今后,持续增长的人口、不断增长的收入、肉类和乳制品消费的增加、以及生物燃料使用的不断扩大,都将对世界农业和自然资源产生前所未有的需求。在这种背景下,我们能否满足不断增长的食品需求同时减少农业生产对环境的破坏?在本期的一篇“分析”文章中,一个由环境和农业科学家组成的国际小组对这一问题做出了肯定回答,但要做到这一点将是不容易的。利用新的地理空间数据和模型,他们评估了新的农业生产方式何以能够对粮食生产和环境可持续发展都有利。 他们识别出能够使粮食产量加倍同时减少环境影响的四个策略:第一,停止农业生产的扩张;第二,缩小低产农田的“产量差距”;第三,提高收成;第四,我们需要改变自己的饮食习惯,使粮食生产能够减少浪费,即减少用作牲畜饲料、用来生产生物能源和用于其他非食物应用的粮食用量。(生物谷 Bioon.com)
doi:10.1038/nature10452
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Solutions for a cultivated planet
Jonathan A. Foley,1 Navin Ramankutty,2 Kate A. Brauman,1 Emily S. Cassidy,1 James S. Gerber,1 Matt Johnston,1 Nathaniel D. Mueller,1 Christine O’Connell,1 Deepak K. Ray,1 Paul C. West,1 Christian Balzer,3 Elena M. Bennett,4 Stephen R. Carpenter,5 Jason Hill,1, 6 Chad Monfreda,7 Stephen Polasky,1, 8 Johan Rockstr?m,9 John Sheehan,1 Stefan Siebert,10 David Tilman1, 11 & David P. M. Zaks12
Increasing population and consumption are placing unprecedented demands on agriculture and natural resources. Today, approximately a billion people are chronically malnourished while our agricultural systems are concurrently degrading land, water, biodiversity and climate on a global scale. To meet the world’s future food security and sustainability needs, food production must grow substantially while, at the same time, agriculture’s environmental footprint must shrink dramatically. Here we analyse solutions to this dilemma, showing that tremendous progress could be made by halting agricultural expansion, closing ‘yield gaps’ on underperforming lands, increasing cropping efficiency, shifting diets and reducing waste. Together, these strategies could double food production while greatly reducing the environmental impacts of agriculture.