2022年11月12日VOA慢速英语：寻找矿物增加了人们对深海采矿的兴趣

 


The mining industry is pushing to explore more of the world's deep oceans to find metals and minerals used for electric vehicles and other technologies.
采矿业正在推动探索世界上更多的深海，以寻找用于电动汽车和其他技术的金属和矿物。
 
But some scientists are worried that deep sea mining will damage the environment and the biological systems important to the atmosphere.
/>但一些科学家担心深海采矿会破坏环境和对大气重要的生物系统。
 
Scientists, lawyers and government officials are meeting until November 11 in Jamaica to discuss the issue. The International Seabed Authority, (ISA), an independent group created by a United Nations treaty, organized the meeting.
科学家、律师和政府官员将于 11 月 11 日在牙买加开会讨论这个问题。国际海底管理局 (ISA) 是根据联合国条约成立的一个独立组织，组织了这次会议。
 
The ISA has given 31 exploration licenses for deep ocean waters outside of any country's territory. While it has not given any licenses to begin mining, some experts worry it will do so soon before rules are in place.
ISA 已授予 31 个在任何国家领土以外的深海水域的勘探许可证。虽然它没有颁发任何开始采矿的许可证，但一些专家担心它会在规则到位之前很快这样做。
 
Experts say the mining would create dirty water, noise, and light that could harm the ecosystem in the deep sea. They also note that scientists do not know a lot about the deep sea and need to learn more before making decisions about mining.
专家表示，采矿会产生脏水、噪音和光线，可能会损害采矿业深海的生态系统。他们还指出，科学家对深海了解不多，需要在做出采矿决定之前了解更多。
 
Less than one percent of the world's deep ocean waters have been explored. Most of the current exploration activity is in a large region between Hawaii and Mexico.
世界上只有不到百分之一的深海水域被探索过。目前的大部分勘探活动都在夏威夷和墨西哥之间的大片地区。
 
Mining companies argue that deep sea mining is less costly and causes less damage than mining on land.
矿业公司认为，深海采矿比陆地采矿成本更低，造成的损害也更小。
 
The International Energy Agency estimated that demand for minerals will increase six times by 2050. A report from Fitch Ratings that was released in October said demand will increase because electric vehicles and renewable energy technologies need minerals found in the sea.
国际能源署估计，到 2050 年，对矿物的需求将增加六倍。惠誉评级在 10 月发布的一份报告称，由于电动汽车和可再生能源技术需要在海洋中发现矿物，因此需求将会增加。
 
 
Nauru, a small island northeast of Australia, is leading the push for mining. It hopes to financially gain from the mining for minerals that are used in technologies such as electric car batteries.
瑙鲁是澳大利亚东北部的一个小岛，正在引领采矿业。它希望从开采用于电动汽车电池等技术的矿物中获得经济收益。
 
Need for study and rules
需要研究和规则
 
But officials in other countries are worried about the effects of mining and are pushing for new rules.
但其他国家的官员担心采矿的影响，并正在推动新的规则。
 
 
"We are still very concerned about the consequences," said Elza Moreira Marcelino de Castro, Brazil's representative at the meeting.
出席会议的巴西代表埃尔扎·莫雷拉·马塞利诺·德卡斯特罗说：“我们仍然非常担心后果。”
 
French President Emmanuel Macron said earlier this year that he supports a ban on deep sea mining. Germany, which has two exploration contracts, announced on Wednesday that it would not sponsor such mining at this time.
法国总统埃马纽埃尔·马克龙今年早些时候表示，他支持禁止深海采矿。拥有两项勘探合同的德国周三宣布，目前不会赞助此类采矿。
 
New Zealand, Fiji and Samoa want a ban on the mining until more is known about its possible effects, a move supported by some scientists and legal experts.
新西兰、斐济和萨摩亚希望在了解更多关于其可能影响的信息之前禁止采矿，此举得到了一些科学家和法律专家的支持。
 
The ocean holds more carbon than the Earth's atmosphere, plants and soil, and scientists are finding new kinds of plant and animal life during exploration trips.
海洋中的碳含量比地球的大气层、植物和土壤还多，科学家们在探索之旅中不断发现新的植物和动物生命种类。
 
Diva Amon is a marine biologist. She said studies take months or even years to complete.
Diva Amon 是一名海洋生物学家。她说，研究需要数月甚至数年才能完成。
 
"We do not understand what lives there, how they live there, the global function that this ecosystem plays," she said. She added that because minerals grow only one to 10 millimeters every million years, the deep sea is slow to recover from damage.
“我们不了解那里生活着什么，它们如何生活，以及这个生态系统发挥的全球功能，”她说。她补充说，由于矿物每百万年仅增长 1 到 10 毫米，因此深海从破坏中恢复的速度很慢。
 
Other concerns over deep sea mining include how money would be divided and how mining companies would be supervised.
其他关于深海采矿的担忧包括如何分配资金以及采矿公司将如何分配受到监督。
 
Countries who have signed the U.N. Convention on the Law of the Sea can sponsor private companies seeking exploration licenses. The United States is one of several countries that is not party to the convention.
已签署《联合国海洋法公约》的国家可以赞助寻求勘探许可证的私营公司。美国是未加入该公约的几个国家之一。
 
Pradeep Singh is a fellow at the Institute for Advanced Sustainability Studies in Potsdam, Germany. He said there are worries that private mining companies might look for a sponsor country based on reduced tax deals, weak environmental laws and other influences.
Pradeep Singh 是德国波茨坦高级可持续发展研究所的研究员。他说，人们担心私营矿业公司可能会基于减税协议、薄弱的环境法和其他影响寻找赞助国。
 
Michael Lodge is the secretary general of the ISA. He said at the meeting in Jamaica that the agency wants to ensure protection of the marine environment while member countries work on proposed rules.
Michael Lodge 是 ISA 的秘书长。他在牙买加的会议上说，该机构希望确保在成员国制定拟议规则的同时保护海洋环境。