Author(s)

K. Okamoto, S. Shindo & H. Kawashima

Abstract

Land-use, water resources and nitrogen load in major river basins in Asia K. Okarnotol, S. shindo' & H. ~awashima~ '~ational Institute for Agro-Environmental Sciences, Japan. 2 Graduate School of Agricultural and Life Sciences, University of Tokyo, Japan. Abstract At present, 55% of the population in the world lives in Asia. Rice is the staple food of Asians. Are there sufficient water resources for cultivating crops? Will the water quality remain suitable for cultivating crops? To obtain basic data for these questions, we analyzed the land-uselland-cover in Asia and constructed nitrogen load maps. Rice is mainly cultivated from East to South Asia. We used 0.5" grid data to estimate the nitrogen load in these regions. These data include those on the course of a river, land-uselland-cover classification, population, climate, nitrous oxide (NOX) emission, and country boundary. We also used statistical data on fertilizer consumption, food production, food consumption and food trade. In East Asia,

Keywords