Climate Study Shows Restoration of Forests Isn’t Enough by Itself 森林對於因應氣候變遷很有幫助 但還不夠


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2024/01/19 第468期 訂閱/退訂看歷史報份
 
 
紐時周報精選 Climate Study Shows Restoration of Forests Isn't Enough by Itself 森林對於因應氣候變遷很有幫助 但還不夠
Torrential Rain and Floods Wreak Havoc Across East Africa 暴雨和洪水嚴重毀損東非
紐時周報精選
 
Climate Study Shows Restoration of Forests Isn't Enough by Itself 森林對於因應氣候變遷很有幫助 但還不夠
文/Catrin Einhorn
譯/羅方妤

森林對於因應氣候變遷很有幫助 但還不夠

Restoring global forests where they occur naturally could potentially capture an additional 226 gigatons of planet-warming carbon, equivalent to about one-third of the amount that humans have released since the beginning of the Industrial Era, according to a new study published in the journal Nature.

發表在「自然」期刊的新研究指出,復育全球自然森林可額外捕獲226十億噸造成全球暖化的碳,相當於工業化時代以來人類排碳量的三分之一。

The research, with input from more than 200 authors, leveraged vast troves of data collected by satellites and on the ground and was partly an effort to address the controversy surrounding an earlier paper. That study, in 2019, helped to spur the Trillion Trees movement but also caused a scientific uproar.

這份研究由超過200名作者投入,利用大量衛星和地面收集數據,部分是為了處理關於一份早期論文的爭議。那份2019年的研究協助推動了「兆樹計畫」,但也引起科學界議論。

The new conclusions were similar to those in a separate study published last year. Mainly, the extra storage capacity would come from allowing existing forests to recover to maturity.

新結論和去年發表的另一項研究類似。主要是額外的碳儲存容量源自將現有森林復育至完善。

The 226 gigatons of storage cannot be achieved without cutting greenhouse gas emissions, said Thomas Crowther, the study's senior author and a professor of ecology at ETH Zurich, a university in Switzerland. "If we continue emitting carbon, as we've done to date, then droughts and fires and other extreme events will continue to threaten the scale of the global forest system, further limiting its potential to contribute."

該研究資深作者、瑞士蘇黎世聯邦理工學院生態學教授克勞瑟表示,如果不減少溫室氣體排放,就無法達成226十億噸的存量。他說:「如果像我們至今為止所做的那樣繼續排碳,那麼乾旱、野火和其他極端事件將持續威脅全球森林系統,進一步限制其貢獻潛力。」

Forests are essential to tackling both the climate and biodiversity crises. And they pull climate-warming carbon out of the atmosphere.

森林對於應對氣候和生物多樣性危機至關重要。它們也從大氣吸收導致氣候暖化的碳。

Crowther was the senior author of a polarizing study on forest carbon in 2019 that drew scientific backlash but also inspired an effort by the World Economic Forum to grow and conserve 1 trillion trees.

克勞瑟是2019年引發兩極反應的森林碳研究資深作者。這份研究引起科學界強烈反彈,也激發世界經濟論壇努力種植和保護1兆棵樹。

In 2019, he acknowledged, careless language led to trees being wrongly painted as a silver bullet for climate change. Now, his biggest fear is that countries and companies will keep treating forests that way, using them for carbon offsets to enable the continued use of fossil fuels.

他承認,在2019年,粗心的語言導致樹木被錯誤地描繪成解決氣候變遷的良方。現在,他最怕的是國家和企業繼續以這種認知對待森林,利用它們抵銷排碳量,以繼續使用化石燃料。

His new study's number of 226 gigatons of carbon approximates his previous one of 205, but it gets there differently. Both papers exclude urban areas, croplands and pastures but include rangelands, where animals may graze at lower densities. In the new research, 61% of the additional carbon storage would come from protecting existing forests and the other 39% from growing trees in deforested areas with low human footprints.

他的新研究所得出的226十億噸碳的數據,和先前的205十億噸近乎相同,但得出結果的方式截然不同。兩份論文都排除城市地區、農田和牧場,但包括牧地,那裡的動物吃草密集度較低。在新研究中,61%的額外碳存量來自保護現有森林,39%來自在低度人類足跡的森林砍伐區種樹。

In the 2019 study, all the carbon came from growing trees where they could occur naturally outside of existing forests. More than 50 scientists published seven critiques in Science that year, disputing both the analysis and its implications.

在2019年研究中,所有的碳都來自正在生長的樹木,能在現有森林外自然產生。當年超過50名科學家在「科學」期刊發表七篇評論,質疑這項研究的分析以及其含義。

 
Torrential Rain and Floods Wreak Havoc Across East Africa 暴雨和洪水嚴重毀損東非
文/ Abdi Latif Dahir
譯/羅方妤

暴雨和洪水嚴重毀損東非

Heavy rains and floods have killed scores of people and displaced hundreds of thousands of others across eastern Africa in recent weeks, governments and the United Nations said, underscoring the intensifying climatic hazards in a politically and economically tumultuous region.

各國政府和聯合國表示,東非近幾周暴雨和洪水已造成許多人死亡和數十萬人流離失所。這凸顯這個政治和經濟動盪地區氣候災害日益加劇。

At least 179 people have been killed in countries including Ethiopia, Kenya and Somalia, according to the U.N. and government agencies, and some regional authorities believe the figures are most likely higher.

聯合國和政府當局指出,包括衣索比亞、肯亞和索馬利亞至少共有179人死亡,有些政府當局認為這個數字很可能更高。

The torrential rains, which have devastated other nations including Burundi, Sudan, South Sudan and Uganda, have affected more than 3 million people in a region that was already reeling from its worst drought in four decades.

暴雨也破壞其他國家,包括蒲隆地、蘇丹、南蘇丹和烏干達,影響超過300萬人。該地區先前已深受40年來最嚴重乾旱影響。

Since 2020, the drought conditions, aggravated by climate change, have decimated crops and livestock and left millions of people hungry and malnourished, and hundreds of children dead.

2020年以來,氣候變遷加劇乾旱使作物和牲畜大量減產,數百萬民眾飢餓和營養不良,數以百計孩童死亡。

The United Nations has attributed the heavier-than-usual rains to two climatic events: the El Nino phenomenon, which originates in the equatorial Pacific Ocean and whose conditions release additional heat into the atmosphere, and a similar phenomenon known as the Indian Ocean Dipole.

聯合國將比往常劇烈的降雨歸因兩個氣候事件:源於赤道太平洋的聖嬰現象,向大氣額外釋放熱量,和被稱為印度洋偶極的類似現象。

The floods have damaged homes, bridges and schools, according to aid agencies, who have warned of an uptick in disease outbreaks, including cholera and malaria.

援助機構指,洪水已破壞房屋、橋梁和學校,警告包括霍亂和瘧疾等疫情加劇。

In Somalia, where the floods have affected 1.7 million people, the government declared a state of emergency in October. The U.N. said the country was facing "once-in-a-century flooding."

在索馬利亞,洪水影響170萬人,該國政府10月宣布進入緊急狀態。聯合國稱該國正面臨「百年一遇的洪水」。

The floods have so far killed at least 96 people in the country, according to Farhan Jimale, the government spokesperson.

索馬利亞政府發言人吉馬爾說,洪水目前為止造成國內96人死亡。

In Kenya, the heavy downpours have killed more than 60 people, according to the U.N. Thousands of people have been displaced in towns and cities across the west and the northeast, too, while entire neighborhoods were submerged in the coastal county of Mombasa this month, according to the Kenya Red Cross.

聯合國說,在肯亞,暴雨造成超過60人死亡。肯亞紅十字會指出,洪水也造成西部和東北部城鎮數以千計民眾流離失所,本月沿海蒙巴薩縣許多地方整區被淹沒。

Similar devastation has unfolded in neighboring countries including Ethiopia, where the pummeling rain has submerged large portions of land in several regions underwater, according to the U.N.

聯合國還表示,包括衣索比亞等鄰國也發生類似損害,傾盆大雨將多個地區大面積土地淹沒。

Thousands of homes have flooded across Sudan in recent weeks, even as millions flee a seven-month civil war. The rising waters have displaced thousands more in parts of South Sudan, a landlocked nation already burdened by years of violence and malnutrition.

最近幾周,蘇丹各地數千間房屋被洪水淹沒,儘管數百萬人剛逃離一場長達七個月的內戰。水位不斷上升也導致南蘇丹部分地區數千人流離失所。這個內陸國家多年來飽受暴力和營養不良困擾。

 
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