非洲的绿色长城能否应对气候变化和大规模移民?

非洲的绿色长城能否应对气候变化和大规模移民?

The Great Green Wall may be the most aptly named thing ever. It's great, stretching nearly 5,000 miles across the continent of Africa. It's green, consisting of millions of trees. And it's a wall — not a solid wall, but a wall of trees meant to keep the Sahara from encroaching further into communities as a result of climate change and desertification.

绿色长城可能是史上最贴切的名字了。它非常棒，横跨非洲大陆，绵延近5000英里。它是绿色的，由数百万棵树组成。这是一堵墙——不是坚硬的墙，而是一堵树墙，这堵墙是为了防止撒哈拉沙漠由于气候变化和沙漠化进一步侵入社区。

It has been under construction for a decade and is about 15 percent done. Once completed, it will be the largest living structure on the planet at three times the size of the Great Barrier Reef.

它已经建设了10年，大约完成了15%。一旦完工，它将成为地球上最大的生物结构，面积是大堡礁的三倍。

The Wall's ultimate ambition

绿色长城的终极目标

The Great Green Wall is rooted in Africa's Sahel region, which is the southern border of the Sahara. (Photo: Great Green Wall)

Millions of residents in these nations are hard-hit by the effects of climate change, such as droughts, famine and conflict over natural resources, which has led to mass migrations overseas.

这些国家数以百万计的居民深受气候变化的影响，比如干旱、饥荒和自然资源冲突，这些因素导致了大规模的海外移民。

Some of those migrants die in overcrowded boats attempting to cross into Europe. Others arrive but are immediately arrested and jailed. The hope is that the Great Green Wall will boost food production, limit conflicts over natural resources, and improve job prospects so that people will stay. By 2030, the Wall hopes to restore 100 million hectares (or 247 million acres) of degraded land and create 10 million jobs.

其中一些移民死于试图越境进入欧洲的拥挤船只上。其他人到达后，立即被逮捕和监禁。人们希望“绿色长城”能够促进粮食生产，减少自然资源冲突，改善就业前景，让人们留下来。到2030年，绿色长城有望恢复1亿公顷(2.47亿英亩)的退化土地，并创造1000万个就业机会。

The hope is that the Great Green Wall will boost food production and improve job prospects so that people will stay in Africa. (Photo: Great Green Wall)

Because the Wall touches so many nations, it can be tricky to proceed in a unified way. Different nations have adopted their own initiatives to combat desertification and have committed to the Wall in varying degrees. The project now "consists of a mosaic of projects implemented by over 20 countries in the region," according to the International Tree Foundation (ITF).

因为这堵墙涉及如此多的国家，以统一的方式推进可能会很棘手。不同的国家都采取了自己的防沙治沙倡议，并在不同程度上对绿色长城作出了承诺。据国际树木基金会(ITF)称，该项目现在“由该地区20多个国家实施的项目组成”。

With more than $8 billion pledged for the Wall, according to The Telegraph, there are even more trees to come.

据《每日电讯报》报道，有超过80亿美元的资金用于修建长城，未来还会有更多的树木。