How we're saving one of Earth's last wild places | Steve Boyes

翻译人员: Ziyi Zhang

Visible from space,

从太空看，

the Okavango Delta

奥卡万戈三角洲，

is Africa's largest remaining intact wetland wilderness.

是非洲剩余最大、 最完整的野生湿地荒野。

This shining delta in landlocked Botswana is the jewel of the Kalahari,

这个位于博茨瓦纳内陆的三角洲， 是卡拉哈里闪闪发亮的宝石，

more valuable than diamonds to the world's largest diamond producer

比世界上最大的 钻石生产商的更有价值，

and celebrated in 2014

并于 2014 年，

as our planet's 1000th UNESCO World Heritage Site.

被列入为地球上第 1000 处 联合国教科文组织世界遗产。

Now, what you see here are the two major tributaries,

现在，你可以看到的 是两条主要支流，

the Cuito and the Cubango,

奎托和奥卡万戈河，

disappearing up north into the little-known Angolan highlands.

向北逐渐消失在 鲜为人知的安哥拉高地。

This is the largest undeveloped river basin on the planet,

这个是我们地球上 最大的未开发的流域，

spanning an area larger than California.

是比加利福尼亚州 面积更大的区域。

These vast, undeveloped Angolan watersheds were frozen in time

这片巨大的安哥拉流域 之所以未被开发，

by 27 years of civil war.

与 27 年的内战有关。

In fact, Africa's largest tank battle since World War II

事实上，非洲自第二次世界 大战以来最大的坦克战，

was fought over a bridge crossing the Okavango's Cuito River.

就发生在穿越奥卡万戈三角洲 内奎托河上的一座桥上。

There on the right,

就在这右边，

disappearing off into the unknown,

消失在未知之中，

into the "Terra do fim do mundo" --

消失在“地球尽头（葡萄牙语）”，

the land at the end of the earth,

地球尽头。

as it was known by the first Portuguese explorers.

正如第一批葡萄牙 探险家所了解的那样。

In 2001, at the age of 22,

2001年，当时我22岁，

I took a job as head of housekeeping at Vundumtiki Camp

我获得了一份在Vundumtiki 营地看家的工作，

in the Okavango Delta ...

位置就在奥卡万戈三角洲，

a patchwork mosaic of channels, floodplains, lagoons

那里汇集了海峡，涝原和泻湖，

and thousands upon thousands of islands to explore.

以及等待探索的成千岛屿。

Home to the largest remaining population of elephants on the planet.

这里是地球上仅存最大的 大象野生家园。

Rhinos are airlifted in C130s to find sanctuary in this wilderness.

犀牛通过军机C130s空运， 也来到在这片荒野中寻找庇护所。

Lion,

还有狮子，

leopard,

豹子，

hyena,

鬣狗，

wild dog,

野狗，

cheetah,

猎豹，

ancient baobab trees that stand like cathedrals

以及像大教堂一样伫立的 古老面包树，

under the Milky Way.

他们都存在于这片银河之下。

Here, I discovered something obvious:

在这里，我发现

wilderness is our natural habitat, too.

荒野也是我们人类的自然栖息地。

We need these last wild places to reconnect with who we really are.

我们需要这片最后的荒野 来重新思考我们真实的存在。

We --

我们 ——

all seven billion of us --

我们所有的70亿人——

must never forget we are a biological species

绝不能忘记， 我们也是一种生物，

forever bound to this particular biological world.

我们与这个生物世界， 永远存在着联系。

Like the waves connected to the ocean,

就像浪花离不开大海，

we cannot exist apart from it --

我们也无法与 这个生物世界分离——

a constant flow of atoms and energy between individuals and species

个体和物种之间不断的 原子和能量流动，

around the world in a day

每天都在这个世界的各个角落，

and out into the cosmos.

和宇宙之外发生着。

Our fates are forever connected to the millions of species

我们的命运永远与 数以百万计的物种联系在一起，

we rely on directly and indirectly every day.

通过直接或间接的方式，彼此依赖。

Four years ago,

四年以前，

it was declared that 50 percent of all wildlife around the world

有消息宣称，在过去的40年间，

had disappeared in just 40 years.

全球有50%的野生动物消失了。

This is a mass drowning of 15,000 wildebeests

两年前，我在马赛马拉，

that I witnessed in the Maasai Mara two years ago.

亲眼目睹了15000头角马的溺亡。

This is definitely our fault.

这绝对是我们人类的过错。

By 2020, global wildlife populations are projected to have fallen

据预测，全球野生动物 总数到了2020年

by a staggering two-thirds.

会再度减少三分之二。

We are the sixth extinction

我们正位于第六次大灭绝中，

because we left no safe space for millions of species

我们没有为数百万 物种留下安全空间

to sustainably coexist.

来和我们一起和谐共存。

Now, since 2010, I have poled myself eight times across the Okavango Delta

自2010年以来，我撑船 横跨了八次奥卡万戈三角洲，

to conduct detailed scientific surveys

沿着200英里的河流，

along a 200-mile, 18-day research transect.

展开为期18天的科学调研。

Now, why am I doing this?

为什么我要这样做呢？

Why am I risking my life each year?

为什么每年都冒着 这样的生命危险呢？

因为我们需要这些信息，

I'm doing this because we need this information

to benchmark this near-pristine wilderness

需要在对上游的开发启动之前，

before upstream development happens.

去记录这些原始荒野的生态标准。

These are the Wayeyi river bushmen, the people of the Okavango Delta.

这些是Wayeyi河丛林人， 奥卡万戈三角洲的原住民。

They have taught me all I know about the Mother Okavango --

他们教给我有关母亲 奥卡万戈的一切——

about presence in the wild.

一切有关野外的存在。

Our shared pilgrimage across the Okavango Delta each year

我们每年都乘着独木舟， 共同踏上向着奥卡万戈三角洲的

in our mokoros or dugout canoes --

朝圣之旅，

remembers millenia living in the wild.

一起铭记像在千年以前 野外生存的情景。

Ten thousand years ago,

一万年前，

our entire world was wilderness.

我们的整个世界都是荒野。

Today, wilderness is all that remains of that world, now gone.

今天，荒野成了那个世界的遗迹， 现在也在消失了。

Ten thousand years ago, we were as we are today:

一万年前，我们和今天一样：

a modern, dreaming intelligence unlike anything seen before.

向往着未知的未来。

Living in the wilderness is what taught us to speak,

野外生存教会我们说话，

to seek technologies like fire and stone, bow and arrow,

教会我们寻找像火和石头，弓和箭，

medicine and poison,

药和毒药，

to domesticate plants and animals

教会我们驯化植物和动物，

and rely on each other and all living things around us.

教会我们彼此依赖，共同依存。

We are these last wildernesses --

我们是最后的荒野——

every one of us.

每个人都是。

Over 80 percent of our planet's land surface

我们地球上超过80%的土地表面，

is now experiencing measurable human impact:

在经历着可衡量的人类影响：

habitat destruction

栖息地毁灭，

and illegal wildlife trade are decimating global wildlife populations.

同时非法野生动物贸易 正摧毁着全球野生动物种群。

We urgently need to create safe space for these wild animals.

我们迫切需要为这些 野生动物创造安全的空间。

So in late 2014,

所以在2014年底，

we launched an ambitious project to do just that:

我们为了这个目的 推出了这个雄心勃勃的项目：

explore and protect.

探索和保护野外生存地。

By mid-May 2015,

到2015年年中，

we had pioneered access through active minefields

我们从活跃的地区开始，

to the undocumented source lake of the Cuito River --

已经到达了奎托河 从未记载的源头湖——

this otherworldly place;

这个世外桃源，

an ancient, untouched wilderness.

一片古老而又未经破坏的土地。

By the 21st of May,

到5月21日为止，

we had launched the Okavango megatransect ...

我们进行了一次 对奥卡万戈的大型探索，

in seven dugout canoes;

派出了七艘独木舟；

1,500 miles, 121 days later,

全程1500英里，历时121天，

all of the poling, paddling and intensive research

在划桨和调研等紧凑的活动下，

got us across the entire river basin to Lake Xau in the Kalahari Desert,

我们跨过了成片河流流域， 到达喀拉哈里沙漠里的湖泊，

480 kilometers past the Okavango Delta.

在距离奥卡万戈三角洲 480公里的地方。

My entire world became the water:

我的世界全是水， 和与水相关的一切：

every ripple, eddy, lily pad and current ...

每一道波纹，涡流， 潮水，每一片莲叶，

any sign of danger,

每一道危险的提示，

every sign of life.

以及每一道生命的迹象。

Now imagine millions of sweat bees choking the air around you,

想象一下，数以百万计的蜜蜂， 围绕着你，抽空你周围的空气，

flesh-eating bacteria,

肉食性细菌，

the constant threat of a landmine going off

随时可能踩中的地雷，

or an unseen hippo capsizing your mokoro.

以及隐藏在水中准备 弄翻独木舟的河马。

These are the scenes moments after a hippo did just that --

这些是我们在 被河马袭击后的几个场景，

thrusting its tusks through the hull of my boat.

我们的船壳被它的长牙穿透，

You can see the two holes --

你看，就是这两个洞——

puncture wounds in the base of the hull --

刺穿船壳底座——

absolutely terrifying

真的是非常可怕，

and completely my fault.

而且都是我的过错。

(Laughter)

（笑）

Many, many portages,

有非常非常多次，

tree blockages and capsizes in rocky rapids.

船只被树木阻挡了， 或者撞击到石头发生了侧翻。

You're living on rice and beans,

想象一下，生活在水稻与大豆间，

bathing in a bucket of cold water

在冷水桶中洗澡，

and paddling a marathon six to eight hours every single day.

每天还要进行 6到8小时的划桨马拉松。

After 121 days of this,

121天之后，

I'd forgotten the PIN numbers to my bank accounts

我完全忘记了自己银行卡的密码，

and logins for social media --

也不记得怎样登陆 我的社交账号——

a complete systems reboot.

我的大脑系统仿佛重启了一般。

You ask me now if I miss it,

如果你问我是否想念那趟旅行，

and I will tell you I am still there.

我会告诉你，我依然在那里。

Now why do we need to save places we hardly ever go?

你可能会问，为什么我们要去拯救 一个我们也许永远不会去的地方？

Why do we need to save places

我们为什么要去拯救那些

where you have to risk your life to be there?

需要我们冒着生命危险 才能到达的地方？

Now, I'm not a religious or particularly spiritual person,

我不是一个有宗教信仰的人，

but in the wild,

但在野外，

I believe I've experienced the birthplace of religion.

我确信我来到了信仰诞生的地方。

Standing in front of an elephant far away from anywhere

身处荒蛮之地，站在大象的面前，

is the closest I will ever get to God.

我仿佛来到了离上帝最近的地方。

Moses, Buddha, Muhammad, Jesus,

摩西，浮屠，穆罕默德，耶稣，

the Hindu teachers, prophets and mystics,

印度教教师，先知，神秘主义者，

all went into the wilderness --

他们都去过野外——

up into the mountains, into the desert,

高上山岗，深入沙漠，

to sit quietly and listen for those secrets

静静地坐在那里， 就能聆听所有的秘密，

that were to guide their societies for millennia.

指引我们社会发展千年的奥秘。

I go into the Okavango on my mokoro.

我撑着独木舟来到奥卡万戈。

You must join me one day.

在未来的某一天，加入我吧。

Over 50 percent of the remaining wilderness is unprotected.

仅存的荒野中，超过一半未经保护。

A huge opportunity --

这是一个非常大的机遇，

a chance for us all.

对于所有人而言都是一个机遇。

We need to act with great urgency.

我们需要立刻采取行动。

Since the 2015 megatransect,

因为自从2015年大调查以来，

we have explored all major rivers of the Okavango River basin,

我们探索了奥卡万戈流域中 所有的主要河流，

covering a life-changing 4,000 miles of detailed research transects

覆盖超过4000英里的详尽调研。

on our dugout canoes

就靠着我们的独木舟，

and our fat-tire mountain bikes.

和我们的山地自行车。

We now have 57 top scientists

我们现在有57名顶尖科学家，

rediscovering what we call the Okavango-Zambezi water tower --

重新探索我们所说的 Okavango-Zambezi水源，

this vast, post-war wilderness with undocumented source lakes,

这片广阔的战后荒野， 有未经记载的河流源头湖泊，

unnamed waterfalls in what is Africa's largest remaining Miombo woodland.

有非洲最大Miombo林地的未名瀑布。

We've now discovered 24 new species to science

我们发现了24种新物种，

and hundreds of species not known to be there.

和数百种迁徙到那里的物种。

This year, we start the process, with the Angolan government,

今年，我们开始和安哥拉政府合作，

to establish one of the largest systems of protected areas in the world

建立世界上最大的保护区系统之一，

to preserve the Okavango-Zambezi water tower

用以保护我们探索到的，

we have been exploring.

那个Okavango-Zambezi水源。

Downstream, this represents water security for millions of people

下游，有着数百万 依靠这口水源生存的人民，

and more than half of the elephants remaining on this planet.

以及地球上超过一半的 大象所栖息的地方。

There is no doubt this is the biggest conservation opportunity in Africa

毫无疑问，这是数十年来非洲

in decades.

最大的环保机遇。

Over the next 10 to 15 years,

在接下来的10到15年间，

we need to make an unprecedented investment

我们需要史无前例地关注和投资，

in the preservation of wilderness around the world.

来保护世界各地的荒野。

To me,

对于我个人而言，

preserving wilderness is far more than simply protecting ecosystems

保护荒野远远不止 简单地保护生态系统，

that clean the water we drink and create the air we breathe.

不止是保护饮用水或者保护空气。

Preserving wilderness protects our basic human right to be wild --

保护荒野，也就是保护我们 去体验狂野的基本人权——

our basic human rights to explore.

保护我们探索的基本人权。

Thank you.

谢谢大家。

(Applause)

（掌声）