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

Hong Yang, Xiaoyan Shen, Li Lai, Xianjin Huang and Yan Zhou
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Hong Yang: School of Geographic and Oceanographic Sciences, Nanjing University, Nanjing 210023, China
Xiaoyan Shen: School of Geographic and Oceanographic Sciences, Nanjing University, Nanjing 210023, China
Li Lai: School of Geographic and Oceanographic Sciences, Nanjing University, Nanjing 210023, China
Xianjin Huang: School of Geographic and Oceanographic Sciences, Nanjing University, Nanjing 210023, China
Yan Zhou: School of Geographic and Oceanographic Sciences, Nanjing University, Nanjing 210023, China

Sustainability, 2017, vol. 9, issue 9, 1-15

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.

Keywords: fertilizer; emergy analysis; disability-adjusted life years (DALY); China (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2017
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

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