Meet Our Planet's Hidden Defenders | Anjan Sundaram | TED

翻译人员: Bruce Wang 校对人员: Shelley Tsang 曾雯海

I'm here to tell you

我在这里向大家

about some of the most vital heroes of our time.

介绍我们这个时代一些最重要的英雄。

They fight a hidden war across our world that will define our future.

他们在我们的世界中打一场隐藏的战争， 这将决定我们的未来。

They battle on behalf of us all to protect mountains, rivers, forests

他们代表我们所有人 为保护山脉、河流、森林

and the last pristine ecosystems.

和最后的原始生态系统而战。

Yet these warriors pass almost invisible.

然而，这些战士几乎是隐身的。

We don't know their names, and we rarely read about them.

我们不知道他们的名字， 也很少读到他们的消息。

These obscure heroes are environmental defenders.

这些默默无闻的英雄 是环境捍卫者。

They mount protests and fight legal and armed battles,

他们发起抗议活动， 进行法律和武装斗争，

and have already saved many plants and animals from destruction.

并且已经拯救了许多动植物免遭破坏。

Small Indigenous communities make up only five percent

小型土著社区

of the world's population,

仅占世界人口的5％，

but they defend 80 percent of all the biodiversity that remains on Earth.

但它们保护着地球上 剩余的80％的生物多样性。

Their stories aren't told,

他们的故事没有被讲述，

in part because many of them live in war zones.

部分原因是他们中的许多人 生活在战区。

I've committed myself to reporting on forgotten conflicts

我承诺报道被遗忘 的冲突，

like those in the Congo and the Central African Republic.

例如刚果和中非共和国的冲突。

For several years now,

几年来，

I’ve documented the war for the environment

我记录了环境之战，

and I'd like to show you this fight for the future from the inside.

我想从内部向你展示这场 为未来而战。

The front line of this war runs right through Latin America.

这场战争的前线 贯穿拉丁美洲。

At least 1,700 environmental defenders have been killed over the last decade.

在过去十年中，至少 有1700名环境捍卫者被杀害。

Nearly 70 percent of these assassinations

这些暗杀事件

were perpetrated on the land between Mexico and Argentina.

中有将近70％发生在墨西哥和阿根廷 之间的土地上。

Three years ago,

三年前，

I read that more than 50 defenders were murdered in Mexico just that year,

我读到仅在那一年， 墨西哥就有50多名捍卫者被谋杀，

making it the world's deadliest country for the defense of nature.

这使它成为世界上 保卫自然死亡人数最多的国家。

I didn't know how long it would take to investigate these crimes

我不知道调查这些

against environmental defenders,

针对环境捍卫者的罪行 需要多长时间，

so I bought a one-way ticket there

所以我在那里买了一张单程票，

to uncover and tell the stories of their sacrifices.

以揭露和讲述他们的牺牲故事。

One of the first defenders I met was David Salazar.

I met him on the Pan-American Highway.

我在泛美公路上遇见了他。

His community had hijacked buses and trucks

他的社区劫持了公共汽车和卡车，

and blockaded the longest highway in the world

封锁了世界上最长的高速公路，

to protest a planned industrial mega-project.

以抗议计划中的大型工业项目。

Their lowland forest, called El Pitayal,

他们的低地森林名为埃尔皮塔亚尔，

had been marked for destruction to build a new factory complex.

因建造新的工厂大楼 而被标记为毁坏。

They're up against the US and Mexican governments

他们与美国和墨西哥政府

and multinational companies

以及跨国公司对抗，

that want this vast inter-oceanic mega-project to go forward.

他们希望这个庞大的海洋间 大型项目向前发展。

According to researchers,

根据研究人员的说法，

Mexico's violent cartels also see a chance

墨西哥的暴力卡特尔还看到了

to boost their multi-billion dollar revenues

通过其领土 上的盗窃和保护手段

through theft and protection rackets on their territory.

增加其数十亿 美元收入的机会。

Governments, companies and cartels stand to profit.

政府、公司和卡特尔将从中获利。

When David's protests didn't stop the construction,

当大卫的抗议活动 没有停止施工时，

saboteurs burned government vehicles near their forest.

破坏分子在森林附近 烧毁了政府车辆。

Their weapon was fire, which locals call "lumbre."

他们的武器是火 ， 当地人称之为“伐木”。

We don't know who burned the vehicles,

我们不知道是谁烧毁了车辆，

but the community authority, David, was singled out.

但社区权威 大卫被挑出来了。

The other men and women organizing the resistance warned me:

其他组织抵抗运动 的男男女女警告我：

David's going to be attacked or even assassinated.

大卫会遭到袭击 甚至被暗杀。

The municipal police had once severely beaten him up.

市警察曾经严重殴打过他。

That afternoon, I sat down with David in his yard and I pulled out my notebook.

那天下午，我和大卫坐 在他的院子里，拿出我的笔记本。

"Aren't you afraid they'll kill you?" I asked.

“你不怕他们会杀了你吗？”我问了。

He said, "Of course I'm afraid."

他说：“我当然害怕。”

David wasn't killed,

大卫没有被杀害，

but two months ago, a Mexican court sentenced him

但是两个月前，墨西哥法院

to 46.5 years in prison

以破坏财产

for damaging property,

为由判处他46.5年的监禁，

effectively handing him a life sentence.

实际上是判处他无期徒刑。

But David told me all the world’s prisons aren’t large enough to fit the defenders

但是大卫告诉我，世界上所有的监狱 都不够大，不足以容纳

willing to risk everything to protect the Earth.

愿意冒一切 风险保护地球的捍卫者。

I've gotten his community legal assistance.

我得到了他的社区 法律援助。

Since the courts don't reliably protect the planet,

由于法院无法可靠地 保护地球，

other communities have armed themselves.

其他社区已经武装了自己。

On Mexico's Pacific coast,

在墨西哥的太平洋海岸，

a locality of only a thousand people

一个只有一千人的

fights a drone war to protect their ancestral mountain.

地方为了保护 他们祖先的山峰而进行无人机大战。

A European company has built a huge iron mine nearby,

一家欧洲公司在附近建造 了一个巨大的铁矿，

and now wants to expand its excavation

现在想将其挖掘范围扩大

to this pristine mountain called La Mancira.

到这座名为拉曼西拉的原始山脉。

A ferocious cartel regularly strikes the community using drones,

一个凶猛的卡特尔经常 使用无人机袭击社区，

as it disappears and kills anti-mining activists.

因为它消失并杀死了反采矿活动家。

The European company denies allegations made by local activists

这家欧洲公司否认当地激进分子

that it's involved in any illegal activity.

关于其 参与任何非法活动的指控。

But the mountain is full of gold.

但是这座山上到处都是黄金。

It is also a home to jaguars,

它也是美洲虎、

rare plants and an intact forest.

稀有植物和完好无损森林的家园。

This isolated Indigenous community, called Santa Maria de Ostula,

这个名为奥斯图拉的圣玛丽 孤立土著社区进行了

fights back to defend nature and to defend its culture and its people.

反击，以捍卫自然， 捍卫其文化和人民。

It sends its young men to the front lines.

它把年轻人送到前线。

It scavenges weapons after its victories over the cartels.

它在战胜卡特尔后搜寻武器。

I'm told it's common knowledge

有人告诉我，众所周知，

that factions of the Mexican army and police

墨西哥 军队和警察派系 向卡特尔和社区

sell weapons to the cartels and communities,

出售武器，

thereby profiting from both sides of this war.

从而从这场战争的 双方中获利。

The cartels, by some estimates, Mexico's fifth largest employer,

据估计，卡特尔是 墨西哥的第五大雇主，

recruit young, poor men, arm them,

他们招募年轻的穷人，武装他们，

and have them run illegal businesses in remote places

并让他们在偏远地区

that are dangerous for journalists.

经营对记者构成危险的 非法企业。

Scores of reporters have been killed in Mexico,

墨西哥有数十名记者遇害，

many of whom investigated illegality and corruption.

其中许多人调查了 非法行为和腐败。

I carry cigarettes and chocolate to hand out,

我带着香烟和巧克力来分发，

so any cartel fighters I run into might spare me.

所以我遇到的任何卡特尔斗士 都可能放过我。

I asked one of Ostula's young defenders, a councilman named Pedro,

我请奥斯图拉的一位年轻捍卫者， 一位名叫佩德罗的议员，

to take me to their front line.

带我去他们的前线。

I'm not showing you his face for his protection.

我给你看他的脸不是为了保护他

He said, "I'll take you to the European iron mine,

他说：“我会带你去欧洲的铁矿，

but it's crawling with cartel fighters."

但那里到处都是卡特尔斗士。”

Ostula had just lost three defenders in a cartel ambush

奥斯图拉刚刚 在一次卡特尔伏击中失去了三名防守者，

and was braced for a new attack.

并为新的进攻做好了准备。

Millions of dollars are extracted each year from the iron mine.

But in the nearby municipal capital, the houses were dirty.

但是在附近的市政首府， 房屋很脏。

Paint peeled, the walls crumbled.

油漆剥落，墙壁倒塌了。

We drove into a compound with an ordinary low building.

我们开车进入一个大院，里 面有一栋普通的低层建筑。

I wasn't allowed, of course, to take photos inside,

当然，我不允许我在里面拍照，

but this is what I saw.

但这就是我所看到的。

As I walked in,

当我走进去时，

it was like a fixer upper meets the movie "The Matrix."

就像一件定影鞋 与电影《黑客帝国》相遇一样。

I was surrounded by 50-millimeter guns and assault rifles covering the walls.

我被覆盖墙壁的 50 毫米枪 和突击步枪包围。

Large drones, walkie-talkies.

大型无人机，对讲机。

Bullets lay on the ground.

子弹落在地上。

A carpenter repaired the roof, fortified with three layers.

一位木匠修复了三层 加固的屋顶。

I interviewed the base commander, a hefty man named El Chopo.

我采访了基地指挥官， 一个名叫埃尔·乔波的壮士。

I asked where the cartel attacked.

我问卡特尔袭击了哪里。

"Here," he said.

他说：“在这里。”

I looked out into the valley and asked how often they attacked.

我往山谷里望去， 问他们多久发动一次袭击。

Every two days.

每两天一次

“They sent four drones this morning,” he said.

他说：“他们 今天早上派出了四架无人机。”

"Carrying C4 explosives mounted on motor heads.

“携带安装在发动机头上的C4炸药。

They didn't drop those bombs, but they'll be back later today."

他们没有投下那些炸弹， 但他们会在今天晚些时候回来。”

A fighter jumped out of his hammock and loaded his rifle.

一名战士从吊床上跳出来， 装满了步枪。

“Estamos listos.” “We’re ready.”

“我们清单了。” “我们准备好了。”

This is how the battle to save nature is waged.

拯救自然的战斗就是这样进行的。

One mountain, forest and river at a time.

一次只是一座山、一片森林和一条河流。

The roads were quiet as I drove with Pedro, the councilman,

当我和议员佩德罗 一起开车去欧洲铁矿时，

to the European iron mine.

道路很安静。

It was a wide, gray mountainside.

那是一片宽阔的灰色山腰。

Mexicans say the mining companies work to “licuar las montañas,”

墨西哥人说，矿业公司 致力于 “利库拉蒙塔纳斯”

or “blend the mountains down.”

或 “将群山融为一体”。

Pedro pointed up at an old shack.

佩德罗指着一个旧小屋。

He said, “The cartel fighters are behind those walls and we should leave,

他说：“卡特尔斗士在墙后面， 我们应该离开，

because I’m on their hit list.”

因为我在他们的命中名单上。”

These remote wars for the environment can seem to not exist.

这些遥远的环境战争似乎不存在。

Meanwhile, the international mining companies

同时，国际矿业公司

are winning so-called corporate sustainability awards.

正在获得所谓的 企业可持续发展奖。

That night, walking on Ostula’s beach,

那天晚上，在奥斯图拉的海滩上散步，

I waited for turtles to swim ashore to nest.

我等着海龟游上岸筑巢。

I saw their soft white egg shells glow in the moonlight.

我看见他们柔软的白色蛋壳在月光下发光。

In the morning, baby turtles hatched.

早上，小海龟孵化出来了。

The turtles seemed oblivious to the humans fighting around them.

海龟似乎对周围的人类战斗视而不见。

Or maybe they knew about the environmental defenders.

或者也许他们认识环境捍卫者。

I've now covered a dozen battles for pristine ecosystems rich in titanium,

我现在已经报道了十几场争夺富含钛、

copper, gold,

铜、金、

water, sand, forests,

水、沙、森林、

jaguars, butterflies.

美洲虎、蝴蝶的原始生态系统的战斗。

Without war reporters on the ecological front lines,

如果没有战地记者进入生态前线，

environmental defenders are killed in obscurity,

环境捍卫者就会默默地被杀害，

ecosystems are destroyed in silence

生态系统被默默地摧毁，

and the perpetrators get away.

犯罪者逃脱。

In my own work, I've shone a light on war crimes in Central Africa.

在我自己的作品中， 我揭示了中非的战争罪行。

I've seen criminals be prosecuted.

我见过罪犯被起诉。

Yet we won't win the global environmental war

但是，

unless we pay more attention

除非我们更加关注

and join forces with brave defenders around the world.

并与世界各地勇敢的 捍卫者联手， 否则我们无法赢得全球环境大战。

These small bands of fighters are fearless.

这些小群战士无所畏惧。

They fought colonial conquerors hundreds of years ago,

他们在数百年前与殖民征服者作战，

then led fiery revolutions

然后领导了激烈的革命，

and remarkably, hold off heavily armed cartels.

引人注目的是， 他们阻止了全副武装的卡特尔。

Together with them,

现在，

you and I now need to take on our biggest

你和我需要与他们一起 展开我们规模最大、

and most important war.

最重要的战争。

To save all that remains of nature and ensure our survival.

拯救所有自然遗迹， 确保我们的生存。

Thank you.

谢谢。

(Applause)

（掌声）