第2315期:Rewilding: letting nature come back to life

Humankind has developed so much that urban sprawl and intensive agriculture now dominate our landscapes. Unfortunately, with that comes the threat of climate change and a loss of biodiversity. What if we could return these landscapes to places that teem with wildlife, with ecosystems thriving as they did centuries ago? Since the 1980s, the concept of rewilding has increased in popularity. But what exactly is it, and what are the keys to its success?人类已经发展得如此之快，以至于城市扩张和集约化农业现在主宰着我们的景观。 不幸的是，随之而来的是气候变化和生物多样性丧失的威胁。 如果我们能让这些景观恢复到野生动物丰富、生态系统像几个世纪前那样繁荣的地方，结果会怎样呢？ 自20世纪80年代以来，野化的概念越来越受欢迎。 但它到底是什么？其成功的关键是什么？Put simply, rewilding is a technique that returns landscapes to a wilder, more natural state. It often involves reintroducing plants or animals that used to live there, but now don't. Not-for-profit organisation Rewilding Europe says rewilding is "about letting nature take care of itself, enabling natural processes to shape land and sea, repair damaged ecosystems and restore degraded landscapes." So, unlike traditional conservation techniques, the aim is to reduce the need for human intervention once the programme has been set up.简而言之，野化是一种将景观恢复到更狂野、更自然状态的技术。 它通常涉及重新引入曾经居住在那里但现在不再居住的植物或动物。 非营利组织“欧洲野化”表示，野化是“让大自然照顾好自己，让自然过程塑造陆地和海洋，修复受损的生态系统并恢复退化的景观。” 因此，与传统的保护技术不同，该项目的目的是在项目建立后减少人为干预的需要。In a 2021 article called 'Guiding principles for rewilding', one suggestion is to introduce plants, prey animals, and fungi first, so that when the top predator is introduced, they have an appropriate habitat to support them. Other tips are more people focused. Even though rewilding is about reducing human presence in ecosystems, that doesn't mean we should be excluded from nature. The authors encourage compassion and learning from nature, rather than dominating it. They also say that, to avoid fear amongst rural communities that their farmland will be taken away, and that new predators will endanger their livestock, local people should be included so they have some control over the process and can directly benefit from it.在 2021 年一篇名为“野化指导原则”的文章中，一个建议是首先引入植物、猎物和真菌，这样当引入顶级捕食者时，它们就有合适的栖息地来支持它们。 其他技巧更受人们关注。 尽管野化是为了减少人类在生态系统中的存在，但这并不意味着我们应该被排除在大自然之外。 作者鼓励同情心和向自然学习，而不是主宰自然。 他们还表示，为了避免农村社区担心他们的农田会被夺走，以及新的掠食者会危及他们的牲畜，应该让当地人参与进来，这样他们就能对这一过程有一定的控制权，并能直接从中受益。Alex Stevenson owns Jordan's Farm in Essex, England and is rewilding her fields, hoping to help the ecosystem thrive. She says, "I am rewilding to look after nature and to give life back to the soil" and adds, "you have to value nature because nature sustains us – we are part of it."亚历克斯·史蒂文森 (Alex Stevenson) 拥有英格兰埃塞克斯郡的乔丹农场 (Jordan's Farm)，她正在对她的田地进行野化改造，希望能够帮助生态系统蓬勃发展。 她说，“我重新野化是为了照顾自然，让土壤重获生机”，并补充道，“你必须珍惜自然，因为自然支撑着我们——我们是它的一部分。”

词汇表

urban sprawl 城市扩张
agriculture 农业
landscape 景观，环境
biodiversity 生物多样性
teem with 充满
ecosystem 生态系统
thrive 蓬勃发展
wild 野生的
shape 塑造
degraded 退化的
conservation 保护
prey 猎物，被捕食的动物
fungi 菌类
predator 捕食性动物
habitat 栖息地
rural 农村的
livestock 牲畜
soil 土地