From the top of the food chain down: Rewilding our world - George Monbiot

Dari puncak rantaian makanan sehingga ke bawah: "Meliarkan semula" dunia kita - George Monbiot

Translator: Ezlyna Shamsuddin Reviewer: Sam HK

We all know about the dinosaurs

Kita semua tahu tentang dinosaur

that once roamed the planet,

yang pernah berkeliaran di bumi,

but long after they went extinct,

tapi lama selepas dinosaur pupus,

great beasts we call the megafauna

haiwan besar yang dipanggil megafauna

lived on every continent.

tinggal di setiap benua.

In the Americas, ground sloths the size of elephants

Di Amerika, sloth yang sebesar gajah

pulled down trees with their claws.

memusnahkan pokok dengan kukunya.

Saber-toothed cats the size of brown bears

Kucing bergigi pedang sebesar beruang

hunted in packs,

memburu secara berkelompok,

but they were no match for short-faced bears,

tapi bukan lawan bagi beruang bermuncung pendek

which stood thirteen feet on their hind legs,

yang tingginya empat meter bila berdiri,

and are likely to have driven these cats

dan membuat kucing-kucing ini lari

away from their prey.

jauh daripada mangsa.

There were armadillos as big as small cars,

Terdapat armadilo yang sebesar kereta kecil,

an eight foot beaver,

beaver yang lebih dua meter,

and a bird with a 26 foot wingspan.

dan burung yang bersayap lapan meter.

Almost everywhere, the world's megafauna

Hampir di mana-mana, megafauna

were driven to extinction, often by human hunters.

menjadi pupus kerana pemburu.

Some species still survive in parts of Africa and Asia.

Sesetengahnya masih hidup di Afrika dan Asia.

In other places, you can still see the legacy of these great beasts.

Di tempat-tempat lain, masih ada legasi haiwan-haiwan ini.

Kebanyakan pokok dapat tumbuh semula

Most trees are able to resprout

where their trunk is broken

walaupun batang rosak

to withstand the loss of much of their bark

untuk menebus kerosakan yang berlaku

and to survive splitting, twisting and trampling,

dan masih hidup walaupun dibelah, dipulas dan dipijak,

partly because they evolved to survive attacks by elephants.

mungkin ia berevolusi untuk menahan serangan gajah.

Antelop Amerika boleh berlari dengan amat laju

The American pronghorn can run so fast

because it evolved to escape the American cheetah.

kerana ia berevolusi untuk mengelak ancaman cheetah Amerika.

The surviving animals live in ghost ecosystems

Haiwan yang terselamat ini hidup dalam ekosistem "hantu"

adapted to threats from species that no longer exist.

yang telah berubah disebabkan oleh ancaman spesies yang tak wujud lagi.

Today, it may be possible to resurrect those ghosts,

Kini, mungkin haiwan yang telah pupus ini boleh dihidupkan semula

to bring back lost species using genetic material.

dengan menggunakan bahan genetik.

For instance, there's been research in to

Contohnya, terdapat kajian

cloning woolly mammoths from frozen remains.

pengklonan mamot daripada fosil beku.

But even if it's not possible,

Meskipun mustahil,

we can still restore many of the ecosystems

kita masih boleh pulihkan ekosistem

the world has lost.

yang telah hilang.

How? By making use of abandoned farms.

Bagaimana? Dengan menggunakan ladang terbiar.

Oleh sebab pasaran makanan adalah global,

As the market for food is globalized,

infertile land becomes uncompetitive.

tanah yang tak subur tak lagi berguna.

Farmers in barren places can't compete

Petani di tanah tandus tak dapat bersaing

with people growing crops on better land elsewhere.

dengan mereka yang bertani di tanah yang lebih baik.

As a result, farming has started to retreat from many regions,

Akibatnya, pertanian mula berkurangan di banyak tempat,

and trees have started to return.

dan pokok mula tumbuh kembali.

One estimate claims that two-thirds of land in the US

Dianggarkan bahawa dua pertiga daripada tanah di AS

that was once forested but was cleared for farming

yang telah dibersihkan untuk pertanian

has become forested again.

telah kembali menjadi hutan.

Another estimate suggests that by 2030,

Selain itu, sehingga tahun 2030,

an area in Europe the size of Poland

sebuah kawasan di Eropah yang sebesar Poland

will be vaccated by farmers.

akan dikosongkan oleh petani.

So even if we can't use DNA to bring back

Walaupun DNA tak dapat kembalikan

ground sloths and giant armadillos,

sloth dan armadilo,

we can restore bears, wolves, pumas

kita boleh kembalikan beruang, serigala, puma,

lynx, moose and bison

kucing liar, moose dan bison

to the places where they used to live.

ke tempat tinggal asal.

Some of these animals can reshape their surroundings,

Haiwan boleh membentuk semula persekitaran

creating conditions that allow other species to thrive.

dan mewujudkan persekitaran untuk spesis lain.

When wolves were reintroduced to

Setelah serigala dimasukkan semula

the Yellowstone National Park in 1995,

ke Taman Negara Yellowstone pada 1995,

they quickly transformed the ecosystem.

ekosistem telah diubah dengan pantas.

Where they reduced the numbers of overpopulated deer,

Rusa mula berkurangan,

vegetation began to recover.

dan tumbuhan mula tumbuh semula.

The height of some trees quintupled in just six years.

Ketinggian pokok berganda dalam tempoh enam tahun.

As forests returned, so did songbirds.

Hutan kembali, bulbul pun kembali.

Beavers, which eat trees, multiplied in the rivers,

Beaver yang makan pokok berganda dalam sungai,

and their dams provided homes

dan empangannya menjadi habitat

for otters, muskrats, ducks, frogs and fish.

memerang, muskrat, itik, katak dan ikan.

Serigala bunuh koyot,

The wolves killed coyotes, allowing rabbits

jadi arnab dan tikus bertambah,

and mice to increase,

providing more food for hawks, weasels,

dan dimakan oleh helang, wesel,

foxes and badgers.

musang dan bejar.

Bald eagles and ravens fed on the carrion

Helang dan burung raven makan bangkai

that the wolves abandoned.

yang serigala tinggalkan.

So did bears, which also ate the berries

Beruang pula makan buah beri

on the returning shrubs.

di pokok renek yang tumbuh semula.

Bison numbers rose as they browsed

Bison bertambah dan meragut rumput

the revitalized forests.

di hutan yang telah tumbuh semula.

The wolves changed almost everything.

Serigala membawa banyak perubahan.

This is an example of a trophic cascade,

Inilah contoh lata trofik, iaitu

a change at the top of the food chain

perubahan di puncak rantaian makanan

that tumbles all the way to the bottom,

mempengaruhi setiap aras

affecting every level.

dalam rantaian makanan.

The discovery of widespread trophic cascades

Penemuan lata trofik

may be one of the most exciting scientific findings

ialah penemuan sains yang menguja

of the past half century.

dalam separuh abad yang lalu.

They tell us that ecosystems that have lost

Ekosistem yang telah hilang

just one or two species of large animals

satu atau dua haiwan besar sahaja,

can behave in radically different ways

keadaannya mungkin amat berbeza

berbanding yang mengandungi haiwan tersebut.

from those that retain them.

All over the world, new movements are trying

Di seluruh dunia, wujudnya usaha untuk

to catalyze the restoration of nature

memulihkan alam sekitar

in a process called rewilding.

yang dipanggil "meliarkan semula".

This means undoing some of the damage we've caused,

Ini bermakna membetulkan kerosakan,

reestablishing species which have been driven out,

mendapatkan semula spesis yang telah lari,

and then stepping back.

kemudian berundur.

There is no attempt to create an ideal ecosystem,

Tiada cubaan untuk mencipta ekosistem ideal,

to produce a heath, a rainforest or a coral reef.

kawasan rawa, hutan hujan atau terumbu karang.

"Meliarkan semula" bertujuan mengembalikan

Rewilding is about bringing back the species

spesies yang berinteraksi secara bebas

that drive dynamic processes

and then letting nature take its course.

tanpa campur tangan manusia.

But it's essential that rewilding must never be used

Tapi, amat penting bahawa "meliarkan semula"

tak dijadikan alasan menghalau penduduk.

as an excuse to push people off the land.

It should happen only with the consent

Ia perlu dilakukan dengan izin

and enthusiasm of the people who work there.

dan keinginan penduduk.

Imagine standing on a cliff in England,

Bayangkan anda berdiri di tebing di England,

watching sperm whales attacking shoals of herring

melihat paus menyerang ikan hering

as they did within sight of the shore

seperti yang pernah berlaku

until the 18th century.

hingga abad ke-18.

By creating marine reserves

Dengan mewujudkan laut simpan

in which no commerical fishing takes place,

di mana perikanan komersil dilarang,

that can happen again.

ia boleh berlaku lagi.

Imagine a European Serengeti

Bayangkan Serengeti Eropah

full of the animals that used to live there:

penuh dengan haiwan yang pernah wujud:

hippos, rhinos, elephants, hyenas and lions.

badak air, badak, gajah, hiena dan singa.

What rewilding reintroduces,

"Meliarkan semula" memperkenalkan semula,

alongside the missing animals and plants,

di samping haiwan dan tumbuhan,

is that rare species called hope.

spesis yang dipanggil harapan.

It tells us that ecological change

Perubahan ekologikal

need not always proceed in the same direction.

tak semestinya bergerak sama arah.

The silent spring could be followed by a wild summer.

Musim bunga yang sunyi boleh diikuti musim panas yang liar.