Land Degradation and Management Strategies: Contributing to Sustainable Agriculture

A special issue of Agronomy (ISSN 2073-4395). This special issue belongs to the section "Farming Sustainability".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 31 October 2024 | Viewed by 758

Special Issue Editors


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Guest Editor
Key Laboratory of Land Surface Pattern and Simulation, Institute of Geographic Sciences and Natural Resources Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100101, China
Interests: land change; land degradation assessment; sustainable land management; crop productivity and yield gaps; food security
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Key Laboratory of Regional Sustainable Development Modeling, Institute of Geographic Sciences and Natural Resources Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100101, China
Interests: land use/cover change; land use monitoring and simulation; agricultural remote sensing; agricultural land use; rural human–earth system
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Land provides essential goods (e.g., food, feed, fuel) and services (e.g., carbon sequestration, soil conservation, climate regulation) for socio-ecological systems. However, one third of global ice-free land is degraded to varying degrees due to unsustainable land use, climate change, and extreme weather. Especially for agricultural land, 30% of cropland and 50% of grassland have experienced unprecedented degradation, such as soil erosion, salinization, pollution, productivity decline, and coverage reduction, becoming one of the major threats to food security, biodiversity conservation, economic development, social equity, and sustainable development goals. There is an urgent need to comprehensively analyze land degradation status, processes, causes, impacts, and adaptation strategies for land restoration and sustainable agricultural development. Thus, this Special Issue looks forward to receiving your original research articles and reviews focused on the following issues: (1) novel methods for assessing agricultural land-use-induced land degradation, (2) land degradation dynamics and their natural-anthropogenic driving mechanisms, (3) multidimensional impacts of land degradation and their trade-offs and synergies, and (4) sustainable agricultural management strategies for future challenges in soil and water conservation and eco-security.

Prof. Dr. Changhe Lü
Dr. Yaqun Liu
Guest Editors

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Keywords

  • agricultural land degradation
  • land use and cover change
  • overgrazing and grassland degradation
  • land productivity
  • soil quality
  • ecosystem services
  • anthropogenic interference
  • climate change
  • food and ecological security
  • sustainable land management

Published Papers (1 paper)

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Research

17 pages, 12839 KiB  
Article
Evolutionary Trend Analysis of Agricultural Non-Point Source Pollution Load in Chongqing Based on Land Use Simulation
by Kangwen Zhu, Yan Zhang, Xiaosong Tian, Dongjie Guan, Sheng Zhang, Yong He and Lilei Zhou
Agronomy 2024, 14(4), 737; https://doi.org/10.3390/agronomy14040737 - 02 Apr 2024
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Abstract
Analysis of the relationship between future land use change and agricultural non-point source pollution (ANPSP) evolution is vital to promoting sustainable regional development. By simulating future land use types, we can identify and analyze the evolution trend of ANPSP. This study takes Chongqing [...] Read more.
Analysis of the relationship between future land use change and agricultural non-point source pollution (ANPSP) evolution is vital to promoting sustainable regional development. By simulating future land use types, we can identify and analyze the evolution trend of ANPSP. This study takes Chongqing as a case study to establish an integrated solution based on the PLUS model, output coefficient model, and GIS technology. The solution can simulate data, identify trends, and identify key control areas under future development scenarios. The results show that the PLUS model can simulate land use types at the provincial scale with high accuracy, with a Kappa coefficient of around 0.9. The land use type changes show that urban expansion has occupied a large amount of cultivated land. From 2000 to 2020, the proportion of high-load areas with TN pollution load levels was 4.93%, 5.02%, and 4.73%, respectively. Under the two scenarios in 2030–2050, the number of high-load areas decreased, and the average load level decreased from west to east. Sensitivity analysis found that risk changes are more sensitive to the increase in fertilizer application. When the TN and TP output coefficients are increased, the number of towns with increased levels is greater than those with decreased levels when the output coefficients are decreased. Sensitivity analysis can better identify key pollution control areas. The areas sensitive to changes in farmers’ behavior are mainly the Hechuan District, Nanchuan District, Qijiang District, Jiangjin District, and Bishan District. This study provides data and decision-making support for rural green development and water environment improvement. Full article
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