Indonesia Cuts Back on Fire Protection

印尼削减森林防火预算

By John Russell
05 July 2020

Budget cuts caused by the coronavirus crisis have forced Indonesia to reduce fire patrols and protection for some of the world's most important forests, the environment ministry said recently.
印尼环境部最近表示，由于新冠病毒危机造成的预算削减迫使印尼减少了全球最重要的一些森林的消防巡逻和保护。

Indonesia's forests are some of the biggest in the world. They are home to more than a tenth of the world's mammal species and nearly a fifth of its birds. And the cuts come ahead of the worst season for fires.
印尼的森林是全球最大的森林之一。它们是全球超1/10的哺乳动物物种和近1/5的鸟类的家园。而这次预算削减发生在火灾最严重的季节之前。

Indonesia is also the world's top producer of palm oil. Fires, often set to clear land for palm oil plantations, were very damaging in 2019.
印尼还是全球最大的棕榈油生产国。人们通常会放火清理土地用于棕榈油种植园，这在2019年造成了非常严重的破坏。

It is still too early in the dry season, when most land is cleared, to get a clear picture of what will happen this year. But a careful study of satellite information shows about 400,000 hectares were cleared in the first 24 weeks of 2020. In the same time period last year, 300,000 hectares were cleared.
在干旱季节大多数土地已被清理，目前尚为时尚早无法清楚地了解今年的状况。但是对卫星数据的仔细研究发现，2020年前24周清理了约40万公顷土地。去年同期清理了30万公顷。

Environmental officials said that the coronavirus outbreak is affecting the country's economy. Nearly $50 billion is being sent to health emergency programs. This led to a 50 percent budget cut for the team that finds and puts out fires. At the same time, people who lost their jobs during the health crisis are clearing land for crops using fires. And in some areas, social distancing rules are making it harder to fight fires.
环保官员表示，新冠病毒的爆发正在影响该国的经济。将近500亿美元被用于卫生紧急项目。这导致了发现和扑灭火灾的团队的预算削减了50%。同时，在这次健康危机期间的失业人群放火清理土地用于种庄稼。在某些地区，社交隔离政策使得人们难以扑灭大火。

President Joko Widodo called for the tough enforcement of laws in order to stop illegal fires. And the environment and forest minister told parliament recently that an extra $35 million was needed to fight forest fires this year.
印尼总统佐科·维多多呼吁严格执行法律制止非法放火。环境和森林部长最近对国会表示，今年额外需要3500万美元用于扑灭森林火灾。

Environmentalists agreed the budget cuts could have bad results.
环保主义者一致认为，削减预算可能会产生不良后果。

"There is a real risk of another ecological and health disaster in 2020," said Kiki Taufik, head of Greenpeace Southeast Asia Forest campaign.
绿色和平组织东南亚森林运动的负责人Kiki Taufik表示：“2020年确实存在再次发生生态和健康灾难的风险。”

I'm John Russell.
我是约翰·罗素。

Words in This Story

patrol -- n. a group of people, vehicles, etc., that go through an area to make sure that it is safe : a group that patrols an area

mammal -- n. a type of animal that feeds milk to its young and that usually has hair or fur covering most of its skin

species – n. biology : a group of animals or plants that are similar and can produce young animals or plants : a group of related animals or plants that is smaller than a genus

plantation – n. a large area of land especially in a hot part of the world where crops (such as cotton) are grown

ecological – adj. relating to the relationships between a group of living things and their environment

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