VOA慢速英語：路透社稱巴西的發(fā)展將地球環(huán)境置于險境

Reuters: Development in Brazil Putting Earth’s Environment at Risk

路透社稱巴西的發(fā)展將地球環(huán)境置于險境

Brazil is the largest exporter of soybeans, chicken and beef in the world. It is also a major producer of pork and corn.

巴西是世界上最大的大豆、雞肉和牛肉出口國，也是豬肉和玉米的主要生產(chǎn)國。

The Reuters news agency says Brazil's success is partly a result of low prices for farm land and permissive land-use policies.

路透社表示，巴西成功的部分原因是低廉的農(nóng)地價格和寬松的土地使用政策。

Some farmers are leaving the Amazon, partly because of international concerns about the rainforest. Many are moving to an area in the center of the country, known as the Cerrado.

一些農(nóng)民開始離開亞馬遜熱帶雨林，部分原因是國際上對這片雨林的關(guān)注。很多人遷往該國中部一處名為塞拉多的地區(qū)。

The Cerrado is about the same size as Mexico. It stretches from Brazil's western border with Paraguay up to the northeast and the Atlantic Ocean. It is the largest flat, wooded grasslands in South America. The area is also home to five percent of living species on Earth.

塞拉多的面積和墨西哥差不多。它從巴西同巴拉圭接壤的西部邊境一直延伸到東北部和大西洋。它是南美洲最大的一片地勢平坦、樹木繁茂的草原。該地區(qū)也是地球上5%的生物物種的家園。

Over the past 10 years, Brazilian farmers have been developing large parts of the Cerrado. The government says the area has lost more than 105,000 square kilometers of its native plant cover since 2008. That number represents 50 percent more land than the deforestation seen during the same period in the Amazon. Based on relative size, the Cerrado is disappearing nearly four times faster than the rainforest.

在過去十年里，巴西農(nóng)民一直在開發(fā)塞拉多的大部分地區(qū)。政府表示，自2008年以來，該地區(qū)失去的原生植物覆蓋面積已經(jīng)超過10.5萬平方公里，這一數(shù)字比亞馬遜同期森林砍伐面積還高出50%?；谙鄬σ?guī)模，塞拉多比雨林的消失速度快了近4倍。

The Cerrado is also rich in carbon dioxide gas. Studies have linked rising levels of carbon dioxide to rising temperatures in Earth's atmosphere. Many scientists blame the increase on deforestation and use of coal, oil and other fossil fuels.

塞拉多還富含二氧化碳?xì)怏w。研究表明，二氧化碳水平上升同地球大氣層溫度升高有關(guān)。很多科學(xué)家將此歸咎于森林砍伐和煤炭、石油等化石燃料的使用。

Brazilian officials say protection of native plant life is important to meeting the country's goals under the 2016 Paris Agreement on climate change. But scientists say industrial farming in the Carredo could hold back Brazil's efforts and worsen global warming.

巴西官員表示，保護(hù)本土植物對該國實現(xiàn)2016年巴黎氣候變化協(xié)議的目標(biāo)非常重要。但是科學(xué)家表示，塞拉多地區(qū)的工業(yè)化農(nóng)業(yè)可能會阻礙巴西的努力，并加劇全球變暖。

Liliana Pena Naval is an environmental engineering professor at the Federal University of Tocantins. She told the Associated Press that the removal of plants can cause bodies of water to disappear.

Liliana Pena Naval是托坎廷斯州聯(lián)邦大學(xué)的一名環(huán)境工程學(xué)教授。她對美聯(lián)社表示，移除植物會導(dǎo)致水體消失。

Thousands of plants, fish, insects and animals are also affected. Many of these species are only beginning to be studied.

成千上萬的植物、魚類、昆蟲和動物也將受到影響。其中很多物種才剛開始進(jìn)行研究。

Farmers see the development of the Cerrado as necessary for Brazil's food security and economic success. The agriculture industry grew 13 percent in 2017. The ability to keep producing new farmland at low costs has given Brazil better chances for success than other countries.

農(nóng)民們認(rèn)為塞拉多的發(fā)展對巴西的糧食安全和經(jīng)濟(jì)成功來說是非常必要的。2017年農(nóng)業(yè)產(chǎn)業(yè)增長了13%。以低成本繼續(xù)擴大農(nóng)田的能力賦予了巴西比其它國家更大的成功機會。

Increased trade with China

與中國貿(mào)易提升

Deforestation in the Cerrado has slowed from the early 2000s. But farmers continue to develop large parts of the area. Much of the growth is fueled by Chinese demand for Brazilian meat and grain. China is Brazil's top buyer of soybeans. China is also a major purchaser of Brazilian pork, beef and chicken.

塞拉多的森林砍伐從21世紀(jì)初開始放緩。但是農(nóng)民們繼續(xù)在開發(fā)該地區(qū)的大部分地區(qū)。中國對巴西肉類和谷物的需求刺激了其中大部分的增長。中國是巴西最大的大豆買家，也是巴西豬肉、牛肉和雞肉的主要買家。。

Rising trade tensions between China and the United States have only made the connection stronger. Brazil's soybean exports to China are up 18 percent through the first seven months of 2018. The increase comes as Chinese buyers have canceled tens of millions of dollars' worth of business deals with U.S. suppliers.

中美之間日益加劇的貿(mào)易緊張局勢只會使這種聯(lián)系更為緊密。巴西對中國的大豆出口在2018年前7個月增長了18%。隨著中國買家取消同美國供應(yīng)商達(dá)成的數(shù)千萬美元的商業(yè)交易,巴西的增長也隨之增加.

Environmental protections remain strong in Brazil. Rainforest farmers are required by law to protect 80 percent of native plants on their land. As part of its promise under the Paris Agreement, the government agreed to end illegal Amazon deforestation by 2030.

巴西的環(huán)境保護(hù)仍然很嚴(yán)格。法律要求雨林農(nóng)民保護(hù)他們土地上80%的原生植物。作為對巴黎協(xié)定承諾的一部分，巴西政府同意在2030年前消除亞馬遜熱帶雨林的非法砍伐。

But Brazil has made no similar effort to protect the Cerrado. Environmentalists say the area's wooded grasslands have failed to capture the public's attention the way the Amazon has.

但是巴西并未采取類似措施來保護(hù)塞拉多。環(huán)保主義者表示，該地區(qū)樹木繁茂的草原未能像亞馬遜熱帶雨林那樣吸引公眾注意力。

Last year, some environmental protection groups began calling for large international businesses to protect the Cerrado. Among those groups were Greenpeace, the World Wildlife Foundation and the Brazilian research group IPAM. They called for immediate action to end the deforestation in a document known as the Cerrado Manifesto.

去年，一些環(huán)保組織開始呼吁大型國際企業(yè)保護(hù)塞拉多，其中包括綠色和平組織、世界野生動物基金會以及巴西IPAM研究組織，他們在一份名為塞拉多宣言的文件中呼吁立即采取行動停止森林砍伐。

More than 60 companies, including McDonalds, Unilever and Walmart, offered to follow the manifesto. They have agreed to support measures that would end native vegetation loss in the Cerrado from their production processes.

包括麥當(dāng)勞、聯(lián)合利華和沃爾瑪在內(nèi)的60多家公司主動提出遵守這一宣言。他們同意支持采取措施，消除塞拉多地區(qū)生產(chǎn)過程中的原生植被損失。

Farmer Julimar Pansera purchased land in the Cerrado seven years ago. Today, he oversees nearly 49 square kilometers of soy fields and has about 20 full-time employees. He said there is no future without growth.

農(nóng)民Julimar Pansera7年前在塞拉多買下了土地。今天，他管理著近49平方公里的大豆田，擁有近20名全職員工。他說，沒有增長就沒有未來。

"There is still a large area to be opened," he said. "It will be one of the great centers of Brazilian agriculture."

他說：“這里還有大片等待開墾的土地，它將成為巴西農(nóng)業(yè)的重要中心之一。”

I'm Jonathan Evans.

喬納森·埃文斯報道。