Impacts of Rice Cropping System Changes on Paddy Methane Emissions in Southern China

Min Jiang (), Xiubin Li, Liangjie Xin, Minghong Tan and Wen Zhang
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Min Jiang: State Key Laboratory of Remote Sensing Science, Aerospace Information Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100101, China
Xiubin Li: Key Laboratory of Land Surface Pattern and Simulation, Institute of Geographic Sciences and Natural Resources Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100101, China
Liangjie Xin: Key Laboratory of Land Surface Pattern and Simulation, Institute of Geographic Sciences and Natural Resources Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100101, China
Minghong Tan: Key Laboratory of Land Surface Pattern and Simulation, Institute of Geographic Sciences and Natural Resources Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100101, China
Wen Zhang: State Key Laboratory of Atmospheric Boundary Layer Physics and Atmospheric Chemistry, Institute of Atmospheric Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100029, China

Land, 2023, vol. 12, issue 2, 1-13

Abstract: Rice paddies are one of the main sources of anthropogenic terrestrial CH 4 . In recent decades, the substitution of single-cropping rice (SCR) for double-crop rice (DCR) has become more common in southern China. However, the concomitant impacts on CH 4 emissions have not been quantified. We incorporated high-resolution rice cropping system maps into the CH4MOD model to calculate changes in CH 4 emissions in southern China due to DCR conversion to SCR over the period 1990 to 2015. We find that a total planting area of 253.64 ×10 4 ha was converted from DCR to SCR. This conversion resulted in a 451.94 Gg reduction in CH 4 emissions, accounting for 8.4% of CH4 emissions from paddies in China in 2015. The largest reduction was in the Middle–Lower Yangtze plain with high labor pressures. As urbanization continues, we project that the total CH 4 emissions have the potential to decrease by between 17.1% and 9.2% under DCR conversion to SCR in southern China in the extreme and most likely scenarios, respectively. As farmers voluntarily move to SCR in response to labor scarcity, making full use of the land-use change trend of DCR to SCR may be an opportunity to reduce agricultural methane emissions, which is important for achieving Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and should be given more attention.

Keywords: double to single rice cropping system; methane emissions; model estimates; southern China (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q15 Q2 Q24 Q28 Q5 R14 R52 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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