” analytical framework for river basin ecological and environmental zoning control. Through a comparative analysis of typical cases drawn from key domestic and international river basins — including the Yangtze, Pearl, Yellow, Thames, Danube, and Colorado Rivers — three model types are identified: whole-basin refined unit control, segmented differentiated regional control, and regional spatial function overlay control. Each model type has its specific domain of application, core advantages, and constraining factors. In practice, the three models are not mutually exclusive or rigidly separate; rather, they manifest as a governance configuration characterized by combinatorial nesting, inter-zone coordination, and strategic coupling. In concrete applications, these models should be flexibly combined and dynamically advanced in accordance with regional ecological baseline conditions, institutional environments, technological capacity, and social mobilization capability, so as to achieve a transition from “governance classification” to “governance adaptation”. Drawing on domestic and international experience, the ecological and environmental zoning control model for the Yellow River Basin warrants focused improvement across multiple dimensions, including spatial framework design, project approval procedures, ecological compensation mechanisms, multi-stakeholder co-governance, and the development of coordinated law enforcement systems.