title: Assessment of the relationship between rural non-point source pollution and economic development in the Three Gorges Reservoir Area.
abstract: This study investigates the relationship between rural non-point source (NPS) pollution and economic development in the Three Gorges Reservoir Area (TGRA) by using the Environmental Kuznets Curve (EKC) hypothesis for the first time. Five types of pollution indicators, namely, fertilizer input density (FD), pesticide input density (PD), agricultural film input density (AD), grain residues impact (GI), and livestock manure impact (MI), were selected as rural NPS pollutant variables. Rural net income per capita was used as the indicator of economic development. Pollution load was generated by agricultural inputs (consumption of fertilizer, pesticide, and agricultural film) and economic growth with invert U-shaped features. The predicted turning points for FD, PD, and AD were at rural net income per capita levels of 6167.64, 6205.02, and 4955.29 CNY, respectively, which were all surpassed. However, the features between agricultural waste outputs (grain residues and livestock manure) and economic growth were inconsistent with the EKC hypothesis, which reflected the current trends of agricultural economic structure in the TGRA. Given that several other factors aside from economic development level could influence the pollutant generation in rural NPS, a further examination with long-run data support should be performed to understand the relationship between rural NPS pollution and income level.
authors.affiliation: College of Resources and Environment, Southwest University, Chongqing, 400715, China.
authors.forename: Tong
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: College of Resources and Environment, Southwest University, Chongqing, 400715, China.
authors.forename: Jiupai
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Ni
authors.affiliation: College of Resources and Environment, Southwest University, Chongqing, 400715, China. xdt@swu.edu.cn.
authors.forename: Deti
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Xie
mesh_terms: D000383:Agriculture; D057217:Economic Development; D004787:Environmental Pollution / Q000032:analysis*; D005308:Fertilizers / Q000032:analysis; D012989:Soil Pollutants / Q000032:analysis*
chemical_list: D005308:Fertilizers; D012989:Soil Pollutants
keywords: Economic development; Environmental Kuznets Curve; Rural non-point source pollution; The Three Gorges Reservoir Area