九牛私家牧场【牧场大旱，以秽喂牛】
时间：2019-01-08 03:19:00 来源：柠檬阅读网 本文已影响 人 
今年3月12日，我们迎来了我国第30个植树节（透露一下，3月12日是孙中山先生逝世的日子，选此日作为植树节也是为了缅怀其对林业建设所作出的丰功伟绩）。众所周知，植被除了能吸收二氧化碳、产生氧气之外，还能调节气候、防止水土流失、美化环境……每年3月，CT都会为大家带来有关环境保护的文章。本期将带大家去到肯尼亚，看看气候问题给当地居民带来的影响――
Famed as 1)nomadic herders and warriors, the Maasai注1 people once 2)dominated the plains of East Africa, 3)migrating from one place to the next, seeking 4)pastures for their cattle. But climate change is causing severe 5)droughts, and traditional sources of water are drying up and disappearing, threatening to wipe out the Maasai way of life.
Herding cattle has been the main source of food and income for these nomads for decades. The droughts are killing off cattle and affecting the environment and 6)livelihoods of the Maasai people. The early hours of the morning are the busiest as people from far and wide arrive for the early morning milk market. For now they survive on their traditional diet of milk and blood, which they mix into a rich protein diet that has kept them going for centuries. But the drought in Magadi is reaching 7)radical levels never witnessed before, leaving little or no vegetation for the cattle to feed on.
Herder A: (interpreted) I remember when the grass was very tall, I could not be seen when taking a nap on the ground, and if a cow gave birth, the calf survived. But now, there is no grass, there is no water, no rain, and the drought is increasing. We are forced to take cows far away for pasture.
Nowadays, the only way for these herders to survive is to travel hundreds of kilometers out of their traditional 8)grazing lands to seek new pastures for their cattle, or risk losing their only means of survival.
Maasai herders try to escape the drought by streaming into the Kenya capital of Nairobi, letting their cattle feed on the city’s garbage 9)disposal sites, and anywhere else they can 10)salvage a meal for their livestock.
Herder B: (interpreted) I came to Nairobi to look for grass for my cattle because there is no grass back home, and even here in the city 11)outskirts, the grass is getting finished and we are now forced to take the cows in the middle of the city.
According to environmental experts, climate change is rapidly changing Sub-Saharan注2 Africa.
Environmental expert: Africa is a continent least responsible for climate change, only 3 or 4% of the global 12)emissions. Yet it is probably the most 13)vulnerable continent to the impacts of climate change. There are many reasons for this, one is that your…climate is already extreme. You get extreme droughts, extreme floods, and climate change is like a hammer on top of that, it’s like an engine driving those extreme weather events to become ever more frequent, and ever more extreme.
Years of drought and over-grazing combined with climate change has left a 14)dreadful impact on the Maasai community. The United Nations climate 15)panel states that Africa could be hit hard by climate change in the coming century, with tens of millions facing food and water shortages.
以游牧者和尚武勇士著称的马萨伊人曾称霸东非平原。他们从一个地方迁徙到另一个地方，为其牛群寻找牧场。不过，气候变化引发了严重的干旱，其一贯水源逐渐干涸、消失，马萨伊民族的生活方式有行将消亡的危险。
几十年来，放牧牛群一直是这些游牧民族获取食物和收入的主要来源。而今干旱吞噬着牲畜的生命，逐渐影响环境和马萨伊人的生计。凌晨的几个小时是他们最忙碌的时候，因为天南地北的人们会来到凌晨的牛奶集市。现在，他们以传统的牛奶和血的饮食为生――他们将其混合成一种高蛋白的膳食，这种饮食方式已经让这个民族延续了几个世纪。不过，马格迪遭遇了百年不遇的旱情，几乎没有植被可供牲畜食用。
牧民甲：(传译)我记得草长得老高的时候，我在草地上打盹，别人根本看不到我。如果奶牛产崽，小牛都能存活下来。然而现在，这里没有草，没有水，也不下雨，旱情正在加剧。我们不得不赶着牛群去老远的地方
放牧。
现在，对于这些牧民来说，唯一的生存之计就是跋涉几百公里，到远离传统牧区的地方寻找新牧区，不然就有可能失去其唯一的生存之道。
马萨伊牧民试着流徙到肯尼亚首都内罗毕以逃离干旱的影响。他们喂牲畜吃城里垃圾处理站的垃圾，去任何能让其从牲畜上获取糊口粮食的地方放牧。
牧民乙：(传译)我来到内罗毕是为了给我的牛群找草料，因为家乡那边已经没有草场了；但现在即使是城郊这儿，草都被吃光了，现在我们不得不赶着牛群到城市里面去。
环境专家说，气候变化正在剧烈改变非洲亚撒哈拉地区的面貌。
环境专家：非洲是最不需要为气候变化负责的一块大陆，其温室气体排放量仅占全球的3％到4％。然而，它可能是最容易受气候变化影响的大陆。造成这种现象的原因有很多，其中之一是我们的……气候已经极端恶劣。我们遇到极端的旱涝灾害，而气候变化就像一把锤子，一直敲打着天灾，它就像一个引擎，驱动着这些极端恶劣的天气事件变得更为多发、更为极端。
年复一年的干旱和过度放牧，加上气候变迁，马萨伊人的居住区受到可怕的影响。联合国气候变化问题小组称，在下一个世纪，非洲将遭受气候变化带来的剧烈冲击，将有数千万人面临食物和饮用水短缺。
