Archives of Peking University News - PKU English - 北京大学

北京大学英语新闻网/Peking University News
affect world food security.
―Although public attention has recently focused on the depletion of oil resources, the
depletion of underground water resources poses a far greater threat to our future.
While there are substitutes for oil, there are none for water. Over-extraction of water
for irrigation to meet the need of food is at the cost of the decline of future food
production.‖ He points out that the depletion of underground water resources is much
severer a problem than the depletion of oil resources, because there are substitutes
for oil, but none for water; today‘s excess scooping of water resources will result in
tomorrow‘s reduction of food output; agriculture is the most sensitive part in
economic structure and about 70% of the water are used for farmland irrigation. The
rise of temperature is another threat to the food security of human beings in the
future. According to a resent research by agro-bionomics scientists, yields typically
fall by 10 percent for each 1-degree Celsius rise in temperature during the growing
season. Moreover, the rise of temperature will also result in the rise of temperature in
high mountain areas, which leads to more runoff during the rainy season and less
snowmelt to feed rivers during the dry season. The importance of food security to
world economy development is: The reduction of grain will lead to unprecedented
rise in price, which will bring political turbulence to grain-importing low-revenue
countries, which will further influence the increase of world economy. Aiming at the
theories of the influences mentioned above, Mr. Brown put forward several relevant
countermeasures, viewing from the aspect of protecting cropland, improving land
productivity, stabilizing underground water table, stabilizing climate, etc. He takes
China as an example to explain specifically interrelated problems concerning food
security in developing countries and the effect to the world, indicating that the world
is in the face of the threat of the problem of food security. Mr. Brown specially talked
about three disturbing elements for the decline of grain turnout in China. First, China
is losing grain land to the expansion of deserts; the second is the loss of irrigation
water, due to both aquifer depletion and diversion of water to cities; the third is that
the slump of the price of grain since 1999 makes it difficult for farmers to gain profits
from increasing grain output. Although he showed his worry about the food security
in China, he also expressed his confidence in China‘s ability to ensure its food
security, because ―China‘s economy has expanded fourfold since 1980, showing
China‘s outstanding ability to handle changing circumstances of economy. The living
condition in China has improved in general and removed poverty and
undernourishment to a great extent. However, maintaining this development trend is
a challenge China has to confront with. He believes that traditional development
pattern in the west doesn‘t seem to achieve that, and that China should ―exploit a
new economic pattern, both environmentally sustainable and suitable for China‘s
present condition, which is a very challenging and great mission that needs plenty of
imagination and strong leadership.‖ Professor Cai Yunlong of the Center of Land
Sciences, PKU and vice director Jia Feng from SEPA, as specially invited guests of
this lecture commented on Mr. Brown‘s lecture from different point of view, and
1059