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(单词翻译:双击或拖选)
By David McAlary
Washington
30 October 2006
The World Bank says rapidly diminishing tropical forests could be saved if farmers and loggers were paid not to cut the trees. It proposes to extend the current international system of carbon trading for this purpose because it says the trees are worth much more to the world standing1.
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A new World Bank report says burning and rotting wood after deforestation releases one-fifth of Earth's annual emissions3 of carbon dioxide, twice the amount from all motor vehicles.
"So It's a major contributor to global warming, a major threat to global biodiversity, and there are a host of local environmental damages - health threatening smog, stream polluting sediment4, and the like," says Kenneth Chomitz, who wrote the World Bank report, a series of recommendations to slow deforestation. "There is now a chance on the policy horizon to mobilize new incentives5 to conserve6 forests, to keep forests standing."
The World Bank's main recommendation is to use the world's carbon market to reduce rain forest loss. At present, the market operates to reduce carbon emissions from industry and other sources. Nations and companies that emit more carbon than a predetermined limit buy credits from projects that reduce emissions.
The International Emissions Trading Association says the global carbon market has grown very rapidly and is worth $22 billion, twice its 2005 value.
But the concept is not yet used to preserve forests, as World Bank chief economist7 Francois Bourguignon points out.
"Today, it is possible to obtain carbon funds for forestation," he said. "Now, the paradox8 is that when you cut the forests, you are not penalized9 for doing that and you are not getting any money when you keep the trees standing."
The World Bank proposes to change that to benefit the 800 million people who depend on tropical forests for their livelihood10. Kenneth Chomitz says it makes no sense for a farmer to cut a hectare of rainforest to create a pasture worth $300 when the cleared trees release $7,500 worth of carbon based on an approximate current market value of $1,500 a ton.
If tropical forest preservation11 were included in the carbon trading scheme, the farmer could receive the $7,500 from polluters and earn 25 times the agricultural value of the pasture.
"Wouldn't it be great if we could get the farmer and the industrialist12 or utility owner sitting at the same table, figuring out how they can split the difference and make themselves both better off," said Chomitz.
But Chomitz says a carbon financing system could set off a disruptive race for property rights, a race that would favor the wealthy. So his report recommends that developing nations assign ownership and land use rights equitably13 in a manner that can be monitored publicly.
At the Ford14 Foundation, a U.S. philanthropy, environment and development official David Kaimowitz praises the World Bank report, but says it ignores some strategies that would improve the livelihoods15 of forest dwellers16.
These include the need for governments to make rainforest safer by reasserting their domain17 and clearing them of bandits and drug dealers18. Kaimowitz also says the bank should devote more attention to helping19 those who depend on or near forests develop small businesses.
"One of the three main pillars of the 2004 World Bank forestry20 strategy is precisely21 to harness forest resources to reduce rural poverty," he said."But if we look at the bank's current portfolio22, the reality is there is a surprisingly few number of projects that are, in fact, focused on using forest resources to reduce rural poverty."
But Kaimowitz calls the World Bank's carbon trading scheme and other forest-saving proposals useful and says he hopes they actually guide its strategies.
1 standing | |
n.持续,地位;adj.永久的,不动的,直立的,不流动的 | |
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2 mere | |
adj.纯粹的;仅仅,只不过 | |
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3 emissions | |
排放物( emission的名词复数 ); 散发物(尤指气体) | |
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4 sediment | |
n.沉淀,沉渣,沉积(物) | |
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5 incentives | |
激励某人做某事的事物( incentive的名词复数 ); 刺激; 诱因; 动机 | |
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6 conserve | |
vt.保存,保护,节约,节省,守恒,不灭 | |
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7 economist | |
n.经济学家,经济专家,节俭的人 | |
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8 paradox | |
n.似乎矛盾却正确的说法;自相矛盾的人(物) | |
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9 penalized | |
对…予以惩罚( penalize的过去式和过去分词 ); 使处于不利地位 | |
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10 livelihood | |
n.生计,谋生之道 | |
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11 preservation | |
n.保护,维护,保存,保留,保持 | |
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12 industrialist | |
n.工业家,实业家 | |
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13 equitably | |
公平地 | |
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14 Ford | |
n.浅滩,水浅可涉处;v.涉水,涉过 | |
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15 livelihoods | |
生计,谋生之道( livelihood的名词复数 ) | |
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16 dwellers | |
n.居民,居住者( dweller的名词复数 ) | |
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17 domain | |
n.(活动等)领域,范围;领地,势力范围 | |
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18 dealers | |
n.商人( dealer的名词复数 );贩毒者;毒品贩子;发牌者 | |
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19 helping | |
n.食物的一份&adj.帮助人的,辅助的 | |
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20 forestry | |
n.森林学;林业 | |
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21 precisely | |
adv.恰好,正好,精确地,细致地 | |
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22 portfolio | |
n.公事包;文件夹;大臣及部长职位 | |
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