Land In China Research Articles

How Semi-Urbanisation Drives Expansion of Rural Construction Land in China: A Rural-Urban Interaction Perspective

The expansion of rural construction land in China has led to ecological consequences under the context of rural depopulation, despite government land use controls. While previous studies have investigated the local factors contributing to the expansion of rural construction land, the semi-urbanisation of urban immigrants distant from rural areas has received less attention. To better understand the connections between the semi-urbanisation in the urban areas and the construction land expansion in rural areas, this study constructed a network/spatial lag of N/X (N/SLX) model that incorporated the network lagged term of the socio-economic traits of semi-urbanised migrants to analyse how urban semi-urbanisation influenced rural construction land. Our findings suggest that both the income of rural-urban migrants and the difficulty of obtaining urban household registration are positively correlated with the expanding extent of rural construction land. Conversely, the living expenses of migrants and city economic development are negatively correlated with that of rural construction land. Considering our findings, we propose that policies facilitating the settlement and integration of rural out-migrants into cities and proceeding urbanisation based on county towns are crucial to curb the inefficient expansion of rural construction land.

Tele-connections, driving forces and scenario simulation of agricultural land, water use and carbon emissions in China's trade

Exploring the virtual resources flow along supply chains and the coupling relationship among different resources is important for promoting sustainable agricultural development. In this study, by combing environmentally-extended multi-regional input-output (EEMRIO) and structural decomposition analysis (SDA) methods, we analyzed the transfer of agricultural virtual water, land and carbon emissions in China's regional trade and identified the hidden driving forces. We further explored agricultural water-land-carbon nexus evolution characteristics in different development scenarios. The results showed that trade-embodied agricultural land, water use and carbon emissions increase by 8.5 %, 15.4 % and 27.3 % from 2007 to 2017 respectively. The flow trend is mainly from water-starved northern China to southern and southeastern China. Virtual water flows reduce 41.5 % and embodied carbon emissions reduce 31.9 % after the improvement of water use efficiency and reduction of carbon intensity in 2030 under the W2LC2 scenario, where faces the least water-land-carbon pressure. The results provide important information for alleviating the inequality of regional resource and environmental pressure in China.

Spatiotemporal change of cultivated land in China during 2000-2020.

Cultivated land is of great significance for ensuring food security. Since the 21st century, China's rapid development has led to urban construction occupying a lot of cultivated land. The understanding of stage characteristics and regional differences needs to be improved. And it is necessary to quantify the temporal and spatial pattern of cultivated land changes since the 21st century. We used the global land cover dataset (GlobeLand30) to investigate the quantity and spatial distribution of cultivated land change in China from 2000 to 2020. The results show that: 1) Over the last two decades, China's arable land has diminished by 54,996 square kilometers. Notably, the arable land loss between 2010 and 2020 was 1.74 times greater than that from 2000 to 2010. This decline has been exacerbated by factors such as the expansion of urban and rural areas, as well as initiatives to revert farmland to forests and grasslands; 2) The eastern coastal regions experienced the most severe net arable land loss, with a net reduction of 42,989 square kilometers from 2000 to 2020, primarily driven by urban expansion; 3) In contrast, the western regions demonstrated the most substantial net increase in arable land, expanding by 11,583 square kilometers from 2000 to 2020, primarily driven by the development of forests and grasslands. It is noteworthy that despite some areas successfully implementing policies to return farmland to forests and grasslands, the ecologically fragile western regions continue to experience accelerated conversion of these natural landscapes into arable land, partly to compensate for the farmland decrease driven by urbanization in the eastern regions. Looking ahead, China's cultivated protection policy must strike a balance between the ecological value of the western region and the economic value of the eastern region.

A New Land Use Dataset Fusion Algorithm for the Runoff Simulation Accuracy Improvement: A Case Study of the Yangtze River Basin, China

Monitoring and understanding the development of agricultural management requires fine information on multiple agricultural land use classes. According to the main data bulletin of China’s third national land survey released in 2021, the proportion of arable land in China accounts for 16% of the total land area. After excluding areas that are not suitable for development (slope greater than 25 degrees), the remaining area represents arable land affected by human activities, constituting 96.69% of the total arable land area in the country. Artificially irrigated areas are products of the intertwined interactions between the natural environment and human society. However, the original remote sensing image (China’s land use/cover datasets, CLUDs), which is designed to depict the land use and cover patterns in mainland China, categorizes arable land into two main types: paddy fields and dryland. It lacks a subdivision of artificially irrigated areas. We also found a data discrepancy of more than 10% between the statistical data of rice and the paddy field data in CLUDs. To refine land use data, and then improve the simulation accuracy of the hydrological model, this article proposes a dual-source datasets fusion algorithm, learning based on big data, namely the LUCC statistical data fusion (LUSF) algorithm for integrating the remote sensing-based cropland area dataset and statistics dataset. The runoff simulation results show that, in the Yangtze River Basin, using LUSF datasets, the mean absolute percentage error value of monthly simulated runoff decreased by 0.74%, and the root mean square error value decreased by 0.22 million m3. At the basin scale, the absolute error of the simulated runoff is reduced by an average of 433 million m3 per year, and 36 million m3 every month. The LUSF datasets corrected the canopy interception coefficient effectively; the runoff simulation error was reduced by 2.96 billion m3/a. In the past 40 years, the runoff variation in Dongting Lake and Hanjiang River has been most strongly impacted by changes in the underlying surface. These results reveal that the new data fusion method has some significant improvement over the original method, applicable to the runoff simulation disturbed by strong human activities.

Characteristics and evaluation of heavy metal pollution in a soil–wheat system of an arid oasis city in northwest China

In this paper, the Cu and Ni accumulation and contamination levels in agricultural soils and wheat around a smelter in Jinchang City in northwest China were investigated with a combination of field investigations and indoor analytical tests, using a soil–wheat system as the study area. The average Cu and Ni contents in the soil were 119.50 mg kg–1 and 123.40 mg kg–1, respectively, both of which exceeded the local soil background values. The Cu and Ni contents in 46.15% o and 26.92% of sampling sites, respectively, exceeded the screening values for soil contamination risk in agricultural land in China. The average Cu content in different parts of wheat was in the order of roots (24.22 mg kg–1) > leaves (20.11 mg kg–1) > husks (5.51 mg kg–1) > grains (4.05 mg kg–1) > stalks (3.74 mg kg–1). Furthermore, the average Ni content ranked as leaves (24.64 mg kg–1) > roots (21.12 mg kg–1) > husks (6.95 mg kg–1) > stalks (1.75 mg kg–1) > grains (0.38 mg kg–1). The health risk evaluation showed that with average hazard index values of 0.88 for adults and 1.04 for children for Cu and Ni in wheat grain, wheat in this region is unlikely to pose a health risk to adults but may pose a lesser health risk to children. The Ni bio–concentration and translocation factors in the husk and leaves of wheat were greater than those of Cu and smaller than those of Cu in the other parts of wheat. The results of this study provide basic data for the remediation of heavy metal contamination in local agricultural soils.

Potentially suitable habitats of Daodi goji berry in China under climate change.

Goji berry (Lycium barbarum L.) is a famous edible and medicinal herb worldwide with considerable consumption. The recent cultivation of goji berries in the Daodi region was seriously reduced due to increased production costs and the influence of policy on preventing nongrain use of arable land in China. Consequently, production of Daodi goji berry was insufficient to meet market demands for high-quality medicinal materials. Searching for regions similar to the Daodi region was necessary. The MaxEnt model was used to predicted the current and future potential regions suitable for goji berry in China based on the environmental characteristics of the Daodi region (including Zhongning County of Zhongwei prefecture-level city, and its surroundings), and the ArcGIS software was used to analyze the changes in its suitable region. The results showed that when the parameters were FC = LQHP and RM = 2.1, the MaxEnt model was optimal, and the AUC and TSS values were greater than 0.90. The mean temperature and precipitation of the coldest quarter were the most critical variables shaping the distribution of Daodi goji berries. Under current climate conditions, the suitable habitats of the Daodi goji berry were 45,973.88 km2, accounting for 0.48% of China's land area, which were concentrated in the central and western Ningxia Province (22,589.42 km2), and the central region of Gansu Province (18,787.07 km2) bordering western Ningxia. Under future climate scenarios, the suitable area was higher than that under current climate conditions and reached the maximum under RCP 6.0 (91,256.42 km2) in the 2050s and RCP 8.5 (82,459.17 km2) in the 2070s. The expansion regions were mainly distributed in the northeast of the current suitable ranges, and the distributional centroids were mainly shifted to the northeast. The moderately and highly suitable overlapping habitats were mainly distributed in Baiyin (7,241.75 km2), Zhongwei (6,757.81 km2), and Wuzhong (5, 236.87 km2) prefecture-level cities. In this stduy, MaxEnt and ArcGIS were applied to predict and analyze the suitable habitats of Daodi goji berry in China under climate change. Our results indicate that climate warming is conducive to cultivating Daodi goji berry and will not cause a shift in the Daodi region. The goji berry produced in Baiyin could be used to satisfy the demand for high-quality medicinal materials. This study addresses the insufficient supply and guides the cultivation of Daodi goji berry.

On the Feasibility Analysis of Introducing Foreign Capital into Education, Medical and Other Industries

Because there are huge differences between Chinese and Western ideology and cultural development, but the current trend of economic globalization is irrecontradicable, so it is helpful to introduce foreign investment while insisting on domestic enterprises going global. However, when introducing foreign investment, it is inevitable to encounter many problems, such as not being controlled by the Chinese government or being too strong in foreign investment, which will drive our domestic enterprises to the brink. At the same time, these foreign investments can play their role in China's land and promote its economic development. This requires the rulers to formulate a package of fair and effective policies to promote its development. The two major fields of education and healthcare are related to the ideology and physical health of the people, and therefore are the foundation and foundation of the country. In order to ensure the long-term prosperity of the country and social stability, it is necessary to attach great importance to the guidance of these two aspects. It is necessary to consider the entry of foreign investment into China as a good thing. Meanwhile, it is a good way to allow foreign investment to play a positive role in promoting technological change and capital flow in these two fields. At the same time, it is necessary to control the power of capital and not let it control the foundation of our country, as this will shake national security.

Large Seasonal Variation in Nitrogen Isotopic Abundances of Ammonia Volatilized from a Cropland Ecosystem and Implications for Regional NH3 Source Partitioning.

Ammonia (NH3) volatilization from agricultural lands is a main source of atmospheric reduced nitrogen species (NHx). Accurately quantifying its contribution to regional atmospheric NHx deposition is critical for controlling regional air nitrogen pollution. The stable nitrogen isotope composition (expressed by δ15N) is a promising indicator to trace atmospheric NHx sources, presupposing a reliable nitrogen isotopic signature of NH3 emission sources. To obtain more specific seasonal δ15N values of soil NH3 volatilization for reliable regional seasonal NH3 source partitioning, we utilized an active dynamic sampling technique to measure the δ15N-NH3 values volatilized from maize cropping land in northeast China. These values varied from -38.0 to -0.2‰, with a significantly lower rate-weighted value observed in the early period (May-June, -30.5 ± 6.7‰) as compared with the late period (July-October, -8.5 ± 4.3‰). Seasonal δ15N-NH3 variations were related to the main NH3 production pathway, degree of soil ammonium consumption, and soil environment. Bayesian isotope mixing model analysis revealed that without considering the seasonal δ15N variation in soil-volatilized NH3 could result in an overestimate by up to absolute 38% for agricultural volatile NH3 to regional atmospheric bulk ammonium deposition during July-October, further demonstrating that it is essential to distinguish seasonal δ15N profile of agricultural volatile NH3 in regional source apportionment.

The Local Party-State in Action: How Administrative Reclassification, FDI and Party Recruitment Condition the Governance of Land in China.

The Local Party-State in Action: How Administrative Reclassification, FDI and Party Recruitment Condition the Governance of Land in China.

Characteristics of unbalanced and inadequate intensive use of cultivated land in China and causes

Characteristics of unbalanced and inadequate intensive use of cultivated land in China and causes

Impact and mechanism of the “three rights separation” of agricultural land on the output efficiency of arable land in China：Based on the production factor perspective

Impact and mechanism of the “three rights separation” of agricultural land on the output efficiency of arable land in China：Based on the production factor perspective

Optimization and benefit analysis of the supply chain for sweet sorghum bioenergy production in China

<p>Bio-liquid fuel is one of the effective ways to alleviate energy shortages and reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Sweet sorghum, as an energy crop used in fuel ethanol production, has enormous potential for development. However, due to seasonality, vulnerability, and logistical scheduling costs during transportation, the sweet sorghum ethanol supply chain faces significant difficulties and challenges in its development. To address the research gap, this paper proposes a multi-objective sustainable supply chain optimization model for Chinese sweet sorghum bioenergy based on mixed-integer linear programming. In this framework, the crop growth process model is first spatially extended to obtain the feedstock sources of the sweet sorghum ethanol supply chain. Then a site selection model for the feedstock collection stations and ethanol processing plants is constructed based on the geographic information system (GIS) to determine the candidate locations of the basic units of the sweet sorghum ethanol supply chain. Finally, a multi-objective supply chain optimization model based on the mixed-integer linear programming methodology is created to achieve the sweet sorghum ethanol supply chain layout and optimization at the national level. This framework takes into account the fuel ethanol market demand in China and the current state of the sweet sorghum ethanol supply chain industry, achieving national-level layout and optimization of the sweet sorghum ethanol supply chain. The total aboveground biomass (dry weight) of sweet sorghum on marginal land in China can be converted into approximately 37.212 million tons of fuel ethanol production, meeting the requirement to promote a nationwide 10% substitution rate for automotive ethanol gasoline. The lowest-cost supply chain layout scheme suggests establishing large ethanol processing plants near the Hu Huanyong Line, as this area benefits from abundant sweet sorghum yield on marginal lands and lower east-west direction transportation costs. However, the lowest carbon emission supply chain layout scheme recommends reducing the raw material supply area and increasing the ethanol transportation route to lower carbon emissions. The results of the sensitivity analyses indicate that lowering feedstock production and increasing ethanol demand increases the overall cost and carbon emissions of the sweet sorghum ethanol supply chain, while using rail transportation methods, increasing feedstock production, and decreasing ethanol demand reduces costs and carbon emissions.</p>

Overview of Marginal Lands in Henan Province, China and Evaluation of Development Potential of Biomass-To-Liquid Fuels

Developing marginal lands to plant energy crops and then develop biomass-to-liquid fuels is an effective way to ease the energy crisis, promote greenhouse gas emission reduction, and protect the natural ecological environment. Taking Henan Province, China as a research object, the research obtained spatial distributions and areas of marginal lands in the province by processing remote-sensing data for land use using software ArcGIS. Marginal lands in Henan Province were classified into the first-class, second-class, and third-class ones by selecting key natural conditions including the soil thickness, slope, soil texture (sand volume fraction), accumulated temperature above 10 °C, organic matter content, and total annual precipitation as indices. The research showed that the total area of marginal lands in the province is 1.68×104 km2, including 0.62×104 km2 of first-class marginal lands, 0.83×104 km2 of second-class marginal lands, and 0.23×104 km2 of third-class marginal lands. Taking production of bioethanol with sugar grass as an example, 8.92×107 t of sugar grass can be harvested on the marginal lands in Henan Province, which can be converted into 5.80×106 t of bioethanol, equivalent to 6.96×106 t of standard coal. The research can provide reference for realizing energy structure optimization and consolidating energy security in Henan Province.

The Impact of Digital Technology Use on Farmers’ Land Transfer-In: Empirical Evidence from Jiangsu, China

In China, characterized by its vast population and limited land, expanding the scale of agricultural operations through the transfer of land management rights is a crucial pathway to achieving agricultural modernization. Using data from the China Land Economic Survey (CLES), we empirically explored the influence of digital technology use on land transfer-in by farmers. Employing the Probit model and the KHB method, this study examined the mechanisms underlying this relationship and addressed the issue of endogeneity through the Conditional Mixed Process (CMP) model, grounded in the instrumental variable method. Key findings include: (1) both the accessibility and the depth of digital technology use significantly facilitated land transfer-in by farmers. For every one-unit increase in digital technology accessibility, the likelihood of land transfer-in escalated by 6.2%; similarly, a one-unit rise in the depth of digital technology use increased this probability by 2.6%. (2) An analysis of the mechanisms indicates that social networks and credit availability played partial mediating roles in the impact of digital technology accessibility and depth on land transfer-in, with social networks exhibiting a stronger mediation effect. (3) Heterogeneity analysis suggests that the impact of digital technology use on land transfer-in was more pronounced in peri-urban villages and among farmers with higher literacy levels. In light of these findings, we proposed policy recommendations to accelerate the development of rural digital infrastructure, enhance digital skill training for farm households, and vigorously promote rural digital inclusive finance.

Spatiotemporal distribution and influencing factors of impervious surface evaporation in the Baiyangdian catchment from 1980 to 2020

AbstractEvaporation from impervious surfaces plays a vital role in the catchment water cycle. Exploring the spatiotemporal variation patterns and influencing mechanisms of impervious surface evaporation at the catchment scale can improve the understanding and evaluation of the evaporation process. This study downloaded 0.5 m resolution images of the Baiyangdian catchment (BYD) from Google Earth and used deep learning to identify impervious surfaces. This was used to revise impervious surfaces of the China land cover dataset in 1985 and 1990–2020. Potential evaporation (PET) from three types of impervious surfaces (roofs, ground affected or not affected by the building height) was calculated by modifying the parameters of the Penman–Monteith equation, and daily precipitation and water‐storage capacity of impervious surfaces were taken into account to estimate impervious surface evaporation (E). The results showed that E values of the three types of impervious surfaces were between 72.1 and 178.2 mm/year and all exhibited the spatial distribution of high in the northwest and low in the southeast of the BYD in 1980–2020. Compared with that in 1980, in 2020, the cumulative evaporation (EAP) increased by 134.4%. The ratio of EAP to cumulative precipitation ranged from 3.0% to 6.9%, increasing significantly in a fluctuating manner. The increments in precipitation days and impervious surface area played a major role in the increase of EAP, and the decrease in precipitation was the fundamental reason for the increase in the proportion of impervious surface evaporation and water resource pressure in the BYD. Excluding the continuous evaporation from the remaining water can likely lead to underestimating the impervious surface evaporation. This study provides an efficient and reasonable novel approach for calculating impervious surface evaporation in long series and large‐scale catchments.

The impact of digital governance on the health of rural residents: the mediating role of governance efficiency and access to information.

Digital transformation in rural areas has become a key policy priority worldwide. China is also implementing a digital village strategy and actively promoting the digital transformation of rural governance to improve the well-being of rural residents. The literature suggests that digital governance is linked to health, but the mechanisms behind this relationship remain unclear. Using data from the 2021 China Land Economic Survey (CLES), this paper examines the impact of digital governance on the health, longevity, and mental health of rural residents. To enhance the robustness of the conclusions, this paper also introduces a dual machine learning model to solve the endogeneity problem of the model. This study concludes that digital governance has a significant positive impact on the health of rural residents. This finding remains consistent even after addressing endogeneity issues and conducting numerous robustness tests. Mechanistic analyses indicate that digital governance can enhance rural residents' health by improving village governance (environmental governance) and increasing the efficiency of access to personal information. Further analysis reveals that digital governance significantly increases the life expectancy of rural residents but that its effect on mental health is not significant. This study provides new insights into how digital governance affects health, with important implications for health policy development.

The Modern Agriculture Development of Arid and Semi-Arid Areas in China

It was very important to study the agricultural development of arid and semi-arid areas in China for national food security. This area accounts for about 1/3 of China's land area. However, due to long-term water scarcity, strong sandstorms, and severe soil salinization, local agricultural development was limited.Nowadays, with the continuous development of agricultural technology in arid and semi-arid areas, the agricultural development in arid and semi-arid areas of our country had undergone earth-shaking changes. In this paper, from the initial unification of plastic film cover in arid and semi-arid areas to the normalization of greenhouses and solar greenhouses, and with the development of electrification technology and the gradual maturity of information technology, agricultural development has gradually moved from traditional to the era of modernization, information and intelligence, the above four aspects to discuss the agricultural development process in arid and semi-arid areas of our country.

Is Abandoned Cropland Continuously Growing in China? Quantitative Evidence and Enlightenment from Landsat-Derived Annual China Land Cover Dataset

Abandoned cropland is a great waste of land resources, which not only affects the stability of food production, but also wastes limited cropland resources. China has large areas of abandoned cropland, and accurately extracting the large-scale abandoned cropland is a prerequisite for the government to implement reclamation policies and estimate the food production potential of abandoned cropland. China has implemented the Grain for Green Project (GGP) since 1980, but most research has not considered its impact on the extraction of abandoned cropland. Therefore, a method was proposed to identify abandoned cropland excluding the regions of GGP, and to analyze the spatio-temporal characteristics and potential of abandoned cropland in China from 1991 to 2018. GGP potential and food production potential of abandoned cropland were discussed. The results showed that 26.47 million hectares of cropland has been abandoned in the past 28 years (including cropland that has been reclaimed). Under the positive influence of the government’s food security policy, the abandoned cropland has decreased in recent years, but the total area is still high. The abandonment mainly occurred in the Jiangnan Hills, the Hilly Regions of Fujian and Guangdong Province, the North China Mountains, and Eastern Inner Mongolia. The higher the elevation and the steeper the slope, the higher the abandonment rate. In addition, the urban-rural income gap significantly affected the abandonment rate. This study drew the spatial and temporal distribution map of abandoned cropland in China with a spatial resolution of 30 m considering GGP. It provides an important basis for formulating reclamation and GGP policy.

Research on Legal Issues of Ecological Protection of Cultivated Land in China under the Background of Food Security

A sound legal system for ecological protection of cultivated land plays an important role in ensuring ecological protection of cultivated land and food security. The legalization of ecological governance will inevitably become an important governance approach in China in the future. With the development of agriculture and the further expansion of urban scale in China, the sustained high-intensity utilization of arable land resources has led to severe degradation, quality decline, ecological imbalance, and insufficient reserve resources. The sustainable utilization of arable land resources is facing severe challenges. This requires stricter requirements for farmland protection work, clear implementation of hard measures for farmland protection, and adherence to the strictest farmland protection system while comprehensively promoting the rule of law and ensuring food security. By exploring the problems in China’s legal system for ecological protection of arable land, starting from timely strengthening the systematic legislation for ecological protection of arable land, improving the legal mechanism for ecological protection of arable land, improving legal measures for ecological control of arable land, and improving the legal protection system for pollution prevention and control of arable land, we aim to improve the legal system for ecological protection of arable land, promote the sustainable utilization of arable land resources, and ensure national food security.

Problems of “Non-Food” Cultivated Land in China in the New Period and Suggestions for Countermeasures

With China's economic and social development, under the influence of many factors, such as the low efficiency of grain cultivation and the formation of a pattern of specialization in agricultural production, the phenomenon of “de-farming” and “de-fooding” of arable land has begun to emerge in some areas. “Non-food” in China's food production space at the same time, but also on the arable land will produce different degrees of damage. Therefore, this paper analyzes the background and challenges of the “degrading” of arable land in China in the new era, and reveals in depth the regional and typological characteristics of the “degrading” of arable land, its causes, and its impact on food and ecological security. The paper finds that the background of “non-food” cropland stems from the diversification of agricultural production and the need to explore alternative land uses other than traditional food crops, and poses a challenge to China's food security by affecting the food supply. In the future, we should explore the formation of a long-term mechanism to strengthen the policy guidance of “non-food” and improve the efficiency of arable land for food cultivation in order to stimulate farmers' incentives to grow food. The article puts forward countermeasures to enhance the willingness of business entities to grow food and prevent the “degrazing” of arable land from the perspectives of policy guidance, multi-party participation, standard construction and compensation mechanism, with a view to providing certain reference significance for the protection of arable land in China in the future.