我們正在失去鳥類

For some, it is easy to treat stories about cascading losses in global biodiversity as other people’s worries. Rainforest destruction in the Amazon, savage poaching and plummeting large mammal populations in Africa — those problems can seem so far away.

一些人很容易認為，全球生物多樣性一波又一波減少的故事是別人的擔憂。亞馬遜地區(qū)的雨林遭到破壞、野蠻偷獵和非洲大型哺乳動物種群數量驟減，這些問題可能看上去非常遙遠。

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，失去生物多樣性的頭條新聞讓美國人感到痛心。就像半個多世紀前美國海洋生物學家雷切爾•卡森(Rachel Carson)在她所著的《寂靜的春天》(Silent Spring)中擔心的那樣，我們正在失去鳥類。發(fā)表在《科學》(Science)雜志上的新研究表明，自1970年以來，美國和加拿大的野生鳥類數量下降近30%，這意味著失去近30億只繁殖鳥類。相關數字看起來像是股市的“黑色星期一”：北美的草原鳥類減少了53%，森林鳥類減少了10億只，8.62億只麻雀、6.18億只鶯和4.4億只黑鳥——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.

經合組織(OECD)今年5月為七國集團(G7)編制的報告，用各種衡量指標概述了地球上生態(tài)系統(tǒng)喪失的嚴峻現實?？傮w而言，自1970年以來，世界上一半以上脊椎動物已經消失，如今的物種滅絕速度是人類史前時代的1000倍。該報告還計算出，生物多樣性喪失的全球經濟成本達到每年10萬億至31萬億美元。

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.

我們正在快速接近自然運轉的生態(tài)系統(tǒng)出現不可逆轉的損失的臨界點，這將在全球范圍造成災難性——而且令人沮喪地本來可以避免的——的巨大經濟損失。

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，聯合國就通過《生物多樣性公約》(Convention on Biological Diversity)提議了大膽行動，196個成員國簽署該條約，通過開展全球陸地和水體保護工作來保護全球生物多樣性?！豆s》促使加拿大承諾拿出13.5億美元，將其保護區(qū)總面積擴大一倍。那筆資金使加拿大得以發(fā)起雄心勃勃的努力，如今已經保護了該國166萬平方公里的陸地和海洋棲息地，面積幾乎相當于整個魁北克省。同樣，中國也采取了果敢的保護措施，近年在黃海沿岸地區(qū)暫停開發(fā)，并將這里的多處濕地列入世界遺產地名錄。這里有世界上最大的潮間帶灘涂系統(tǒng)，是50多個遷徙水鳥物種的重要棲息地。

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.

聯合國的一個成員國未批準該公約：美國。一個世紀前，美國是生態(tài)保護的全球領導者。它率先與加拿大達成一項國際候鳥條約，保護兩國共享的數百個鳥類物種。該條約和相關法律拯救了數十種因捕殺而瀕臨滅絕的鳥類。美國總統(tǒng)伍德羅•威爾遜(Woodrow Wilson)簽署了該條約，而參議院于1918年批準了《候鳥條約法》(Migratory Bird Treaty Act)，即使第一次世界大戰(zhàn)的可怕戰(zhàn)況占據了立法者的注意力。

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，美國仍未加入《生物多樣性公約》，就因為參議院一直不愿批準該條約。美國的非政府組織(NGO)英勇地填補空白，在保護野生動植物和棲息地方面取得了巨大的進步，但我們還需要更多行動。美國在該問題上投入的下一個重大機遇將是明年在中國舉行的《生物多樣性公約》第15次締約方大會(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，就會明白美國為什么必須扮演領導角色。在我的一生中，北美近三分之一的野生鳥類消失了，這令我深感不安。大自然花費了數百萬年的時間，才讓北美大陸擁有五彩繽紛的各種鳥類——猩紅麗唐納雀、巴爾的摩金鶯、黃鶯、冠藍鴉和靛藍彩鹀?，F在，所有這些物種以及其他數百種物種的種群數量急劇下降。

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.

過去沒有采取行動不能成為未來的借口。美國必須參與解決全球生物多樣性危機，首先要以有意義的方式參加《生物多樣性公約》第15次締約方大會。