通向可持续发展的亚洲
2011-1
科学出版社
本社 编
93
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Sustainability is more about resources, energy and environment, but at the same time it also concerns with culture. In the back of their differentcultures, people hold different attitudes towards resources and environment and they also differ in the ways, efficiency, scale and duration of resourceutilization. Thus, the pressure they get from resources and environment is also different.With the view that sustainable development in Asia can not dependsolely on local economic breakthroughs but should be based on a more extensive cultural foundation and a wider strategy in future, the Association of Academies of Sciences in Asia （AASA） launched a study project entitled" Sustainable Development in Asia". In this project culture is considered as one of the key elements of sustainable development, like resources, energy and environment.As is well known, Asia is still a basically agricultural society, and agriculture is Asia's biggest cultural legacy. Sustainable development in Asiais relied on the resolution of issues such as farming, the farmer and ruralareas. In this study, we focused on the farming culture of Asia, attempting toreveal the secret of how Asian people fed the bulk of the population in the world over a long stretch of history. We sum up their experience, discuss the lessons learned, and make proposals for sustainable development through the overall description and analysis of the history and culture of agriculture in Asia.We chose East Asia, South Asia and West Asia as the main regions for this study and invited productive scholars in these fields to discuss the problem with in the framework of farming culture in Asia.
This series of books are the output of the research project called “Sustainable Development in Asia (SDA)”, which was initiated by the Association of Academies of Sciences in Asia (AASA). They are comprised of one synthesis report, which entitled “Towards a Sustainable Asia: Green Transition and Innovation”, and four thematic reports on natural resources, energy, the environment and climate change, and culture from particular perspectives of agriculture. They aim to: 1) investigate common sustainability issues faced by all Asian countries, including population increase, poverty alleviation, pollution control, ecological restoration, as well as regional problems, such as water shortage in West and Central Asia, energy security in Northeast Asia, development model & transformation in East Asia; 2) analyze and summarize of best practices towards sustainable development in Asia; 3) bring forward suggestions and policy options for promoting green transition, system innovation and sustainable development of Asia. With best practice guidelines for a sustainable Asia, this series of reports, for the first time systematically address the common challenges and regional problems in regard to Asia’s natural resources use, pollution reduction and climate protection, sustainable energy development, and innovations for environment-friendly and culture-compatible agriculture. They will provide handy and useful information to researchers, government policy makers and the general public who have concerns about Asia’s sustainable development. AASA is a scientific and technological organization in Asia, established in 2000, comprising of 26 member academies all over Asia. Its vision is to provide a forum for the discussion of all issues relevant to science and technology development and its application on national level within Asia.
1 Introduction:Sustainability is also a Matter of Culture2 Asian History and Culture 2.1 Main culture in Asia 2.2 Religions and related culture in Asia 2.3 Features and commonality of Asian civilization3 Farming Culture Serves as the Foundat on of Asian Civilization 3.1 Main history of agricultural development in Asia 3.2 Major a.qricultural patterns and their characteristics4 DifferenCes and Clashes Of the Oriental and the Western Civilizations 4.1 Agricultural patterns of the East and the West: cereal pattern vs. cereal and hay pattern 4.2 Comparison of development path between the East and the West:enhance land productivity vs. labor productivity 4.3 Challenges in front of traditional culture in Asia5 Retrospect and Prospect 5.1 Challenges for the development of Asian agriculture 5.2 Main achievements and experiences of Asian traditional agriculture 5.3 Historical applicationReferences
插图：5.2.8 Few is more with intensive managementFull and reasonable use of land, is the main way to increase agricultural production. Centuries of human agricultural activities followed the two rules,the first, expanding farming area and increasing per unit yield; the second, intensive management. The two worked in synergy, but were not always given the same priority in different times and regions.The natural limit on the expansion of arable lands left China with nochoice but intensive management in order to increase per unit yield and pro-duce as much agricultural produce as possible. The 5th century BC Chinese think Li Kui pointed out the principle of "put the land potential into full play", emphasizing the importance of using every inch of farm land to the best of it spotential. The 12th century Song Dynasty agriculture expert Fu Chen went further to say that "the success of farming doesn't lie in the size of farm land but in the proper management of the land one owns." Concerning the size of farmland, there are agricultural proverbs passed down from history, such as "few but good is better than many but ill", "many isn't always better than few", "small but manageable is better than large but wasted".In ancient China farm lands were left to rest occasionally or regularly, which made the land fertile enough to produce crops year after year. Later multipleharvest cropping was introduced to increase production.2000 year sago, North China had seen agricultural patterns that featured three harvests ina two-year period.1000 years ago in rice-growing South China rice and wheat were both harvested in the same year and rice was harvested twice in a year. 600years ago in the Linnan region in South China, crops were harvested three times in a year.300 years ago with the development of inter-cropping, mixed cropping and under-cropping, production increased immensely. The famous British demographer Thomas Malthus （1766-1834） once said "China's farm land in most cases can support a second harvest. That's because the Chinese people can make the best use of the local conditions. They take soils from other places and mixed them into the farm land to improve the soil, they fertilize the soil and irrigatethe field. They apply all cunning and smart agricultural techniques." （He and Liu, 2001）
《通向可持续发展的亚洲:文化视点(英文版)》是由科学出版社出版的。
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