Welcome to Chinese Journal of Applied Ecology! Today is Share:

Chinese Journal of Applied Ecology ›› 2017, Vol. 28 ›› Issue (8): 2577-2587.doi: 10.13287/j.1001-9332.201708.004

• CONTENTS • Previous Articles     Next Articles

Carbon footprint of crop production in China from 1993 to 2013 and its spatial distribution

LIU Yu-feng1*, YUAN Zhi-hua2, GUO Ling-xia1, SUN Bo1, KONG Wei3, TANG Shu-hui4   

  1. 1College of Resources and Environment & History and Culture, Xianyang Normal University, Xianyang 712000, Shaanxi, China
    2College of Economics and Management, Xianyang Normal University, Xianyang 712000, Shaanxi, China
    3Ecological Construction and Industry Development Research Center, Hebei North University, Zhangjiakou 075000, Hebei, China
    4College of Law and Politics, Hebei North University, Zhangjiakou 075000, Hebei, China
  • Received:2016-11-16 Published:2017-08-18
  • Contact: * E-mail: yfliu518@163.com
  • Supported by:
    This work was supported by the Social Science Foundation of Shaanxi Province (2016D034), the Scientific Research Project of Shaanxi Provincial Education Department (16JK1828), the Distinctive Discipline Construction Project of Common Higher Education in Shaanxi Province (Historical Geography: 0602), the Young Teacher Foundation of Xianyang Normal University (XSYGG201609) and the Universities Humanities and Social Sciences Key Research Base Project of Hebei Province (20143101)

Abstract: Based on China’s agricultural statistical data in 1993-2013, using methods such as the Life Cycle Assessment, the Gravity Center Model and GIS, this paper analyzed the temporal variation of carbon emission and carbon footprint in crop production, the orbit of carbon footprint center-of-gravity, the spatial variations of carbon footprint and carbon emission and the main influence factors of carbon emission. The results showed that, during the study period, carbon emission of China’s crop production (GHGe), carbon footprint per unit of sown area (CFs) and carbon footprint per unit of cultivated area (CFc) increased significantly, while carbon footprint per unit of yield (CFy) and carbon footprint per unit of production value (CFv) decreased significantly. The CFs center-of-gravity had stayed in Henan, and moved towards southwest gradually, the CFc center-of-gravity located in Hubei or Henan and moved towards northwest, the CFy center-of-gravity situated in Shaanxi or Henan, and transferred towards southeast integrally, the CFv center-of-gravity stayed in Henan and shifted towards southwest. GHGe and carbon footprint demonstrated remarkable discrepancy in provincial region. The GHGe tended to be low in the north and south, while high in central China, the CFs in central China was lower than that in east and west China, the regions with high CFc were mainly concentrated in the central and eastern coastal provinces, the CFy trend was high-low-high from the northwest to the southeast, while the CFv went down from the northwest to the southeast. The ratio of corp carbon footprint investment during agricultural production process was highest in chemical fertilizer, in which nitrogen fertilizer and compound fertilizer proportion were bigger. Through analyzing the correlation degree between GHGe and various influencing factors, results showed the chemical fertilizer especially phosphate and nitrogen fertilizer, irrigation and cropland N2O emissions were the key factors to GHGe’s obvious increase, accordingly, suggestions on the low-carbon agriculture development were proposed.