关键词: 棉花;环境影响评价;气候变化;可持续发展

Abstract:

Pesticides and chemical fertilizers are intensively used in cotton cultivation, which causes various problems such as health damage, water and air pollution, and greenhouse gas (GHG) emission. On the basis of internal and external research findings, this paper summarizes different environmental impacts effected by imputing various kinds of chemical products during cotton cultivation. Through tracing relevant research findings on climate change, this paper also summarizes the GHG emission factors of different inputs regarding cotton planting, and it is the first attempt to calculate the total GHG emission of cotton planting. As estimated in 2009, the emission intensity of cotton field was 3 928.05 kg CO2 equivalent per hectare, and the total emission of cotton planting was 19.45 million tons of CO2 equivalents. There is huge potential to reduce GHG emission in cotton planting process. It is of vital importance to explore cleaner production mode for sustainable development of cotton industry.

Key words: cotton, environmental impacts assessment, climate change, sustainable development