Minghua Zhang
University of California Davis

Recent studies clearly indicated that the climate is changing. Water shortage in the Northern China also threatens sustainable food security in China. Since the Economic Reform in China, northern China accounted for 86.27% of the country’s total irrigated area growth and 92.9% of the total grain production growth. Grain production centre has shifted from the south to the north. However, the shift was mismatching the distributions and changes in precipitation and available water resources in China. From 1956 to 2008, observed stream flows in the five main rivers in northern China decreased dramatically, some by more than 80%. From 1987 to 2000, based on the 228 monitoring wells in the North China Plain, the average groundwater table declined 10.8 m. The impacts of climate change, the South-to-North Water Transfer Project and industry development exacerbate the uncertainty of sustainable food security of China.