世界在50年里失去了三分之二的野生动物

世界在50年里失去了三分之二的野生动物

A baby turtle is released into the ocean in Bali, Indonesia, Tuesday, June 9, 2020, part of a campaign to save the endangered Lekang sea turtles.

2020年6月9日，星期二，在印度尼西亚巴厘岛，一只小海龟被放归大海，这是拯救濒危乐康海龟运动的一部分。

Human activities have caused the world's wildlife populations to plummet by more than two-thirds in the last 50 years, according to a new report from the World Wildlife Fund.

根据世界野生动物基金会的一份新报告，在过去的50年里，人类活动已经导致世界野生动物数量下降了三分之二以上。

The decline is happening at an unprecedented rate, the report warns, and it threatens human life as well.

报告警告说，这种下降正在以前所未有的速度发生，而且它还威胁着人类的生命。

"The findings are clear," the report states. "Our relationship with nature is broken."

“研究结果很清楚，”报告称。“我们与自然的关系被打破了。”

The Living Planet Report 2020 report drew on wildlife monitoring of more than 4,300 different vertebrate species - animals, fish, birds and amphibians - from around the world. It found that population sizes for those monitored species declined by an average of 68 percent from 1970 to 2016.

《2020地球生命力报告》报告对来自世界各地的4300多种脊椎动物——动物、鱼类、鸟类和两栖动物——进行了野生动物监测。研究发现，从1970年到2016年，受监测物种的种群规模平均下降了68%。

In the American tropics, including the Caribbean and Latin America, population sizes decreased by a staggering 94 percent.

在美洲热带地区，包括加勒比和拉丁美洲，种群规模惊人地下降了94%。

Forest clearing for agricultural space was the predominant cause of the decline, the report says, noting that one-third of the planet's land is currently being used for food production. Human-caused climate change is another growing driver.

该报告指出，为农业用地而砍伐森林是(野生动物种群规模)减少的主要原因，并指出目前地球上三分之一的土地被用于粮食生产。人类造成的气候变化是另一个日益增长的驱动力。

"We can't ignore the evidence – these serious declines in wildlife species populations are an indicator that nature is unraveling and that our planet is flashing red warning signs of systems failure," wrote Marco Lambertini, Director General of World Wildlife Fund International.

“我们不能忽视证据——野生动物种群数量的严重减少是大自然正在解体的一个信号，我们的星球正在闪烁着系统失灵的红色预警信号，”世界野生动物基金会的总干事马尔科·兰博蒂尼写道。

The 83-page document, a collaboration with the Zoological Society of London, joins a growing and ominous list of academic research and international reports warning that human activities are causing a steep decline in global biodiversity.

这份83页的文件是与伦敦动物学会合作完成的，它加入了越来越多警告人类活动正导致全球生物多样性急剧下降的学术研究和国际报告的不祥名单。

The United Nations published a sweeping report last year cautioning that 1 million of the estimated 8 million plant and animal species on the planet are at risk of extinction, many within decades, because of human activities. It made a similar plea for people to care, punctuated with a warning:

联合国去年发布了一份全面的报告，警告说，由于人类活动，地球上估计有800万种动植物，其中有100万种正面临灭绝的危险，其中许多将在几十年内灭绝。它也发出了类似的呼吁，希望人们关注此事，并辅以警告:

"Protecting biodiversity amounts to protecting humanity," UNESCO Director-General Audrey Azoulay, said at the time of the report's release.

联合国教科文组织总干事奥德蕾·阿祖莱在报告发布时表示:“保护生物多样性就是保护人类。”

A subsequent United Nations report, published in July of this year, warned that biodiversity loss, and humans' destruction of nature, would lead to an increase in animal-to-human diseases, like COVID-19. The pandemic has also reportedly contributed to an increase in deforestation in some parts of the world, amplifying the risk.

随后在今年7月发表的一份联合国报告警告说，生物多样性的丧失和人类对自然的破坏将导致动物传染给人类的疾病增加，比如COVID-19。据报道，这一流行病还增加了世界一些地区的森林砍伐，加剧了这种风险。

Scientists have long-warned that the world is entering a sixth mass extinction, driven by humanity's consumption of wildlife and wild spaces, and the burning of fossil fuels. Global warming will also cause ecosystems to shift faster than some species can adapt.

科学家早就警告说，由于人类对野生动物和野生空间的消耗以及化石燃料的燃烧，世界正进入第六次大灭绝。全球变暖还将导致生态系统的变化速度超过一些物种的适应速度。