■全球暖化會令不少食物來源絕種，導致糧食危機。 資料圖片【原文】新一輪全球糧食危機（food crisis）迫在眉睫，研究組織「國際生物多樣性中心」（Bioversity International）9月26日發表研究報告，警告「第六次生物（wildlife）大規模滅絕（mass extinction）」已開始，當中包括作為人類糧食基礎的動植物，促請國際社會關注農業生物多樣性（agricultural biodiversity），引入新品種食材，應對糧食危機和窮人營養失衡（nutritional imbalance）問題。分析指，人們日常購買的薯條薯片、咖啡和朱古力供應都恐受「大滅絕」影響。
全球暖化 22%野生薯仔絕種
以往談起生物滅絕（biological extinction），一般會聯想起稀有（rare）品種（species），但今次研究指出，大滅絕與人類自身存亡（survival）息息相關。
國際生物多樣性中心總幹事（Director General）塔特懷勒（M. Ann Tutwiler）引述報告指出，有證據顯示，大量供食用的農作物（edible crops）瀕臨絕種（die out），若果只依賴某幾種植物和動物作食物來源（food source），人類將危在旦夕。
現時全球四分之三的糧食主要是由12種農作物和5種動物構成，一旦它們受疾病（disease）和重大害蟲問題（pest attack）衝擊，很可能導致嚴重饑荒（famine），19世紀釀成約100萬人死亡的愛爾蘭大饑荒（Ireland's Great Famine）（又稱「馬鈴薯饑荒」（Irish Potato Famine））將歷史重演。
據研究報告顯示，全球暖化（global warming）會導致22%的野生薯仔在2055年絕種；佔全球七成可可豆（cocoa bean）出口的加納（Ghana）和科特迪瓦（Cote d'Ivoire），會在40年後因可可樹受炎熱氣候影響，而無法再種出可可豆。
產量年降 倡種高營「無名」農作物
聯合國（United Nations）估計，農作物產量（agricultural output）每10年會下降2%，而對糧食的需求上升14%。
世界衛生組織（World Health Organization）指出，營養不良（malnutrition）是幼兒死亡（child mortality）和殘疾（disability）的主要原因，全球有20億人營養不良。塔特懷勒表示，在這形勢下，農業生物多樣性（agrobiodiversity）的概念更趨重要。
研究報告建議，政府和企業多種植營養價值（nutritional value）高、卻較少為人熟知的農作物，例如原產於越南（Vietnam）的「木鱉果」（momordica cochinchinensis）（又有「天堂果」（gac fruit）等稱謂），以及產自太平洋區（Pacific region）的Asupina香蕉。兩者蘊含豐富的β-胡蘿蔔素（β-Carotene），食用後人體會轉化為維他命A（vitamin A），能救助數以百萬計營養不良的窮人。
報告又列舉法國農民曾在冬天種植一些能抗寒的（cold-resistant）豆類，成功增加土質養分（soil fertility）、減少雜草生長，令泥土保留更多水分。這種耕作方式（cultivation）可應用於全球，紓緩農業對自然環境（natural environment）的衝擊。
同時，歐盟（European Union）資助於明年底推出一種新的股市指數，量度糧食生產商有否顧及生態多樣性（ecological diversity），新指數名為「農業生物多樣性指數」（Agrobiodiversity Index）。
"Mass extinction" endangers food supply and prompts agrobiodiversity
【譯文】A new round of food crisis is threatening the lives of people around the globe. A report released on September 26 by the research institute Bioversity International warned that the Earth is facing its sixth mass extinction of wildlife, which includes the animals and plants that constitute the food chain of human beings.
The organization urged the international community to pay more attention to agricultural biodiversity and consider introducing new varieties of food ingredients to deal with foreseeable food crises and nutritional imbalance among the poor.
The analysis also indicated that the supply of potato chips, coffee and chocolate-the food that is commonly seen on people's shopping lists-may possibly be affected by the mass extinction as well.
22% wild potatoes will be extinct
Biological extinction usually reminds people of rare species, but the research pointed out that the mass extinction is closely related with human beings and its survival. M. Ann Tutwiler, the Director General of Bioversity International, quoted evidence that shows a significant amount of edible crops is dying out and human beings can be on the verge of death if we are just relying on narrow types of plants or animals as our food sources.
Nowadays, three fourths of the food sources in the world rely on 12 kinds of crops and five different species of animals. Once they are adversely affected by diseases and pest attacks, there will likely be severe famines, such that the Ireland's Great Famine-also known as the Irish Potato Famine, which happened in the 19th century and caused a million casualties-may well occur again.
The report said that global warming may lead to the extinction of 22 per cent of the wild potatoes in 2055; countries like Ghana and Cote d'Ivoire, which own 70 per cent of the global cocoa beans export, will possibly fail to produce cocoa beans after 40 years due to the increasingly hot weather.
Advocates growth of high nutrition crops
The United Nations has estimated that agricultural outputs will drop by two per cent per decade, whereas the global food demand will increase by 14 per cent.
The World Health Organization has also indicated that malnutrition, which two billion people are suffering globally, is the primary cause of child mortality and disability. Tutwiler emphasized the concept of agrobiodiversity under such severe circumstances.
Governments and enterprises are advised to plant crops less well known but high in nutrition, for example the momordica cochinchinensis (also called the gac fruit) that originated in Vietnam, and the Asupina banana which is from the Pacific region. It is believed both of them are rich in β-Carotene, which can be converted into vitamin A in the human body after the process of assimilation, helping save the lives of millions of the malnourished poor.
The report also illustrated that some French farmers had planted some cold-resistant beans and succeeded in improving soil fertility and reducing weed growth, keeping the soil moist as a result. It was suggested that this kind of cultivation can be promoted worldwide to reduce the negative impacts of agriculture on the natural environment.
Meanwhile, the European Union is going to launch a new stock index at the end of next year to evaluate whether food suppliers pay attention to ecological diversity. Such index is named the "Agrobiodiversity Index".■龐嘉儀
Q&A
1. 全球糧食危機的成因除了極端氣候頻繁外，還包括哪些？
2. 聯合國轄下哪個機構負責協調全球的糧食與農業問題？
3. 承上題，根據該組織發表的《2017年全球糧食危機》報告，目前全球有多少人的糧食沒有保障？
4. 哪些國家及地區長期面臨饑荒？
5. 除了糧食危機，哪個與糧食有關的議題也備受關注？
1. 糧食價格飆升、糧食浪費、產量銳減、不公平貿易等
2. 聯合國糧食及農業組織（Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations）
3. 1.08億人
4. 埃塞俄比亞、尼日尼亞、肯亞、南蘇丹等眾多非洲國家
5. 食品安全（food safety）