Special Issue on Impacts of Land Use and Climate Change on Hydrological Processes in China

Globally, all nations face challenges to mitigate the impacts of climate change and land-use competition to national infrastructure and environmental systems. For China, robust economic ascendance, population growth, and rapid urbanization have intensified competition for land use with consequences for agricultural productivity, water use allocation, and soil and water quality. The World Bank and United Nations describe China as having a land area of approximately $9.6\mathrm{million}{\mathrm{km}}^2$, an estimated 2011 population of 1.344 billion, and a 2011 gross domestic product of US$7.3 trillion. Like many nations, China may face significant challenges to resource sustainability because of potential climate change. Of China’s total water withdrawals of $554\mathrm{billion}{\mathrm{m}}^3/\mathrm{year}$, 64.6% is used for agriculture, 23.2% is for industrial uses, and 12.2% is used for municipal purposes, according to Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations (2005) data. China has recognized the need for sustainable management and effective freshwater remediation technologies throughout all of its regions and has implemented research programs and international collaboration to address these needs.

To foster dialogue between U.S. and China researchers, a workshop was hosted by the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) Institute of Applied Ecology in Shenyang, China on January 5–8, 2010, and was cosponsored by the China-U.S. Joint Research Center for Ecosystem and Environmental Change. The purpose of the workshop was to discuss current research on soil and water resource sustainability issues and promote bilateral collaboration in research and graduate education between U.S. and Chinese institutions. The organizing committee involved faculty from the Institute of Applied Ecology, Northeast China Institute of Geography and Agricultural Ecology, China Agricultural University, Liaoning Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Shenyang Agricultural University, and the University of Tennessee’s Institute for a Secure and Sustainable Environment. More than 80 participants represented 14 Chinese institutions, in addition to U.S. participants with the University of Tennessee, Purdue University, Argonne National Laboratory, and Oak Ridge National Laboratory.

This special issue provides an important outcome of early discussions regarding bilateral collaboration in hydrological research between Chinese and U.S. institutions. In this issue, ten technical papers and two case studies are presented that describe research findings across a myriad range of climate and land use–related research topics. This special issue is not a culminating event, but a starting point for further dialogue, which is hoped will lead to collaboration opportunities and graduate education exchange.