title: Nitrogen footprint in China: food, energy, and nonfood goods.
abstract: The nitrogen (N) footprint is a novel approach to quantify losses to the environment of reactive N (Nr; all species of N except N2) derived from human activities. However, current N footprint models are difficult to apply to new countries due to the large data requirement, and sources of Nr included in calculating the N footprint are often incomplete. In this study, we comprehensively quantified the N footprint in China with an N mass balance approach. Results show that the per capita N footprint in China increased 68% between 1980 and 2008, from 19 to 32 kg N yr(-1). The Nr loss from the production and consumption of food was the largest component of the N footprint (70%) while energy and nonfood products made up the remainder in approximately equal portion in 2008. In contrast, in 1980, the food-related N footprint accounted for 86% of the overall N footprint, followed by nonfood products (8%) and energy (6%). The findings and methods of this study are generally comparable to that of the consumer-based analysis of the N-Calculator. This work provides policy makers quantitative information about the sources of China's N footprint and demonstrates the significant challenges in reducing Nr loss to the environment.
authors.affiliation: Policy Simulation Lab, Zhejiang University , Hangzhou 310058, PR China.
authors.forename: Baojing
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Gu
authors.forename: Allison M
authors.initials: AM
authors.lastname: Leach
authors.forename: Lin
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Ma
authors.forename: James N
authors.initials: JN
authors.lastname: Galloway
authors.forename: Scott X
authors.initials: SX
authors.lastname: Chang
authors.forename: Ying
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Ge
authors.forename: Jie
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Chang
mesh_terms: D000383:Agriculture; D002681:China; D004777:Environment; D007221:Industry; D009584:Nitrogen; D058458:Nitrogen Cycle
chemical_list: D009584:Nitrogen