Climate change threatens food security

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Source: CCTV.com | 10-16-2008 15:06

Thursday this week, that's October the 16th, is World Food Day. World environmental organization, Greenpeace, has released a report.

The report suggests China adopt more supportive policies to encourage ecological agriculture to tackle the threats of climate change.

This calls on China to promote more environmentally-friendly farming practices to stave off any impact from climate change.

The report says climate change is affecting agricultural production through changes in factors, including temperature, soil condition and extreme weather.

The report predicts China's overall food production may drop by up to 23 percent by 2050 from its 2000 level as a result of climate change.

Experts who wrote the report also warn China may lose its self-sufficiency in food production as early as 2030 because of climate change.

Prof. Lin Erda, National Expert Committee for Climate Change, said, "Experiments show for every one degree Celsius rise in night temperatures, grain output will drop by 10 percent. We predict that over the next 20 to 50 years, under the scenario that temperatures will rise one to two degrees Celsius or even more, such climate change will have a severe, negative impact on our food security."

The report suggests China adopt more supportive policies to encourage ecological agriculture to tackle the threats of climate change.

Ecological agriculture relies less on fertilizers and pesticides, and hence, emits less greenhouse gases and is more climate-friendly.

Pan Wenjing, Greenpeace China, said, "We suggest governments come up with more detailed and feasible policy measures to support ecological agriculture, and to provide more technical support for farmers."

Experts also point out that costs and economic return are major obstacles for the large-scale promotion of ecological agriculture in China.

They suggest the government provide more subsidies for farmers who practice eco-agriculture.

Editor:Zhang Pengfei