Physical and virtual nutrient flows in global telecoupled agricultural trade networks

Xiuzhi Chen, Yue Hou, Thomas Kastner, Liu Liu, Yuqian Zhang, Tuo Yin, Mo Li, Arunima Malik, Mengyu Li, Kelly R. Thorp, Siqi Han, Yaoze Liu, Tahir Muhammad, Jianguo Liu () and Yunkai Li ()
Additional contact information
Xiuzhi Chen: National Key Laboratory of Efficient Utilization of Agricultural Water Resources
Yue Hou: China Agricultural University
Thomas Kastner: Senckenberg Biodiversity and Climate Research Centre (SBiK-F)
Liu Liu: National Key Laboratory of Efficient Utilization of Agricultural Water Resources
Yuqian Zhang: Michigan State University
Tuo Yin: China Agricultural University
Mo Li: The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shenzhen
Arunima Malik: The University of Sydney
Mengyu Li: The University of Sydney
Kelly R. Thorp: USDA Agricultural Research Service
Siqi Han: China Agricultural University
Yaoze Liu: State University of New York
Tahir Muhammad: China Agricultural University
Jianguo Liu: Michigan State University
Yunkai Li: National Key Laboratory of Efficient Utilization of Agricultural Water Resources

Nature Communications, 2023, vol. 14, issue 1, 1-12

Abstract: Abstract Global agricultural trade creates multiple telecoupled flows of nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P). The flows of physical and virtual nutrients along with trade have discrepant effects on natural resources in different countries. However, existing literature has not quantified or analyzed such effects yet. Here we quantified the physical and virtual N and P flows embedded in the global agricultural trade networks from 1997 to 2016 and elaborated components of the telecoupling framework. The N and P flows both increased continuously and more than 25% of global consumption of nutrients in agricultural products were related to physical nutrient flows, while virtual nutrient flows were equivalent to one-third of the nutrients inputs into global agricultural system. These flows have positive telecoupling effects on saving N and P resources at the global scale. Reducing inefficient trade flows will enhance resource conservation, environmental sustainability in the hyper-globalized world.

Date: 2023
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-023-38094-4 Abstract (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:nat:natcom:v:14:y:2023:i:1:d:10.1038_s41467-023-38094-4

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
https://www.nature.com/ncomms/

DOI: 10.1038/s41467-023-38094-4

Access Statistics for this article

Nature Communications is currently edited by Nathalie Le Bot, Enda Bergin and Fiona Gillespie

More articles in Nature Communications from Nature
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sonal Shukla () and Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing ().