地球更綠了！美國航天局：中國和印度貢獻比較大

India and China are leading the global greening effort, a latest NASA study said Monday, observing that the world is a greener place than it was 20 years ago.

美國航天局2月11日發(fā)布最新研究稱，全世界的綠化程度比20年前更高，而在這20年間，中國和印度始終都是全球綠化努力的領導者。

The study published in the journal 'Nature Sustainability' said that recent satellite data reveals a greening pattern that is strikingly prominent in China and India and overlaps with croplands world-wide.

這份發(fā)表在《自然·可持續(xù)發(fā)展》雜志上的最新研究報告稱，最近的衛(wèi)星數(shù)據(jù)顯示，中國和印度境內(nèi)的綠化規(guī)模非常醒目，而這些綠化地區(qū)與世界各地的農(nóng)田區(qū)域重疊。

 

 

Data from NASA Earth satellites shows that human activity in China and India dominate this greening of the planet, thanks to tree planting & agriculture.

來自NASA地球衛(wèi)星的數(shù)據(jù)顯示，中國和印度的植樹造林和農(nóng)業(yè)等活動主導了地球變綠的過程。

The effect comes mostly from ambitious tree-planting programs in China and intensive agriculture in both countries.

今天的地球之所以能變得“更綠色”，主要是受到中國雄心勃勃的植樹計劃和中印兩國集約型農(nóng)業(yè)的影響。

"China and India account for one-third of the greening," said lead author Chi Chen of Boston University.

該研究報告的第一作者、波士頓大學的陳馳(音)說：“中國和印度在全球綠化面積中占比達三分之一。”

"That is a surprising finding, considering the general notion of land degradation in populous countries from overexploitation," added Chen.

“這是一個出人意料的發(fā)現(xiàn)。因為人們普遍認為，人口密集國家的過度開發(fā)會導致土壤退化。”

而2月11日發(fā)表在《自然》(Nature)雜志的文章也證實了這一觀點。

 

 

文章稱，中國和印度境內(nèi)大量植樹并且實施農(nóng)業(yè)集約化，地球比20年前更加綠色了。過去20年里地球增加的綠化面積，相當于亞馬遜熱帶雨林的覆蓋面積。

其中，中國貢獻突出。

China alone accounts for 25 percent of the global net increase in leaf area with only 6.6 percent of global vegetated area.

中國僅占全球植被面積的6.6%，但全球植被葉面積凈增長的25%都來自中國。

與印度主要來自耕地的綠化不同，中國的綠化來自森林和耕地兩個方面。

The greening in China is from forests (42 percent) and croplands (32 percent), but in India, it is mostly from croplands (82 percent) with minor contribution from forests (4.4 percent).

其中，中國的綠化面積主要來自森林(42%)和耕地(32%)，而印度主要來自耕地(82%)，森林只占4.4%。

China's outsized contribution to the global greening trend comes in large part from its programs to conserve and expand forests with the goal of mitigating land degradation, air pollution, and climate change.

中國對全球綠化的巨大貢獻在很大程度上來自其保護和擴大森林計劃，該項目旨在緩解土地退化、空氣污染和氣候變化。

 

 

"When the greening of the Earth was first observed, we thought it was due to a warmer, wetter climate and fertilization from the added carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. Now with the MODIS data, we see that humans are also contributing," said Rama Nemani, research scientist at NASA's Ames Research Center and co-author of the study.

研究報告的作者之一、美國航天局艾姆斯研究中心的科學家拉馬·內(nèi)馬尼說：“我們最初觀察到地球綠化時，我們認為這是由于氣候變暖、變潮濕，且由于大氣中二氧化碳含量增加使土地更加肥沃?，F(xiàn)在有了中分辨率遙感衛(wèi)星的數(shù)據(jù)，我們發(fā)現(xiàn)人類也起著很大作用。”

"Once people realize there is a problem, they tend to fix it. In the 1970s and 80s in India and China, the situation around vegetation loss was not good. In the 1990s, people realized it, and today things have improved. Humans are incredibly resilient. That's what we see in the satellite data," added Nemani.

他補充說：“一旦人們意識到有問題，他們往往就會去解決。在上世紀七八十年代的印度和中國，各地植被流失的情況嚴重。上世紀90年代，人們認識到了這一點，如今情況已經(jīng)有所改善。人類的適應力令人難以置信。這就是我們在衛(wèi)星數(shù)據(jù)中看到的情況。”

 

 

NASA網(wǎng)站則詳細報道了中國和印度在耕種方面的經(jīng)驗：

Land area used to grow crops is comparable in China and India – more than 770,000 square miles – and has not changed much since the early 2000s. Yet these regions have greatly increased both their annual total green leaf area and their food production.

中國和印度用于種植農(nóng)作物的土地面積相當，自本世紀初起一直均占77多萬平方英里。然而，這些地區(qū)的年總葉面積和糧食產(chǎn)量都大大增加了。

This was achieved through multiple cropping practices, where a field is replanted to produce another harvest several times a year. Production of grains, vegetables, fruits and more have increased by about 35-40% since 2000 to feed their large populations.

這是通過復種輪作實現(xiàn)的，即每年多次重新種植土地獲得多次收獲。自2000年以來，糧食、蔬菜、水果等的產(chǎn)量增加了約35-40%，養(yǎng)活了龐大的人口。