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Using the IPAT identity and decoupling analysis to estimate water footprint variations for five major food crops in China from 1978 to 2010

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Abstract

Evaluations of water footprint (WF) used to enhance performance of policies on water utilization will benefit from combining WF analysis with methods from sustainability analysis. For this purpose, this paper analyzes the WF of China’s five main food crops, which together account for roughly 33 % of the nation’s water consumption. We assess distributional equity at the provincial scale and use the IPAT identity and a decoupling analysis to assess the scale of both national and provincial WF consumption, the factors influencing the WF fluctuation, and the efficiency of water allocation. Results show that although it is difficult in the short term to end the unsustainable WFs of China’s five main food crops, more efficient allocation can be achieved through appropriate agricultural policy modification. In the long term, distributional equity at the provincial level must be the key factor in achieving sustainable agriculture in China.

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Notes

  1. This information is available at: www.fao.org/nr/water/infores_databases_cropwat.html, 2012.

  2. This information is available at: www.fao.org/nr/water/infores_databases_climwat.html, 2012.

  3. China Agricultural Products and Good Yearbook is an annual report announced on http://www.cnagri.com, 2012.

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Acknowledgments

The research presented here was supported in part by the Social Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 11AZD102), the General Program of the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 71173157), the Youth Program of the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 71303154), the Young University Teachers’ Grants Plan of Shanghai Municipal Education Committee (Grant No. ZZGCD15119) and the University-Level Research Initiation Foundation of Shanghai University of Engineering Science (Grant No. E3-0501-16-01034). We appreciate their support. This research has benefited from the helpful comments by the anonymous reviewers.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Social Science, Shanghai University of Engineering Science, Shanghai, 201620, China

    Yuanhong Tian

  2. Sustainability Development and New Type Urbanization Think Tank, Tongji University, Shanghai, 200092, China

    Yuanhong Tian & Dajian Zhu

  3. School of Public Policy and Urban Affairs, Northeastern University, Boston, MA, 02115, USA

    Matthias Ruth

  4. Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Northeastern University, Boston, MA, 02115, USA

    Matthias Ruth

  5. School of Economics and Management, Tongji University, Shanghai, 200092, China

    Dajian Zhu

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Correspondence to Yuanhong Tian.

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Tian, Y., Ruth, M. & Zhu, D. Using the IPAT identity and decoupling analysis to estimate water footprint variations for five major food crops in China from 1978 to 2010. Environ Dev Sustain 19, 2355–2375 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10668-016-9860-1

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