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Addressing China’s grand challenge of achieving food security while ensuring environmental sustainability

China’s increasingly urbanized and wealthy population is driving a growing and changing demand for food, which might not be met without significant increase in agricultural productivity and sustainable use of natural resources. Given the past relationship between lack of access to affordable food an...

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Autores principales: Lu, Yonglong, Jenkins, Alan, Ferrier, Robert C., Bailey, Mark, Gordon, Iain J., Song, Shuai, Huang, Jikun, Jia, Shaofeng, Zhang, Fusuo, Liu, Xuejun, Feng, Zhaozhong, Zhang, Zhibin
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: American Association for the Advancement of Science 2015
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4644077/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26601127
http://dx.doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.1400039
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author Lu, Yonglong
Jenkins, Alan
Ferrier, Robert C.
Bailey, Mark
Gordon, Iain J.
Song, Shuai
Huang, Jikun
Jia, Shaofeng
Zhang, Fusuo
Liu, Xuejun
Feng, Zhaozhong
Zhang, Zhibin
author_facet Lu, Yonglong
Jenkins, Alan
Ferrier, Robert C.
Bailey, Mark
Gordon, Iain J.
Song, Shuai
Huang, Jikun
Jia, Shaofeng
Zhang, Fusuo
Liu, Xuejun
Feng, Zhaozhong
Zhang, Zhibin
author_sort Lu, Yonglong
collection PubMed
description China’s increasingly urbanized and wealthy population is driving a growing and changing demand for food, which might not be met without significant increase in agricultural productivity and sustainable use of natural resources. Given the past relationship between lack of access to affordable food and political instability, food security has to be given a high priority on national political agendas in the context of globalization. The drive for increased food production has had a significant impact on the environment, and the deterioration in ecosystem quality due to historic and current levels of pollution will potentially compromise the food production system in China. We discuss the grand challenges of not only producing more food but also producing it sustainably and without environmental degradation. In addressing these challenges, food production should be considered as part of an environmental system (soil, air, water, and biodiversity) and not independent from it. It is imperative that new ways of meeting the demand for food are developed while safeguarding the natural resources upon which food production is based. We present a holistic approach to both science and policy to ensure future food security while embracing the ambition of achieving environmental sustainability in China. It is a unique opportunity for China to be a role model as a new global player, especially for other emerging economies.
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spelling pubmed-46440772015-11-23 Addressing China’s grand challenge of achieving food security while ensuring environmental sustainability Lu, Yonglong Jenkins, Alan Ferrier, Robert C. Bailey, Mark Gordon, Iain J. Song, Shuai Huang, Jikun Jia, Shaofeng Zhang, Fusuo Liu, Xuejun Feng, Zhaozhong Zhang, Zhibin Sci Adv Research Articles China’s increasingly urbanized and wealthy population is driving a growing and changing demand for food, which might not be met without significant increase in agricultural productivity and sustainable use of natural resources. Given the past relationship between lack of access to affordable food and political instability, food security has to be given a high priority on national political agendas in the context of globalization. The drive for increased food production has had a significant impact on the environment, and the deterioration in ecosystem quality due to historic and current levels of pollution will potentially compromise the food production system in China. We discuss the grand challenges of not only producing more food but also producing it sustainably and without environmental degradation. In addressing these challenges, food production should be considered as part of an environmental system (soil, air, water, and biodiversity) and not independent from it. It is imperative that new ways of meeting the demand for food are developed while safeguarding the natural resources upon which food production is based. We present a holistic approach to both science and policy to ensure future food security while embracing the ambition of achieving environmental sustainability in China. It is a unique opportunity for China to be a role model as a new global player, especially for other emerging economies. American Association for the Advancement of Science 2015-02-20 /pmc/articles/PMC4644077/ /pubmed/26601127 http://dx.doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.1400039 Text en Copyright © 2015, The Authors http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/) , which permits use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, so long as the resultant use is not for commercial advantage and provided the original work is properly cited.
spellingShingle Research Articles
Lu, Yonglong
Jenkins, Alan
Ferrier, Robert C.
Bailey, Mark
Gordon, Iain J.
Song, Shuai
Huang, Jikun
Jia, Shaofeng
Zhang, Fusuo
Liu, Xuejun
Feng, Zhaozhong
Zhang, Zhibin
Addressing China’s grand challenge of achieving food security while ensuring environmental sustainability
title Addressing China’s grand challenge of achieving food security while ensuring environmental sustainability
title_full Addressing China’s grand challenge of achieving food security while ensuring environmental sustainability
title_fullStr Addressing China’s grand challenge of achieving food security while ensuring environmental sustainability
title_full_unstemmed Addressing China’s grand challenge of achieving food security while ensuring environmental sustainability
title_short Addressing China’s grand challenge of achieving food security while ensuring environmental sustainability
title_sort addressing china’s grand challenge of achieving food security while ensuring environmental sustainability
topic Research Articles
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4644077/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26601127
http://dx.doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.1400039
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