Nowadays, China is the world’s second largest economy and largest carbon emitter. This paper calculates the carbon emission intensity and the carbon emissions per capita of land use in 30 provinces at the national level in China from 2006 to 2016. A spatial correlation model is used to explore its spatiotemporal features. The results show that (1) China’s land use carbon emissions continued to grow from 2006 to 2016. The spatial heterogeneity of carbon emission intensity of land use initially decreased and then increased during this period.

Agricultural land is fundamental to human survival and economic development. Unlike other resources, land resources are embodied in trade goods and commodities, which are continuously re-allocated between countries and regions. As a typical ecological element, agricultural land embodied in trade activities can play an essential role in allocating land resources and advancing agricultural development.

Appreciation for agricultural sustainability and ecosystem services (ESS) has received considerable attention from the scientific community. However, research has not yet systematically and sufficiently considered the spatial dimension of ESS trade-offs as a source of conflicts. Moreover, approaches for ESS management that address a wide range of beneficiaries and their interactions at landscape scale are lacking.