Decoupling agricultural water consumption and environmental impact from crop production based on the water footprint method: A case study for the Heilongjiang land reclamation area, China

Abstract Crop production consumes and pollutes large volumes of water. Previous literature predominantly discusses a single indicator of agricultural water consumption or environmental impact from crop production. This study integrates a water footprint method into a decoupling analysis. The water footprint method uses multidimensional indicators to illustrate agricultural water consumed or polluted in crop production according to its elements and sources. Using the largest commodity grain in China during the years 2000–2009 as a case study, this research focuses on the analysis of decoupling agricultural water consumption and environmental impact from crop production based on two indexes, DY−WC and DY−WEI. The results show the following: (1) a strong decoupling trend occurred more in the analysis of decoupling agricultural water consumption from crop production; (2) weak decoupling occurred more often in the analysis of decoupling agricultural water environmental impact from crop production.

[1]  P. Tapio.  Towards the theory of decoupling : Degrees of decoupling in the EU and the case of road traffic in Finland between 1970 and 2001 , 2022 .

[2]  A. Hoekstra,et al.  Globalisation of water resources: Global virtual water flows in relation to international crop trade , 2005 .

[3]  Charles Lewis,et al.  Decomposition and decoupling effects of carbon dioxide emission from highway transportation in Taiwan, Germany, Japan and South Korea , 2007 .

[4]  Wang Bai-yuan,et al.  Review on the Research of Decoupling Analysis in the Field of Environments and Resource , 2010 .

[5]  A K Chapagain,et al.  An improved water footprint methodology linking global consumption to local water resources: a case of Spanish tomatoes. , 2009, Journal of environmental management.

[6]  A. Hoekstra,et al.  Globalization of Water: Sharing the Planet's Freshwater Resources , 2008 .

[7]  Graham Jewitt,et al.  Integrating blue and green water flows for water resources management and planning , 2006 .

[8]  L. S. Pereira,et al.  Crop evapotranspiration : guidelines for computing crop water requirements , 1998 .

[9]  J. Allan,et al.  Virtual Water - the Water, Food, and Trade Nexus. Useful Concept or Misleading Metaphor? , 2003 .

[10]  Arjen Y. Hoekstra,et al.  The global component of freshwater demand and supply: an assessment of virtual water flows between nations as a result of trade in agricultural and industrial products , 2008 .

[11]  Mikael Skou Andersen,et al.  Decoupling of industrial energy consumption and CO2-emissions in energy-intensive industries in Scandinavia , 2007 .

[12]  A. Hoekstra,et al.  The green, blue and grey water footprint of crops and derived crops products , 2011 .

[13]  M. M. Aldaya,et al.  Water footprint analysis for the Guadiana river basin , 2008 .

[14]  A. Hoekstra,et al.  Water footprints of nations , 2004 .

[15]  M. Swilling,et al.  Decoupling : natural resource use and environmental impacts from economic growth , 2011 .

[16]  Massimiliano Mazzanti,et al.  Is waste generation de-linking from economic growth? Empirical evidence for Europe , 2008 .

[17]  Massimiliano Mazzanti,et al.  Waste generation, waste disposal and policy effectiveness Evidence on decoupling from the European Union , 2008 .

[18]  A. Hoekstra.  Virtual water trade : A quantification of virtual water flows between nations in relation to international crop trade , 2003 .

[19]  Y. Hoekstra,et al.  Sustainable, efficient, and equitable water use: the three pillars under wise freshwater allocation , 2013 .

[20]  K. Abbaspour,et al.  Modelling blue and green water resources availability in Iran , 2009 .

[21]  M. Aldaya,et al.  The Water Footprint Assessment Manual: Setting the Global Standard , 2011 .

[22]  P. Q. Hung,et al.  Globalisation of water resources : international virtual water flows in relation to crop trade , 2005 .

[23]  Arjen Ysbert Hoekstra,et al.  Assessing water footprint at river basin level: a case study for the Heihe River Basin in northwest China , 2012 .

[24]  J. Kaivo-oja,et al.  Linking analyses and environmental Kuznets curves for aggregated material flows in the EU , 2007 .