Spatiotemporal heterogeneities in water and land appropriations related to food losses and waste in China

Abstract

Fast-growing food losses and waste (FLW) have caused major environmental issues, yet little is known about the role of trade in the inefficient resource consumption related to FLW. In this study, we estimated the inter-annual water footprints (WFs) and land footprints (LFs) related to FLW in consideration of associated inter-provincial virtual water (VW) and virtual land (VL) flows within China from 2000 to 2017. Additionally, differences between eating at home and out in rural and urban regions were distinguished. The FLW-related WF and LF showed 1.5- and 1.2-fold increasing trends, respectively, over the study period. Eating at home in rural regions caused the most FLW and associated water and land appropriations. Both FLW-related gross inter-provincial VW and VL flows increased by 99% and 22% during the study period, respectively, and inter-provincial VW and VL flows in corresponding FLW-related WF and LF differed significantly. In addition, food losses were found to cause more inefficient resource consumption than food waste. This analysis shows that the substantial role of FLW in shaping the intra-national food-related VW and VL networks, and that the policies for FLW diminution at the food supply chain stage are as important as those at the consumption stage.

Keywords

• food losses and waste
• green water
• blue water
• environmental footprints