China’s ability to meet the water-related targets of the 2030 sustainable development agenda is threated by increasing agricultural water scarcity. We show that scarce irrigation water use in China rose in the last decade due to irrigated cropland expansion in the north, even if agricultural imports and reducing agricultural water use intensity reduced the volume of water used. These results showcase large impacts of current cropland compensation policies. Better-defined guidelines for the cropland requisition- compensation balance policy that fully consider water scarcity are urgently needed to avoid increasing the magnitude of associated sustainability challenges. These should be fully integrated with ecosystem conservation policy, through incorporating territorial spatial planning, to avoid serious impact of surrounding natural ecosystems.
 

Water Scarcity,Nexus,Water-land,Land Management