【TED演讲】保护热带森林的新经济模式

TED英语演讲课

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演讲题目：A new economic model for protecting tropical forests

演讲简介：

环境经济学家纳特·基欧汉说，“为了解决气候危机，我们需要让活着的热带森林比死去的更有价值”。他强调了制止森林砍伐及其带来的碳污染的紧迫性，并详细介绍了LEAF联盟的工作——这是一个史无前例的公私合作伙伴关系，为保护热带森林投入了10亿美元——并分享了一个强大的森林碳市场的三个组成部分，使经济能够在保护自然资源的同时蓬勃发展。

中英文字幕

Tropical forests are one of the world's most important carbon sinks, absorbing over one fifth of the emissions from burning fossil fuels every year.

热带雨林是世界上最重要的碳汇之一，每年能够吸收五分之一的因燃烧化石燃料所产生的碳排放。

The latest research suggests that without them the world would already be nearly one degree Celsius hotter.

最新的研究显示如果没有了热带雨林的话，全球气温至少会上升接近一摄氏度。

We can't solve climate change without tropical forests.

没有热带雨林的话，我们不可能解决气候变化问题。

But right now, instead of protecting forests, we're cutting them down.

但现在我们非但没有保护森林，反而在大肆砍伐。

Already, about one sixth of the Amazon has been lost.

我们已经失去了六分之一的亚马逊雨林了。

And some scientists fear that we're nearing a tipping point that could mean loss of the entire forest.

并且许多科学家表示我们已经接近一个临界点了，我们有可能完全失去这片热带雨林。

Forests in Indonesia and Malaysia, even the vast forests of Central Africa, are under threat as well.

印度尼西亚和马来西亚的雨林，甚至是非洲中部的大片雨林都岌岌可危。

And deforestation means carbon pollution.

而滥砍滥发会直接导致碳污染。

In fact, tropical deforestation worldwide accounts for almost as much emissions as all the world's cars and trucks combined.

事实上，世界范围内的热带雨林砍伐带来的碳排放量几乎等同于全球的汽车和卡车碳排放量的总和。

So losing tropical forests means losing any hope of limiting the rise in global temperatures to 1.5 or even two degrees Celsius.

因此，失去热带雨林就意味着失去任何限制全球气温增长在1.5到2摄氏度之内的希望。

The heart of the problem is economic.

问题的关键在于经济利益。

As long as it's profitable to chop down forests for timber or clear them for agriculture, we'll continue to lose them.

如果砍伐树木还有利可图，不论是为了获取木材还是开辟农业用地，我们就很难阻止雨林被破坏。

Now, I'm not suggesting that we try to halt capitalism in its tracks.

我说这些并不是为了阻挠资本主义发展。

We need to fix the market, not abandon it.

我们需要改变市场，而非放弃市场。

We need a new and better economic development model for tropical forest countries.

我们需要一种更新，更好的经济发展模式，特别是在拥有热带雨林的国家。

And that means changing the incentives so that forests are worth more alive than dead.

这就意味着要调整激励机制，让人们明白保护热带雨林比砍伐它们的收益更大。

If we can do that, we will drive investment into tropical forest protection while also producing the goods and services we need.

如果我们能做到这一点的话，我们就能将投资引导到热带雨林保护上，同时还能维持产品和服务的供应。

This is the Amazon forest in Mato Grosso, a Brazilian state that's as large as Texas and a chunk of California combined,

这是一片亚马逊雨林，位于巴西的马托格罗索州，这个州的面积有德克萨斯州再加上加州的一大部分那么大，

and one of the world's largest producers of beef and soy.

它也是世界上牛肉和大豆的最大产地之一。

Mato Grosso is now a model of economic development and forest protection.

马托格罗索州目前是兼顾经济发展以及森林保护的模范。

But back in 2004, Mato Grosso was one of the world's largest carbon polluters entirely because of tropical deforestation.

但早在2004年的时候，马托格罗索州是世界上碳排放量最大的地区之一，这都要归咎于森林砍伐。

Since then, deforestation is down over 85 percent.

从那以后，森林砍伐下降了百分之八十五之多。

How?

这是怎么做到的？

Well, Mato Grosso didn't reduce emissions by shutting down agriculture.

马托格罗索州并未为减少碳排放而叫停农业生产。

Instead, with support from the governments of Germany and Norway, it stepped up enforcement against illegal land grabbers.

在他们得到了来自德国和挪威政府的支持之后，他们立法管制非法强占土地的行为。

It empowered local communities and indigenous populations to protect their territories.

并且赋予了地方社区以及本土居民一定的权力来保护他们的土地。

It worked with agricultural producers and traders across the supply chain to invest in new and more sustainable production methods.

他们和供应链上的农产品生产商和经销商合作为更新且更可持续的生产方式提供资金。

These efforts were supported by a broad array of NGOs and businesses and Indigenous organizations.

他们的努力得到了许多非政府组织，企业以及本土机构的支持。

And they worked so well that when a new governor was elected in 2018,

他们的工作非常出色以致于当新的领导人在2018年被选出的时候，

he immediately affirmed his commitment to reducing deforestation and continued the state's policies.

他首先承诺的就是他会继续努力减少森林砍伐并坚持施行相关政策。

Because he saw how these new policies were attracting new investment and laying the foundation for sustainable growth.

因为他认识到了这些新政策吸引投资的能力，它们还为可持续发展打下了基础。

If we're going to stave off climate catastrophe, the world needs many more Mato Grossos.

如果我们想要延迟气候大灾难的到来的话，我们还会需要更多像马托格罗索州一样的经济体。

Now, Mato Grosso began its bold experiment with public funding.

目前，马托格罗索州正在大胆地尝试利用公共资金。

But if we're going to preserve and extend those gains and scale them up to jurisdictions around the world,

但如果我们想要保存和推广这些成果，甚至是将它们推广至世界上的其他辖区的话，

we need a new and more durable and much larger source of forest finance.

我们需要更新，更持久，更大规模的森林经济来源。

And the key to unlocking that finance?

创造这种经济的关键，

Making forests worth more alive than dead.

就是让保护热带雨林的收益超过砍伐它们的收益。

That means putting a value on standing forests in a way that channels new investment, hard cash,

这就意味着要为保护得当的雨林增加价值，用引导投资的方式把现金投入到可持续的绿色发展中，

into sustainable green growth that protects the forests while supporting the livelihoods of people who live there.

以实现对雨林的保护，同时还能保证当地居民的生计。

It's a development model that could make Brazil and Indonesia and other forest nations the world's first green economic superpowers,

这是一种能够让巴西，印尼，以及其他雨林国家成为世界领先的超级绿色经济体的发展模式，

that allows them to capture the full value of their natural resources.

能够让他们最充分地利用他们的自然资源。

This is the goal of the LEAF Coalition.

这就是LEAF联盟的目标。

LEAF stands for Lowering Emissions by Accelerating Forest finance.

LEAF的含义是用推动森林经济减少碳排放。

It's a coalition of 12 companies and three countries that has committed one billion dollars in finance for forest protection at scale over the next five years,

这是一个由十二个公司以及三个国家组成的联盟，他们承诺在未来的五年里向雨林保护经济投入十亿美元，

one of the largest-ever public-private investments in forest protection.

这是世界上对雨林保护的最大规模的公私合资投资之一。

That first billion dollars will pay for 100 million tons of emissions reductions, with the prospect of many more billions to come.

这十亿美元将会减少一亿吨的碳排放，同时我们预计这将带来更大的收益。

I have a special connection to this story.

我对这个故事的个人感触很深。

Because the idea that became LEAF was drawn up on a whiteboard in my old office at Environmental Defense Fund over eight years ago.

因为LEAF的理念，即用森林经济来减少碳排放，是八年前我在环境保护基金工作时在我的旧办公室的白板上设想出来的。

Now, if I had been giving this talk then, it would have been purely theoretical.

如果换做我在当时做这个演讲的话，它将会充斥着理论阐述。

But that was before the full success of Mato Grosso and before the key building blocks, that made LEAF possible were put into place.

那是因为那时候我还不知道我们会在马托格罗索州取得巨大的成功，也还没有为LEAF联盟的建立打好所有关键基础。

These three building blocks are essential to any credible market.

这三项基础对于任何可信的市场都至关重要。

Accurate measurement, a standard for quality and a platform for transactions.

精确的评估方法，对质量的规范，以及一个交易平台。

First, credible forest transactions require accurate and precise measurement.

首先，可信的雨林经济需要精确而严格的评估方法，

And thanks to advances in satellite data and remote sensing, we can measure the amount of carbon a forest contains and track changes in real time.

多亏了目前先进的卫星数据和遥感技术，我们能够计算出一片雨林中的含碳量并且对这个数字进行实时监控。

The second building block is a standard for quality so that buyers of emissions reductions can be certain they're getting the real thing.

第二项基础是对质量的规范，我们要保证购买碳排放减少额度的买家能够对他们投资的项目放心。

At LEAF we use a new approach that focuses on the performance not of individual forests, but of entire official jurisdictions,

在LEAF联盟我们采取了一种新方法，我们不那么注重个别雨林区域的表现，而是将重点放在整个辖区，

like a state or nation.

也就是一个州或是一个国家上。

It builds in buffers against risks like forest fire.

这样一来，在出现山火一类的威胁时，整体数据能够得到一个缓冲，

And it requires countries, forest nations, to increase their ambition over time.

这样做还能够促使这些雨林国家的追求随着时间拔高。

The third and final building block is a platform for transactions.

第三项，也是最后一项基础，一个交易平台。

We created a financial intermediary called Emergent that connects sellers, forest nations that have emissions reductions that they can sell,

我们创立了一个名叫Emergent的金融中介机构。这个机构能够将卖家，也就是能够出售碳排放减少额度的雨林国家，

with buyers who include companies that are looking to make good on their voluntary climate commitments.

与买家，也就是那些想要为自发的环境保护奉献力量的公司，连接起来。

You put those three building blocks together and you get a reliable and robust market for forest carbon that enables economies to thrive while protecting the forest.

这三项基础合在一起就形成了一个可靠又生机勃勃的雨林碳排放市场了，它既能发展经济又能保护雨林。

We know it's possible.

我们知道这是可行的。

In Mato Grosso, soy production more than doubled and cattle increased by over a quarter, even as deforestation plummeted.

在马托格罗索州，大豆生产翻了不止一倍，牛的数量增长了四分之一以上，即使他们很大程度上停止了砍伐树木。

So the LEAF model promises better outcomes for forests,

因此，LEAF模式不仅给雨林带来了更好的前景，

better outcomes for the people who live there and better outcomes for the forest nations as a whole.

给当地居民带来了更好的生活，也为整个雨林国家带来了更好的未来。

But you may be asking, what's in it for the companies?

但你可能会问，这对于那些公司有什么好处呢？

Well, now more than ever, companies see a business case for climate action.

实际上，现在越来越多的公司认为保护环境也成为了一种盈利手段。

Their customers are demanding it.

客户要求他们这样做，

Their investors are, so are their employees.

还有他们的投资人，以及他们的员工也是。

And companies recognize that truly leading on climate means doing two things.

而且这些公司认识到真正地要在环境保护上领先的话，意味着他们需要做两件事。

First, reducing emissions in their own operations and supply chains.

第一，减少他们经营以及供应链中产生的碳排放。

And the companies that are part of LEAF have all been required to set science-based targets for their own emissions.

LEAF联盟要求加入的所有公司设立一个有科学依据的目标来限制他们的碳排放量。

Second, they must contribute to the broader fight.

第二，他们必须参与到更广泛的斗争中。

And one of the most important ways that these companies, or any company,

如果这些公司或是其他任何公司想要帮助，

can help solve climate change outside their own operations and supply chains is by protecting tropical forests.

解决他们公司经营或供应链以外的环境问题的话，最好的方式就是保护热带雨林。

So that bears repeating.

所以我应该再重复一遍。

Companies in LEAF are investing in forest protection over and above what they're doing to reduce their own emissions.

加入LEAF联盟的公司向保护森林投资更减少了他们的碳排放。

It's not a substitute.

这不是一种置换，

It's a supplement.

而是一种补足。

Because if we're going to solve climate change,

因为如果我们想要解决气候变化问题的话，

we need to achieve both deep cuts in fossil fuel emissions and dramatic reductions in forest emissions.

我们不仅要大量减少化石燃料的碳排放量，我们还要减少伐木对吸收碳排放造成的损失。

It took over a decade to put all of the building blocks in place that made LEAF possible.

建立LEAF必需的三项基础花了十多年才完全落实。

And the results so far are enormously encouraging.

目前来看，我们获得的成果非常鼓舞人心。

In the next ten years, if we can expand LEAF globally, we can stop tropical deforestation, protect some of the largest carbon sinks on the planet,

在接下来的十年里，如果我们能将LEAF联盟推广到全球的话，我们将断绝热带雨林砍伐，保护我们地球上最大的碳汇，

and enable forest nations and local populations to thrive and grow.

并且使雨林国家和这些国家的人口能够繁荣发展。

All because we harness the power of the market to reflect the full value of standing forests and make them worth more alive than dead.

因为我们会借助市场的力量让人们看到充满生机的雨林的价值，让人们明白保护热带雨林比砍伐它们的收益更大。

Thank you.

谢谢。

视频、演讲稿均来源于TED官网

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