世界在50年里失去了三分之二的野生動物

世界在50年里失去了三分之二的野生動物

A baby turtle is released into the ocean in Bali, Indonesia, Tuesday, June 9, 2020, part of a campaign to save the endangered Lekang sea turtles.

2020年6月9日，星期二，在印度尼西亞巴厘島，一只小海龜被放歸大海，這是拯救瀕危樂康海龜運動的一部分。

Human activities have caused the world's wildlife populations to plummet by more than two-thirds in the last 50 years, according to a new report from the World Wildlife Fund.

根據(jù)世界野生動物基金會的一份新報告，在過去的50年里，人類活動已經(jīng)導致世界野生動物數(shù)量下降了三分之二以上。

The decline is happening at an unprecedented rate, the report warns, and it threatens human life as well.

報告警告說，這種下降正在以前所未有的速度發(fā)生，而且它還威脅著人類的生命。

"The findings are clear," the report states. "Our relationship with nature is broken."

“研究結果很清楚，”報告稱。“我們與自然的關系被打破了。”

The Living Planet Report 2020 report drew on wildlife monitoring of more than 4,300 different vertebrate species - animals, fish, birds and amphibians - from around the world. It found that population sizes for those monitored species declined by an average of 68 percent from 1970 to 2016.

《2020地球生命力報告》報告對來自世界各地的4300多種脊椎動物——動物、魚類、鳥類和兩棲動物——進行了野生動物監(jiān)測。研究發(fā)現(xiàn)，從1970年到2016年，受監(jiān)測物種的種群規(guī)模平均下降了68%。

In the American tropics, including the Caribbean and Latin America, population sizes decreased by a staggering 94 percent.

在美洲熱帶地區(qū)，包括加勒比和拉丁美洲，種群規(guī)模驚人地下降了94%。

Forest clearing for agricultural space was the predominant cause of the decline, the report says, noting that one-third of the planet's land is currently being used for food production. Human-caused climate change is another growing driver.

該報告指出，為農業(yè)用地而砍伐森林是(野生動物種群規(guī)模)減少的主要原因，并指出目前地球上三分之一的土地被用于糧食生產。人類造成的氣候變化是另一個日益增長的驅動力。

"We can't ignore the evidence – these serious declines in wildlife species populations are an indicator that nature is unraveling and that our planet is flashing red warning signs of systems failure," wrote Marco Lambertini, Director General of World Wildlife Fund International.

“我們不能忽視證據(jù)——野生動物種群數(shù)量的嚴重減少是大自然正在解體的一個信號，我們的星球正在閃爍著系統(tǒng)失靈的紅色預警信號，”世界野生動物基金會的總干事馬爾科·蘭博蒂尼寫道。

The 83-page document, a collaboration with the Zoological Society of London, joins a growing and ominous list of academic research and international reports warning that human activities are causing a steep decline in global biodiversity.

這份83頁的文件是與倫敦動物學會合作完成的，它加入了越來越多警告人類活動正導致全球生物多樣性急劇下降的學術研究和國際報告的不祥名單。

The United Nations published a sweeping report last year cautioning that 1 million of the estimated 8 million plant and animal species on the planet are at risk of extinction, many within decades, because of human activities. It made a similar plea for people to care, punctuated with a warning:

聯(lián)合國去年發(fā)布了一份全面的報告，警告說，由于人類活動，地球上估計有800萬種動植物，其中有100萬種正面臨滅絕的危險，其中許多將在幾十年內滅絕。它也發(fā)出了類似的呼吁，希望人們關注此事，并輔以警告:

"Protecting biodiversity amounts to protecting humanity," UNESCO Director-General Audrey Azoulay, said at the time of the report's release.

聯(lián)合國教科文組織總干事奧德蕾·阿祖萊在報告發(fā)布時表示:“保護生物多樣性就是保護人類。”

A subsequent United Nations report, published in July of this year, warned that biodiversity loss, and humans' destruction of nature, would lead to an increase in animal-to-human diseases, like COVID-19. The pandemic has also reportedly contributed to an increase in deforestation in some parts of the world, amplifying the risk.

隨后在今年7月發(fā)表的一份聯(lián)合國報告警告說，生物多樣性的喪失和人類對自然的破壞將導致動物傳染給人類的疾病增加，比如COVID-19。據(jù)報道，這一流行病還增加了世界一些地區(qū)的森林砍伐，加劇了這種風險。

Scientists have long-warned that the world is entering a sixth mass extinction, driven by humanity's consumption of wildlife and wild spaces, and the burning of fossil fuels. Global warming will also cause ecosystems to shift faster than some species can adapt.

科學家早就警告說，由于人類對野生動物和野生空間的消耗以及化石燃料的燃燒，世界正進入第六次大滅絕。全球變暖還將導致生態(tài)系統(tǒng)的變化速度超過一些物種的適應速度。