Dynamic Evolution of Regional Discrepancies in Carbon Emissions from Agricultural Land Utilization: Evidence from Chinese Provincial Data

Abstract

Agricultural land, as an important carbon source, has produced about 20% of carbon dioxide globally. The calculation and spatial-temporal distribution of carbon emissions resulting from agricultural land utilization (ALU) has attracted a great deal of attention from scholars. Most of the existing literature widely agrees that China's carbon emissions from ALU showed significant regional discrepancies, but rarely pays attention to the evolutionary characteristics of the discrepancies. This study calculated the total carbon emissions from ALU based on six kinds of carbon emissions sources in the 31 provinces of mainland China, which showed obviously different characteristics in terms of their abundances of agricultural land resources, relative scarcities of production factors, levels of science and technology and economic prosperity. We then analyzed the evolutionary process and characteristics of regional discrepancies in carbon emissions from ALU at the national level and regional level with the method of kernel density estimation. The key results demonstrated the following: (1) The carbon emissions from ALU in the whole country and the eastern, central and western regions of China have increased sharply during the study period. From 2000 to 2015, the carbon emissions from ALU in the whole of China, the eastern region, central region, and western region were increased by 2626.11 (10 4 tons), 441.32 (10 4 tons), 1054.45 (10 4 tons), and 1130.3 (10 4 tons), respectively, with an average annual growth rate of 2.75%, 1.29%, 3%, and 4.35%, respectively; (2) The scale of carbon emissions from ALU showed significant spatial disparities at the regional and inter-provincial levels. From 2000 to 2015, the central region had the highest carbon emissions from ALU, while the eastern and western regions had the second and third highest carbon emissions; (3) The distribution curves of carbon emissions from ALU in the whole country and each region all moved in the right direction gradually during the study period, and the width of the curves increased, indicating the regional discrepancies of carbon emissions from ALU was expanding at different spatial scales. Distribution curves of carbon emissions from ALU in the eastern, central and western regions all showed a "multi-polar" differentiation phenomenon in 2000, while presented a "tri-polar", "bipolar" and "multi-polar" division in 2015, respectively.

Spatial-Temporal Characteristics of the Driving Factors of Agricultural Carbon Emissions: Empirical Evidence from Fujian, China

“…Gerlagh applied the endogenous technological progress model to study the influence of technological progress on carbon emission reduction [18] and confirmed that technological progress significantly reduced the cost of carbon emission reduction through the learning effect and increased the social benefits at the same time. Furthermore, agricultural land also affects the agricultural carbon emissions, such as per capita land use area [19], agricultural land use [20] and farmland conversion [21,22]. Besides, there also exists a close relationship between agricultural income and carbon emissions [23].…”

“…According to the IPCC guidelines, on the basis of the existing research about the carbon emission equation [20,28,29,36], in view of the current situation of agricultural development in Fujian Province, this paper chooses carbon emission sources and corresponding carbon emission coefficients to build a model for calculating agricultural carbon emissions. The specific formula is as follows:…”

Spatial-temporal dynamics of carbon emissions and carbon sinks in economically developed areas of China: a case study of Guangdong Province

“…The carbon dynamics caused by LULCC could be investigated through the division of different land use/land cover types, and carbon emission effects of different land use/land cover types could thus be accurately explored 23 . However, previous studies were mainly focused on carbon emissions taking place on a single land-use type, such as carbon emissions resulting from agricultural land utilization 24 or built-up land construction 25 , neglecting to establish the whole carbon estimation system based on land use/land cover 23 . Furthermore, a comprehensive comparison between carbon emissions and carbon sinks of land use/land cover remains lacking.…”

Tracking the Spatial–Temporal Evolution of Carbon Emissions in China from 1999 to 2015: A Land Use Perspective

“…Undoubtedly, these processes are coupled with carbon emissions, albeit mainly in an indirect way. According to existing studies [17,45,46], carbon emissions from agricultural production activities in this study mainly include (1) the carbon emissions generated from the production and usage of fertilizers, pesticides, and agricultural plastic films; (2) the carbon emissions generated by direct or indirect consumption of fossil fuels (mainly agricultural diesel) due to the use of agricultural machinery; (3) the loss of soil organic carbon due to agricultural tillage; and (4) the carbon emissions from fossil fuels consumed by electrical energy used in the agricultural irrigation process.…”

“…Previous studies have mainly focused on carbon emissions taking place on a single land use type, such as emissions from agricultural land [17] or built-up land [18]. A comprehensive carbon emissions estimation system based on land use remains poorly documented at the provincial level in China.…”