【原】种1万亿棵树！是解决气候变化的最有效方法。英语读头条（第529期）

新用户02986T3F 2020-09-17

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The most effective way to tackle climate change? Plant 1 trillion trees

种1万亿棵树！是解决气候变化的最有效方法。

By Mark Tutton / Apr. 17, 2019

What's low-tech, sustainable and possibly the most effective thing we can do to fight climate change? Planting trees. A trillion of them.

在应对气候变化方面，有没有什么低技术的、可持续的、并且可能是最有效事情是什么？种树。种它一万亿颗树。

Tom Crowther is a climate change ecologist at Swiss university ETH Zurich. Four years ago he found there are about 3 trillion trees already on earth -- much higher than NASA's previous estimate of 400 billion. Now, his team of researchers has calculated there is enough room on the planet for an additional 1.2 trillion -- and that planting them would have huge benefits in terms of absorbing atmospheric carbon dioxide, the main driver of climate change.

汤姆·克劳瑟是苏黎世瑞士大学的气候变化生态学家。四年前，他发现地球上已经有大约3万亿棵树了，远高于美国宇航局先前估计的4000亿棵。现在，他的研究团队已经计算出地球上有足够的空间再增加1.2万亿颗树——种植它们将在吸收大气二氧化碳方面有巨大的好处，二氧化碳是气候变化的主要动力。

"The amount of carbon that we can restore if we plant 1.2 trillion trees, or at least allow those trees to grow, would be way higher than the next best climate change solution," Crowther told CNN.

克劳瑟告诉CNN：“如果我们种植1.2万亿棵树，或者至少允许这些树生长，我们可以吸收的碳量将远远高于下一个最好的气候变化解决方案。”

Global tree density, calculated by Crowther's team. Existing forests are shown in green, potential forests are yellow.

由Crowther团队计算的全球树木密度。现有森林呈绿色，潜在森林呈黄色。

Because his research is currently under review for publication in the journal Science, he says he can't share exact figures of how much extra CO2 could be stored by those trees. But he points to numbers from Project Drawdown -- a non-profit that ranks climate solutions by the amount of CO2 they could remove from the atmosphere. Its number one ranked solution -- managing the release of HFC greenhouse gases from fridges and air conditioners -- could reduce atmospheric CO2 by 90 billion tons. Crowther says planting 1.2 trillion trees would give a reduction "way above" that figure.

因为他的研究目前正在《科学》杂志上发表，他说他不能分享这些树能储存多少额外二氧化碳的确切数字。但他指出了”下降项目“的的数据，这是一个非盈利组织，它根据可以从大气中去除的二氧化碳量来分析气候解决方案。其排名第一的解决方案——管理冰箱和空调释放的氢氟碳化合物温室气体——可以减少900亿吨的大气二氧化碳。克劳瑟说，种植1.2万亿棵树将使减少的碳量“远远超过”这个数字。

To put that in context, global CO2 emissions are around 37 billion tons per year.

我们这里说一下，全球二氧化碳排放量约为每年370亿吨。

But while there may be space for a trillion new trees, is it actually practical to plant that number?

但是，尽管可能有一万亿棵新树的空间，但种植这么多树实际是否可行呢？

One organization that thinks so is youth-led Plant for the Planet (PFTP), which is running the "Trillion Tree" campaign to do just that.

一个由年轻人领导的，有这种想法的“种树救地球”组织（PFTP），正在进行“万亿颗树”运动来达到这一目的。

Set up as the "Billion Tree" campaign by the UN in 2006, it was later handed over to PFTP, which has upped its planting ambitions in response to Crowther's work.

2006年联合国发起了“十亿棵树”运动，这后来移交给了PFTP，作为对克劳瑟工作的回应，PTFP提升了其种植力度。

ambition：野心，抱负

Felix Finkbeiner founded Plant for the Planet in 2007, when he was just nine years old. He is now a PhD student at Tom Crowther's lab at ETH Zurich.

费利克斯·芬克贝纳在2007年建立了“种树救地球”组织，那时他才9岁。他现在是苏黎世理工大学汤姆·克劳瑟实验室的博士生。

It has already planted nearly 15 billion trees, with the help of various governments, including India's, which has planted more than 2 billion trees as part of the initiative.

在各国政府的帮助下，他们已经种植了近150亿棵树，包括印度，作为该计划的一部分，印度已经种植了超过20亿棵树。

"I think a trillion trees is achievable," says PFTP chairman Sagar Aryal. "It's not that we don't have enough money in the world -- maybe governments alone can't do enough but if we work together with the private sector we can do it."

“我认为有一万亿棵树是可以实现的，”PFTP主席萨加尔·阿雷亚尔说。”这并不是说我们在世界各地没有足够的资金——也许仅仅政府是做不到足够的，但如果我们与私营企业合作，我们就能做到。”

The right location

正确的地点

Crowther is a scientific adviser to Plant for the Planet, providing them with information on the best places to restore trees. He says all the locations identified by his team are on degraded land, rather than agricultural or urban areas.

克劳瑟是“种树救地球”的科学顾问，为他们提供了种植树木的最佳地点的信息。他说，他的小组确定的所有地点都位于退化的土地上，而不是农业区或城市地区。

degraded：退化的

"These are places where farms have been abandoned, or where there's been deforestation and it's been left," he explains.

他解释说：“这些地方是农场被遗弃的地方，或者是森林被砍伐的地方。

deforestation：森林砍伐

To successfully fight climate change, it's vital that the right land is restored. For example, in parts of northern Europe, planting more trees could reduce the heat and light reflected from snowy ground, and actually increase global warming.

为了成功应对气候变化，恢复正确的土地至关重要。例如，在北欧部分地区，种植更多的树木可以减少冰雪地面反射的热量和光线，并实际上增加全球变暖。

vital：必不可少的，极其重要的

A chemically deforested area of the Amazon caused by illegal mining in southeast Peru, February 2019.

2019年2月，秘鲁东南部因非法采矿而造成的亚马逊河化学毁林区。

Joseph Veldman, of the department of ecosystem science and management at Texas A&M University, told CNN that although reforestation can play a role in carbon sequestration, "There is no doubt that super-aggressive tree planting efforts that are not done with consideration of the historic ecosystem will be a bad investment."

德克萨斯州农工大学生态系统科学与管理系的约瑟夫·维尔德曼告诉CNN，尽管重新造林可以在碳封存中发挥作用，“毫无疑问，如果不去考虑历史生态系统，超级过度的植树努力将是一项糟糕的投资。”

carbon sequestration：碳隔离，碳封存

He says some previous reforestation projects have targeted grasslands and savannah ecosystems that already play an important role in storing carbon.

他说，以前的一些重新造林项目针对的是草原和草原生态系统，这些生态系统在储存碳方面已经发挥了重要作用。

savannah：没有树木的大草原

Such schemes often plant exotic trees, like pine and eucalyptus, which are very flammable and also valuable as timber and pulp, he says. As a result, the carbon they store above ground can be lost to wildfires or logging.

他说，这种方案通常种植外来树木，如松树和桉树，它们非常易燃，而且作为木材和纸浆也很有价值。由此，它们储存的碳可能会因野火或伐木所丧失。

eucalyptus：桉树

pulp：纸浆

Crowther agrees wholeheartedly. "All the models that previously existed about where forest can be restored disregard whether they should," he said. "We don't just model the forest, we also model grasslands and shrublands and piece them all together to reveal what should be where."

克劳瑟打心眼里同意这一说法。”他说：“以前存在的所有关于森林恢复的模型，忽视了那里是否应该恢复种树。我们不仅要模拟森林，还要模拟草原和灌木区，并将它们拼凑在一起，以找出应该在哪里种树。”

shrublands：灌木地区

Growing in popularity

越来越受欢迎

Tree planting is no quick climate fix. It can take 30 to 40 years of growth for the carbon storage to reach its full potential. A more immediate benefit can come from halting deforestation, says Crowther, which costs our planet around 15 billion trees each year.

植树不是解决气候问题的捷径。碳储存需要30到40年的周期才能充分发挥其潜力。克洛瑟说，停止砍伐森林可以带来更直接的好处，滥砍滥伐每年要消耗我们的星球约150亿棵树。

But although tree planting on such a colossal scale faces significant challenges (not least identifying who owns the land in question, and securing the rights to plant and maintain trees there), widespread efforts are already underway.

但是，尽管如此大规模的植树面临着重大挑战（尤其是确定谁拥有相关土地，以及确保在那里种植和维护树木的权利），但大规模的努力已经开始了。

colossal：巨大的

The Australian government has announced it will plant 1 billion trees by 2030; work is underway on a "Great Green Wall" to stop the spread of the Sahara by restoring 100 million hectares of degraded land (and sequester 250 million tons of carbon), and China's anti-desertification program, also known as the "Great Green Wall," has planted more than 50 billion trees since the 1970s. The UN-endorsed Bonn Challenge aims to reforest 350 million hectares of degraded land globally by 2030.

澳大利亚政府宣布，到2030年将种植10亿棵树；非洲正在建设“绿色长城”，这是通过恢复1亿公顷退化土地（并封存2.5亿吨碳），阻止撒哈拉沙漠蔓延；中国的防荒漠化计划，也被称为“绿色长城”，它自20世纪70年代以来已经种植了超过500亿棵树木。联合国批准的“波恩挑战计划”目的是在2030年前对全球3.5亿公顷退化土地进行再造林。

sequester：隔离

Africa's Great Green Wall aims to slow down desertification.

非洲的绿色长城旨在减缓沙漠化。

Crowther says he was once skeptical about the benefits of tree planting, but has now changed his mind.

克劳瑟说，他曾经怀疑植树的好处，但现在改变了主意。

skeptica：怀疑的

"Climate change is seen as such an immense and complicated issue -- it feels like it's seen as someone else's problem, someone else is dealing with it or not dealing with it, and no one has a simple message for how to go about tackling it," he says.

他说：“气候变化被视为一个巨大而复杂的问题，感觉像是别人的问题，是别人处理它或不处理它，没有人对如何处理它有一个简单的信息。”

tackling：应付，处理，解决

"I'd like to try and champion this as a solution that everyone can get involved in. If all the millions of people who went on climate marches in recent weeks got involved in tree planting the impact would be huge."

“我想尝试并支持这个解决方案，要让每个人都能参与进来。如果近几周来参加气候游行的数以百万计的人都参与植树，影响将是巨大的。”