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首页> 外文期刊>International Journal of Rural Management >The Role of the Himalayan Mountain Systems in Food Security and Agricultural Sustainability in South Asia
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The Role of the Himalayan Mountain Systems in Food Security and Agricultural Sustainability in South Asia

机译：喜马拉雅山脉系统在南亚粮食安全和农业可持续性中的作用

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摘要

Although South Asian countries made impressive progress in food production during 1960s, 1970s and 1980s, the dynamism in the agricultural sector has, however, lost recently. Productivity of major food grains has slowed down and even declined, for some crops and food production is failing to keep pace with population growth. Therefore, food security has remained a major concern in South Asian countries. The linkage between food production and the Himalayan mountains is poorly understood though the Himalayan mountains are the major source of dry season water in Pakistan, Nepal, Bangladesh and Bhutan for irrigated rice and wheat, which are the staple food in South Asia. In view of that this article briefly examines the role of the Himalayan mountain systems in food production and agricultural sustainability in South Asian countries looking at the emerging challenges posed by the increasing water stress and climate change. The analysis suggests that a common challenge is being faced by all South Asiancountries—for increased food production to meet the demand of burgeoning population, the growing stress of water as rice and wheat , the staple food in South Asia, require huge amounts of water. Moreover, the increased food production in South Asia hasto come from the same amount of land, by increasing productivity through bringing additional land under irrigation, as the frontier for expansion of agricultural land has almost been exhausted. The availability of irrigation water is, therefore, critical for increased food production and agricultural sustainability in entire South Asia. Climate change introduces a new challenge to agriculture and food security in South Asia. Recent studies suggest that the impact of climate change on cereal productionin South Asia could be negative and that may be as high as 18.2-22.1 per cent. Our analysis reveals that the Hindu Kush-Himalayan mountain systems play a significant role in agriculture and food security in South Asia through water supply, climate and wind regulation, groundwater recharge and in sustaining wetland ecosystems. It is the major source of dry season water for several large river systems, such as the Indus, the Ganges and the Brahmaputra from the snow and glacier melt of the Himalayas, whichprovide the main basis for surface and groundwater irrigation. These three rivers form the largest river basins (Indo-Ganga-Brahmaputra) which are the major source of rice and wheat in South Asia. Besides surface water, the contribution of mountain discharge to groundwater is also significant, which makes it an important resource for agriculture and food security in South Asia. In addition to providing surface and groundwater, the Himalayan mountain system provides huge inputs to agriculture through regulating micro-climates as well as wind and monsoon circulation, and by supporting river and wetland ecosystems in South Asia. It is estimated that the Ganges river ecosystem alone supports 25,000 or more species, ranging from micro-organisms to mammals,which support agricultural sustainability and provide livelihoods for millions of people. This article concludes that the long-term agricultural sustainability and food security of South Asia is heavily dependent on the water and other ecosystem services it receives from the Himalayan ecosystems. Attention therefore must be paid to conserve the Himalayan ecosystems in order to ensure sustained flow of ecosystem services required for agriculture, food production and overall well-being of Himalayan and downstream population. Options and opportunities for enhancing the agricultural sustainability and food security by sustainable utilization of Himalayan resources and ecosystem services are briefly analyzed and suggestions have been made.
机译：尽管南亚国家在1960年代，1970年代和1980年代的粮食生产方面取得了令人瞩目的进步，但是农业部门的活力却在最近丧失了。主要粮食谷物的生产力已经放缓甚至下降，因为某些作物和粮食生产未能跟上人口增长的步伐。因此，粮食安全仍然是南亚国家的主要关切。尽管喜马拉雅山脉是巴基斯坦，尼泊尔，孟加拉国和不丹的旱季水的主要来源，但稻米和小麦是南亚的主要粮食，但粮食生产与喜马拉雅山脉之间的联系却鲜为人知。有鉴于此，本文简要考察了喜马拉雅山区系统在南亚国家粮食生产和农业可持续性中的作用，着眼于日益加剧的水资源压力和气候变化带来的新挑战。分析表明，所有南亚国家都面临着共同的挑战，即增加粮食产量以满足迅速增长的人口需求，水的压力越来越大，因为南亚的主要粮食稻米和小麦需要大量的水。此外，南亚粮食产量的增加必须来自相同数量的土地，这是因为通过增加灌溉土地来提高生产力，因为扩大农业用地的疆土几乎已被耗尽。因此，灌溉水的供应对于整个南亚的粮食生产和农业可持续发展至关重要。气候变化对南亚的农业和粮食安全提出了新的挑战。最近的研究表明，气候变化对南亚谷物生产的影响可能是负面的，可能高达18.2-22.1％。我们的分析表明，兴都库什－喜马拉雅山脉系统通过供水，气候和风能调节，地下水补给以及维持湿地生态系统，在南亚的农业和粮食安全中发挥着重要作用。它是喜马拉雅山脉的积雪和冰川融化的几个大型河流系统（如印度河，恒河和雅鲁藏布江）的旱季水的主要来源，这为地表和地下水灌溉提供了主要基础。这三条河流构成了最大的流域（印度-甘加-布拉马普特拉），是南亚稻米和小麦的主要来源。除地表水外，山区排水对地下水的贡献也很大，这使其成为南亚农业和粮食安全的重要资源。除提供地表水和地下水外，喜马拉雅山区系统还通过调节小气候以及风和季风循环以及支持南亚的河流和湿地生态系统，为农业提供了巨大的投入。据估计，恒河的生态系统仅支持25,000种或更多的物种，从微生物到哺乳动物，都支持农业的可持续发展并为数百万人提供生计。本文得出的结论是，南亚的长期农业可持续性和粮食安全在很大程度上取决于从喜马拉雅生态系统获得的水和其他生态系统服务。因此，必须注意保护喜马拉雅生态系统，以确保农业，粮食生产以及喜马拉雅及下游人口的整体福祉所需的持续生态系统服务。简要分析了通过可持续利用喜马拉雅资源和生态系统服务来增强农业可持续性和粮食安全的选择和机会，并提出了建议。

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