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Influencing mechanism of non-CO2 greenhouse gas emissions and mitigation strategies of livestock sector in developed regions of eastern China: a case study of Jiangsu province

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Abstract

The livestock sector not only provides people with meat, eggs, milk, and other nutrients but also causes a large number of non-CO2 greenhouse gas emissions. It is urgent to explore the influence mechanism of non-CO2 greenhouse gas emission from the livestock sector and formulate effective mitigation strategies. Taking Jiangsu province as an example, we analyzed the influencing factors of non-CO2 greenhouse gas emissions from the livestock sector based on sources and modified the STIRPAT (stochastic impact by regression on population, affluence, and technology) model, proposed the directions, designed the generally circular path, and determined the focus of non-CO2 greenhouse gas emissions reduction from the livestock sector. The results demonstrated: (1) the top priority of emission reduction of livestock sector in Jiangsu province was the reasonable treatment of manure produced by livestock (non-CO2 greenhouse gas emissions from manure had accounted for more than 60% of the total emissions from the livestock sector since 2007.), and the core was pig manure management (the CH4 and N2O emissions from pig manure accounted for more than 90 and 50% of the total CH4 and N2O emissions from all livestock manure, respectively). (2) The decrease of the agricultural population, the increase of livestock output value per capita of the agricultural population, and the improvement of livestock carbon productivity all reduced non-CO2 greenhouse gas emissions of the livestock sector. For every 1% decrease in agricultural population, for every 1% increase in livestock carbon productivity and livestock output value per capita of the agricultural population, non-CO2 greenhouse gas emissions from the livestock sector would be reduced by 0.0859%, 0.1748%, and 0.0400%, respectively. (3) To construct and improve the low carbon industrial chain of the livestock sector, to promote low carbon technology research and development and introduction are two focuses for non-CO2 greenhouse gas emission reduction in the livestock sector. The research can provide a basis for non-CO2 greenhouse gas emissions reduction from the livestock sector in China, especially in the developed eastern regions.

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Acknowledgements

I am very grateful to the editors and anonymous reviews for reviewing this paper.

Funding

This work was supported by the National Key R&D Program of China (no. 2018YFD1100101), the National Natural Sciences Foundation of China (42001133), and the Jiangsu Natural Science Foundation (BK20181105).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Key Laboratory of Watershed Geographic Sciences, Nanjing Institute of Geography & Limnology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Nanjing, 210008, China

    Chuanhe Xiong, Weizhong Su, Hengpeng Li & Zheng Guo

  2. College of Resources and Environment, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100049, China

    Zheng Guo

Authors
  1. Chuanhe Xiong
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  2. Weizhong Su
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  3. Hengpeng Li
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  4. Zheng Guo
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Contributions

Chuanhe Xiong: data curation, methodology, writing—original draft, and validation. Weizhong Su: writing—reviewing and editing. Hengpeng Li: writing—reviewing and editing. Zheng Guo: investigation.

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Correspondence to Chuanhe Xiong or Hengpeng Li.

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Xiong, C., Su, W., Li, H. et al. Influencing mechanism of non-CO2 greenhouse gas emissions and mitigation strategies of livestock sector in developed regions of eastern China: a case study of Jiangsu province. Environ Sci Pollut Res 29, 39937–39947 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-022-18937-1

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