Tracing agricultural land carbon loss through transregional food consumption for fairness of responsibility allocation

Abstract

Agricultural land carbon loss (ALCL) has been increasingly triggered by transregional food consumption in China. Understanding land carbon burden from consumption side is then recognized to be essential for facilitating regional fairness. To this end, we combined physical food-orient multi-regional input-output table and ALCL inventory for 26 kinds of foods in 31 provinces to trace China's ALCL through cross-regional consumption. Results show that ALCL embodied in inter-provincial trade was up to 42 % of the national total ALCL. Food consumption in Guangdong caused the largest ALCL, while Tibet and Qinghai stood out from per capita perspective. Furthermore, consuming foods produced in areas with higher production ALCL intensity would elevate national ALCL, thus shrinking the adverse flows and controlling agricultural land expansion in high-intensity areas may help lessen national ALCL. This study contributes to equitable allocation of responsibility for land carbon loss, and enlightens future land carbon loss risks and restoration opportunities.