Xuan Jiang’s research while affiliated with Huazhong Agricultural University and other places

The effective control of cropland soil erosion is urgent for all countries because of its threat to global food security. Cropland soil erosion is caused by agricultural production and driven indirectly by consumption. Analyzing the causes and preventive strategies from the consumption side is essential for soil erosion control. However, there is not yet sufficient research or practice. In this study, we estimated global cropland soil erosion with the revised universal soil loss equation, allocated it to specific types of crops, and quantified the cropland soil erosion footprint of the economies with a multiregional input−output analysis model. Our results showed that developed economies, usually importing cropland soil erosion from developing or agriculturally developed economies, are the beneficiaries in the current crop trading system. The European Union is the largest net importer, while Brazil is the largest exporter. The indirect and induced sectors are the main contributors, consuming approximately 70.48% of the total cropland soil erosion. Our results revealed the region-and product-specific contributors that could inform the reduction of global cropland soil erosion for sustainable food production and consumption.

The massive use of pesticides has caused environmental problems, and it is urgent to reduce the use of pesticides. Pesticide use is closely related to social and economic activities, but few studies have quantified the contribution of socioeconomic factors to changes in pesticide use. Hence, based on the multiregional input–output (MRIO) model and structural decomposition analysis (SDA), this study quantified the contribution of pesticide use intensity, production structure, local consumption and distant consumption to changes in pesticide use in China from 2012 to 2017 and further analysed the effect of distant consumption on local pesticide use at the provincial and sectoral levels. The results showed that the total use of pesticides showed a downward trend during 2012-2017. Specifically, the intensity of pesticide use was an important factor for the decrease in pesticide use, resulting in a decrease of 4.9´10 ⁵ tons of pesticide use. Nevertheless, local and distant consumption were the primary factors for the increase in pesticide use, resulting in increases of 4.37×10 ⁵ and 1.21×10 ⁵ tons, respectively. More importantly, provinces with high added value of primary industry bear the risk of pesticide pollution in provinces with high per capita GDP due to distant consumption. Moreover, the agriculture and food sectors are the most important sectors affected by distant consumption. Therefore, it is necessary to clarify provincial and sectoral responsibilities for pesticide use due to distant consumption and to encourage cross-regional technical support and sectoral cooperation for pesticide reduction.