Journal of Stress Physiology & Biochemistry (Feb 2020)
Adaptation of Acupuncture and Traditional Chinese Herbal Medicines Models Because of Climate Change
Abstract
China is the vast country which has the highest population and providing enough and stable food is a challenge in China and climate change is expected to exacerbate problems, and agricultural systems models play significant roles in identify strategies to support global food security and protecting the environment. Literature search was conducted in Medline, Research gate, Scopus, Pubmed and Google scholar databases. The keywords were climate change, acupuncture and traditional Chinese medicine and health benefits. Climate Change will influence distribution of agricultural production, food supply and global markets in Asia and the world. The impact of climatic changes on agriculture can be divided into shift in climatic and agriculture zones, impact on plant growth and crop production, impact on agriculture soil such as soil organic matter, soil fertility, biological health of soil, soil erosion, soil water availability, and of course increase in number of pests, plant diseases and weeds. Traditional Chinese medicine uses five phase theory to describe the relationship between five zang and their physiological function, five zang and structure and function of various parts of the human body, and also the correlation between each part of human body and nature and society. Not only were the ancient Chinese scholars aware of Qi, the immaterial medium that connects between different parts of a body and speaks the intelligence of the body; they also recognized that nature, just like the human body, communicates between its different parts through its own Qi and the climate pattern. Farmers should adapt to climate change strategies which integrate traditional experience and indigenous knowledge with scientific researches and government polices as key factors. Because of climate change, China will be more vulnerable to droughts, heavy rains and heat waves. Climate change will extend growing seasons for some crops and make shorter growing seasons for other crops in North part of China and will bring less reliable rains, soils that retain less water, the spread of dangerous pests and unwanted weeds. To maintain or increase qualitative production of Chinese herbal crops, adaptation strategies, particularly to increasing temperatures affecting irrigated wheat, or expanding the cropping area will be required.
