VOA标准英语2013--Traditional Farm Practices Hold Promise for Philippines' Sick Rivers

 

Traditional Farm Practices Hold Promise for Philippines' Sick Rivers

CORDILLERA, PHILIPPINES — An estimated 80 percent of Asia’s rivers are considered “sick,” meaning they suffer from pollution and the uncoordinated development of water resources. As conservationists rethink strategies to save rivers, young researchers in Manila are finding promise in an age-old watershed¹ preservation² approach. 

The Ifugaos of the Cordillera region in northern Philippines are known as the builders of the area’s UNESCO heritage rice-terraces. Such mountainside farms have survived for more than 900 years, in part because locals have maintained nearby forests and protected the watersheds³ that sustain their fields.

In the lowlands, expanding populations and industrial growth have stressed rivers and water basins, despite master development plans designed by top engineers.

Asia Development Bank water expert Wouter Lincklaen Arriens says the old practices of local communities should play a bigger role in modern watershed management.

“It is the communities, it is the societies that have to come to grips with the shortages and excesses of water availability. So the resilience is really in the people and in the communities,” said Arriens.

Students such as Jae Woo Jang, a seventh grader at an international school in Manila, are teaming up with researchers like Scott Platt-Salcedo in the search for solutions to the Philippines’ water woes⁴. 

Jang says the key to the success of the Ifugaos appears to be their commitment to biodiversity; the variety of plants and other living things that make forests healthy and in turn store more water.

"People did not have to be taught that biodiversity was important. They realized that the healthy forest was built by their need to plant diverse plants. For example, they have planted 171 different tree species… among which 121 are used for specific purposes," said Jang.

Ifugao elder and farmer Jose Pinay-an of the Cordillera’s Hungduan town says the forest preservation techniques used today were passed down from ancestors.

"We have water because our parents taught us that when we cut some trees, we should plant more than what we cut. So that's our practice," said Pinay-an.

However, the old practices that have proved successful for so long are struggling to connect with the next generation of Ifugaos, who are increasingly leaving the fields behind to pursue jobs in the lowlands.

It’s a bittersweet moment for the community; even as their conservation techniques gain recognition amongst researchers, the Ifugaos are struggling to pass them on to their own children.

1 watershed   

n.转折点，分水岭，分界线

参考例句：

• Our marriage was at a watershed.我们的婚姻到了一个转折关头。
• It forms the watershed between the two rivers.它成了两条河流的分水岭。

2 preservation   

n.保护，维护，保存，保留，保持

参考例句：

• The police are responsible for the preservation of law and order.警察负责维持法律与秩序。
• The picture is in an excellent state of preservation.这幅画保存得极为完好。

3 watersheds   

n.分水岭( watershed的名词复数 )；分水线；转折点；流域

参考例句：

• Hyetographs are important in estimating stormflow hydrographs from upstream watersheds. 降雨历线资料为上游集水区推估洪水流量历线的重要依据。 来自互联网
• Sediments check dam in small watersheds in loess hilly gully area come from three proportion, i. 黄土丘陵沟壑区治沟骨干工程泥沙淤积来源于坡面侵蚀、沟道侵蚀和库区岸坡坍塌。 来自互联网

4 woes   

困境( woe的名词复数 )； 悲伤； 我好苦哇； 某人就要倒霉

参考例句：

• Thanks for listening to my woes. 谢谢您听我诉说不幸的遭遇。
• She has cried the blues about its financial woes. 对于经济的困难她叫苦不迭。