The world is literally a greener place than it was 20 years ago, and the data from NASA satellites has revealed a counterintuitive source for much of this new foliage: China and India.

與20年前相比，這個世界確實是一個更加綠色的地方，來自美國宇航局衛(wèi)星的數(shù)據(jù)揭示了這么一個違反直覺的源頭：中國和印度。

This surprising new study shows that the two emerging countries with the world’s biggest populations are leading the improvement in greening on land. The effect stems mainly from ambitious tree planting programs in China and intensive agriculture in both countries. In 2017 alone, India broke its own world record for the most trees planted after volunteers gathered to plant 66 million saplings in just 12 hours.

這一令人驚訝的新研究表明，世界上人口最多的兩個新興國家在改善土地綠化方面處于領(lǐng)先地位。這種效應主要源于中國雄心勃勃的植樹計劃和兩國的集約化農(nóng)業(yè)。僅在2017年，印度就打破了自己種植樹木最多的世界紀錄，志愿者們聚集在一起，在短短12小時內(nèi)種植了6600萬棵樹苗。

The greening phenomenon was first detected by researchers using satellite data in the mid-1990s, but they did not know whether human activity was one of its chief, direct causes.

上世紀90年代中期，研究人員首次利用衛(wèi)星數(shù)據(jù)發(fā)現(xiàn)了這種綠化現(xiàn)象，但他們不知道人類活動是否是其主要直接原因之一。

An advantage of the MODIS satellite sensor is the intensive coverage it provides, both in space and time: MODIS has captured as many as four shots of every place on Earth, every day for the last 20 years.

MODIS衛(wèi)星傳感器的一個優(yōu)勢是它在空間和時間上提供了密集的覆蓋：在過去20年里，MODIS每天拍攝了地球上每個地方多達四張的照片。

“This long-term data lets us dig deeper,” said Rama Nemani, a research scientist at NASA’s Ames Research Center and a co-author of the new work. “When the greening of the Earth was first observed, we thought it was due to a warmer, wetter climate and fertilization from the added carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, leading to more leaf growth in northern forests, for instance. Now, with the MODIS data that lets us understand the phenomenon at really small scales, we see that humans are also contributing.”

“這些長期數(shù)據(jù)讓我們可以更深入地挖掘，”NASA艾姆斯研究中心(Ames research Center)的研究科學家、這項新研究的合著者拉馬·內(nèi)馬尼說。“當我們第一次觀察到地球變綠時，我們認為這是由于氣候變暖、變濕，以及大氣中二氧化碳的增加，例如，導致北方森林中更多的葉子生長，從而產(chǎn)生了肥料?，F(xiàn)在，通過MODIS的數(shù)據(jù)，我們可以在非常小的范圍內(nèi)理解這種現(xiàn)象，我們發(fā)現(xiàn)人類也在做出貢獻。”

China’s outsized contribution to the global greening trend comes in large part (42%) from programs to conserve and expand forests. These were developed in an effort to reduce the effects of soil erosion, air pollution and climate change. Another 32% there – and 82% of the greening seen in India – comes from intensive cultivation of food crops.

中國對全球綠化趨勢的巨大貢獻(42%)在很大程度上來自于保護和擴大森林的計劃。這些措施是為了減少土壤侵蝕、空氣污染和氣候變化的影響而制定的。在印度，32%的綠化來自于糧食作物的集約種植。

The land area used to grow crops – more than 770,000 square miles – is comparable in China and India and it has not changed much since the early 2000s; yet these regions have greatly increased both their annual total green leaf area and their food production. This was achieved through multiple cropping practices, where a field is replanted to produce another harvest several times a year. Production of grains, vegetables, fruits, and more have increased by about 35-40% since 2000 to feed their large populations.

用于種植農(nóng)作物的土地面積——超過77萬平方英里——中國和印度相當，自本世紀初以來變化不大；然而，這些地區(qū)的年總綠葉面積和糧食產(chǎn)量都大大增加了。這是通過復種實現(xiàn)的，在復種的過程中，一塊土地每年會被重新種植幾次，以便再次收獲。自2000年以來，谷物、蔬菜、水果等的產(chǎn)量增加了35-40%，以養(yǎng)活其龐大的人口。

“Once people realize there’s a problem, they tend to fix it,” he said. “In the 70s and 80s in India and China, the situation around vegetation loss wasn’t good; in the 90s, people realized it; and today things have improved. Humans are incredibly resilient. That’s what we see in the satellite data.”

“一旦人們意識到有問題，他們往往會去解決它，”他說?！霸?0年代和80年代，印度和中國的植被損失情況并不好;在90年代，人們意識到了這一點;今天情況有所改善。人類具有難以置信的適應力。這就是我們從衛(wèi)星數(shù)據(jù)中看到的?！?br/>

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stoneyOni
China has less than half of America's co2 emissions per capita. The idea that people in large countries should live like medi peasants to have equal carbon emissions to smaller countries is mind bendingly stupid.

中國的人均二氧化碳排放量還不到美國的一半。認為大國的人民應該像中世紀的農(nóng)民那樣生活，以便與小國的碳排放量相等的想法，愚蠢得令人難以置信。

ThunderPreacha
Quantity doesn't mean quality. I cut down many trees. You can plant a gazillion trees but that doesn't mean that you create something worthwhile for wildlife, the planet or humans. E.g. the eucalyptus plantations. If reforestation is left by nature or people with just good intentions it doesn't mean really worthwhile ecosystems are created, at least not in the time frame necessary (in the very end nature could sort it out).

數(shù)量不等于質(zhì)量。我砍倒了許多樹。你可以種下無數(shù)棵樹，但這并不意味著你創(chuàng)造了對野生動物、地球或人類有價值的東西。例如：桉樹種植園。如果重新造林是自然留下的，或者人們只是出于良好的意圖，這并不意味著真正有價值的生態(tài)系統(tǒng)被創(chuàng)造出來，至少不是在必要的時間框架內(nèi)(最終大自然可以解決這個問題)。

What we damaged is not easily replaced and certainly not with the intention of just planting many trees. Reforestation is a serious job but too often not executed in a serious and well thought manner backed by sufficient funds.

我們破壞的東西是不容易更換的，當然也不是有意要種很多樹的。重新造林是一項嚴肅的工作，但往往沒有得到足夠資金的認真和深思熟慮的執(zhí)行。

glassed_redhead
Exactly this. A monoculture "forest" will not support the same rich ecosystem as old growth forests. Clear cutting rain forests is not cancelled out by replanting with one species of fast growing tree.

正是這一點。單一栽培的“森林”將無法支持與原始生長森林相同的豐富生態(tài)系統(tǒng)?？撤ビ炅植⒉粫驗橹匦路N植一種生長迅速的樹木而被抵消。

Macrocarpa82
Thank you China and India. Keep it up. Europe and the Americas need to catch up and keep pace.

謝謝中國和印度。堅持下去。歐洲和美洲需要迎頭趕上。

Mcwedlav
Europe and Northern America also increased in amount of trees. Generally, forests are spreading in the developed world. Especially in the last 15 years. This is also one of the reasons that wild fires in Europe are getting more devastating. Because the new forests are more of mono cultures and the tree species that were initially used are rather quick to start burning.
The problem is rather that South America and Africa are suffering from deforestation of very dense rain forest areas.

歐洲和北美的樹木數(shù)量也有所增加。一般來說，森林正在發(fā)達國家蔓延。尤其是最近15年。這也是歐洲野火愈演愈烈的原因之一。因為新的森林更多的是單一的種類，最初使用的樹種很快就開始燃燒。
問題是南美和非洲正遭受著非常密集的熱帶雨林地區(qū)的森林砍伐。