Abstract
The Tarim River Basin in China has predominantly assumed the task of commodity cotton and other high water-intensive crop production in recent years. The spatial matching status of agricultural water and land resources is a prerequisite for local economic development. This paper provides an insight into the spatiotemporal variation trends of agricultural production water footprint and oasis farmland in the Tarim River Basin. The degree of spatial mismatching between oasis farmland and crop production water footprints studied in this paper found how the crop water footprint affected the change in oasis farmland area by sensitivity analysis. Time series data covering the period of 1990–2015 were used for the study. The results showed that the annual variation of crop production water footprint and oasis farmland area have experienced upward trends in Tarim River Basin. The blue water makes the largest contribution to the components of the crop production water footprint in each district (all exceeded 77%). The crop production water footprint and oasis farmland area tend to aggregate towards the eastern region. The level of spatial mismatch between the blue water footprint and farmland area fluctuated during the study period, but it was gradually remedied after 2000, while the spatial mismatch between green water footprint and farmland area gradually worsened. The number of districts with mid and high sensitivity to changes in blue water footprint continuously increased during 1990–2005, which revealed that the change in blue water footprint has an increasing influence on oasis farmland. The results can provide operable recommendations for efficient use of water resources, maintaining oasis suitable farmland scale and agricultural sustainable development in the Tarim River Basin.
Highlights
The increasingly global scale of environmental degradation in the Anthropocene has engendered broad discussion about the conflicts between water and land resources in inland arid oases [1]
Results showed that the total pro increased by and oasis farmland area (OFa ) in the Tarim River Basin (TRB)
Using TRB as a case study, this paper assessed the spatial-temporal variability of WFpro and OFa over the period 1990–2015
Summary
The increasingly global scale of environmental degradation in the Anthropocene has engendered broad discussion about the conflicts between water and land resources in inland arid oases [1]. Shortages and inconsistencies between available water and farmland resources are long-term and radically restrictive factors in the process of agriculture modernization [2]. The Tarim River Basin (TRB) is the largest inland basin in China, and within the background of the strategy Western Development Program, the TRB government has undertaken the task of commodity cotton production [3]. This task involves a total cotton yield accounting for more than 48.4% of the production in China. Soil erosion and pollution caused by the large-scale occupation of agricultural water and land resources have caused the quality of the wetland environment to degrade in the oasis [5]. Making spatialtemporal changes to farmland and agricultural water, and the matching characteristics research between them, is of great practical significance for the optimal allocation of oasis agricultural water and land resources to sustain agricultural production capacity
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