Nitrogen Footprint in China: Food, Energy, and Nonfood Goods

作者：Gu, Baojing; Leach, Allison M.; Ma, Lin; Galloway, James N.; Chang, Scott X.; Ge, Ying; Chang, Jie^*

来源：Environmental Science & Technology, 2013, 47(16): 9217-9224.

DOI：10.1021/es401344h

• REACTIVE NITROGEN
• RECENT TRENDS
• TRACKING

The nitrogen (N) footprint is a novel approach to quantify losses to the environment of reactive N (Nr; all species of N except N-2) derived from human activities. However, current N footprint models are difficult to apply to new countries due to the large data requirement, and sources of Nr included in calculating the N footprint are often incomplete. In this study, we comprehensively quantified the N footprint in China with an N mass balance approach. Results show that the per capita N footprint in China increased 68% between 1980 and 2008, from 19 to 32 kg N yr(-1). The Nr loss from the production and consumption of food was the largest component of the N footprint (70%) while energy and nonfood products made up the remainder in approximately equal portion in 2008. In contrast, in 1980, the food-related N footprint accounted for 86% of the overall N footprint, followed by nonfood products (8%) and energy (6%). The findings and methods of this study are generally comparable to that of the consumer-based analysis of the N-Calculator. This work provides policy makers quantitative information about the sources of China's N footprint and demonstrates the significant challenges in reducing Nr loss to the environment.

• 出版日期2013-8-20
• 单位中国农业大学; 浙江大学