森林正在快速消失？是嗎？
Why forests are spreading in the rich world
South America and sub-Saharan Africa are experiencingdeforestation, but in Europe it is a very different story
Dec 12th 2017
FORESTS in countries like Brazil and Congo get a lot of attention from conservationists, and it is easy to see why. South America and sub-Saharan Africa are experiencing deforestation on an enormous scale: every year almost 5m hectares are lost, net. But forests are also changing in rich Western countries. They are growing larger, both in the sense that they occupy more land and that the trees in them are bigger. What is going on?
很有趣的視角啊！當媒體和環保人士天天為森林消失而大聲疾呼時，作者卻另闢蹊徑，關注到問題的另一面：那不是全部，富裕國家的森林覆蓋率卻在提升。我沒聽錯吧？為啥之前我沒有注意到這個現象呢？細細一想，可能事實真是如此。不是坊間總有傳言嗎？日本天天從中國進口一次性筷子，而本國森林卻極好地保護起來了。我們先不討論這個傳言的真實性，畢竟它不是我說這些的重點。我想說的是：我們在寫文章時要學習運用不同視角看問題，正如這位作者那樣。這樣的文章標題你一看就想繼續讀下去，不是嗎？
Forests are spreading in almost all Western countries, with the fastest growth in places that historically had rather few trees. In 1990 28% of Spain wasforested; now the proportion is 37%. In both Greece and Italy, the growth was from 26% to 32% over the same period. Forests are gradually taking more land in America and Australia. Perhaps most astonishing is the trend in Ireland. Roughly 1% of that country was forested when it became independent in 1922. Now forests cover 11% of the land, and the government wants to push the proportion to 18% by the 2040s.
用數據說明森林覆蓋率在富裕國家節節攀升的事實，與南美和撒哈拉以南非洲的情況形成鮮明對比。
Two things arefertilisingthis growth. The first is the abandonment of farmland, especially in high, parched places where nothing grows terribly well. When farmers give up trying toeke out a livingfrom olives or sheep, trees simply move in. The second is government policy and subsidy. Governments have protected and promoted forests for diverse reasons, ranging from the need for wooden warships to a desire to promote suburban house-building. Increasingly they welcome forests because they arecarbon sinks. The justifications change; the desire for more trees remains constant.
此段分析導致這種現象的兩大原因：1、不理想的耕地恢復為森林。2、政府的林地政策和各種相關補貼。
The greening of the West does not delight everyone. Farmers complain that land is being taken out of use by generously subsidised tree plantations. (They get subsidies, too, but the ones for tree-planting are especially generous.) Parts of Spain and Portugal are afflicted by terrible forest fires. These burn especially hot in areas with lots of eucalyptus trees—an Australian import that was planted for itspulpbut has spreadofits own accord. Others simply dislike the appearance ofconifer forestsplanted in neat rows. They will have to get used to the trees, however. The growth of Western forests seems almost asinexorableas deforestation elsewhere.
此段揭露了西方富裕國家植樹造林並非人人都歡迎，有些人就不喜歡。如農民抱怨耕地被森林偷走，而且復林者獲得的補貼比他們還多。西班牙和葡萄牙部分地區引進的桉樹讓森林大火一旦出現就不可收拾。而另外有些人純粹就是不喜歡針葉林那整齊劃一的外觀。但無論怎樣，他們沒得選擇，西方富裕國家森林的增長趨勢不可逆轉。
此文非常簡單，唯一的亮點就是視角。一點題外話，這森林的此消彼長不正反映了富裕國家對落後國家的資源掠奪嗎？誰說木材不是寶貴的戰略資源？只不過進入21世紀後，這種掠奪來得更加隱蔽了。
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