VOA新闻杂志2022 为防止物种灭绝, 澳大利亚保留30％土地不开发

Australia's Environment Minister said on Tuesday it will set aside at least 30 percent of its land mass for conservation.

澳大利亚环境部长周二表示，澳大利亚将留出至少30%的土地用作保护区。

Tanya Plibersek said the plan will help protect plants and animals on the continent where many animals are found nowhere else.

塔尼娅·普利伯塞克表示，该计划将有助于保护澳洲大陆上的动植物，那里的许多动物在其他地方都找不到。

Australia has lost more mammal species¹ than any other continent.

澳大利亚失去的哺乳动物种类比其他任何大陆都多。

And an Australian government environmental report released in July showed that the country has one of the worst rates for species loss among the world's richest nations.

澳大利亚政府7月份发布的一份环境报告显示，该国是世界上物种最丰富的国家中物种消失率最高的国家之一。

That report showed the number of species added to the list of threatened species or in a higher class of risk grew on average by eight percent from the former report in 2016.

该报告显示，与上一份于2016年发布的报告相比，被添加到受威胁物种名单或处于更高风险级别的物种数量平均增长了8%。

Plibersek said, "The need for action to protect our plants, animals and ecosystems² from extinction³ has never been greater."

普利伯塞克说：“采取行动保护我们的动植物和生态系统免遭灭绝的必要性从未像现在这样迫切。”

Plibersek said the conservation areas will increase by 50 million hectares under the 10-year plan, which will be reexamined in 2027.

普利伯塞克说，根据这个十年计划，保护区的面积将增加5000万公顷，该计划将会在2027年重新被审查。

The recently elected federal Labor⁴ government has set $146 million to help protect Australia's threatened native plants and animals.

最近当选的联邦工党政府已拨出1.46亿美元，帮助保护澳大利亚受到威胁的本土动植物。

Australia is the sixth largest country by land area in the world.

澳大利亚陆地面积排世界第六位。

And it is home to animals found nowhere else.

这里是在其他地方找不到的动物的家园。

Those animals include koalas and platypus⁵.

其中包括考拉和鸭嘴兽。

But their numbers have been falling due to extreme weather events and humans moving into areas where they live.

但由于极端天气事件和人类迁入它们居住的地区，它们的数量一直在下降。

Koalas along much of the east coast were listed as endangered in February.

2月，东海岸大部分地区的考拉被列为濒危物种。

This was after nature experts estimated Australia has lost about 30 percent of its koalas over the past four years.

此前，自然专家估计，在过去的四年里，澳大利亚已经失去了大约30%的考拉。

Australia suffers extreme weather events on a usual basis.

澳大利亚经常遭受极端天气事件。

Such happenings include the deadly wildfires in 2019 and 2020 in the east that killed 33 people, billions of animals, and burned a huge area.

这类事件包括2019年和2020年发生在东部的致命野火，造成33人死亡，数十亿动物死亡，烧毁了大片地区。

The non-profit group World Wildlife Fund-Australia has welcomed the government's conservation efforts.

非营利组织澳大利亚世界野生动物基金会对澳大利亚政府所采取的保护措施表示欢迎。

But it is also urging officials to invest in recovery plans for every threatened species.

但它也敦促官员们投资于每一个受威胁物种的恢复计划。

Rachel Lowry is the group's chief conservation officer.

雷切尔·劳里是该组织的首席保护官。

She said, "Australia has more than 1,900 listed threatened species.

她说：“澳大利亚有1900多种濒危物种。

This plan picks 110 winners.

这项计划选出110个获胜者（受保护物种）。

It's unclear how it will help our other 'nonpriority' threatened species."

目前还不清楚它将如何帮助其他受威胁的‘非优先’物种。”

I'm Faith Pirlo.

费思·皮尔洛为您播报。

1 species   

n.物种，种群

参考例句：

• Are we the only thinking species in the whole of creation?我们是万物中惟一有思想的物种吗？
• This species of bird now exists only in Africa.这种鸟现在只存在于非洲。

2 ecosystems   

n.生态系统( ecosystem的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• There are highly sensitive and delicately balanced ecosystems in the forest. 森林里有高度敏感、灵敏平衡的各种生态系统。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Madagascar's ecosystems range from rainforest to semi-desert. 马达加斯加生态系统类型多样，从雨林到半荒漠等不一而足。 来自辞典例句

3 extinction   

n.熄灭，消亡，消灭，灭绝，绝种

参考例句：

• The plant is now in danger of extinction.这种植物现在有绝种的危险。
• The island's way of life is doomed to extinction.这个岛上的生活方式注定要消失。

4 labor   

n.劳动，努力，工作，劳工；分娩；vi.劳动，努力，苦干；vt.详细分析；麻烦

参考例句：

• We are never late in satisfying him for his labor.我们从不延误付给他劳动报酬。
• He was completely spent after two weeks of hard labor.艰苦劳动两周后，他已经疲惫不堪了。

5 platypus   

n.鸭嘴兽

参考例句：

• The platypus spends a great deal of its time looking for food. 鸭嘴兽要用大量的时间去觅食。
• One of the mascots was the platypus.吉祥物之一是鸭嘴兽。