AcademicEnglishDietandsustainabilitykeytofeedingtheworldNew.docx

AcademicEnglishDietandsustainabilitykeytofeedingtheworldNew.docx

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AcademicEnglishDietandsustainabilitykeytofeedingtheworldNew

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Academic-English-Diet-and-sustainability-key-to-feeding-the-world

Text5a

Dietandsustainabilitykeytofeedingtheworld:

Afoodsecurityreport

Oneofthegreatestproblemstheworldfacesisfoodsecurity.Starvation,malnutritionandassociatedhealthandwelfareproblemscanbestbeaddressedbyasystematicpolicyofeducationandresearch.

Graveconcernsaboutfoodsecurityhavesurfacedforanumberofreasons.Firstly,therehasbeenapopulationexplosionAccordingtotheRoyalSociety,between1930and2010theworld'spopulationgrewfrom2billionto6.8billionnow,withaprojectedpeakof9billionby2050（Black,2010）.Afurthermajorcauseforconcernistheimpactonfoodproductionofclimatechange,broughtaboutbyglobalwarming.Populationgrowthandclimatechangewillmeanthereisanincreasingshortageofwaterandoflandforfoodproduction,andthereforemorecompetitionfortheseresources.

Whilethreatstoglobalfoodsecurityarenumerousandaffectbotheconomicallydevelopedandless-developedcountries,itisthepeopleofthelatterwhoarelikelytofeelthemostimpact.Vastnumberslackbasicfoodrequirements:

atleast1billionpeopleareundernourishedand2billionsufferfrommicronutrientdeficiency.Conversely,1.2billionareoverweight.

Anenvironmentalexampleoftheimpactoffoodproductionmismanagementonecosystems,andthewiderimplicationsofthis,canheclearlyseeninthecaseofdrasticdeclinesinbirdspecies.Forexample,inEuropeandNorthAmericapopulationsof"specialist"birdspecies-thosethatareadaptedtoliveinspecificenvironments-havefallenbyanestimated30%over40years.Thishasbeenattributedatleastpartiallytotheimpactoffarming,especiallywhenthisinvolvesasinglecroptypebeinggrownoveralargearea.

Infact,astudybyStanfordUniversitybiologists（Sekercioglu,Daily&Ehrlich,2004）concludedthatby2100，10%ofallbirdspecieswerelikelytodisappearandanother15%couldbeonthebrinkofextinction.Thisdramaticlossisexpectedtohaveanegativeimpactonforestecosystemsandagricultureworldwide,andwarnedthatitmightevenencouragethespreadofhumandiseases.ThelatterpointissupportedbyreportsofadramaticfallinvulturenumbersinIndia,allowinganupsurgeinnumbersofratsandferaldogs,whichspreaddiseasesthataffecthumans（seeSwanetal.,2006;BirdLifeInternational,2008），Thevulturepopulationcrashisattributedmainlytopoisoningbyhighconcentrationsofdiclofenac,adrugusedtotreatfarmanimals.Thebirdsingestthedrugwhentheyfeedontheanimals’carcasses.

Thechallengesinvolvedinaddressingtheproblemoffoodsecurityarecomplex.Partofthesolutionisincreasingthepotentialoffoodyields,buttheapproachmustbesustainable.Producersandconsumersoffoodmustplayamajorroleinallthisandtakeresponsibilityintermsofchoosinghowfoodis"produced,usedandconsumed".

Reducingtheamountofwasteinthefoodproductionsystemisoneapproachtoimprovingfoodsecurity.However,infuturethe"journeyfromarmtoplate"alsoneedstobeorganisedmoresystematicallyandglobally.Aparticularproblemareahereistheimportingintoeconomicallydevelopedcountriesofexoticfruitandvegetables.Thiscanhaveanegativeimpactonfoodsecurityintwoways.Firstly,importing（andespeciallyair-freighting）freshproducefromoverseaslocationscansignificantlyincreasethecarbonfootprintoffoodproduction,contributingtoglobalwarminganditsassociatedproblems。

Secondly,ifgrowersinlesseconomicallydevelopedcountriesswitchtoproducingfruitandvegetablesforexport,thiscoulddisplacelocalstaplecrops,resultinginworseningdietsforwhatmaybeanalreadymalnourishedpopulation.

Afurthersolutionistomanagecropproductiontoboostyieldsofsomecropsincountrieswithtemperateclimates.However,climatechangecouldalsocauseshiftsinseasonalpatternsthatputcrops

outofrhythmwiththeinsectsthatpollinatethem,orcouldincreasethelikelihoodofextremeweathereventsdamagingthedevelopingflowersthatareessentialforthecrop.Thereisastronglikelihoodthatdietswillincreasinglybedependentonanimalsourcesofprotein,butfarmersdonotnecessarilyadoptpracticesthatleadtothefulfilmentofpotentialyield.Helpingthembecomemoreefficientoffersafurthermeansofaddressingthefoodsecurityissue.

Anintegrated，systemicapproachtotheproblemsoffoodsecurityhastobedeveloped.Thisincludesencouragingagri-foodresearch,withthemosttechnologicallyadvancedcountriesdirectingtheirattentionandresearchfocustowardsdealingwiththeproblem.Inaddition,aglobalapproachisneededandspecialistresearchinitiativeswillneedtohelpwithintegratingthefood-securityresearchundertakenbynon-specialistinstitutions.

References

BirdLifeInternational（2008;April30）.Vulturecrisisdeepens.RetrievedOctober31,2011,fromwww.birdlife.org/news/news/2008/04八ulturededines.html

Beddington,J.（ed.）（2011）.Foresightreport:

Thefutureoffoodandfarming.Challengesandchoicesforglobalsustainability.London:

GovernmentOfficeforScience.RetrievedDecember22,2011，fromwww.bis.gov.uk/assets/bispartners/foresight/docs/food-and-farming/11-546-future-of-food-and-farming-report.pdf

Black,R.（2010,July12）.GlobalpopulationstudylaunchedbyRoyalSociety.BBCNews.RetrievedDecember21,2011,fromwww.bbc.co.uk/news/10578484

Sekercioglu,C.H.,Daily,G.C.&Ehrlich,PR.（2004）.Ecosystemconsequencesofbirddeclines.ProceedingsoftheNationalAcademyofSciences.101（52）,18042-18047.

Swan,G.,Naidoo,V,Cuthbert,R.,Green,R.E.,Pain,D.J.,Swarup,D.…&Wolter,K.（2006）.RemovingthethreatofdiclofenactocriticallyendangeredAsianvultures.PLoSBiology.4（3）,e66.

Tiffin,R.（2011，January24）.Dietandsustainabilitykeytofeedingtheworld.[Pressrelease].Reading:

UniversityofReading.RetrievedOctober31,2011,fromwww.reading.ac.uk/about/newsandevents/releases/PR345098.aspx

Source:

JohnSlaght,ISLC,UniversityofReading,UK,basedonthereferencescited.

Focustask:

Youaregoingtoreadaselectionoftextsinordertoproduceasetofnotesthatwillhelpyoucompletethefollowingassignment:

Theglobalpopulationhasincreasedfromtwobilliontosevenbillioninthepast80years.Inthenext40yearsitispredictedtorisetoninebillion.Whatarethechallengesandwhatmeasurescanbemosteffectiveinfeedingsucharapidlyexpandingpopulation?

Text5asummarisesthekeyissuesrelatingtofoodsecuritythatarecoveredingreaterdetailinthethreeothertextsintheunit.ThesecomefromareviewpaperbyUKgovernmentscientists,whichmaintainsthatgoodnutritionandsustainabilityareessentialinordertoensureglobalfoodsecurity.

Task1Surveyingthetext

Itisimportantthatstudentsinhighereducationmakedecisionsabouthowtomakeuseofanacademictextbecauseofthelargeamountofreadingrequiredonsomecourses.

Studytip:

RememberthatSurveyingfeaturesofthetextbeforegoingintodetailedreadingcansavetimeandprovideimportantinsightsintothecontentandvalueofthetext.Featurestolookforincludethetitleandanyfiguresorgraphs.

1.1AnalysethetitleofText5abyexaminingitinsections.Inthetablebelowthetitleisdividedintosixseparateparts.Completethecolumnwithappropriatedeductions.

1.2Nowconsiderwhatyoucandeducefromthephotographaboutthecontentofthetext.Discussyourideaswithanotherstudent.

1.3Lookatthereferencesattheendofthetext.Whatusefulinformationdothesegive?

Task2Searchreading:

Practisingfast,accuratereading

2.1ReadText5aquickly,butcarefully,toanswerquestions1-12.

Scanthetextquicklytofindtheinformationyouneedtoanswerthequestions.Thenreadtheinformationcarefullytoansweraccurately.

1.Whatsolutionsforachievingfoodsecurityareidentifiedintheintroductorymaterial?

2.Whattwomajorcausesofstarvation。

。

。

globalscaleareidentified?

3.ThesetwofactorshaveresultedintherebcitigIess

4.Thepopulation"explosion"ispredictedtoleveloffin...

5.Approximatelyhowmanypeopleintotalarcfacedwithinsufficientfoodandnutrition?

a.1billionb.2billionc.3billion

6.WhatyeardoestheStanfordUniversityresearchrelateto?

7.ThedramaticdecreaseinvulturenumbersinIndiahasledto....

8.Whatisthenegativeimpactofdevelopedcountriesimportingexoticfruit?

9.Whatcouldbethenegativeimpactofpoorercountriesexportingexoticfruit?

10.Wherecantheimpactofclimatechangebemosteffectivelymanaged?

11.Infuture,animalsmaywellbethemainsourceof...

12.Whichformofresearchisrecommendedfordealingwithfuturefoodinsecurity?

Task3Identifyingfunctionsofthetext:

Annotatingthetext

Ausefulapproachtounderstandingtheorganisation,purposeandvalueofatextistoidentifythefunctionssectionbysection,paragraphbyparagraphandifnecessary,sentencebysentence.Onewayofdoingthisisbyannotatingthetextinthemargin.

Studytip:

Clearannotationofthetextcanprovideusefulreferenceforrevisionorfurtherstudy.

3.1Lookatthetwoexamplesofannotationsforlines6-20ofText5a.Thenhighlightthepartsofthetextrelevanttotheothertwoannotations.

AnnotationsTextextract（lines6-20）

Graveconcernsaboutfoodsecurityhavesurfacedfornumberofreasons.Firstly,therehasbeenapopulationexplosion.AccordingtotheRoyalSociety,between1930and2010th