Cropland redistribution to marginal lands undermines environmental sustainability

Wenhui Kuang; Jiyuan Liu; Hanqin Tian; Hao Shi; Jinwei Dong; Changqing Song; Xiaoyong Li; Guoming Du; Yali Hou; Dengsheng Lu; Wenfeng Chi; Tao Pan; Shuwen Zhang; Rafiq Hamdi; Zherui Yin; Huimin Yan; Changzhen Yan; Shixin Wu; Rendong Li; Jiuchun Yang; Yinyin Dou; Wenbin Wu; Liqiao Liang; Bao Xiang; Shiqi Yang

doi:10.1093/nsr/nwab091

Cropland redistribution to marginal lands undermines environmental sustainability

Natl Sci Rev. 2021 May 22;9(1):nwab091. doi: 10.1093/nsr/nwab091. eCollection 2022 Jan.

Authors

Wenhui Kuang¹, Jiyuan Liu¹, Hanqin Tian², Hao Shi², Jinwei Dong¹, Changqing Song³, Xiaoyong Li⁴, Guoming Du⁵, Yali Hou¹, Dengsheng Lu⁶, Wenfeng Chi⁷, Tao Pan⁸, Shuwen Zhang⁹, Rafiq Hamdi¹⁰, Zherui Yin⁸, Huimin Yan¹¹, Changzhen Yan¹², Shixin Wu¹³, Rendong Li¹⁴, Jiuchun Yang⁹, Yinyin Dou¹, Wenbin Wu¹⁵, Liqiao Liang¹⁶, Bao Xiang¹⁷, Shiqi Yang¹⁸

Affiliations

¹ Key Laboratory of Land Surface Pattern and Simulation, Institute of Geographic Sciences and Natural Resources Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100101, China.
² International Center for Climate and Global Change Research, School of Forestry and Wildlife Sciences, Auburn University, Auburn, AL 36849, USA.
³ Faculty of Geographical Science, Beijing Normal University, Beijing 100875, China.
⁴ State Key Laboratory of Urban and Regional Ecology, Research Center for Eco-Environmental Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100085, China.
⁵ School of Public Administration and Law, Northeast Agricultural University, Harbin 150030, China.
⁶ School of Geographical Sciences, Fujian Normal University, Fuzhou 350007, China.
⁷ School of Resources and Environmental Economics, Inner Mongolia University of Finance and Economics, Hohhot 010017, China.
⁸ School of Geography and Tourism, Qufu Normal University, Rizhao 276826, China.
⁹ Northeast Institute of Geography and Agroecology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Changchun 130012, China.
¹⁰ Royal Meteorological Institute of Belgium, Brussels 1180, Belgium.
¹¹ Key Laboratory for Resources Use & Environmental Remediation, Institute of Geographic Sciences and Natural Resources Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100101, China.
¹² Northwest Institute of Eco-Environment and Resources, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Lanzhou 730000, China.
¹³ Xinjiang Institute of Ecology and Geography, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Urumqi 830011, China.
¹⁴ Hubei Province's Key Laboratory for Environment & Disaster Monitoring and Evaluation, Innovation Academy for Precision Measurement Science and Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Wuhan 430077, China.
¹⁵ Institute of Agricultural Resources and Regional Planning, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Beijing 100081, China.
¹⁶ Key Laboratory of Tibetan Environment Changes and Land Surface Processes, Institute of Tibetan Plateau Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100101, China.
¹⁷ Institute of Ecology, Chinese Research Academy of Environmental Sciences, Beijing 100012, China.
¹⁸ College of Environment and Planning, Henan University, Kaifeng 475004, China.

Abstract

Cropland redistribution to marginal land has been reported worldwide; however, the resulting impacts on environmental sustainability have not been investigated sufficiently. Here we investigated the environmental impacts of cropland redistribution in China. As a result of urbanization-induced loss of high-quality croplands in south China (∼8.5 t ha^-1), croplands expanded to marginal lands in northeast (∼4.5 t ha^-1) and northwest China (∼2.9 t ha^-1) during 1990-2015 to pursue food security. However, the reclamation in these low-yield and ecologically vulnerable zones considerably undermined local environmental sustainability, for example increasing wind erosion (+3.47%), irrigation water consumption (+34.42%), fertilizer use (+20.02%) and decreasing natural habitats (-3.11%). Forecasts show that further reclamation in marginal lands per current policies would exacerbate environmental costs by 2050. The future cropland security risk will be remarkably intensified because of the conflict between food production and environmental sustainability. Our research suggests that globally emerging reclamation of marginal lands should be restricted and crop yield boost should be encouraged for both food security and environmental benefits.

Keywords: cropland redistribution; environmental sustainability; irrigation water consumption; marginal lands; wind erosion.