Spatio-Temporal Variations of Health Costs Caused by Chemical Fertilizer Utilization in China from 1990 to 2012

Abstract

Abstract:The health impacts caused by chemical fertilizer utilization have challenged long-term sustainable development in many countries, particularly developing countries. Based on the emergy analysis method, we estimated the temporal and spatial variations of the health costs, through atmospheric, water, and soil pathways, of chemical fertilizer utilization in China during the period from 1990 to 2012. The results showed an obvious increasing trend of health costs from 1.8 billion Yuan in 1990 to 23.0 billion Yuan in 2012, while the ratio of health costs to agriculture output value declined slowly and became stable in recent years. Regional differences were remarkable and were significantly correlated to the levels of economic development (r = 0.843 and p < 0.001) and crop-sown area in the region (r = 0.588 and p < 0.001). Economically developed regions, especially the eastern coastal provinces, had much higher costs than the western regions. Meanwhile, fertilizer consumption shifted from the eastern to the northwest region, which was the same as the health costs. This study provides a reference to estimate the health costs of fertilizer utilization, and the results highlight the importance of sustainable development in China.

Operationalizing the Sustainable Fertilizer Management Global Initiative at National Level: A Conceptual Framework

“…It is equally important that negative environmental consequences should be transformed into clear economic indicators, but today such studies are not enough. For example, Yang et al (Yang et al, 2017) found that in China, health care costs caused by fertilisation account for about 0.5% of agricultural output, and interregional fluctuations in the deterioration of health caused by fertilisation also affect the assessment of economic losses (Yang et al, 2017).…”

“…Due to the need to increase food production, the intensification of agriculture seems to be the only way to achieve food security goals, with the use of fertilisers as an integral part. According to some estimates, the expected population growth in the coming decades will increase the burden on agricultural production by 50-80%, which will lead to an increase in the sector's dependence on fertiliser use (Yang et al, 2017). Intensive agricultural practices, which allow increasing or reducing the cost of food production, simultaneously threaten the balance of agroecological systems (Pandey & Diwan, 2018) and lead to increased pollution of agricultural resources, a decrease in the quality of agricultural products and food.…”

The Use of Constructed Wetland for Mitigating Nitrogen and Phosphorus from Agricultural Runoff: A Review

“…It is very challenging to consistently reduce the use of N and P fertilizers to protect the agroecosystems [13,14] because world grain production still largely depends on N and P fertilizers [15,16]. Farmers often overuse fertilizers to pursue high crop yield [17,18]. Therefore, fertilizer use has been increasing continuously at a growth rate of around 5% per year [19].…”

Spatiotemporal Analysis of Water Quality Using Multivariate Statistical Techniques and the Water Quality Identification Index for the Qinhuai River Basin, East China

“…Moreover, rural domestic sewage and wastewater produced from livestock and poultry farming are discharged into the river directly, causing serious organic pollution in the Jurong River tributary [50,51]. Furthermore, non-point source pollution, such as pesticides, fertilizers, and aquaculture wastewater, will also be discharged into the river through pumping stations with rainfall runoff, which will have an impact on water quality [52,53]. In the Lishui River sub-basin, most of the other Lishui River tributaries are surrounded by large areas of farmland where rainfall causes agricultural non-point source pollution.…”