Food production vs biodiversity? - Module 2

C2 Proficiency · Open Cloze · Expert Proficiency Resource Book, Pearson Education

For questions 1–8, read the text below and think of the word which best fits each space. Use only one word in each space. There is an example at the beginning.

A life of poverty and famine is (0) ___ common a problem in Africa. For the foreseeable future, it (1) ___ seem that agricultural development provides the only means of alleviating the situation and the prospect of agricultural expansion is certainly welcome. (2) ___ , however, threats to sustainability (3) ___ to be avoided, any such development will need to be carefully managed. For example, although Africa retains much of its biodiversity, agricultural expansion into sensitive areas (4) ___ aggravate declines that are already becoming apparent. Increased agricultural production is needed to feed the world's growing population but brings (5) ___ it the risk of knock-on effects, such as an increase in greenhouse gas emissions. Every such increase brings us closer to an ecological crisis point and so (6) ___ added pressure on the global life-support systems upon (7) ___ agriculture itself depends. Such tensions are, of course, by (8) ___ means unique to Africa and new approaches to the problem are clearly needed on a worldwide scale.

Food production vs biodiversity?

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