G20 Experts to Meet on Food Security Solutions
G20农业专家将召开食品安全会议
Agricultural experts from the G20 countries will meet next week to find ways to match the latest research and technology to the growing demand for more food. It’s estimated the world’s population will grow to nine billion by 2050.
来自G20国家的农业专家将在下周召开会议，寻找使用最新的研究和技术满足对食品不断增长的需求。据估计，截止到2050年，全球人口将增长到90亿。
The meeting in Montpellier, France, stems from last November’s G20 summit in Seoul, South Korea. During that conference, France, Japan, Canada and Brazil were asked to focus more on food security.
即将在法国蒙彼利埃召开的会议源自去年11月份在韩国首尔召开的G20峰会。在那次会议中，法国，日本，加拿大和巴西被要求更加关注食品安全保障问题。
For guidance, they called on U.N. agencies, the World Bank, the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research, known as CGIAR, and the Global Forum on Agricultural Research, or GFAR.
作为领导，他们呼吁联合国机构，世界银行，国际农业研究磋商小组( Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research，简称CGIAR)，全球农业研究论坛(GFAR：Global Forum on Agricultural Research)参加。
“It’s increasing the cooperation and coordination amongst the G20 and their agricultural research systems and how those are mobilized better into working directly in support of developing country needs,” said Mark Holderness, executive secretary of GFAR.
“这增强了G20和他们的农业研究机构之间的合作和协调，更机动地支持发展中国家的需求。”GFAR执行秘书Mark Holderness表示。
That coordination and cooperation includes looking at long-term solutions and not just immediate crises, like the drought in the Horn of Africa.
协调与合作包括寻找长期解决方案，而不仅仅是当前的危机，例如非洲之角的干旱。
“In two days we’re not going to change the world,” he said, “But I think what we can do is start to look at some innovative ways to work together to really recognize the new architecture that’s out there and the relationships between countries, the capabilities of countries. Start to tap Brazil, China, India. They all have huge capabilities in their own right and they’re just beginning to reach out and mobilize those for other countries.”
“我们不可能在两天之内就改变世界。但是我们可以寻找一些创新的方法了来团结合作，认识到国家之间新的架构和关系，开始提醒巴西，中国和印度。他们都有着强大的能力，也刚刚开始互相接洽，与其他国家合作。”
Fresh look
Holderness said the goal is to turn the current food production and security system on its head – and take a fresh look at the role of research.
Holderness表示，目标是全面改革目前的粮食生产和安全体系，重新重视研究的作用。
“Fundamentally, who are its clients? Its clients are the farmers. The products of research should be serving the needs, in particular, of the poor farmers. Helping to lift them from poverty, to sustain their productive environments, to enable food security needs to be met, while also ensuring rural development,” he said.
“从根本来说，谁才是委托人？农民是委托人。研究的产品应该满足需求，尤其是贫困农民的需求。帮助他们摆脱贫困，维持高效的环境，增强粮食安全，保障农村发展。”
Too often, he said, advances in research take priority over actually using those advances to help farmers. “We’re trying to bring back that connectedness between society and research, to put it crudely.”
他说，通常情况下，研究取得的进步没有及时帮助农民。“简单地说，我们希望恢复社会和研究之间的连通性。”
BRIC
Brazil, Russia, India and China make up what are called the BRIC countries – an acronym made of the first letters of their names. Their strong, emerging economies are expected to play a major role in meeting food security needs. Holderness said China’s agricultural production underpins its industrial revolution.
巴西，俄罗斯，印度和中国共同组成金砖国家BRIC——由这些国家名字的首字母组成。他们强大的新兴经济体在满足食品需求方面将发挥重大作用。Holderness表示，中国的农业生产巩固了工业革命。
“China has put a massive increase in investment in their research and development in agriculture. And at the same time, their farming population has changed radically as young men, in particular, go to the cities to work in the factories and the industrial advance. The countryside is increasingly becoming an area where the farmers are now the women, the older people. And that in itself carries implications for ability to take up new opportunities or to make incomes from that,” he said.
“中国在农业研究和发展方面的投资大幅增加。同时，他们的农业人口发生了急剧变化，因为年轻人到城市的工厂工作。农村人口已经大部分是妇女和老人。这表明他们能够把握新的机会，或者提高收入。”
In sub-Saharan Africa, women are also the backbone of the agricultural sector.
在撒哈拉以南非洲，妇女通常是农业部门的中流砥柱。
BRIC countries are also expected to become major providers of fundamental agricultural research, joining the U.S., Europe and Japan. Holderness says that knowledge becomes crucial with the world population expected to reach nine billion in less than 40 years.
金砖国家还将加入美国，欧洲和日本的行列，成为基本农业研究的主要提供者。Holderness表示，由于不到40年的时间里世界人口将达到90亿，这些知识将非常关键。
That in itself carries huge implications for increased food production in particular from developing countries. Research doesn’t happen overnight. New knowledge doesn’t just happen. It’s an iterative process of learning, building on previous knowledge and so on. And if we don’t start asking the questions now about what kind of agriculture we’re going to need then to feed that population, to ensure that farmers have a viable livelihood, to ensure that environments are still able to produce that much, then frankly we’re letting not just ourselves down as researchers, but we’re letting the world down,” he said.
发展中国家的粮食生产正在大幅增加。研究并不是一夜之间完成的。新的知识并没有出现，这是建立在此前的知识的基础上不断重复学习的过程。如果我们现在不问我们需要什么样的农业来供养人口，确保农民能够生活，确保环境能够保持高效，那么，不仅仅我们会失败，整个世界都会失败。
Time to act
In recent years, G8 and G20 nations have called for greater investment in smallholder farmers and herders in Africa and Asia. Both groups were hit hard by recent food crises triggered in part by higher fuel and commodity prices, biofuel production and climate change.
近年来，G8和G20国家呼吁增加亚洲和非洲小农户和牧民的投资。由于燃料和商品价格高涨，生物燃料生产和气候变化的影响导致的食品危机，这两个组织都受到了严重影响。
The executive secretary of the Global Forum on Agricultural Research says the G20 meeting must produce action and not more words about what needs to be done.
全球农业研究论坛执行秘书表示，G20会议必须之后必须采取行动，而不仅仅是口头承诺。
“Let’s start putting something on the table,” Holderness said, “What are we going to commit to make happen? Even if it’s small-scale to start with, what can we see that we need to do and that we need to build these processes towards?”
“让我们提出一些具体的措施，我们应该怎样兑现我们的承诺？即使是小幅的开始，我们应该采取什么样的行动推动这个过程继续下去？”
G20 agricultural experts will meet September 12 and 13.
G20农业专家的会议将在9月12日和13日举行。 |