Inequity in Environmental Pollution of China’s Livestock and Poultry Industry: A Frontier Applications of Spatial Models

Abstract

The study’s main aim is to find out the environmental livestock and poultry pollution. The study used data from 31 provinces in China from 2007 to 2019. This paper used two steps for empirical findings. In the 1st step, it conducted an initial analysis of the farmland pollution burden and water pollution that arises from the livestock and poultry industry. After this, through the fair distribution index researcher, the study analyzed the inequity of the environmental pollution burden on the livestock and poultry industry. Finally, by constructing a frontier spatial matrix and spatial econometric model, the study has analyzed the impact of economic development on the inequity of the environmental pollution burden. The econometrical analysis has provided the following conclusions: (1) China’s arable land is facing a serious pollution burden due to livestock and poultry manure. The results show that the livestock and poultry manure burden value is greater than 1. This value explained the serious environmental threat in 13 areas of China. Water pollution showed a fluctuating trend in four areas of China, while the threat of farmland pollution showed a downward trend. (2) The environmental equity index of the livestock and poultry industry in many regions of China is less than 1. This means one region is producing more pollution than its capacity. So, the pollution has crowded out the environmental capacity of other regions, resulting in an unfair environmental burden. This unfair environmental burden is especially prominent in the western region of China. (3) The phenomenon of environmental pollution-burden inequality has a spatial correlation. The environmental pollution burden inequality of a region has a significant spatial crowding out effect on the surrounding areas at the level of 1%, and the coefficient of spatial effect is −0.909. (4) The per capita GDP of the surrounding areas has a significant “inverted U-shaped” indirect impact on the environmental distribution equity index of the region, with an inflection point of 33,500 yuan/person. The research points out that clear property rights, guidance to regulate emissions trading, control blind pollution transfer, moderate industrial structure adjustment, improving rural residents’ education level, etc., are beneficial to the improvement of the environmental livestock and poultry pollution.