原文标题：RainforestsCash for climate servicesPaying locals to conserve rainforests is essential, and possible雨林为气候付费付钱给当地居民来保护雨林是必要的，同时也是可行的[Paragraph 1]PROFITS FROM chopping down rainforests are surprisingly meagre. The land is not particularly fertile. A freshly clearedhectare of the Amazon fetchesan average price of only around $1,200. 砍伐热带雨林并不会带来很高的利润。这片土地并不是特别富饶。在亚马逊地区，一公顷新开垦的土地平均售价仅为1200美元左右。By contrast, the social costs of clearing it are immense. Some 500 tonnes of carbon dioxide are pumped into the atmosphere. By a conservative estimate, that does $25,000 of harm by accelerating climate change.相比之下，开垦一公顷土地的社会成本巨大。大约会向大气排放500吨二氧化碳。根据保守估计，这将加速气候变化，造成价值2.5万美元的损害。

[Paragraph 2]

Yet still the world’s trees are disappearing. The area covered by primary rainforest has dwindled by 6.7% since 2000.

(资料图片)

然而，全球的树木仍在消失。自2000年以来，原始雨林的覆盖面积已减少了6.7％。

The senseless destruction continues because, for the men wielding the chainsaws,it is not senseless at all.They receive the profits; the costs are dispersedacross all 8bn people on the planet.

无情的破坏仍在继续，因为对于那些挥舞电锯的人来说，雨林有价值。他们可以获得利润，而成本则由全球80亿人口承担。

Plainly, if the owners of the rainforest were paid not to destroy it, everyone would be better off.

显然，如果雨林所有者在不破坏它的情况下也能有收益，那么每个人都会受益。

The world would no doubt already have funded such a deal, were rainforests in places with clear property rights and a firm rule of law.Alas, they are not.

如果雨林位于产权清晰和法治严谨的地区，世界上肯定已经出现了这样的资助案例。遗憾的是，还没有。

Rules against deforestation are usually strict, but seldom enforced.

反对砍伐的法规通常很严格，但很少得到执行。

[Paragraph 3]

Consider Brazil. Until January it had a president, Jair Bolsonaro, who sided with illegal loggers and ranchers.

以巴西为例。直到今年1月份，巴西的总统雅伊尔·博尔索纳罗都站在非法伐木者和牧场主这边。

He torched the environment ministry’s budget, stopped fining forest criminals and told illegal miners on indigenousreserves he would legalise their plunder.

他削减了环境部的预算，停止对森林罪犯的罚款，并告诉非法矿工在土著保护区的掠夺活动将被合法化。

On his watch the pace of deforestation rose by 60%.

在他的任期内，森林砍伐的速度提高了60％。

Voters have replaced Mr Bolsonaro with Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva who is pursuing eco-criminals. But catching them is hard. 卢伊斯·伊纳西奥·卢拉·达·席尔瓦赢得了选票，取代了博尔索纳罗的总统位置，卢拉正在正在追捕环境罪犯，但抓住他们并不容易。

[Paragraph 4]

Local officials are often in league with the loggers, and may be loggers themselves.

当地官员常常与伐木者串通一气，有时他们自己也从事砍伐活动。

Local communities often resist the forces of law and order, since they see more benefit from deforestation than conservation.

当地社区经常会抵制执法力量，因为他们认为砍伐森林比保护森林更有利。

The forest’s remoteness makes it hard for police to penetrate.

警察去偏远的森林执法有难度。

And land titling is a mess—in parts of the Amazon overlapping claims add up to five or six times the disputed area.

土地所有权登记混乱，在亚马逊的某些地区，土地产权重叠面积是纠纷面积的5-6倍。

When it is unclear who owns a piece of land, it is unclear whom to pay to conserve it, or whom to fine for despoiling it.

当不清楚某块土地的所有人时，那也不清楚该向谁支付雨林保护费，或当雨林受破坏使也不清楚该处罚谁。

[Paragraph 5]

Similar obstacles impede conservation elsewhere.

在其他地方也存在类似的障碍，阻碍了雨林的保护工作。

Forests in the Congo basin have long been protected by the region’s direpoverty. Unable to afford chainsaws, local farmers chop trees down slowly and laboriously by hand.

长期以来，由于刚果盆地的极端贫困，该地区的森林一直受到保护。由于买不起电锯，当地农民只能徒手砍伐树木，速度很慢。

But deforestation is accelerating, and if it is mechanised before local governments can regulate it, calamity will follow.

但砍伐速度正在加速，如果机械砍伐在当地政府尚未制定监管政策之前展开，那么就会带来灾难性的后果。

The prospects are especially grim in the Democratic Republic of Congo, where vast tracts of rainforest are overrun by militias and are almost wholly lawless.刚果民主共和国的前景尤其令人担忧，因为大片雨林被武装分子所占领，法制几乎不存在。

[Paragraph 6]

The presidents of Brazil, Indonesia and Congo, the three countries with the biggest rainforests, are urging rich countries to bankroll conservation.

雨林面积最大的3个国家分别是巴西、印度尼西亚和刚果，这三个国家的总统正在敦促发达国家提供资金支持雨林保护工作。

France’s president, Emmanuel Macron, co-hosting a forest summit in Gabon this week, promised to do his bit.

本周在加蓬举行的森林峰会上，法国总统马克龙承诺出一份力。

Activists and consumers can help: after a concertedcampaign, four-fifths of Indonesian palm-oil-refining capacity is now forest-friendly. But more effort is urgently required. 活动家和消费者也可以发挥作用：在一次协同运动之后，印尼80%的棕榈油精炼产能现在是森林友好型的。但仍需更多努力。

[Paragraph 7]

Leadership matters. Little progress is possible when countries with rainforests are run by the likes of Mr Bolsonaro.

领导力至关重要。当雨林国家的领导人像博尔索纳罗那样时，几乎不可能取得进展。

Yet even under better leaders, such places will struggle to enforce their own laws unless the people who live in the forests see benefits in conserving them.

然而，即使是在更好的领导下，这些国家也将难以执行自己的法律，除非居住在森林中的人们从保护森林中受益。

That will require a big, reliable flow of cash to make rainforests more valuable intact than flattened.

为了使雨林保持完整比砍伐更有价值，这需要大量可靠的资金。

This should come from rich-country governments and from private firms buying carbon credits to offset their own emissions.这些资金应该来自发达国家政府，及购买碳信用额度以抵消自身碳排放的私营企业。

[Paragraph 8]

In the past such flows have been too small and ill-designed.

过去，这样的资金流过小且设计不良。

Rather than financing lots of small projects, which are hard to monitor, more money should go to political entities large enough to make a difference, such as state or provincial governments.

与其将资金用于难以监管的小型项目，不如将更多资金投入到足够大、有实际作用的政治实体，如州政府或省政府。

Such “jurisdictional” carbon credits could be used to accelerate the transition to a greener local economy, to clean up local land registries and to police infractions.

这种“管辖区”碳信用额度可以用于加快转向更绿色的本地经济，清理当地的土地登记簿，并监管违规行为。

If there is enough cash, conditionally disbursed, locals will have more incentive to protect trees and less inclination to elect environmental renegades.

如果有足够的资金，且有条件地支出，当地人将更有动力保护树木，减少选举环境背叛者的倾向。

By one estimate, $20bn a year would slow deforestation significantly.

据估计，每年投入200亿美元将大幅减缓森林砍伐行为。

To preserve such a huge carbon sink—never mind the biodiversity it contains—this would be a bargain.为了保护如此巨大的碳储存库 - 更不用说其中包含的生物多样性 - 这将是一笔划算的买卖。

（恭喜读完，本篇英语词汇量677左右）原文出自：2023年3月4日《The Economist》Leaders版块。

精读笔记来源于：自由英语之路

本文翻译整理: Irene本文编辑校对: Irene仅供个人英语学习交流使用。

【补充资料】（来自于网络）碳信用额度（Carbon credits）是通过减少温室气体排放量而获得的，而不是通过吸收温室气体。碳信用额度是一个实体减少的排放量的度量，而不是吸收的温室气体的度量。碳信用额度通常与减排项目有关，例如通过更有效的能源利用、使用可再生能源或采用更高效的技术来减少温室气体排放。碳汇（Carbon sink）是指吸收温室气体的自然或人工系统，例如森林、海洋或土地。当这些系统吸收了温室气体后，它们可以产生“碳抵消量”，即它们吸收的温室气体的数量。这些碳抵消量可以被用于抵消其他实体的温室气体排放量。

【重点句子】（3 个）Plainly, if the owners of the rainforest were paid not to destroy it, everyone would be better off.显然，如果雨林所有者在不破坏它的情况下也能有收益，那么每个人都会受益。When it is unclear who owns a piece of land, it is unclear whom to pay to conserve it, or whom to fine for despoiling it.当不清楚某块土地的所有人时，那也不清楚该向谁支付雨林保护费，或当雨林受破坏使也不清楚该处罚谁。That will require a big, reliable flow of cash to make rainforests more valuable intact than flattened.为了使雨林保持完整比砍伐更有价值，这需要大量可靠的资金。

关键词：