Identifying the fallow priority areas of cultivated land under resources and environmental constraints in China

Abstract: This study aims to identify the priority areas of fallow under the resources and environmental background of cultivated land in China. The spatial pattern and differentiation characteristics of ecological stress factors were systematically determined using the Nemerow integrated pollution index, the variation of groundwater level, the service function of the ecosystem, and the sensitivity of the ecological environment. Four dimensions were also considered, including ecological protection red line, soil pollution, over-exploited groundwater, and arable land quality. Subsequently, a multi-criteria and multi-objective optimization of fallow was constructed to identify the scale of fallow, and the spatial distribution of priority areas. Three scenarios were also selected, including the priority to food safety (PFS), the minimum production capacity loss (MCL), and the priority to ecological security (PES). Especially, each scenario was set as the low, medium, and high level for better prioritizing fallow units. A spatial weighing of all factors was also carried out to delineate the fallow priority areas of cultivated land under resources and environmental constraints. As such, an optimal matching was achieved for the correlation between ecological security, food production, and quality. The results showed that: 1) There were much larger areas of arable land within the delineation of ecological protection red line in northern China than those in the south. Specifically, the area of arable land within the first- and the second-class ecological protection red line delineation accounted for 3.57%, and 10.95%, respectively. 2) The area ratios of farmland with slight, moderate, and severe pollution were 18.56%, 2.31%, and 1.23%, respectively. The overall pollution in the south was higher than that in the north. There was a partially scattered distribution of pollution in the south, whereas, the north showed a pattern of spot-like agglomeration. 3) The areas of over-exploited groundwater were mainly concentrated in the provinces of Hebei, Henan, Jilin, and Jiangsu, where the severe over-exploited areas accounted for only 0.68% of the whole of China. The severe over-exploited areas with the large-scale contiguous patterns were 4 670 km2 and 3 950 km2 in Hebei and Henan, respectively. 4) The total proportions of arable land quality accounted for 3.69% and 14.0%, respectively, for the grade of the inferior and poor grade in northern China, particularly with the widely dispersed pattern, compared with the south. The priority fallow areas accounted for 23.70% of the total study area, according to the comprehensive evaluation of cultivated land and multi-criteria fallow. Specifically, the proportions of the prohibited-planting-fallow area (I), restricted-planting-fallow area (II), key-rotation area (III), and general-rotation area (IV) were 1.95%, 4.71%, 6.18%, and 10.86%, respectively. Furthermore, the priority fallow areas were 8.40%, 4.18%, and 3.12% higher than those of the PFS, MCL, and PES, respectively. Consequently, this finding can provide strong technical support to effectively implement the fallow planning, thereby protecting the cultivated land from soil pollution in modern agriculture.