Environment Portal

   (A) the growing number of green barriers

Vegetable quality and safety issue is one of the focuses of attention, involving physical and mental health consumers, quality of life and socio-economic sustainable development, related to the WTO under the framework of our country and vegetables in the international and domestic markets more competitive. After accession to the WTO, China’s agricultural products to enter the international market, although the doors widened, but the threshold did not reduce the constraints of the role of non-tariff barriers more obvious. Developed countries in the tariff cut, in order to protect human health and the environment name, a variety of Chinese agricultural products to build a “green barrier.” In this regard, China’s agricultural products to smoothly enter the markets of developed countries, in addition to quality has reached internationally accepted standards of food hygiene, but also to meet the developed countries to develop their own more stringent technical standards.

1. Vegetable production, processing and quality standards higher and higher in some developed countries use their advanced agricultural production, processing technology and management advantages, by means of legislation, enacting strict mandatory technical standards. China’s vegetable product quality and appearance and inherent requirements of a wide gap between the developed countries, and vegetables, food products, preservation, refrigeration, storage and transportation and other sectors of the hard to reach international standards, severely limited the international market development.

2. Vegetables more strict quarantine regime

World Health Organization and UN Food and Agriculture has formulated a number of detection and management objectives, is particularly concerned about whether there are pesticide residues in vegetable products pollution, heavy metal pollution, bacteria, excessive and so on. Japan enacted “Plant Quarantine Act Implementation Rules,” so that on many occasions China’s vegetable exports to Japan have been returned or destroyed fate.

3. Control of imported vegetables has become stronger

For a long time it has been believed that the effects of global warming on agriculture and food supply is going to be a positive one. This is because the rising level of carbon-dioxide resulted for global warming will help the greeneries for photosynthesis.

Thus there will be a rise of agricultural production and food supply. The theorem received a boost after the evidence of a sharp rise of barley production as one of the effects of global warming in Iceland which was quite impossible even few years ago.

But more recent experiments and researches have revealed that the effects of global warming on agriculture and food supply are not that good after all. AN UNEP 2001 report on the global warming has predicted that USA is going to have more droughts, floods, landslides and storms.

Winter will gradually be shortened and sobered down, while summer will rise in expansion and severity. Along with this heavy rain, big storm, heavy snowfall, high sea level, increasing coastal erosion and other problems will occur.

Though as one of the effects of global warming, the overall food supply and production level is supposed to rise in USA, but the Great Plains will suffer with more droughts resulting for global warming.

Even now many effects of global warming on agriculture and food supply have been perceived. The popular maple syrup production of North east USA has diminished by 10%, moving its production zone to farther north for shorter and warmer winter.

On the other hand as one of the effects of global warming the south west USA is suffering from a water shortage which will increase in coming days. The zone has become dry for any standard agricultural production with an apprehension of resettling Dust Bowl of 1930s’ by the year 2030 for global warming.

Climate Change

Now-a-days we listen Climate Change more often than before. Climate change is a global phenomenon and the term “Climate Change” is indeed a straightforward expression for such a complex subject. In fact, climate change has more than we can comprehend from this phrase and that is why it is quite essential to go at defining climate change in today’s scenario. In the present glossary of researchers and scientists, climate modification as a term is no longer in use and effect. The reason behind this is that we have come to realize the effect of the changes we make to our environment will eventually increase the temperature in many parts of the world, but at the same time will also be decrease in temperature for few parts of the planet. This however, creates a general imbalance in the climate of the world which in turn leads us to the phrase, “Climate Change.”

While wondering the effects of the climate change, the things you know of as climate modification is actually referred to as global a global phenomenon of climate change. However, with all the details and statistics we have in hand at present, we can definitely conclude that the world is unquestionably warming with the temperatures rising like never before. Climate change is a global problem with many natural disasters started taking shape; the general awareness of this factor is really low. For the better understanding of the issues associated with the climate change, we require a simple definition for climate change in relation to the warming of the planet. And this definition needs to be the one that brings us the essence of this problem without compromising the simplicities. However, the easiest and most precise definition is that climate change is the effect greenhouse gases have on the earth’s overall climate. Greenhouse gases include carbon dioxide and methane, but are not limited to these two.