What Could Happen if the Amazon Rainforest Disappeared如果亞馬孫雨林消失會(huì)發(fā)生什么

Lela Nargi 張寧

●The mightiest rainforest in the world is shrinking at an alarming rate. If it disappears altogether， the effects on our planet will be devastating1.

The Amazon， a vast swath of tropical2 rainforest that straddles3 parts of Bolivia， Columbia， Ecuador， French Guiana， Guyana， Peru， Surinam， Venezuela. But most of all， at 60 percent， Brazil， has been losing the battle against deforestation4 for decades. Prior to the 1970s， in Brazil alone， it comprised 1.54 million square miles. Its been declining steadily ever since， destroyed bit by bit by illegal logging， soy plantations， and cattle ranching， according to Greenpeace. In 2018， Brazils portion of the rainforest stood at 1.274 million square， but that figure is predicted by eco-watchers to plummet， quickly.

The Amazon holds a whopping 10 percent of all the plant and animal species known to exist on our planet. About 30 million people call it home， 2.7 million of who are indigenous5. This rainforest also stores 100 billion metric tons of carbon and， according to the World Wildlife Federation， filters carbon dioxide out of the air we breathe and controls our climate through evapotranspiration6. Below， we look at what would happen if this important and powerful entity were to disappear entirely.

○世界上最大的雨林正在以驚人的速度萎縮。如果它完全消失，對(duì)我們星球的影響將是毀滅性的。

亞馬孫雨林是一大片熱帶雨林，橫跨玻利維亞、哥倫比亞、厄瓜多爾、法屬圭亞那、圭亞那、秘魯、蘇里南、委內(nèi)瑞拉的部分地區(qū)。但尤其是占（亞馬孫雨林的）60%面積的巴西幾十年來(lái)一直與森林砍伐屢戰(zhàn)屢敗。20世紀(jì)70年代之前，僅在巴西，（亞馬孫雨林的面積）就有154萬(wàn)平方英里。綠色和平組織稱，從那以后，它一直在逐步變小，一點(diǎn)一點(diǎn)地被非法伐木、大豆種植和畜牧養(yǎng)殖摧毀。2018年，巴西部分雨林面積為127.4萬(wàn)平方米，但生態(tài)觀察人士預(yù)測(cè)該數(shù)字將迅速下降。

亞馬孫擁有地球上已知的所有動(dòng)植物物種的10%，是約3000萬(wàn)人的“家園”，其中有270萬(wàn)人是土著人。這片雨林還儲(chǔ)存了1000億噸的碳，并且根據(jù)世界野生動(dòng)物協(xié)會(huì)的數(shù)據(jù)，它過(guò)濾著我們呼吸的空氣中的二氧化碳，并通過(guò)蒸散控制著我們的氣候。下面，我們來(lái)看看如果這個(gè)重要的大雨林完全消失了，會(huì)發(fā)生什么。

●Faltering rainfall

A study published in 2012 in Nature showed that the Amazon was responsible for bringing rain to the surrounding region. “Deforestation can reduce rainfall over a wide region， even as it spurs increased rainfall in the immediate area where that deforestation took place，” Scientific American reports. “Deforestation in the Amazon could sharply reduce rainfall in nonforested parts of southern Brazil， a rich agricultural area， as well as Paraguay and Uruguay…and beyond.”

○降雨量減少

2012年發(fā)表在《自然》上的一項(xiàng)研究表明，亞馬孫雨林和周邊地區(qū)的降雨量大小有關(guān)?！翱撤ド謺?huì)減少大范圍地區(qū)的降雨量，雖然在發(fā)生森林砍伐的地方會(huì)促進(jìn)降雨量的增加?！薄犊茖W(xué)美國(guó)人》中報(bào)告說(shuō)，“亞馬孫河流域的森林砍伐可能會(huì)大大減少巴西南部非森林地帶的富裕農(nóng)業(yè)區(qū)，以及巴拉圭和烏拉圭……和其他地區(qū)的降雨量。”

●Increased drought

What happens with less rain？ Theres less water to drink， of course. A recent drought in Sao Paulo is thought to have been exacerbated7 by the Amazons deforestation. Less rain also means theres less water for agriculture—ironic， since “rainfall in the Amazon also helps supply water to the very soy farmers and beef ranchers who are clearing the forest，” according to National Geographic. Droughts will only worsen as more trees are cleared， threatening food and drinking water supplies.

○干旱加劇

降雨變少會(huì)怎么樣？當(dāng)然，飲用水變少了。圣保羅最近的一場(chǎng)旱災(zāi)被認(rèn)為是由于亞馬孫的森林砍伐而加劇的。降雨變少也意味著農(nóng)業(yè)可用的水變少，具有諷刺意味的是，根據(jù)《國(guó)家地理》的說(shuō)法，“亞馬孫的降雨也有助于為正在砍伐森林的大豆農(nóng)場(chǎng)主和養(yǎng)牛的牧場(chǎng)主供水?！彪S著更多的樹(shù)木被砍伐，干旱情況只會(huì)繼續(xù)惡化，威脅食物和飲用水的供應(yīng)。

●More greenhouse gases

Cutting down any more trees in the Amazon—let alone all of them—would lead to a transition in which “tremendous quantities of planet-warming greenhouse gases” would be released， says National Geographic. As tropical forest researcher Adriane Esquivel-Muelbert told the magazine， “If we mess up with the Amazon， carbon dioxide emissions will increase so massively that everyone will suffer.” Namely， with poorer air quality and hotter global temperatures.

○更多溫室氣體

《國(guó)家地理》說(shuō)，在亞馬遜地區(qū)砍伐更多的樹(shù)木——更不用說(shuō)全部樹(shù)木——將會(huì)導(dǎo)致 “大量使全球變暖的溫室氣體”釋放的變化。正如熱帶森林研究者阿德里安·埃斯奎維爾·穆?tīng)柌卦陔s志上所說(shuō)的，“如果我們對(duì)亞馬孫胡來(lái)，二氧化碳的排放量會(huì)急劇增加，每個(gè)人都會(huì)受害?！币簿褪钦f(shuō)，空氣質(zhì)量會(huì)隨之變差，全球氣溫會(huì)變高。

●More flooding

Already the Amazon is seeing reduced rainfall by some 25 percent in some regions， and when rains do arrive they result in massive amounts of flooding. This scenario—drier and longer dry spells followed by increasing upticks in flooding—would only intensify if the rainforest were to disappear.“And not just rain but the regions the overall climate，” writes National Geographic， “is oscillating more wildly...（and） the consequences will be felt far and wide.”

○更多洪災(zāi)

在亞馬孫已經(jīng)可見(jiàn)某些地區(qū)降雨量減少了25%，降雨到來(lái)時(shí)，就會(huì)導(dǎo)致大量的洪水。這種情況——更加干旱和更長(zhǎng)的干旱期之后洪水增加——在雨林將要消失的情況下會(huì)加劇。《國(guó)家地理》中寫(xiě)道：“不僅是降雨，該地區(qū)的整體氣候也會(huì)劇烈波動(dòng)……（而且）其后果將是深遠(yuǎn)的?！?/p>

●Loss of biodiversity8

Home to a staggering number of species of plants， animals， insects， and fungi9， the Amazon holds a rich array of the life that exists on Earth， and an average of one new species is being discovered each day. Already in 2012， The Guardian was ringing the alarm bell about threatened and endangered species， reporting that “many face a slow death sentence as their breeding rates fall and competition for food becomes more intense.” Destroy the Amazon and much of that diversity goes with it—wiping out an entire ecosystem at the same time.

○生物多樣性喪失

亞馬孫有著數(shù)量驚人的植物、動(dòng)物、昆蟲(chóng)和真菌物種，有著豐富的地球生命，平均每天都有一個(gè)新物種被發(fā)現(xiàn)。早在2012年，《衛(wèi)報(bào)》就已經(jīng)敲響了關(guān)于物種瀕危的警鐘，并報(bào)道說(shuō)“隨著繁殖率的下降，以及對(duì)食物的競(jìng)爭(zhēng)變得更加激烈，許多物種緩慢邁向消亡?！比绻麣缌藖嗰R孫雨林，很大程度上生物多樣性會(huì)隨之消失——同時(shí)會(huì)摧毀整個(gè)生態(tài)系統(tǒng)。

●Loss of medical possibilities

Why should humans care about this loss of species？ “Its kind of a cliche10 that the cure for cancer might be in the Amazon， but its also kind of true，” Esquivel-Muelbert told National Geographic. As Rainforest Trust highlights on its website， almost 90 percent of human diseases are treatable with prescription drugs that were derived from things in nature， like snake venom11， and molds12—some of which have their origins in the Amazon. How many future cures will be lost with the rainforests demise？ No one knows for sure.

○失去醫(yī)療的可能性

為什么人類要關(guān)心物種的消失？埃斯奎維爾·穆?tīng)柌馗嬖V《國(guó)家地理》雜志：“治療癌癥的方法也許就在亞馬孫，這有點(diǎn)陳詞濫調(diào)，但這也是事實(shí)。”正如熱帶雨林基金會(huì)在其網(wǎng)站上強(qiáng)調(diào)的那樣，人類幾乎90%的疾病可以通過(guò)處方藥治療，而處方藥來(lái)源于自然界中的物質(zhì)，如蛇毒、霉菌等，其中一些就來(lái)自亞馬孫。隨著雨林的消亡，有多少未來(lái)的治療方法會(huì)消失？沒(méi)有人能確切知道。

●Bigger， longer fires

The loss of the Amazons trees， which has sparked a loss of rain and an increase in drought conditions， has led to an increase in fires that are bigger than ever and that burn for much longer than their predecessors. These fires release even more carbon into the atmosphere， worsening some of the conditions already highlighted here， like an increasingly hotter climate.

○更大、更長(zhǎng)時(shí)間的火災(zāi)

亞馬孫樹(shù)木的損失，引發(fā)了降雨的減少和干旱情況的增加，導(dǎo)致了比以往任何時(shí)候規(guī)模都更大的火災(zāi)的增加，并且燃燒的時(shí)間比之前的火災(zāi)都要長(zhǎng)得多。這些火災(zāi)釋放出更多的（二氧化）碳到大氣中，導(dǎo)致一些已經(jīng)很突出的情況惡化，比如越來(lái)越熱的氣候。

●Poorer people

The Amazon is home not only to plant and animal species but to people as well， many of whom rely on the rainforest for their livelihood. “All of the worlds rainforests provide food， energy security， incomes， and medicinal plants for 300 million people，” points out The Guardian. “And as the forests come down， the people who live in or around them and depend on them become impoverished. Without the forests， people migrate to cities， or move to richer countries in search of work.”

○更貧窮

亞馬孫不僅是植物和動(dòng)物的家園，也是人類的家園，許多人都依靠雨林謀生?！叭澜绲挠炅譃?億人提供食物、能源安全、收入和藥用植物。”《衛(wèi)報(bào)》指出，“隨著森林被砍伐，居住在森林里或森林周邊并依靠森林生活的人們變得貧困。如果沒(méi)有森林，人們就會(huì)移居城市，或前往更富裕的國(guó)家尋找工作?！?/p>