Abstract

We apply a systems framework for analyzing the overall sustainability impacts of interventions to a case of the rice-wheat cropping system of Punjab (India), where agricultural practices lead to air pollution-related health impacts, over-exploitation of groundwater, over-use of fertilizers and reduced local crop diversity. We use this case to quantify how varying degrees of change in interventions result in sustainability impacts using an inclusive wealth-based approach.

We show that either improving the existing cropping system or inducing fundamental changes in the cropping system, can lead to substantial and wide-ranging sustainability benefits. We also show that interventions that improve human health show the largest quantitative benefit due to the assumed high marginal value of human life. Accurate localized estimates of marginal values of stocks are needed for estimating overall sustainability impacts.  

Key Points

1. We apply a systems framework for analyzing policy interventions to the rice-wheat cropping system of Punjab (India). 
2. We quantify the sustainability impacts of interventions involving varying degrees of change in the system using an inclusive weath-based approach.
3. We show how policy-induced changes can lead to substantial and wide-ranging sustainability benefits.

Plain Language Summary

We use a systems-based approach for studying air pollution as a challenge embedded in a broader network of sustainability issues, and analyze the cross-sectoral impacts of policy interventions. We use the rice-wheat cropping system in Punjab, India, as a case study, since agricultural practices in this system are associated with a number of inter-linked sustainability challenges such as air pollution-related health impacts, over-exploitation of groundwater, over-use of fertilizers and reduced local crop diversity. We analyze the sustainability impacts of varying degrees of policy-induced change in this system and show that both incremental and fundamental changes can lead to wide-ranging sustainability benefits.