Physical and virtual nutrient flows in global telecoupled agricultural trade networks

Xiuzhi Chen; Yue Hou; Thomas Kastner; Liu Liu; Yuqian Zhang; Tuo Yin; Mo Li; Arunima Malik; Mengyu Li; Kelly R Thorp; Siqi Han; Yaoze Liu; Tahir Muhammad; Jianguo Liu; Yunkai Li

doi:10.1038/s41467-023-38094-4

Physical and virtual nutrient flows in global telecoupled agricultural trade networks

Nat Commun. 2023 Apr 26;14(1):2391. doi: 10.1038/s41467-023-38094-4.

Authors

Xiuzhi Chen^#^{1

2

3}, Yue Hou^#^{2

4}, Thomas Kastner⁵, Liu Liu^{1

2}, Yuqian Zhang³, Tuo Yin², Mo Li⁶, Arunima Malik^{7

8}, Mengyu Li⁸, Kelly R Thorp⁹, Siqi Han², Yaoze Liu¹⁰, Tahir Muhammad^{2

11}, Jianguo Liu¹², Yunkai Li^{13

14}

Affiliations

¹ National Key Laboratory of Efficient Utilization of Agricultural Water Resources, 100083, Beijing, China.
² College of Water Resources and Civil Engineering, China Agricultural University, 100083, Beijing, China.
³ Department of Fisheries and Wildlife, Center for Systems Integration and Sustainability, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI, 48823, USA.
⁴ China International Engineer Consulting Cooperation Overseas Consulting Co., Ltd., 100048, Beijing, China.
⁵ Senckenberg Biodiversity and Climate Research Centre (SBiK-F), Senckenberganlage 25, 60325, Frankfurt-am-Main, Germany.
⁶ School of Humanities and Social Science, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shenzhen, 518172, Shenzhen, China.
⁷ ISA, School of Physics A28, The University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW, Australia.
⁸ Discipline of Accounting, The University of Sydney Business School, The University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW, Australia.
⁹ USDA Agricultural Research Service, 21881 N Cardon Ln., Maricopa, AZ, USA.
¹⁰ Department of Environmental and Sustainable Engineering, University at Albany, State University of New York, 1400 Washington Avenue, Albany, NY, 12222, USA.
¹¹ College of Hydrology and Water Resources, Hohai University, 210098, Nanjing, China.
¹² Department of Fisheries and Wildlife, Center for Systems Integration and Sustainability, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI, 48823, USA. liuji@msu.edu.
¹³ National Key Laboratory of Efficient Utilization of Agricultural Water Resources, 100083, Beijing, China. yunkai@cau.edu.cn.
¹⁴ College of Water Resources and Civil Engineering, China Agricultural University, 100083, Beijing, China. yunkai@cau.edu.cn.

^# Contributed equally.

Abstract

Global agricultural trade creates multiple telecoupled flows of nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P). The flows of physical and virtual nutrients along with trade have discrepant effects on natural resources in different countries. However, existing literature has not quantified or analyzed such effects yet. Here we quantified the physical and virtual N and P flows embedded in the global agricultural trade networks from 1997 to 2016 and elaborated components of the telecoupling framework. The N and P flows both increased continuously and more than 25% of global consumption of nutrients in agricultural products were related to physical nutrient flows, while virtual nutrient flows were equivalent to one-third of the nutrients inputs into global agricultural system. These flows have positive telecoupling effects on saving N and P resources at the global scale. Reducing inefficient trade flows will enhance resource conservation, environmental sustainability in the hyper-globalized world.

Abstract

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