A Leading Role of Water Resources and Animal Husbandry in Environmental Sustainability: A Case Study of China.

Abstract

Animal husbandry is an important emission source of greenhouse gas. In order to discover the real situation of carbon emission in China's animal husbandry scientifically, the paper measured and calculated carbon emission in China's animal husbandry from 1997 to 2017 on the basis of soil and water resources. In addition, analyzing its time-order characters, structural characters, driving factors and decoupling relationships are all done in this treatise. Major findings are as follows: (1) The carbon emission of China's animal husbandry in 2017 was 374.3528 million tons, an increase of 17.8066 million tons over 1997, with the average annual growth rate of 0.24% and the average annual carbon emission of 398.7817 million tons; (2) There was a decreasing trend in carbon emission of intestinal fermentation in China's animal husbandry while there was an increasing trend in carbon emission of manure emission in China's animal husbandry; (3) The carbon emission of China's animal husbandry peaked in 2006 and went through three phases of up-down-steady between 1997 and 2017; (4) The contribution of cattle, pig, sheep, other large livestock, poultry and rabbits to China's animal husbandry carbon emissions decreased in turn, and the average contribution of cattle, pigs and sheep to China's animal husbandry carbon emissions was as high as 98.15%. (5) Five factors reducing carbon emission of China's animal husbandry were carbon intensity, agricultural industrial structure, agricultural population-water resources matching degree, agricultural water-soil resources and per capita cultivated land area. Two factors increasing carbon emission of China's animal husbandry were population and economic benefits of agriculture per unit agricultural population; (6) There was a generally weak decoupling between carbon emission in China's animal husbandry and animal husbandry's economic growth from 1997 to 2017.