亞馬遜雨林即將跨越一個不可逆轉的門檻，變成熱帶稀樹草原

The Amazon Rainforest Is About To Cross An Irreversible Threshold That Will Turn It Into A Savanna, Top Scientists Say

頂級科學家表示，亞馬遜雨林即將跨越一個不可逆轉的門檻，變成熱帶稀樹草原

Experts fear the Amazon rainforest has reached a catastrophic tipping point.

專家們擔心亞馬遜雨林已經到了一個災難性的臨界點。

Leading rainforest scientists Thomas Lovejoy and Carlos Nobre warned in an editorial published Thursday that deforestation in the world's largest rainforest has led the Amazon to the brink of an irreversible process called "dieback."

著名的熱帶雨林科學家托馬斯·洛夫喬伊和卡洛斯·諾布雷在周四發(fā)表的一篇社論中警告說，世界上最大的熱帶雨林的濫伐已經把亞馬遜帶到了一個被稱為“死亡”的不可逆過程的邊緣。

That scenario would turn the Amazon into an African-savanna-type landscape. The tropical trees — and the fauna they support — would disappear, releasing up to 140 billion tons of stored carbon into the atmosphere, causing an uptick in already rising global temperatures.

這種情況將把亞馬遜變成非洲大草原式的景觀。熱帶樹木——以及它們所供養(yǎng)的動物群——將會消失，向大氣中釋放多達1400億噸儲存的碳，導致已經在上升的全球氣溫上升。

Today, we stand exactly in a moment of destiny, Lovejoy and Nobre wrote in the editorial, which was published in the journal Science Advances. Both scientists have studied the Amazon for decades. "The tipping point is here, it is now."

洛夫喬伊和諾布爾在這篇發(fā)表在《科學進展》(Science Advances)雜志上的社論中寫道:“今天，我們完全站在了一個命運的時刻。”這兩位科學家都對亞馬遜河進行了數(shù)十年的研究。“臨界點就在這里，就是現(xiàn)在。”

Fears about this tipping point spread over the summer, when fires raged through the Brazilian Amazon. Researchers recorded more than 195,000 fires in Brazil this year. The surge of blazes in August marked an 83% increase from the same period in 2018.

對這一臨界點的擔憂在夏季蔓延開來，當時大火肆虐巴西亞馬遜地區(qū)。研究人員今年在巴西記錄了超過19.5萬起火災。與2018年同期相比，8月份的火災激增了83%。

But overall, this year was not unique. People have been setting fires like this, which are not a natural part of the Amazon ecosystem, for years to clear land for farming and mining. Brazil saw over 205,000 fires in 2017, more than 182,000 in 2016, and 212,000 in 2015.

但總的來說，今年并不是唯一的。多年來，人們一直在這樣放火，這不是亞馬遜生態(tài)系統(tǒng)的自然組成部分，目的是為了清理土地用于農業(yè)和采礦。巴西在2017年發(fā)生超過20.5萬起火災，2016年超過18.2萬起，2015年21.2萬起。

This year's fires did, however, gain worldwide attention after wind carried the smoke into S?o Paulo, 2,000 miles away.

然而，今年的火災確實引起了全世界的關注，因為風把煙霧吹到了2000英里外的圣保羅。

The rampant winds awoke the Brazilian populace and indeed the world to the harsh reality that the precious Amazon is teetering on the edge of functional destruction and, with it, so are we, Lovejoy and Nobre wrote. "The loss of forest will lead to staggering losses of biodiversity, carbon, and, in turn, human well-being."

洛夫喬伊和諾布雷寫道:“肆虐的狂風喚醒了巴西民眾，乃至全世界，讓他們意識到一個殘酷的現(xiàn)實:寶貴的亞馬遜正處于功能破壞的邊緣，我們也一樣。”“森林的消失將導致生物多樣性、碳以及人類福祉的驚人損失。”