Agricultural Production Zones Research Articles

PROBLEMS OF ENVIRONMENTAL SAFETY IN THE CONDITIONS OF INDUSTRIAL AND AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTION

The analysis of threats and dangers arising in the field of production and economy is carried out. The urgency of solving the problem of environmental safety of the individual and the state is substantiated. The influence of unfavorable factors on the ecological state of industrial and agricultural production zones is shown. The complex use of a source of х-ray and acoustic radiation, which increases the reliability of information and sensitivity to the detection of an emergency situation, is justified. An automated method of pipeline monitoring is proposed to detect defects and increase the resolution when they are detected.

Evaluating Natural Ecological Land Change in Function-Oriented Planning Regions Using the National Land Use Survey Data from 2009 to 2018 in China

The natural ecological lands, such as forest land, grassland, wetland, etc., constitute the most important factor for maintaining and preserving the earth’s ecosystem, which must be well concerned in the regional function-oriented planning for the sustainability of human economic development. We analyzed and evaluated the change of natural ecological land in the function-oriented planning regions where we applied the major function-oriented zones introduced as a new concept in China. Using the land-use data from 2009 to 2018 that were produced by the National Land Use Survey, we re-classified natural ecological land types into the forest, grassland, wetland, and bare land, and then addressed the changes of natural ecological land types from 2009 to 2018 in the major function-oriented zones. As a result, the area of natural ecological lands generally tended to decrease from 2009 to 2018, while the decreasing trend of natural ecological land areas was controlled after 2015 with the implementation of governmental policies for environment protection and eco-logical projects. Especially, the decrease of forest land area significantly tended to be zero in 2018 in optimal development zones. The decreased areas of natural ecological lands were mostly converted from artificial land from 2008 to 2019. On the other side, the forest lands mostly changed from cropland and grassland in key development zones, agricultural production zones, and key ecological function zones, due to the fact that grassland conversed in afforestation during this period. The evaluation of natural ecological land changes, which could be implemented by using the annual updates of national land-use data in China, is significant to support the government’s spatial regulation design, to reshape the planned regions, and make policies for environmental restoration and protection management.

Coupling analysis of the major impact on sustainable development of the typical arid region of Turpan in Northwest China

Analyzing the sustainable development of a given region can provide an important reference and guide for future orientation. The study selects Turpan (including Gaochang District, Shanshan County, and Toksun County) in Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region of Northwest China as the study area and first investigates the essence of regional sustainable development. Based on the relevant data of the population, economy, and environment of Turpan from 2002 to 2018, we constructed an evaluation index system for three dimensions, namely, the population, economy, and environment, and analyzed them systematically. Specifically, we quantitatively calculated the comprehensive evaluation index, coupling degree, and coupling coordination degree of the sustainable development system of the study area. The study finds that Turpan has on some dimensions become increasingly sustainable, especially the economic development level has improved. The results show that the coupling coordination degree has increased from 0.3692 to 0.8894 during the period 2002–2018, which reflects the actual situation of Turpan and indicates that the proposed analysis method can effectively measure and evaluate the level of sustainable development in this region. Moreover, the study also puts forward main functional zoning of Turpan (i.e., Gaochang District as an optimized development zone, Shanshan County as a major agricultural production zone, and Toksun County as a key ecological function zone) and regional planning principles based on the population, economic, and environmental coupling analysis for the three jurisdictions in Turpan.

Increase or decrease? Integrating the CLUMondo and InVEST models to assess the impact of the implementation of the Major Function Oriented Zone planning on carbon storage

In order to achieve the dual goals of territorial development optimization and protection, the Major Function Oriented Zone (MFOZ) has implemented differentiated spatial policies, which will lead to significant changes in future land use and ecosystem services. This study takes Nanning, China as the study area, and integrates the CLUMondo model and the InVEST model to assess the impact of land use change on carbon storage from 2010–2015 and 2015–2030 in three different scenarios. The results show that: (1) under the Natural Growth Scenario (NGS) and Economic Development Scenario (EDS), the overall carbon storage in the study area will decrease, while, under the Ecological Protection Scenario (EPS), the overall carbon storage will increase; (2) under the NGS, carbon storage in the key development zone will decrease, while it will increase in the agricultural production zone and in the key ecological function zone; (3) under the EDS, carbon storage will decrease in all the three major functional zones; (4) under the EPS, carbon storage will increase in all the three major functional zones. In the future, the three major functional zones should implement differentiated development policies to further optimize the land spatial development pattern and realize sustainable development.

Using Ecosystem Service Flows to Inform Ecological Compensation: Theory & Application.

Ecological compensation is a crucial policy instrument that realigns the benefits of stakeholders to the ecosystem service provision. However, the spatial disconnections between locations where ecosystem services produced and used are common. The supply and demand for ecosystem services are calculated to reflect the status of the districts or counties based on ecosystem service flows. The replacement cost methods provide necessary technical supports for the calculation of compensation funds. The realigning of compensation funds between service-benefiting areas and service-providing areas not only identifies the beneficiaries and suppliers but also realizes the connection between them, which may be a feasible methodology. Fuzhou City is the study area, and two ecosystem services of water conservation and soil retention were taken into consideration. The prioritized development zone, Linchuan, and the key agricultural production zones paid ecological compensation funds. Linchuan paid the highest, 5.76 billion yuan. The key ecological function zones and the key agricultural production zones received the ecological compensation funds, of which Yihuang obtained the highest, 1.66 billion yuan. The realigning of compensation funds between the service benefiting and providing areas addresses the trade-offs between ecosystem services, social development, and ecosystem protection. Embedding the ecosystem service flows into the ecological compensation mechanism can most truly realize the value of ecosystem services, achieve the “beneficiary pays” principle, and be conducive to regional sustainable development.

Spatial-Temporal Characteristics of Cultivated Land Use Efficiency in Major Function-Oriented Zones: A Case Study of Zhejiang Province, China

Promoting cultivated land use efficiency (CLUE) coordinated development in various major function-oriented zones is a measure to deal with unbalanced development of territorial space in China. Taking the optimized development, key development, agricultural production, ecological function, and ecological economic zones of Zhejiang province as research objects, this study incorporated agricultural carbon emission into the measurement framework of CLUE and analyzed the regional disparity and the convergence of CLUE from 2008 to 2017, using slack-based measure model (SBM), the Theil index, and convergence theory. The main results are as follows: (1) The CLUE value that considered agricultural carbon emissions was lower than the CLUE value that did not consider agricultural carbon emissions; thus, agricultural carbon emissions had a negative effect on CLUE. (2) The CLUE value of the five major function-oriented zones showed an increasing trend; after ranking the CLUE value, the CLUE of the optimized development zones was the highest, followed by the ecological function, ecological economic, and key development zones, and that of the agricultural production zones was the lowest, indicating significant regional disparity. (3) The overall disparity of CLUE presented an upward trend, and the within-regional disparity is the main source of the overall disparity. (4) Neither σ convergence nor absolute β convergence occurred in the CLUE of the five major function-oriented zones, but conditional β convergence occurred among the optimized development and ecological economic zones. Although the planning of major function-oriented zones reflects the regional disparity and convergence of CLUE to some extent, the CLUE under the control of major function-oriented zones is not consistent with the function positioning.

Understanding Land use/Land cover dynamics and impacts of human activities in the Mekong Delta over the last 40 years

The Mekong Delta is the third largest delta in the world, and a globally recognized agricultural production zone and biodiversity hotspot. In recent decades, land use and land cover (LULC) in the Mekong Delta has undergone tremendous changes due to increasing anthropogenic activities. However, accurate and long-term LULC mapping products for the entire delta are scarce. This study aims to use the Landsat and Chinese HJ-1B satellite images for nearly 40 years to detect the spatiotemporal dynamics of LULC in the Mekong Delta applying the classification and regression trees (CART) technique and analyze its driving factors. Seven main LULC categories were identified with an overall accuracy of 89–94%. We generated seven LULC maps of the whole Mekong Delta from 1979 to 2015 at a 30 m spatial resolution. The results showed that the area of aquaculture and residential land increased, while the area of mangroves, planting land, other forests, wasteland, and unused land decreased from 1979 to 2015. The planting land has been the dominant land use type in the delta since 1979, and still occupied over 72% of the delta area in 2015. The change to aquaculture is most pronounced in all LULC categories, with its percentage of area in the delta increasing to 19% in 2015. With the transformation of large-scale inland planting land into aquaculture ponds, aquaculture has become the second largest land use type following the planting land in the Mekong Delta from the late 20th century. Although the mangrove area showed only slight reduction during 1979–2015, the degree of patch fragmentation increased significantly. We found that the rapid changes of the LULC were mainly driven by economic development and land policies. This study gives insights into LULC dynamics and provides a valuable dataset for regional sustainable development planning and ecological assessment in the Mekong Delta.

Spatial and temporal disparities of carbon emissions and interregional carbon compensation in major function-oriented zones: A case study of Guangdong province

Abstract The promotion of low-carbon coordinated development in various major function-oriented zones is a measure in China to address the problem of climate change. In this study, we selected the optimized development, key development, key ecological function, and main agricultural production zones of Guangdong province as the research objects. We built a calculate-and-correct model of carbon emissions at district/county scales based on different data sources. Carbon pressure, per capita carbon emission, and carbon intensity were used as the measurement indices, and three quantitative formulas were established to calculate the carbon compensation amount in the different major function-oriented zones. We then investigated the spatial and temporal disparities in the carbon emissions and interregional carbon compensation in the zones. We drew three conclusions. First, there were substantial spatial differences in the total carbon emissions, per capita carbon emissions, carbon pressure, and carbon intensity in the four major function-oriented zones. Second, we comprehensively compared the carbon compensation results calculated by the three carbon emission measurement indices and found that carbon emission pressure was the best measurement index. The results of carbon compensation accounted by the carbon pressure indicated that the optimized development zone was the key pay compensation area, the key development zone was the compensation balance area, and the ecological development zone was the key receive compensation area. Third, compared to the results of previous research, our results were more in line with the expectations. The proportion of the compensation in the gross domestic product of each of the four major function-oriented zones was much higher than that obtained from previous research, and carbon compensation played a remarkable role in promoting regional coordinated development. Thus, this research provided a novel concept and quantitative research tool for interregional carbon compensation.

Three Types of Spatial Function Zoning in Key Ecological Function Areas Based on Ecological and Economic Coordinated Development: A Case Study of Tacheng Basin, China

Three types of spatial function zoning is an effective measure for regional environmental protection and orderly development. For ecological and economic coordinated development, spatial function zones should be divided scientifically to clear its direction of development and protection. Therefore, based on ecological constraints, a beneficial discussion would be about the key ecological function areas adopting the concept of ecological protection restriction and supporting socioeconomic development for spatial function zoning. In this paper, the researchers, taking Tacheng Basin, Xinjiang of China as an example, choose township as basic research unit and set up an evaluation index system from three aspects, namely, ecological protection suitability, agricultural production suitability, and urban development suitability, which are analyzed by using spatial analysis functions and exclusive matrix method. The results showed that: 1) This paper formed a set of multilevel evaluation index systems for three types of spatial function zoning of the key ecological function areas based on a novel perspective by scientifically dividing Tacheng Basin into ecological space, agricultural space, and urban space, which realized the integration and scientific orientation for spatial function at the township scale. 2) Under the guidance of three types of spatial pattern, the functional orientation and suggestions of development and protection was clearly defined for ecological protection zones, ecological economic zones, agricultural production zones, and urban development zones. 3) A new idea of space governance is provided to promote the coordinated and sustainable development between ecology and economy, which can break the traditional mode of thinking about regional economic development, and offers a scientific basis and reference for macro decision-making.

Pollination Services from Insects in Homegardens in the Chengdu Plain will be Confronted with Crises

Chengdu Plain is one of China’s most important agricultural production zones and has a large human population. Agricultural crops require insect pollination to increase yield and quality, which is especially important in plains areas where forest area is small. Homegardens are the main habitat of pollinators. The present study identified the importance of insect pollination in homegardens in the Chengdu Plain through field investigations and comparative experiments and revealed the risk to pollination services caused by the decrease in diversity and population of managed and wild pollinators. The results showed that (1) prohibiting all insect pollination (treatment A) and prohibiting managed bee pollination (treatment B) significantly reduced the yield and seed number of rapeseed and significantly reduced the size, weight, and sweetness of peach fruit, but had no significant effects on plums; (2) the dependence on insect pollination and the economic values of insect pollination for rapeseed and peaches are 0.56 and $85.1 million and 0.44 and $31.0 million, respectively; (3) there were 23 flower-visiting pollinator species at the experimental sites including: four species of managed bees and 19 species of wild pollinators. The peak time for pollinators to visit flowers was 11:00 to 15:00, and the managed bees accounted for over 67.55% of these visits; (4) within a radius of 1000 m from the site, 58.06% of the bees were non-locally managed, and the bee population managed locally by farmers decreased; and (5) compared with 2008, the number of homegardens decreased by 17.24%, the managed bees within the homegardens decreased by 62.05%, and the disappearance and destruction of homegardens led to a significant reduction in wild pollinators.

The changing role of local government in organic agriculture development in Wanzai County, China

ABSTRACTWanzai County in southern China has undergone a remarkable evolution since 2000. The commitment of the local government has made Wanzai into one of China’s most important organic agricultural production zones. Institutions and government support are vital for the development of organic agriculture. This article shows how the Wanzai County government changed from driver to guide in the process. Governments at the county, township and village levels formalised and institutionalised financial and technical support, mediating between farmers and enterprises and attracting investments to broaden organic market channels. Their experiences could be a reference for other remote areas with similar environmental and economic conditions.

Analysis of the Ecosystem Soil Conservation Function Based on the Major Function-Oriented Zones across the Yangtze River Economic Belt, China

The Yangtze River Economic Belt (YREB) is an important ecological security barrier for China. The spatial-temporal pattern of land use changes and changing characteristics of soil conservation function were analyzed based on the Major Function-Oriented Zones (MFOZs) from 2010 to 2015. Soil conservation was calculated by the Revised Universal Soil Loss Equation (RUSLE). Results were as follows: in 2015, the area ratio of built-up land in the optimal development zones (ODZs), key development zones (KDZs), agricultural production zones (APZs) and key ecological function zones (KEFZs) was 25.25%, 6.55%, 3.70% and 0.40%, respectively, which reflected the gradient of territorial development based on their functions. The average annual soil retention was 18.76 billion t/year during the study period, and the per unit soil retention was 91.54 t/hm2/year. The soil conservation function capacity was weakened in the order of KEFZs, APZs, KDZs and ODZs. Soil conservation function of the YREB showed an overall improvement from 2010 to 2015. The implementation of the MOFZs strategy has contributed significantly to improving the ecological security capability of the YREB.

SCIENTIFIC JUSTIFICATION OF CHANGE SUBURBAN FUNCTIONAL AREAS OF ALMATY AS A TRANSPORT AND LOGISTICS CENTER

The article considers methodological aspects of rational allocation of natural resources and the formation of suburban areas of Almaty, while the boundaries of the suburban zone, as well as the zone of special town-planning regulation and the zone of influence of the city of Almaty are defined. Functional zones are singled out on the basis of integrated urban planning analysis and assessment of the territory, the perspective planning structure, the trends in the social and economic development of the suburban zone, the general environmental and environmental characteristics of the environment and the main directions of its protection by design solutions of the general plan of the suburban zone of Almaty. In the suburban zone of the city of Almaty, according to the plan, there are communal facilities, logistics centers, facilities and sources of engineering support, transport, horticultural and dacha arrays, short-term and long-term rest areas for the population, and agricultural production zones.

Spatial identification of land use multifunctionality at grid scale in farming-pastoral area: A case study of Zhangjiakou City, China

Land use mutilfunctionality (LUMF) has recently received increasing attention in scientific and policy contexts because its capacity to bridge the connections between mutilfunctionality and land uses, as well as to integrate production, living and ecology approaches in policy development. This study established a conceptual framework for identifying and evaluating LUMF in spatial grid context from the perspective of structure, function, and well-being. Embedded in the spatial reference framework, a set of spatialization models were applied to quantify and visualize land use functions (LUFs), e.g. production, living, and ecology functions, by using multi-source and multi-scale data (land use data, remote sensing data, meteorological data, and statistical data, etc.) in Zhangjiakou City. The interactions of LUFs were measured, and on this basis, land use zoning was proposed. The results showed that the functionality indexes of production, living, and ecology ranged from 0 to 0.500, 0 to 0.994, and 0 to 0.998, respectively. The high production and living functions, and the low ecology function mainly occurred in well-developed regions, especially in the city center, where existed the strong synergies between production and living functions, as well as the strong trade-offs between the above two functions and ecology function. The low production and living functions, and the high ecology function were mainly distributed in mountain and hilly areas, located in the eastern and southern parts, where existed the weak synergies between production and living functions, and the strong trade-offs among production, living, and ecology functions. Four categories of land use zones were divided at town-level, namely, ecological preservation zones, urbanization development zones, agricultural production zones, and countryside improvement zones, mainly based on the spatial distribution of the synergies and trade-offs among LUFs. This study provides a pathway for quantitatively evaluating LUMF, and making land use zoning division, which provides quantitative information for policy-makers to implement land use optimization, economic development, and ecological protection in the light of the interactions of LUFs.

Spatiotemporal patterns and characteristics of land-use change in China during 2010–2015

Land use/cover change is an important theme on the impacts of human activities on the earth systems and global environmental change. National land-use changes of China during 2010–2015 were acquired by the digital interpretation method using the high-resolution remotely sensed images, e.g. the Landsat 8 OLI, GF-2 remote sensing images. The spatiotemporal characteristics of land-use changes across China during 2010–2015 were revealed by the indexes of dynamic degree model, annual land-use changes ratio etc. The results indicated that the built-up land increased by 24.6×103 km2 while the cropland decreased by 4.9×103 km2, and the total area of woodland and grassland decreased by 16.4×103 km2. The spatial pattern of land-use changes in China during 2010–2015 was concordant with that of the period 2000–2010. Specially, new characteristics of land-use changes emerged in different regions of China in 2010–2015. The built-up land in eastern China expanded continually, and the total area of cropland decreased, both at decreasing rates. The rates of built-up land expansion and cropland shrinkage were accelerated in central China. The rates of built-up land expansion and cropland growth increased in western China, while the decreasing rate of woodland and grassland accelerated. In northeastern China, built-up land expansion slowed continually, and cropland area increased slightly accompanied by the conversions between paddy land and dry land. Besides, woodland and grassland area decreased in northeastern China. The characteristics of land-use changes in eastern China were essentially consistent with the spatial govern and control requirements of the optimal development zones and key development zones according to the Major Function-oriented Zones Planning implemented during the 12th Five-Year Plan (2011–2015). It was a serious challenge for the central government of China to effectively protect the reasonable layout of land use types dominated with the key ecological function zones and agricultural production zones in central and western China. Furthermore, the local governments should take effective measures to strengthen the management of territorial development in future.

Relationship between cultivated land use functions and land rental behavior of rural households: empirical evidence from different dominant functional regions in central China

ABSTRACTThis paper analyzes the relationship between the cultivated land use functions and the land rental decisions of rural households in three Dominant Functional Zones of Hubei, China. The results indicate that 41.10% of the rural households in the study areas participated in the land rental market. The land rental market in the Key Development Zone has both a higher participation rate and land rent; the Agricultural Production Zone has a higher participation rate but a lower land rent; and the land rental market in the Key Ecological Zone is underdeveloped. The difference in regional function and economic level leads to a significant difference in the spatial variation of the cultivated land use multifunction. Overall, the cultivated land function of rural households has a significant impact on their land transfer behavior. The higher the Functions of Economic Contribution, Food Production, and Pension & Employment, the more willing the rural households are to rent in the land, while the higher the F...

Examining the influence of the implementation of Major Function-oriented Zones on built-up area expansion in China

China had implemented the national strategies for Major Function-oriented Zones (MFOZs) to realize the goal of national sustainable development since 2010. This study analyzed and compared spatio-temporal characteristics and differences in built-up area for China’s MFOZs using a China’ s Land Use Database (CLUD) derived from high-resolution remotely sensed images in the periods of 2000–2010 and 2010–2013. To sum up: (1) The percentage of built-up area in each of the MFOZs was significantly different, revealing the gradient feature of national land development based on the distribution of the main functions. (2) Annual growth in built-up area in optimal development zones (ODZs) decreased significantly during 2010–2013 compared with the period 2000–2010, while annual growth in built-up area in key development zones (KDZs), agricultural production zones (APZs) and key ecological function zones (KEFZs) increased significantly. (3) In ODZs, the average annual increase in built-up area in the Yangtze River Delta region was significantly higher than in other regions; the average area increase and rate of increase of built-up area in KDZs was faster in the western region than in other regions; average annual area growth of built-up area in APZs in the northeast, central and western regions was twice as high as the previous decade on average; the annual rate of change and increase in the dynamic degree of built-up area were most notable in KEFZs in the central region. (4) The spatial pattern and characteristics of built-up area expansions in the period 2010–2013 reflected the gradient feature of the plan for MFOZs. But the rate of increase locally in built-up area in ODZs, APZs and KEFZs is fast, so the effective measures must be adopted in the implementation of national and regional policies. The conclusions indicated these methods and results were meaningful for future regulation strategies in optimizing national land development in China.

Continuous and consistent land use/cover change estimates using socio-ecological data

Abstract. A growing body of research shows the importance of land use/cover change (LULCC) on modifying the Earth system. Land surface models are used to stimulate land–atmosphere dynamics at the macroscale, but model bias and uncertainty remain that need to be addressed before the importance of LULCC is fully realized. In this study, we propose a method of improving LULCC estimates for land surface modeling exercises. The method is driven by projectable socio-ecological geospatial predictors available seamlessly across sub-Saharan Africa and yielded continuous (annual) estimates of LULCC at 5 km × 5 km spatial resolution. The method was developed with 2252 sample area frames of 5 km × 5 km consisting of the proportion of several land cover types in Kenya over multiple years. Forty-three socio-ecological predictors were evaluated for model development. Machine learning was used for data reduction, and simple (functional) relationships defined by generalized additive models were constructed on a subset of the highest-ranked predictors (p ≤ 10) to estimate LULCC. The predictors explained 62 and 65 % of the variance in the proportion of agriculture and natural vegetation, respectively, but were less successful at estimating more descriptive land cover types. In each case, population density on an annual basis was the highest-ranked predictor. The approach was compared to a commonly used remote sensing classification procedure, given the wide use of such techniques for macroscale LULCC detection, and outperformed it for each land cover type. The approach was used to demonstrate significant trends in expanding (declining) agricultural (natural vegetation) land cover in Kenya from 1983 to 2012, with the largest increases (declines) occurring in densely populated high agricultural production zones. Future work should address the improvement (development) of existing (new) geospatial predictors and issues of model scalability and transferability.

Relation soil amendments and microbial antagonists for biological control of nematodes

Plant-parasitic nematodes are important factors affecting crop growth and yield in all agricultural production zones. However, chemical nematicides are now being reappraised in respect of environmental hazards, high costs, limited availability in many developing countries or their diminished effectiveness following repeated applications. This review presents the progress made in the field of microbial antagonists of plant-parasitic nematodes, including nematophagous fungi, endophytic fungi, actinomycetes, and bacteria. A wide variety of microorganisms are capable of repelling, inhibiting or killing plant-parasitic nematodes, but the commercialization of these microorganisms lags far behind their resource investigation. One limiting factor is its inconsistent performance in the field. No matter how well suited a nematode antagonist is to a target nematode in a laboratory test, rational management decisions can be made only by analyzing the interactions naturally occurring among host plant nematode target soil microbial control agent (MCA) environment. Organic soil amendments stimulate the activities of microorganisms that are antagonistic to plant-parasitic nematodes. The decomposition of organic matter results in accumulation in the soils of special compounds that may be nematicidal. Amendments are mainly bioproducts and wastes from industrial, agricultural, biological and other activities. Control of plant-parasitic nematodes can be by improvements of soil structure and fertility, alteration of the level of plant−resistance, the release of nematode toxic compounds), parasites (fungi and bacteria) and other nematodes antagonistic (biological control agents). The mode of action of organic amendments leading to plant disease control and stimulation of microorganisms is complex and dependent on the nature of the amendments. KEYWORDS: Biological control, Microbial control, Plant parasitic nematode.

Environmental risks of abandoning a mining project already started: Romaltyn Mining Baia Mare

The history of mining activity, which has been the economy engine in the region and has contributed to the formation of many localities, has been deleted too quickly. During all this time, in the world countries which have invested in mining sector have made considerable progress. The paper brings in question, within the framework of the theme, the implications arising from the abandonment of the Romaltyn project which mainly affects two objectives: Central Tailing Pond and Aurul Tailing Pond. The Central tailing pond constitutes an unfortunate source of pollution for groundwater, surface water, soil and air on a large area around it, because its location upstream of Baia Mare city and in the vicinity of a agricultural production zone. The consequences of the tailing pond maintenance in the current situation are: presence of sclerozing dust with sulphurs content scattered over large agricultural area; soil pollution by acidification; heavy metals release which enter in food chain and will be found in food. The final disposal of the pollution source is the only solution really safe in long term. Abandoning Aurul tailing pond in the current phase of construction involves high environmental risks. Taking in consideration the potential and the huge soil volume which are necessary for rehabilitation, isolation and rehabilitation of this area involve extremely high costs and the realization is, technically, almost impossible in the current context.