澳大利亞遭受火災(zāi)破壞的森林正在恢復(fù)

澳大利亞遭受火災(zāi)破壞的森林正在恢復(fù)

In the back corner of a burned lot in Australia's fire-ravaged South Coast stands a torched tree. It's uppermost branches reach into a cloudless sky, brittle and bare.

在澳大利亞南海岸一片被大火燒毀的土地的后角，矗立著一棵被火燒過的樹。它最上面的樹枝伸向無云的天空，脆弱而光禿禿的。

But that's not where local resident Claire Polach is pointing. She gestures to the middle part of the tree, where lime green leaves sprout from blackened bark, as if the tree is wearing a shaggy sweater.

但這并不是當(dāng)?shù)鼐用窨巳R爾·波拉奇所指的地方。她指著樹的中間部分，那里石灰綠色的葉子從燒焦的樹皮中發(fā)芽，就好像樹穿著一件蓬松的毛衣。

To Polach, the burst of regrowth is a sign that despite a months' long assault of flame and smoke, the second-hottest summer on record and a multi-year drought, Australia's nature "is doing it's thing."

對波拉奇來說，盡管經(jīng)歷了一個月的火焰和煙霧的困擾，經(jīng)歷了有記錄以來第二熱的夏天，經(jīng)歷了多年的干旱，但澳大利亞的自然“正在做它該做的事”。

As for people like her, recovering from the same? "We'll follow the nature," she says.

至于像她這樣的人，從同樣的困境中恢復(fù)過來了嗎?”我們將遵循自然，”她說。

This cycle of fire, rain and recovery has played out in Australia for millennia. The majority of the country's forests are uniquely adapted to fire. "Australia is, more than any other, a fire continent," writes ecologist and historian Stephen Pyne in his book "World Fire."

這種火、雨和復(fù)蘇的循環(huán)在澳大利亞已經(jīng)持續(xù)了幾千年。這個國家的大部分森林都特別適合(引發(fā))火災(zāi)。”生態(tài)學(xué)家和歷史學(xué)家斯蒂芬·派恩在他的《世界之火》一書中寫道：“澳大利亞比任何其他國家都更像是一個火大陸。”

But scientists have long warned that a warming climate could mean more severe fires, more often. Now there are concerns that even a fire continent will struggle to recover from the scale and severity of recent events.

但科學(xué)家一直警告說，氣候變暖可能意味著更嚴(yán)重的火災(zāi)，而且更頻繁。現(xiàn)在有人擔(dān)心，即使是一個火災(zāi)大陸也很難從最近事件的規(guī)模和嚴(yán)重性中恢復(fù)過來。

New research published in the journal Nature Climate Change found that a staggering 21 percent of Australia's forested area burned in the 2019-2020 fire season, a figure the authors say is "globally unprecedented".

發(fā)表在《自然-氣候變化》雜志上的最新研究發(fā)現(xiàn)，澳大利亞有21%的森林面積在2019-2020年的火災(zāi)季節(jié)被燒毀，這一數(shù)字“在全球范圍內(nèi)是前所未有的”。

Recovering for now

暫時恢復(fù)

His eyes on a narrow dirt road in front of him, Colin Brown gestures his head at the walls of burned trees passing on either side of his rumbling fire tanker.

科林·布朗的目光落在前方一條狹窄的土路上，他的頭朝著燃燒的樹墻，這些樹從他隆隆作響的消防車兩邊經(jīng)過。

"Good way to assess how bad the fire was is the scorch marks on the trees," he says. Two trucks ahead of him is a team of ecologists from the Australian National University, here in Tallaganda National Park to survey the damage caused by a recent fire.

他說：“評估火災(zāi)嚴(yán)重程度的好方法是樹上的焦痕。”。他前面的兩輛卡車是澳大利亞國立大學(xué)的生態(tài)學(xué)家組成的一個小組，他們在塔拉甘達國家公園調(diào)查最近一場火災(zāi)造成的損失。

Brown, a deputy captain with the Rural Fire Service in New South Wales, already has a pretty good idea of it. He, like tens of thousands of other volunteer firefighters, has spent the last few months doing what he could to protect homes, ranches and other people tucked between.

布朗是新南威爾士州農(nóng)村消防隊的副隊長，他已經(jīng)對此有了很好的認(rèn)識。他和其他數(shù)萬名志愿消防隊員一樣，在過去的幾個月里，盡他所能保護居住地、牧場和其他被大火吞噬的人們。

A recent study by a group of international scientists confirmed what Brown and many others suspected: human-caused climate change contributed to the conditions they saw over the last few months, making them 30 percent more likely. "The weather's just different," Brown says.

一組國際科學(xué)家最近的一項研究證實了布朗和其他許多人的猜測:過去幾個月里，他們所看到的情況是由人類引起的氣候變化造成的，這種情況發(fā)生的可能性增加了30%。“天氣都不一樣了，”布朗說。

Outside, the scorch marks now reach the tops of the trees. The ground below is littered with fallen logs and dead leaves. Brown stops the engine and puts on a helmet, a caution against any weakened trees that have yet to fall.

外面，燒焦的痕跡已經(jīng)蔓延到樹頂。下面的地面上散落著倒下的圓木和枯葉。布朗關(guān)掉引擎，戴上頭盔，警告人們小心那些還沒有倒下的樹。