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在香港动画片《麦兜故事》中,马尔代夫被描述为“椰林树影,水清沙幼,蓝天白云,是位于印度洋上的世外桃源”。然而,随着全球气候变暖引发海平面不断上升,马尔代夫这座被誉为“度假天堂”的群岛之国却正面临着可能被海水淹没的危险。似乎有些难以置信?但正如马尔代夫现任总统穆罕默德·纳希德所说:“马尔代夫是世界这座煤矿中的金丝雀。”(17世纪,英国煤矿工人发现金丝雀对于瓦斯浓度的敏感性远远高于人类。于是,煤矿工人下井时,常常携带一个装有金丝雀的鸟笼。“煤矿中的金丝雀”常用以比喻危险警报。)马尔代夫所面临的环境“棒喝”应当引发我们的深入思考,同时我们也要力求找到解决之道,因为我们同住“地球村”!
It is 1990 and a young writer sits in solitary confinement. He is repeatedly beaten—he has dared to openly criticize his country’s political elite. Through a 2)slit in the metal walls he can see 3)a sliver of ocean on the horizon. This is his only comfort. It is, he says, what opened his imagination, led him to think about a better future for his country.
Just a short distance from the small prison island where he is held, a paradise is being carefully 4)crafted. The small 5)knots of low-lying islands and 6)coral reef 7)atolls that make up the Maldives are being 8)engineered into one of the world’s most romantic tourist destinations. 9)Stilted luxury villas snake across translucent waters 10)teeming with exotic marine life. And the guest books fill with the signatures of world-famous leaders and celebrities in the years to come. The daily 11)grind for most Maldivians—prohibited from visiting these resorts to prevent what the government calls“12)cultural contamination”—was different.
In 1989, 13)Gayoom’s government hosted the first-ever conference of small island states threatened by sea-level rises. The serious threat of global warming was only just coming 14)onto the public’s radar. Now, 20 years later, a new 15)menace threatens the Maldives—the battle against the force of nature is just beginning.
The young writer repeatedly tortured and imprisoned 20 years ago now sits beside me. His name is Mohamed Nasheed and he was elected president of the Maldives in October 2008. “All you have to do when you are in prison is think, and even then I knew we were going to need dramatic solutions to the problems my country faces,” says Nasheed, a slightly 16)built man of 41 with a 17)high-pitched voice.
Shortly after taking office, Nasheed made the dramatic announcement that he intends to start18)banking enough tourist pounds and dollars to buy a new safe homeland in which to relocate his 386,000 citizens when—not if—rising sea levels make the Maldives uninhabitable. 19)Tracts of land in Australia, India and Sri Lanka are said to be under consideration for purchase. Nasheed’s plan caught the attention of the world’s media and led to 20)a flurry of 21)doomsday headlines painting a picture of a nation packing their bags and 22)decamping23)en masse, waves lapping at their ankles. The truth, as always, is more complex.
According to the latest scientific estimates, sea levels are expected to rise worldwide by up to 60 centimeters by the end of this century as a result of climbing temperatures and shifting weather patterns associated with the build-up of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases. And this does not even take into account how much further sea levels could rise if the 24)ice sheets of 25)Greenland and west 26)Antarctica start melting at ever more rapid rates.
The Maldives faced their first serious environmental wake-up call in 1998 when shifting ocean patterns associated with 27)El Niño caused sea temperatures to rise to such a degree that normally 28)vibrantly colored tropical coral reefs suffered extensive 29)bleaching, which causes the 30)algae they feed on to migrate or die. Nowhere was this more dramatic than in the Maldives. Between 70% and 90% of all coral reefs surrounding the country’s 26 atolls are estimated to have died as a result. One diver swimming the length of reefs in North Male atoll at the time described it as an underwater equivalent of the 31)snowcapped 32)Alps. Once the reefs die, coastal erosion escalates and the islands are left more exposed to the elements of nature than ever.
As I trail Nasheed and his Environment Minister, Mohamed Aslam, on a visit to one of the Maldives’ southernmost atolls and then travel to islands in the north to see such damage 33)first-hand, the prospect of the Maldives one day disappearing beneath the waves becomes a lot more believable. It is already happening to part of 34)Maduvvaree Island in the northern 35)Raa Atoll, and the fear and disbelief are written on the face of the 45-year-old fisherman Abdullah Kamal. Two years ago there were more than 50 meters of grass and sandy beach between the sea and Kamal’s house. Now the beach has vanished, and some of Kamal’s neighbors’ houses have already collapsed into the sea.
“At night I lie awake and listen to the water lapping against the back wall of our house. The children cry. They’re very afraid, but we have nowhere else to go,” says Kamal. He has heard about the president’s plan to start saving money to buy a new homeland if the Maldives are one day 36)inundated. But he does not believe his countrymen would want to move so far away. “We’re a nation of fishermen, and if they try to change that, our wings would be broken.”
Just how quickly sea levels will rise as a result of global warming is uncertain. But, as Aslam says, the effect of even a moderate rise in such a low-lying country as his will be quick and 37)drastic. “If the predictions are right, in less than 50 years we could be in a really bad situation,” he says.
“One of the biggest problems we face is a lack of understanding of how our islands are changing,” 38)concedes Aslam. “We welcome the international scientific community to come to the Maldives and use us as a 39)laboratory for understanding the dynamics of our islands and the global implications of climate change.”
1990年,一名年轻作家遭单独囚禁,且被反复毒打。这一切都是因为他胆敢公开批评其国内政治领袖。在狱中,透过金属墙壁上的裂缝,他可以看到地平线上的一小片海洋,这是他唯一的一点慰藉。他说,正是这个景象开启了他的想象空间,激发他思考祖国更美好的未来。
在距离作家被关押的小岛的不远处,一座天堂正在被精心打造。一系列低洼小岛和珊瑚环礁组成了马尔代夫群岛,这里正被设计成世界上最浪漫的旅游景点之一。一座座豪华吊脚楼式的别墅依海修建,半透明的海水里遍布各种奇异的海洋生物。在之后的许多年里,马尔代夫成为游客们接踵而至的天堂,其中不乏世界著名领袖和名人。而大多数马尔代夫人则过着截然不同的艰苦生活——他们被禁止游览这些胜地,以避免导致当时的政府所谓的“文化污染”。
1989年,加尧姆政府主持召开了第一届小岛屿国家受海平面上升威胁的讨论会。当时,全球气候变暖的严重威胁还只是刚刚引起公众的关注。如今,20年后,一场新的危机正在威胁马尔代夫——一场和自然之力的抗争即将开始。
那个20年前被监禁并反复遭受折磨的年轻作家此时就坐在我身旁。他叫穆罕默德·纳希德。2008年10月,他当选为马尔代夫总统。“在监狱里,你能做的只有思考,即使在当时,我就意识到我们需要采取大胆的方法来解决我的祖国所面临的问题。”纳希德说。41岁的他身材瘦削,声音高亢。
上任后不久,纳希德发表了一个引人注目的声明——为防马尔代夫群岛被日益上升的海平面吞没而变得不再适合居住,他打算开始积聚足够的旅游业收入来购买一片新的安全国土,重新安置他的38.6万国民。据说,澳大利亚、印度和斯里兰卡的部分土地已被列入其考虑购买的范畴。纳希德的计划引起世界各大媒体的关注,并引发了一阵“恐慌世界末日即将到来”的大标题报道,报道中描述了这样一番景象——马尔代夫人收拾包裹集体逃亡,汹涌的海水已经淹没了他们的脚踝。然而,事实总是更加复杂。
根据最新的科学预估,到本世纪末,由于二氧化碳及其他温室气体聚积导致全球气候变暖和天气多变,世界各地的海平面预计将上升60厘米。这其中尚未考虑以下两种情况——格陵兰岛冰原融化可能导致海平面进一步上升,且南极洲西部的冰雪亦开始以前所未有的速度快速融化。
1998年,马尔代夫第一次遭遇严重的环境“棒喝”。多变的海洋气候伴随着厄尔尼诺现象致使海水温度上升如此之多,使得原本色彩鲜艳的热带珊瑚礁大面积褪色。珊瑚礁褪色会导致它们赖以生存的藻类或迁移或死亡。这一情况在马尔代夫最为显著。据估计,环绕该国的26个环状珊瑚岛的珊瑚礁死亡率高达70%至90%。当时,一名潜水者在马累北部的水下珊瑚礁群一带潜水,他描述说,那里就像是一座水下的被白雪覆盖的阿尔卑斯山。而珊瑚礁一旦死亡,海岸侵蚀就会加剧,那些岛屿也会变本加厉地暴露在自然力量之下。
我尾随纳希德和他的环境部长穆罕默 德·阿斯拉姆前往马尔代夫最南端的环礁,然后沿途北上亲身观察海水侵蚀情况,如此一看,说这个群岛国家某一天将消失于海浪之下也不再那么耸人听闻了。在北部的Raa环礁,一座叫Maduvvaree的岛已经有一部分消失在水下。恐惧和不可置信全都写在45岁的渔夫阿卜杜拉·卡玛尔的脸上。两年前,卡玛尔家的房子和大海之间还有50多米宽的草地和沙滩。现在,沙滩已经完全消失。而且卡玛尔的一些邻居的房屋已经坍塌并沉入海里。
“晚上,我睡不着觉,听着海浪拍打我家的后墙。孩子们哭了。他们很害怕,但我们无处可去。” 卡玛尔说道。他已听说总统计划存钱,另外购买一块安全的国土以防有一天马尔代夫被淹没。不过,他不相信他的同胞们愿意搬到很远的地方去。“我们是‘渔民之国’,如果要我们改变这种传统生活,等于折断我们的翅膀。”
全球变暖会导致海平面上升的速度有多快,尚无法确定。但正如阿斯拉姆所说,对于马尔代夫这样低海拔的国家,即使海平面上升一点点,影响也是显著而可怕的。他说:“如果那些预测准确,那么,不到50年,我们将陷入真正的困境。”
“我们面临的最大问题是对于我们的岛屿正在发生怎样的变化缺乏了解。”阿斯拉姆坦承道,“我们欢迎国际学术团体前来马尔代夫,把我们这里当作一个实验场,弄清我们岛屿的动态以及全球气候变化带来的影响。”
It is 1990 and a young writer sits in solitary confinement. He is repeatedly beaten—he has dared to openly criticize his country’s political elite. Through a 2)slit in the metal walls he can see 3)a sliver of ocean on the horizon. This is his only comfort. It is, he says, what opened his imagination, led him to think about a better future for his country.
Just a short distance from the small prison island where he is held, a paradise is being carefully 4)crafted. The small 5)knots of low-lying islands and 6)coral reef 7)atolls that make up the Maldives are being 8)engineered into one of the world’s most romantic tourist destinations. 9)Stilted luxury villas snake across translucent waters 10)teeming with exotic marine life. And the guest books fill with the signatures of world-famous leaders and celebrities in the years to come. The daily 11)grind for most Maldivians—prohibited from visiting these resorts to prevent what the government calls“12)cultural contamination”—was different.
In 1989, 13)Gayoom’s government hosted the first-ever conference of small island states threatened by sea-level rises. The serious threat of global warming was only just coming 14)onto the public’s radar. Now, 20 years later, a new 15)menace threatens the Maldives—the battle against the force of nature is just beginning.
The young writer repeatedly tortured and imprisoned 20 years ago now sits beside me. His name is Mohamed Nasheed and he was elected president of the Maldives in October 2008. “All you have to do when you are in prison is think, and even then I knew we were going to need dramatic solutions to the problems my country faces,” says Nasheed, a slightly 16)built man of 41 with a 17)high-pitched voice.
Shortly after taking office, Nasheed made the dramatic announcement that he intends to start18)banking enough tourist pounds and dollars to buy a new safe homeland in which to relocate his 386,000 citizens when—not if—rising sea levels make the Maldives uninhabitable. 19)Tracts of land in Australia, India and Sri Lanka are said to be under consideration for purchase. Nasheed’s plan caught the attention of the world’s media and led to 20)a flurry of 21)doomsday headlines painting a picture of a nation packing their bags and 22)decamping23)en masse, waves lapping at their ankles. The truth, as always, is more complex.
According to the latest scientific estimates, sea levels are expected to rise worldwide by up to 60 centimeters by the end of this century as a result of climbing temperatures and shifting weather patterns associated with the build-up of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases. And this does not even take into account how much further sea levels could rise if the 24)ice sheets of 25)Greenland and west 26)Antarctica start melting at ever more rapid rates.
The Maldives faced their first serious environmental wake-up call in 1998 when shifting ocean patterns associated with 27)El Niño caused sea temperatures to rise to such a degree that normally 28)vibrantly colored tropical coral reefs suffered extensive 29)bleaching, which causes the 30)algae they feed on to migrate or die. Nowhere was this more dramatic than in the Maldives. Between 70% and 90% of all coral reefs surrounding the country’s 26 atolls are estimated to have died as a result. One diver swimming the length of reefs in North Male atoll at the time described it as an underwater equivalent of the 31)snowcapped 32)Alps. Once the reefs die, coastal erosion escalates and the islands are left more exposed to the elements of nature than ever.
As I trail Nasheed and his Environment Minister, Mohamed Aslam, on a visit to one of the Maldives’ southernmost atolls and then travel to islands in the north to see such damage 33)first-hand, the prospect of the Maldives one day disappearing beneath the waves becomes a lot more believable. It is already happening to part of 34)Maduvvaree Island in the northern 35)Raa Atoll, and the fear and disbelief are written on the face of the 45-year-old fisherman Abdullah Kamal. Two years ago there were more than 50 meters of grass and sandy beach between the sea and Kamal’s house. Now the beach has vanished, and some of Kamal’s neighbors’ houses have already collapsed into the sea.
“At night I lie awake and listen to the water lapping against the back wall of our house. The children cry. They’re very afraid, but we have nowhere else to go,” says Kamal. He has heard about the president’s plan to start saving money to buy a new homeland if the Maldives are one day 36)inundated. But he does not believe his countrymen would want to move so far away. “We’re a nation of fishermen, and if they try to change that, our wings would be broken.”
Just how quickly sea levels will rise as a result of global warming is uncertain. But, as Aslam says, the effect of even a moderate rise in such a low-lying country as his will be quick and 37)drastic. “If the predictions are right, in less than 50 years we could be in a really bad situation,” he says.
“One of the biggest problems we face is a lack of understanding of how our islands are changing,” 38)concedes Aslam. “We welcome the international scientific community to come to the Maldives and use us as a 39)laboratory for understanding the dynamics of our islands and the global implications of climate change.”
1990年,一名年轻作家遭单独囚禁,且被反复毒打。这一切都是因为他胆敢公开批评其国内政治领袖。在狱中,透过金属墙壁上的裂缝,他可以看到地平线上的一小片海洋,这是他唯一的一点慰藉。他说,正是这个景象开启了他的想象空间,激发他思考祖国更美好的未来。
在距离作家被关押的小岛的不远处,一座天堂正在被精心打造。一系列低洼小岛和珊瑚环礁组成了马尔代夫群岛,这里正被设计成世界上最浪漫的旅游景点之一。一座座豪华吊脚楼式的别墅依海修建,半透明的海水里遍布各种奇异的海洋生物。在之后的许多年里,马尔代夫成为游客们接踵而至的天堂,其中不乏世界著名领袖和名人。而大多数马尔代夫人则过着截然不同的艰苦生活——他们被禁止游览这些胜地,以避免导致当时的政府所谓的“文化污染”。
1989年,加尧姆政府主持召开了第一届小岛屿国家受海平面上升威胁的讨论会。当时,全球气候变暖的严重威胁还只是刚刚引起公众的关注。如今,20年后,一场新的危机正在威胁马尔代夫——一场和自然之力的抗争即将开始。
那个20年前被监禁并反复遭受折磨的年轻作家此时就坐在我身旁。他叫穆罕默德·纳希德。2008年10月,他当选为马尔代夫总统。“在监狱里,你能做的只有思考,即使在当时,我就意识到我们需要采取大胆的方法来解决我的祖国所面临的问题。”纳希德说。41岁的他身材瘦削,声音高亢。
上任后不久,纳希德发表了一个引人注目的声明——为防马尔代夫群岛被日益上升的海平面吞没而变得不再适合居住,他打算开始积聚足够的旅游业收入来购买一片新的安全国土,重新安置他的38.6万国民。据说,澳大利亚、印度和斯里兰卡的部分土地已被列入其考虑购买的范畴。纳希德的计划引起世界各大媒体的关注,并引发了一阵“恐慌世界末日即将到来”的大标题报道,报道中描述了这样一番景象——马尔代夫人收拾包裹集体逃亡,汹涌的海水已经淹没了他们的脚踝。然而,事实总是更加复杂。
根据最新的科学预估,到本世纪末,由于二氧化碳及其他温室气体聚积导致全球气候变暖和天气多变,世界各地的海平面预计将上升60厘米。这其中尚未考虑以下两种情况——格陵兰岛冰原融化可能导致海平面进一步上升,且南极洲西部的冰雪亦开始以前所未有的速度快速融化。
1998年,马尔代夫第一次遭遇严重的环境“棒喝”。多变的海洋气候伴随着厄尔尼诺现象致使海水温度上升如此之多,使得原本色彩鲜艳的热带珊瑚礁大面积褪色。珊瑚礁褪色会导致它们赖以生存的藻类或迁移或死亡。这一情况在马尔代夫最为显著。据估计,环绕该国的26个环状珊瑚岛的珊瑚礁死亡率高达70%至90%。当时,一名潜水者在马累北部的水下珊瑚礁群一带潜水,他描述说,那里就像是一座水下的被白雪覆盖的阿尔卑斯山。而珊瑚礁一旦死亡,海岸侵蚀就会加剧,那些岛屿也会变本加厉地暴露在自然力量之下。
我尾随纳希德和他的环境部长穆罕默 德·阿斯拉姆前往马尔代夫最南端的环礁,然后沿途北上亲身观察海水侵蚀情况,如此一看,说这个群岛国家某一天将消失于海浪之下也不再那么耸人听闻了。在北部的Raa环礁,一座叫Maduvvaree的岛已经有一部分消失在水下。恐惧和不可置信全都写在45岁的渔夫阿卜杜拉·卡玛尔的脸上。两年前,卡玛尔家的房子和大海之间还有50多米宽的草地和沙滩。现在,沙滩已经完全消失。而且卡玛尔的一些邻居的房屋已经坍塌并沉入海里。
“晚上,我睡不着觉,听着海浪拍打我家的后墙。孩子们哭了。他们很害怕,但我们无处可去。” 卡玛尔说道。他已听说总统计划存钱,另外购买一块安全的国土以防有一天马尔代夫被淹没。不过,他不相信他的同胞们愿意搬到很远的地方去。“我们是‘渔民之国’,如果要我们改变这种传统生活,等于折断我们的翅膀。”
全球变暖会导致海平面上升的速度有多快,尚无法确定。但正如阿斯拉姆所说,对于马尔代夫这样低海拔的国家,即使海平面上升一点点,影响也是显著而可怕的。他说:“如果那些预测准确,那么,不到50年,我们将陷入真正的困境。”
“我们面临的最大问题是对于我们的岛屿正在发生怎样的变化缺乏了解。”阿斯拉姆坦承道,“我们欢迎国际学术团体前来马尔代夫,把我们这里当作一个实验场,弄清我们岛屿的动态以及全球气候变化带来的影响。”