我们正在失去鸟类
一些人很容易认为，全球生物多样性一波又一波减少的故事是别人的担忧。亚马逊地区的雨林遭到破坏、野蛮偷猎和非洲大型哺乳动物种群数量骤减，这些问题可能看上去非常遥远。
Last week, however, headlines about biodiversity loss pierced hearts in America. Just as Rachel Carson feared more than half a century ago in her book Silent Spring, we are losing our birds. New research published in the journal Science shows that, since 1970, wild bird populations in the US and Canada have dropped by almost 30 per cent, a loss of nearly 3bn breeding birds. The numbers read like Black Monday in the stock market: a 53 per cent loss among our grassland birds, a billion birds lost from our forests, 862m sparrows and 618m warblers and 440m blackbirds — all gone.
然而最近，失去生物多样性的头条新闻让美国人感到痛心。就像半个多世纪前美国海洋生物学家雷切尔•卡森(Rachel Carson)在她所著的《寂静的春天》(Silent Spring)中担心的那样，我们正在失去鸟类。发表在《科学》(Science)杂志上的新研究表明，自1970年以来，美国和加拿大的野生鸟类数量下降近30%，这意味着失去近30亿只繁殖鸟类。相关数字看起来像是股市的“黑色星期一”：北美的草原鸟类减少了53%，森林鸟类减少了10亿只，8.62亿只麻雀、6.18亿只莺和4.4亿只黑鸟——全部消失了。
A report for the G7 prepared in May by the OECD offered a grim synopsis of all the varied measures of ecosystem loss across our planet. Overall, more than half of all the vertebrates in the world have disappeared since 1970, and today’s rate of species extinction is 1,000 times higher than prehuman times. The report also calculated the global economic costs of biodiversity loss to be on the scale of $10tn-$31tn a year.
经合组织(OECD)今年5月为七国集团(G7)编制的报告，用各种衡量指标概述了地球上生态系统丧失的严峻现实。总体而言，自1970年以来，世界上一半以上脊椎动物已经消失，如今的物种灭绝速度是人类史前时代的1000倍。该报告还计算出，生物多样性丧失的全球经济成本达到每年10万亿至31万亿美元。
We are fast approaching a tipping point of irreversibleloss to naturally functioning ecosystems that will cause catastrophic — and frustratingly avoidable — economic losses at an enormous global scale.
我们正在快速接近自然运转的生态系统出现不可逆转的损失的临界点，这将在全球范围造成灾难性——而且令人沮丧地本来可以避免的——的巨大经济损失。
Back in 1992 the UN proposed bold action through the Convention on Biological Diversity, a treaty joined by 196 member nations to launch global efforts for land and water conservation in order to protect worldwide biodiversity. The convention inspired Canada to pledge $1.35bn towards doubling its total protected area. That money launched an ambitious effort that has already conserved 1.66m square kilometres of Canadian land and ocean habitats, an area almost the size of Quebec. China, likewise, has made bold conservation moves, with its recent moratorium on development and World Heritage Site listing along the Yellow Sea coast, the world’s largest intertidal mudflat system and a critical habitat for more than 50 migratory shorebird species.
早在1992年，联合国就通过《生物多样性公约》(Convention on Biological Diversity)提议了大胆行动，196个成员国签署该条约，通过开展全球陆地和水体保护工作来保护全球生物多样性。《公约》促使加拿大承诺拿出13.5亿美元，将其保护区总面积扩大一倍。那笔资金使加拿大得以发起雄心勃勃的努力，如今已经保护了该国166万平方公里的陆地和海洋栖息地，面积几乎相当于整个魁北克省。同样，中国也采取了果敢的保护措施，近年在黄海沿岸地区暂停开发，并将这里的多处湿地列入世界遗产地名录。这里有世界上最大的潮间带滩涂系统，是50多个迁徙水鸟物种的重要栖息地。
One member of the UN did not ratify the convention: the US. A century ago, the US was a global leader in conservation. It pioneered an international migratory bird treaty with Canada that protected hundreds of bird species shared across the two nations. This treaty and related laws rescued dozens of bird species that were being hunted into extinction. An American president, Woodrow Wilson, signed the treaty, and the Senate ratified the Migratory Bird Treaty Act in 1918 — even while the horrors of the first world war were monopolising lawmakers’ attention.
联合国的一个成员国未批准该公约：美国。一个世纪前，美国是生态保护的全球领导者。它率先与加拿大达成一项国际候鸟条约，保护两国共享的数百个鸟类物种。该条约和相关法律拯救了数十种因捕杀而濒临灭绝的鸟类。美国总统伍德罗•威尔逊(Woodrow Wilson)签署了该条约，而参议院于1918年批准了《候鸟条约法》(Migratory Bird Treaty Act)，即使第一次世界大战的可怕战况占据了立法者的注意力。
A hundred years later, the US has yet to join the convention on biological diversity because the Senate has been unwilling to ratify the treaty. American NGOs have valiantly stepped in and made great progress towards the conservation of wildlife and habitats, but we need more. The next big opportunity for the US to engage on this issue will be the COP15 convention on biodviersity in China next year.
100年后的今天，美国仍未加入《生物多样性公约》，就因为参议院一直不愿批准该条约。美国的非政府组织(NGO)英勇地填补空白，在保护野生动植物和栖息地方面取得了巨大的进步，但我们还需要更多行动。美国在该问题上投入的下一个重大机遇将是明年在中国举行的《生物多样性公约》第15次缔约方大会(COP15)。
One only need look to the skies to see why the US must take a leadership role. The loss of nearly a third of our wild birds — during my own lifetime — is deeply troubling to me. It took nature millions of years to fill our continent with its living rainbow of scarlet tanagers, Baltimore orioles, yellow warblers, blue jays, and indigo buntings. Now all these species, and hundreds more, are suffering steep population declines.
只需看看天空，就会明白美国为什么必须扮演领导角色。在我的一生中，北美近三分之一的野生鸟类消失了，这令我深感不安。大自然花费了数百万年的时间，才让北美大陆拥有五彩缤纷的各种鸟类——猩红丽唐纳雀、巴尔的摩金莺、黄莺、冠蓝鸦和靛蓝彩鹀。现在，所有这些物种以及其他数百种物种的种群数量急剧下降。
Failure to act in the past cannot be an excuse for the future. The US must engage in the global biodiversity crisis, and it starts with participating in a meaningful way at COP15.
过去没有采取行动不能成为未来的借口。美国必须参与解决全球生物多样性危机，首先要以有意义的方式参加《生物多样性公约》第15次缔约方大会。
