考研英语阅读篇章: 保护干旱地区水资源就要少吃肉？
阅读基础如滴水穿石，连载考研英语阅读篇章，希望大家能保持阅读好习惯。考研英语阅读篇章: 保护干旱地区水资源就要少吃肉？
Eating less meat would protect water resources in dry areas around the
world, researchers at Aalto University have found. Reducing the use of animal
products can have a considerable impact on areas suffering scarce water
resources, as meat production requires more water than other agricultural
products.
"Diet change together with other actions, such as reduction of food losses
and waste, may tackle the future challenges of food security," states researcher
Mika Jalava from Aalto University.
Growing population and climate change are likely to increase the pressure
on already limited water resources and diet change has been suggested as one of
the measures contributing to adequate food security for growing population.
The researchers assessed the impact of diet change on global water
resources over four scenarios, where the meat consumption was gradually reduced
while diet recommendations in terms of energy supply, proteins and fat were
followed. The study published in Environmental Research Letters is the first
global-scale analysis with a focus on changes in national diets and their impact
on the blue and green water use of food consumption.
Food supply for growing population
Global population is expected to exceed 9 billion by 2050, adding over 2
billion mouths to be fed to the current population, according to the UN. By
reducing the animal product contribution in the diet, global green water
(rainwater) consumption decreases up to 21 % while for blue water (irrigation
water) the reductions would be up to 14 %. In other words, by shifting to
vegetarian diet we could secure adequate food supply for an additional 1.8
billion people without increasing the use of water resources. The potential
savings are, however, distributed unevenly, and even more important, their
potential alleviation(缓和) on water scarcity varies widely from country to
country.
Regional differences
The researchers at Aalto University found substantial regional differences
in diet change potential to reduce water use. In Latin America, Europe, Central
and Eastern Asia, and Sub-Saharan Africa, diet change reduces mainly green water
use. In Finland, for example, turning into a meat free diet would decrease the
daily green water use of a Finn over 530 litres but at the same time resulting
nearly 50 litres increase in blue water use. In the Middle East region, North
America, Australia and Oceania, also blue water use would decrease considerably.
In South and Southeast Asia, on the other hand, diet change does not result in
savings in water use, as in these regions the diet is already largely based on a
minimal amount of products.
The research is just published in Environmental Research Letters.
页:
[1]