THIRD WORLD NETWORK INFORMATION SERVICE ON SUSTAINABLE AGRICULTURE

Dear friends and colleagues,

Re: Ecological agriculture a solution to food security, climate challenges in China

A new report by Greenpeace, ‘Climate Change and Food Security in China’, warns that China will lose its self-sufficiency in food production as early as 2030 because of climate change. Climate change is affecting agricultural production through changes in temperature, water availability, soil condition, extreme weathers, crop diseases and pest outbreaks, with serious consequences for food security. This disaster can only be averted if the government takes immediate action to cut its greenhouse gas emissions and adopt policies encouraging more climate-friendly ecological agriculture.

The report was authored by China’s top climate experts and agronomists commissioned by Greenpeace. Led by the lead author, Professor Lin Erda from the China Academy of Agricultural Sciences, who is also China’s top scientist for the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, the report points out that ecological agriculture, which works with nature rather than against it, can drastically reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Moreover, compared with today’s destructive chemical and fossil energy intensive agriculture, ecological agriculture better adapts to and survives the effects of climate change.

The Executive Summary of the report is reproduced below. More information is available at http://www.greenpeace.org/china/en/news/climate-change-food-security and the full report (in Chinese) is available at http://act.greenpeace.org.cn/event/olympic/climate-agriculture.pdf

With best wishes,

Lim Li Ching

Third World Network

131 Jalan Macalister

10400 Penang

Malaysia

Email: twnet@po.jaring.my
Websites: www.twnside.org.sg, www.biosafety-info.net

http://www.greenpeace.org/raw/content/china/en/press/reports/climate-food-report-summary.pdf

Executive Summary

Climate change has become one of the greatest challenges faced by the human race. It affects almost all aspects of our society, including food supply. Agriculture has long been the foundation of China’s social and economic development. With a large agricultural population and a huge pressure placed on resources, as well as a large production area that features complex topography and distinct patterns of climate, China’s farming industry is very vulnerable to climate change. Against this background, ecological agriculture therefore has its obvious advantages. It is of great importance for the sustainable development of agricultural and national security to determine the impact of climate change on agriculture and food security in the country, and to devise and implement appropriate measures to avoid these problems.