英国新闻听力 保护菲律宾的沿海水域（在线收听）

LYNNE MALCOLM: The coastal waters of the Philippines' archipelago are home to what is emerging as the world's most diverse and productive marine ecosystem, from countless fish and invertebrates to a host of reef building coral animals. But this major marine habitat is listed as one of the most endangered in the world.

KENT CARPENTER: Here we have the highest concentration of species per unit area than any other place on earth, and also we have the highest threats to the marine environment. It's the marine counterpart to the Amazon River basin.

LYNNE MALCOLM: I'm Lynne Malcolm with our series Balancing Nature on BBC's One Planet. Of the twenty five thousand square kilometers of coral reef in the Philippines, barely one percent remains pristine. How is it possible to protect this biodiversity hotspot from the pressures brought by the coastal population of thirty five million depending on its fisheries for living? And could new scientific tools halt the decline and even restore this diverse habitat?

PHILIPPINE WOMAN: Hi.

LYNNE MALCOLM: Hello, what are you selling here?

PHILIPPINE WOMAN: That is our national fish, ma'am, milk fish, "Bangus" (Philippine dialect) in our dialect.

LYNNE MALCOLM: And this one with the yellow stripes?

PHILIPPINE WOMAN: Yeah. (Philippine dialect)

LYNNE MALCOLM: How much?

PHILIPPINE WOMAN: This one is seventy per kilo, and this one sixty.

LYNNE MALCOLM: A typical Filipino market where the huge array of fish and crustaceans on sale hinted the richness of the coast that's home to over half of the world's shallow water species. And a new report suggests that it's the Philippines that may actually have the richest concentration of marine life on the entire planet.

Kent Carpenter of American Smithsonian Institute, who spent thirty years studying coastal waters in the Philippines, has digitally overlaid nearly three thousand of the latest maps charting the distribution of marine species to create a bull's eye pattern of its diversity throughout what's known as the coral triangle. His analysis reveals the central Philippines as the epicenter.

KENT CARPENTER: I call this the center of, the center of marine biodiversity, and the database is 2983 species and includes everything from sea weeds all the way up to marine mammals, so and else also includes invertebrates. It includes fishes for the most part, other things such as sea snakes and sea turtles. And in our study we found a concentration of endemics, these are species that are only found in one small part of the world such as the depart sharks and endemic grasses. The endemics actually are from a number of different marine groups.

LYNNE MALCOLM: And the range of marine life is incredible. Just with the fish alone, from the blue spotted angel fish to the many varieties of cat fish, all existing together. What is it about this region that has allowed it to support such diverse marine species?

KENT CARPENTER: It might be because they are also a concentration of different marine habitats, so sea grass beds and mangroves and corals, and also proximity to fairly extensive soft sediment bottoms as well. Indeed, one of the reasons to concentrate in this area and be particularly aware of marine conservation issues is because this place is not only unique, because of the concentration of species but its unique also as habitats, as an environment that allows this many species to co-occur in one area.

LYNNE MALCOLM: Kent Carpenter's research into this marine hotspot has acted as a rallying cry for conservation efforts here since at its very heart lies the busy Verde passage situated just south of Manila. Stretching for over one hundred kilometers, it's in effect the corridor linking the Pacific and the South China Sea.

林恩·马尔科姆：菲律宾群岛的沿海水域拥有世界上最为多样和多产的海洋生态系统，从数不尽的鱼类和无脊椎动物到大量的珊瑚礁动物都生活在这片生态系统中。但是这一大片海洋栖息地已被列为世界上最濒危的地区之一。

肯特·卡彭特：与地球上任何其他地方相比，在这里每个单位面积的物种聚集度是最高的，同时这里的海洋环境也受到了最大的威胁。这里的海产业可以与亚马逊河流域相媲美。

林恩·马尔科姆：我是主持人林恩·马尔科姆，为您带来的是英国广播公司《一个星球》的系列专题节目《和谐自然》。在菲律宾25,000平方公里的珊瑚礁中，仅有百分之一保持着原始状态。怎样才能免除3500万依靠渔业为生的沿海人口给这片拥有众多生物的海域带来的压力呢？而新的科学手段能否阻止下降趋势并恢复其多样性呢？

菲律宾妇女：您好。

林恩·马尔科姆：你好，你卖些什么？

菲律宾妇女：这是我们国家产的鱼，女士，虱目鱼，用我们的话叫做Bangus（菲律宾方言）。

林恩·马尔科姆：是这条带有黄色条纹的吗？

菲律宾妇女：是的。（菲律宾方言）

林恩·马尔科姆：多少钱？

菲律宾妇女：这条每公斤七十，这条六十。

林恩·马尔科姆：一个典型的菲律宾市场上出售的鱼类和甲壳动物种类十分众多，这表示全世界过半的浅水物种都生活在这片富庶的海域内。一份新报告表明菲律宾实际上可能是全球海洋生物集中度最高的地区。

研究菲律宾沿海水域30年的美国斯密森学会研究所的肯特·卡彭特，已经将3000张最新的海洋生物分布地图数字化整合，目的是为了确定珊瑚三角区内生物多样性分布的中心地带。他的研究表明菲律宾中心即为生物多样性分布的中心地带。

肯特·卡彭特：我把这里叫做海上生物多样性的中心，数据库存有2983 类物种，包括从海草到海洋哺乳动物的一切生物，此外也包括无脊椎动物。鱼类是最多的，其它还有海蛇和海龟。我们在研究中发现地区性生物竟在此聚集，这些生物只能在世界上很少的区域内找到，比如地区性鲨鱼和地区性草类。地区性实际上来自不同的海洋群。

林恩·马尔科姆：海洋生物的种类多到难以置信。单以鱼类举例，从蓝色斑点的蝴蝶鱼到各种不同的鲶鱼，所有的鱼类都生活在同一水域。为什么这个区域可以容纳如此多的海洋生物种类？

肯特·卡彭特：可能是因为这里也是各种海洋生物栖息地的集合，像是海草地、红树林、珊瑚礁，以及广阔柔软的积满沉淀物的海底附近区域。确实，海洋物种在这个地区聚集以及海洋环境保护意识增强的原因之一就在于这个地方不仅具有物种聚集的独特性，而且还是一个允许许多物种共同生存的环境。

林恩·马尔科姆：肯特·卡彭特对这片海洋热点区域的研究已经成为呼吁环境保护的口号，因为这里的中心就是繁忙的佛得角通道，该通道位于马尼拉南方。它延伸100多公里，是连结太平洋和中国南海的走廊。