Review of the Water–Land–Food–Carbon Nexus Focused on Regional Low-Carbon and High-Quality Agricultural Development

Abstract

To overcome the multiple challenges of water scarcity, agricultural land conversion, food security, and carbon emissions, an optimal collaborative management scheme for food production is urgently needed, especially in high food-production and food-consumption countries such as China. The water–land–food–carbon (WLFC) nexus provides a new perspective, but its interactions are complex, dynamic, and spatially heterogeneous; the coupling mechanism is not fully understood; and the driving forces and regulation strategies remain uncertain. Therefore, in this study, the WLFC nexus centered on low-carbon and high-quality agricultural development was systematically reviewed. The main contributions are as follows: (1) A framework of the regional agricultural WLFC nexus was proposed based on bibliographic analysis. (2) The main internal and external factors influencing the WLFC nexus in agriculture were identified by reevaluating meta-analysis review studies. The results showed that changes in the amount and type of irrigation water, the amount and planting activities of agricultural land, and climate change (temperature, precipitation, and CO2 concentration) affected food (rice, wheat, and maize) yields and carbon emissions to varying degrees. Moreover, population, technological innovation, trade, and polices were important external factors impacting food production and carbon emissions. (3) The common methods and tools for assessing, simulating, and optimizing the WLFC nexus in agriculture were summarized from the perspectives of its status, physical links, and embodied links. Integrated indices, complex system thinking, and process-based and data-driven methods were applied in the studies of the WLFC nexus. (4) Strategies and programs for collaborative WLFC management in agriculture within 10 global river basins were compiled. These findings could help us better understand the WLFC nexus in agriculture and identify the optimal cooperative management scheme, thereby realizing low-carbon and high-quality agricultural development.