Abstract
China is the world’s largest country on ammonia (NH3) emission, which results in sever air pollution there. China’s updated Clean Air Act has started to pay attention to NH3 reduction, but it is believed that solutions are mainly constrained by implementation of suitable technologies. Here we argued that socioeconomic barriers are the key to hinder the reduction of agricultural NH3 emission for better air quality in China. We found that small farm size is the key driving force for high NH3 emission from croplands, while little manure storage and recycle facilities and the mismatch of livestock and cropland on spatial distribution are the reasons for high NH3 emission from livestock. Overcoming these socioeconomic barriers could at least reduce half of the agricultural NH3 emission while maintaining food production in China. It not only can benefit air quality but also reduce potentials of eutrophication, groundwater contamination, soil acidification, biodiversity loss, and greenhouse gas emission.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Bai Z, Ma W, Ma L, Velthof GL, Wei Z, Havlik P, Oenema O, Lee M, Zhang F (2018) China's livestock transition: driving forces, impacts, and consequences. Sci Adv 4:r8534. https://doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.aar8534
FAO (2019) FAOSTAT: FAO statistical databases, Rome
Fowler D, Coyle M, Skiba U, Sutton MA, Cape JN, Reis S, Sheppard LJ, Jenkins A, Grizzetti B, Galloway JN (2013) The global nitrogen cycle in the twenty-first century. Philos Trans Royal Soc B 368:20130164
Gu B, Sutton MA, Chang SX, Ge Y, Chang J (2014) Agricultural ammonia emissions contribute to China’s urban air pollution. Front Ecol Environ 12:265–266. https://doi.org/10.1890/14.WB.007
Gu B, Ju X, Chang J, Ge Y, Vitousek PM (2015) Integrated reactive nitrogen budgets and future trends in China. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 112:8792–8797. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1510211112
Guo JH, Liu XJ, Zhang Y, Shen JL, Han WX, Zhang WF, Christie P, Goulding KWT, Vitousek PM, Zhang FS (2010) Significant acidification in major Chinese croplands. Science 327:1008–1010. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1182570
Ju XT, Xing GX, Chen XP, Zhang SL, Zhang LJ, Liu XJ, Cui ZL, Yin B, Christie P, Zhu ZL, Zhang FS (2009) Reducing environmental risk by improving N management in intensive Chinese agricultural systems. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 106:3041–3046. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.0813417106
Kang Y, Liu M, Song Y, Huang X, Yao H, Cai X, Zhang H, Kang L, Liu X, Yan X, He H, Zhang Q, Shao M, Zhu T (2016) High-resolution ammonia emissions inventories in China from 1980 to 2012. Atmos Chem Phys 16:2043–2058. https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-16-2043-2016
Liu M, Huang X, Song Y, Tang J, Cao J, Zhang X, Zhang Q, Wang S, Xu T, Kang L, Cai X, Zhang H, Yang F, Wang H, Yu JZ, Lau AKH, He L, Huang X, Duan L, Ding A, Xue L, Gao J, Liu B, Zhu T (2019) Ammonia emission control in China would mitigate haze pollution and nitrogen deposition, but worsen acid rain. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 116:7760–7765. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1814880116
Pan Y, Tian S, Liu D, Fang Y, Zhu X, Zhang Q, Zheng B, Michalski G, Wang Y (2016) Fossil fuel combustion-related emissions dominate atmospheric ammonia sources during severe haze episodes: evidence from15N-stable isotope in size-resolved aerosol ammonium. Environ Sci Technol 50:8049–8056. https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.est.6b00634
Plautz J (2018) Piercing the haze. Science 361:1060–1063. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.361.6407.1060
Ren C, Liu S, van Grinsven H, Reis S, Jin S, Liu H, Gu B (2019) The impact of farm size on agricultural sustainability. J Clean Prod 220:357–367. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2019.02.151
Sutton MA, Reis S, Riddick SN, Dragosits U, Nemitz E, Theobald MR, Tang YS, Braban CF, Vieno M, Dore AJ, Mitchell RF, Wanless S, Daunt F, Fowler D, Blackall TD, Milford C, Flechard CR, Loubet B, Massad R, Cellier P, Personne E, Coheur PF, Clarisse L, Van Damme M, Ngadi Y, Clerbaux C, Skjoth CA, Geels C, Hertel O, Wichink Kruit RJ, Pinder RW, Bash JO, Walker JT, Simpson D, Horvath L, Misselbrook TH, Bleeker A, Dentener F, de Vries W (2013) Towards a climate-dependent paradigm of ammonia emission and deposition. Philos Trans Royal Soc B 368:20130166. https://doi.org/10.1098/rstb.2013.0166
Teng X, Hu Q, Zhang L, Qi J, Shi J, Xie H, Gao H, Yao X (2017) Identification of major sources of atmospheric NH3 in an urban environment in northern China during wintertime. Environ Sci Technol 51:6839–6848. https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.est.7b00328
Van Damme M, Clarisse L, Whitburn S, Hadji-Lazaro J, Hurtmans D, Clerbaux C, Coheur P (2018) Industrial and agricultural ammonia point sources exposed. Nature 564:99–103. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-018-0747-1
van Donkelaar A, Martin RV, Brauer M, Kahn R, Levy R, Verduzco C, Villeneuve PJ (2010) Global estimates of ambient fine particulate matter concentrations from satellite-based aerosol optical depth: development and application. Environ Health Persp 118:847–855. https://doi.org/10.1289/ehp.0901623
Wu Y, Gu B, Erisman JW, Reis S, Fang Y, Lu X, Zhang X (2016) PM2.5 pollution is substantially affected by ammonia emissions in China. Environ Pollut 218:86–94. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envpol.2016.08.027
Wu Y, Xi X, Tang X, Luo D, Gu B, Lam SK, Vitousek PM, Chen D (2018) Policy distortions, farm size, and the overuse of agricultural chemicals in China. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 115:7010–7015. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1806645115
Xu Z, Liu M, Song Y, Wang S, Zhang L, Xu T, Wang T, Yan C, Zhou T, Sun Y, Pan Y, Hu M, Zheng M, Zhu T (2019) High efficiency of livestock ammonia emission controls on alleviating particulate nitrate during a severe winter haze episode in northern China. Atmos Chem Phys:5605–5613. https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-19-5605-2019
Yu G, Jia Y, He N, Zhu J, Chen Z, Wang Q, Piao S, Liu X, He H, Guo X, Wen Z, Li P, Ding G, Goulding K (2019) Stabilization of atmospheric nitrogen deposition in China over the past decade. Nat Geosci 12:424–429. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41561-019-0352-4
Zhan X, Chen C, Wang Q, Zhou F, Hayashi K, Ju X, Lam SK, Wang Y, Wu Y, Fu J, Zhang L, Gao S, Hou X, Bo Y, Zhang D, Liu K, Wu Q, Su R, Zhu J, Yang C, Dai C, Liu H (2019) Improved Jayaweera-Mikkelsen model to quantify ammonia volatilization from rice paddy fields in China. Environ Sci Pollut R 26:8136–8147. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-019-04275-2
Zhang W, Cao G, Li X, Zhang H, Wang C, Liu Q, Chen X, Cui Z, Shen J, Jiang R, Mi G, Miao Y, Zhang F, Dou Z (2016) Closing yield gaps in China by empowering smallholder farmers. Nature 537:671–674. https://doi.org/10.1038/nature19368
Zhang X, Wu Y, Liu X, Reis S, Jin J, Dragosits U, Van Damme M, Clarisse L, Whitburn S, Coheur P, Gu B (2017) Ammonia emissions may be substantially underestimated in China. Environ Sci Technol 51:12089–12096. https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.est.7b02171
Zhang L, Chen Y, Zhao Y, Henze DK, Zhu L, Song Y, Paulot F, Liu X, Pan Y, Lin Y, Huang B (2018) Agricultural ammonia emissions in China: reconciling bottom-up and top-down estimates. Atmos Chem Phys 18:339–355. https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-18-339-2018
Zhang C, Liu S, Wu S, Jin S, Reis S, Liu H, Gu B (2019) Rebuilding the linkage between livestock and cropland to mitigate agricultural pollution in China. Resour Conserv Recy 144:65–73. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.resconrec.2019.01.011
Zhou F, Ciais P, Hayashi K, Galloway J, Kim D, Yang C, Li S, Liu B, Shang Z, Gao S (2016) Re-estimating NH3 emissions from Chinese cropland by a new nonlinear model. Environ Sci Technol 50:564–572. https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.est.5b03156
Funding
This study was supported by the National Key Research and Development Project of China (2018YFC0213300, 2016YFC0207906), the National Natural Science Foundation of China (41822701, 41830751, and 41671464), the Discovery Early Career Researcher Award of the Australian Research Council (DE170100423), and the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities (2019XZZX004-11).
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Additional information
Responsible editor: Philippe Garrigues
Publisher’s note
Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Gu, B., Song, Y., Yu, C. et al. Overcoming socioeconomic barriers to reduce agricultural ammonia emission in China. Environ Sci Pollut Res 27, 25813–25817 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-020-09154-9
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-020-09154-9