STARSET_MirrorTSS EXCLUSIVE: Australia Bushfire – This Is How The Disaster Will Change The World
by Rhodilee Jean Dolor
Australia braces against one of its worst bushfires in history. The country is prone to bushfires during its dry season, but the devastation caused by the current fire season is unprecedented on many aspects. Foremost is the geographic spread of the fires.
澳大利亚正全力应对历史上最严重的森林大火。该国旱季容易发生森林火灾，但目前火灾季节造成的破坏在许多方面都是前所未有的。首先是火灾的地理分布。
The severity of the Australian bushfires is due to several factors – many of which are tied to global warming. Australia experienced its hottest year on record in 2019, with temperatures reaching 1.52 °C higher than the 1961-1990 average. Scientists also believe that the climatic conditions in Antarctica and the Indian Ocean contributed to the uncontrollable blazes.
澳大利亚森林大火的严重程度是由几个因素造成的，其中许多因素与全球变暖有关。澳大利亚在2019年经历了有记录以来最热的一年，气温比1961-1990年的平均气温高出1.52℃。科学家们还认为，南极洲和印度洋的气候条件促成了这场无法控制的大火。
The fires threaten to make a lasting impact. Since September 2019, the fires have burned about 17 million hectares, an area larger than the state of Washington. The disaster also killed at least 29 people and damaged or destroyed more than 2,600 homes. This fire season is likely to leave lasting impact not just on Australia, but to the whole world.
大火会造成持久的影响。自2019年9月以来，火灾已烧毁约1700万公顷的土地，面积超过华盛顿州。这场灾难还造成至少29人死亡，2600多所房屋损毁。这个火灾季节可能不仅对澳大利亚，而且对全世界都会产生持久的影响。
Climate And The Environment
气候与环境
The role of climate change on the Australian bushfire remains a subject of debate, but rising temperatures coupled with decreasing rainfall can dry up the land, trees and plants, converting them into fuel that can worsen fires when they break out. The fires that broke out in Australia have also been fueling climate change as trees and plants that burn release stored carbon. The fires have already released about 400 megatons of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, exacerbating the world’s rising temperatures.
气候变化对澳大利亚丛林火灾的影响仍然是一个有争议的话题，但是气温上升加上降雨量减少会使土地、树木和植物干涸，并将它们转化为燃料，在火灾发生时会加剧火灾。澳大利亚发生的火灾也助长了气候变化，因为燃烧的树木和植物释放出储存的碳。大火已经向大气释放了约400兆吨二氧化碳，加剧了全球气温的上升。
NASA said that the smoke from Australia’s fire have already travelled the world, explaining that the recent blazes had been so big they produced unusually large number of fire-generated thunderstorms that sent smoke soaring into the stratosphere.”Once in the stratosphere, the smoke can travel thousands of miles from its source, affecting atmospheric conditions globally,” NASA said in a statement.
美国航天局说，澳大利亚大火产生的烟雾已经传遍了全世界，并解释说，最近的大火非常大，产生了异常多的由火引发的雷暴，使烟雾直冲平流层。“一旦进入平流层，烟雾可以从源头传播数千英里，美国宇航局在一份声明中说。
The space agency is still studying the effects of the smoke at higher altitudes, but it already observed that the smoke changed the color of the skies in South America and caused severe air quality issues and darkening of mountaintop snow in New Zealand.
航天局仍在研究高海拔地区烟雾的影响，但它已经观察到烟雾改变了南美洲天空的颜色，并导致新西兰严重的空气质量问题和山顶积雪变暗。
On the ground level, huge quantities of ash that wash into dams, rivers and eventually the sea will pollute water supplies and threaten marine life. Ecologists warned that large expanse of lands being burned at the same time could have severe ecological consequences as this threatens millions of plants and animals.
在地面上，大量的火山灰冲入大坝、河流，最终流入大海，将污染水源，威胁海洋生物。生态学家警告说，大面积的土地同时被烧毁可能会造成严重的生态后果，因为这会威胁到数百万的动植物。
“Across whole forests there are millions of individuals, and hundreds of different species in those forests that all rely on each other,” said Manu Saunders, an ecologist at the University of New England in Australia. “And if you lose one, it’s like a link in a chain, you then lose the others that it is connected to.”
澳大利亚新英格兰大学的生态学家曼努·桑德斯说：“在整个森林中，有数百万个个体和成百上千种不同的物种相互依赖。”。“如果你失去了一个，就像链条上的一个环节，你就会失去与之相连的其他环节。”
Wildlife
野生动物
Images of animals that were burned by the flames provide evidence of how the bushfires impacted wildlife. Chris Dickman, a biodiversity expert at the University of Sydney, estimated that the number of animals in New South Wales alone that were killed in the bushfires are upwards of 800 million. On a national scale, the fires impacted more than one billion animals. The animals that survived continue to face threats of death as a result of the destruction of their natural habitat, where they rely on for food and shelter.
被大火烧毁的动物图片提供了森林大火如何影响野生动物的证据。悉尼大学（University of Sydney）的生物多样性专家克里斯迪克曼（chrisdickman）估计，仅在新南威尔士州，在森林大火中丧生的动物数量就超过8亿只。在全国范围内，火灾影响了超过10亿只动物。幸存下来的动物继续面临着死亡的威胁，因为它们赖以生存的自然栖息地遭到破坏。
Stuart Blanch, a forest and woodland conservation policy manager at the World Wildlife Fund-Australia, said that while animals generally recover, there are concerns that entire species or subspecies have been wiped out by the disaster.
澳大利亚世界野生动物基金会的森林和林地保护政策经理斯图尔特·布兰奇说，虽然动物一般都会恢复，但人们担心整个物种或亚种已经被灾难摧毁。
“Ecologists have much lower confidence that wildlife populations — particularly the 1,000 threatened species across the continent — will recover from such widespread and utter forest devastation,” he said, according to NBC News.
据NBC新闻报道，他说：“生态学家对野生动物种群——特别是整个大陆上1000种受威胁物种——将从如此广泛和彻底的森林破坏中恢复过来的信心要低得多。”。
It matters when animals go extinct because it disrupts the Earth’s ecosystem. The loss of predators can impact the populations of their prey, which can lead to dramatic changes in the ecosystem and the food web.
当动物灭绝的时候很重要，因为它破坏了地球的生态系统。捕食者的消失会影响猎物的数量，从而导致生态系统和食物网的巨大变化。
In the case of Africa, for instance, the decline of lions and leopard populations led to a surge in the number of olive baboons. Large number of baboons then invaded human settlements, where they spread intestinal parasites to humans. In Utah, fewer cougars led to an explosion of deer, which ate more vegetation, altering the path of local streams and impacting overall biodiversity.
以非洲为例，狮子和豹子数量的减少导致了橄榄狒狒数量的激增。随后，大量狒狒入侵人类住区，在那里向人类传播肠道寄生虫。在犹他州，美洲狮的减少导致了鹿的大量繁殖，鹿吃掉了更多的植被，改变了当地河流的路径，影响了整个生物多样性。
The extinction of pollinators such as birds and insects can also impact the dispersal of seeds, which could affect the availability of plants on which many animals in the food chain -including humans – rely on.
鸟类和昆虫等传粉者的灭绝也会影响种子的传播，这可能会影响食物链中许多动物（包括人类）赖以生存的植物的供应。
Food Supply
食物供应
Australia is one of the top food exporters in the world, exporting 16 percent of the beef and 11 percent of wheat traded internationally. It also exports dairy, cereals, nuts, fruits and vegetables. The fires have claimed farmlands across the country and thus affect the meat and dairy industries. Dairy farmers who assessed their losses relative to the number of cows left and the availability of grazing land, much of which has been ravaged by the blazes, also fear a cheese and milk shortage. According to the Meat and Livestock Australia, close to 80,000 livestock properties have already been destroyed by the bushfires.
澳大利亚是世界上最大的食品出口国之一，它出口16%的牛肉和11%的小麦，还出口乳制品、谷类食品、坚果、水果和蔬菜。大火夺走了全国的农田，从而影响了肉类和奶制品行业。奶农们根据剩下的奶牛数量和牧场的可用性来评估他们的损失，其中大部分已经被大火破坏，他们也担心奶酪和牛奶短缺。据澳大利亚肉类和畜牧业协会称，近8万家畜被森林大火烧毁。
Besides damaging the crops and killing livestock, the flames also destroyed infrastructure and farm tools. In areas where farmlands were spared, heat threatens food production as it damages fruits and vegetables. Logistical issues as food routes were destroyed also threaten the food industry.
除了毁坏农作物和杀死牲畜外，大火还摧毁了基础设施和农具。在没有农田的地区，高温会破坏水果和蔬菜，从而威胁到粮食生产。食品路线被毁后的后勤问题也威胁到食品工业。
“The ongoing fires that are devastating many parts of the country have impacted on supply of some vegetables due to both farm damage and creating logistical issues in getting product to consumers,” said Shaun Lindhe, a spokesperson for industry body AusVeg.
AusVeg的发言人Shaun Lindhe说：“由于农场受损，以及在向消费者提供产品方面造成的物流问题，持续不断的火灾对该国许多地区造成了破坏性影响。”。
“There have been reports of highways being closed for periods of time which have caused issues getting product to consumers, as well as power outages, which can affect cold store facilities, picking and packing.”
“有报道称，高速公路被关闭了一段时间，给消费者提供产品造成了问题，同时停电也会影响冷库设施、拣选和包装。”
Since Australia is the second largest exporter of beef and veal in the world, prices of meat could go up.
由于澳大利亚是世界上第二大牛肉和小牛肉出口国，肉类价格可能会上涨。
Climate Policies
气候政策
As the devastation continues, scientists and environmental advocates hope that the Australian bushfire could lead to positive changes in climate policies, not just in Australia, which account for 1.3 percent of the world’s total greenhouse gas emissions, but worldwide.
随着灾难的持续，科学家和环境倡导者希望澳大利亚的森林大火能够导致气候政策的积极变化，这不仅是在占全球温室气体排放总量1.3%的澳大利亚，而且在全球范围内。
The Emissions Gap Report issued by the UN Environment Programme (UNEP) in November warned that global greenhouse gas emissions should fall by 7.6 percent each year from 2020 to 2030. Otherwise, nations will fail to achieve the goal of the Paris agreement to keep global temperature increase within 1.5 degrees Celsius. If temperatures continue to rise beyond this threshold, Earth could face more catastrophic changes.
联合国环境规划署（UNEP）11月发布的排放差距报告警告说，从2020年到2030年，全球温室气体排放量应每年下降7.6%。否则，各国将无法实现《巴黎协定》将全球气温上升控制在1.5摄氏度以内的目标。如果温度继续上升超过这个临界值，地球将面临更多灾难性的变化。
翻译：Starset Mirror翻译组
