经济学人28:森林禁令

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　　菩提

　　The finitude of forests

　　森林禁令

　　A scheme to save the world’s rainforests still seems too good to be true

　　拯救全球热带雨林的计划仍然很难落实

　　AS THE heavens open, the canopy² offers scant³ protection from the downpour, so the orang-utans tear leaves off the trees to make pathetic little umbrellas to hold over their heads. It is an endearingly human gesture but, as a means of keeping dry, almost entirely⁴ futile⁵. And it is not just the rain that makes these creatures seem so helpless. The relentless⁶ destruction of their tropical-forest habitat has endangered their entire species.

　　因头顶没有东西遮挡,每当下大雨的时候,猩猩们都缺乏足够的保护,所以这些猩猩们只能从树上扯下树叶来做成小小的保护伞用来遮挡他们的头.这是一个很可爱的类似人类的姿势,但是作为一种避雨的方式,它根本起不到什么作用.与此同时,并不只是下雨才会让这些生物像这样无助.人类对热带雨林猩猩栖息地无情的破坏已经使这些生物处于危险的境地.

　　In Borneo, in the Indonesian province of Central Kalimantan, they can relax in a camp devoted⁷ to their welfare on the edge of the Tanjung Puting national park. But the park—415,000 hectares of protected tropical heath forest and peat forest—is surrounded by oil-palm plantations⁸. These orang-utans are refugees from forests cleared to make way for the plantations. Much as people like the creatures, and devotedly⁹ as conservationists work, the park is not enough to stem their remorseless decline. There is too much money in palm oil, as well as timber, coal, gold, zircon and the forest’s other vegetable and mineral riches.

　　在印度尼西亚婆罗洲岛的中加里曼丹省，这些猩猩得以在丹戎普丁国家公园边缘的营地里放松。但是该公园415,000公顷受保护的热带森林和泥炭森林都是被棕榈种植园包围的.为了给棕榈种植园腾出地方,在这森林中避难的猩猩都被赶走了.尽管人们喜欢这些生物,并致力于保护它们的工作,但是这个公园并不能阻止猩猩的不断减少.棕榈油有很大的价值,这森林中的木材、煤炭、黄金、锆石、其他蔬菜和丰富的矿产也是如此。

　　Yet prospects¹⁰ for the orang-utans have recently looked up. Climate-change fears have drawn¹¹ attention to the work forests do to sustain not just wildlife but the planet itself. The outlines of a scheme under which developing countries would be paid not to cut down trees has been agreed. Indonesia, for example, chafes¹² at its reputation as the world’s third-biggest emitter of carbon (a ranking it disputes). It has promised to cut its emissions¹³ by 26% by 2020 or, if promised foreign cash actually materialises, by 41%. It will achieve this in large measure by reducing deforestation.

　　这些猩猩的前景已经可以预料。这些野生动物对气候变化的恐惧已经引起了人们对它们所栖息森林的注意，使人们不但保护野生动物本身，而且也保护它们所栖息的环境。所以人们提出了发展中国家必须为禁止砍伐树木而得到补偿的计划，该计划的大纲已经得到批准。以印度尼西亚为例，因对世界第三大的碳排放国家（该排名有争议）这个排名感到气恼，它已经承诺在2020年之前把它的碳排放降低到26%。它将会为实现这个目标在很大程度上减少森林砍伐。

　　However, turning the scheme—known as “Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation”, or REDD—into actual conservation is not proving easy, either in Indonesia as a whole or in Tanjung Puting in particular. Next to the park is a stretch of peat-swamp forest, mostly degraded but rich in carbon. A Hong Kong firm called infinite EARTH has earmarked this for a REDD project called Rimba Raya (“infinite forest”). Biruté Galdikas, a renowned¹⁴ primatologist who has been studying orang-utans in Tanjung Puting since 1971, is “thrilled” by the idea. Rescued orang-utans, of whom more than 300 are in her care centre in the park, could be freed without danger to the wild population.

　　但是把这个被称为“减少森林砍伐与森林退化的排放计划”或“REDD”的计划变成实际的保护并不是一件简单的事，无论是在印度尼西亚整个国家或是丹戎普丁国家公园都是如此。与丹戎普丁国家公园相邻的事一大片的泥炭沼泽森林，几乎已经退化但含有丰富的碳。一个称为infinite EARTH 的香港公司把这个REDD项目称为“Rimba Raya”（无限的森林）。Biruté Galdikas对该项目很赞赏，她是一位著名的灵长目动物学家，她从1971年以来就开始研究丹戎普丁国家公园的猩猩，在公园的中心由300多只猩猩在她的照料下可以安全地放回野生群体中。

　　Rimba Raya seems to offer many other benefits. Trees would be replanted or conserved¹⁵ (Borneo’s forest has more tree species per hectare than anywhere else); the forest would regenerate¹⁶; some 10,000 people would benefit from “community development” projects such as one to increase fishing yields. And the earth would be spared a huge amount of emitted carbon: by one calculation, as much as 75m tonnes over the next 30 years. The project’s investors¹⁷, including Gazprom, a Russian energy giant that has paid in advance for some carbon credits, think it will be lucrative¹⁸. And it has passed most of a tough certification process.

　　Rimba Raya 似乎也带来了许多别的利润。该森林中的树木可以重新种植或被保护（婆罗洲森林每公顷的树木种类比其他任何地方都多）；森林可以再生，10,000的人将会从“地区开发”项目中受益，诸如增加渔业收益就是其中一个例子。并且地球将会减少很多的碳排放：经人估计，在今后的30年里将会减少75百万吨这么多。该项目的投资者也包括俄罗斯能源巨头——俄罗斯天然气股份工业有限公司，该公司认为该项目有利可图，已经提前支付了一些碳信用额，并且它已经通过了艰难认证程序中的大部分。

　　Yet Ms Galdikas is worried that the project may never happen. Three years on, the final land-use decree has yet to appear. The problem is one that will dog REDD. To win certification, Rimba Raya has to show that the forest is under genuine threat: no point in giving carbon credits for conserving¹⁹ trees and peatland that were not in danger anyway. In Rimba Raya’s case, the threat is real enough. The area is subject to various overlapping²⁰ concessions²¹, including preliminary licences for conversion²² to palm-oil plantations. The holders²³ of those licences, who have already invested in the concessions, are naturally reluctant to give them up.

　　但是Galdikas女士担心该项目可能很难实现。三年已经过去了，最终土地使用法令还是没有颁发。这是一个会影响REDD项目的问题，为了赢得认证，Rimba Raya需要证明该森林是处于真正的危险之中：没有必要为保护树和没有任何危险的泥炭地颁发碳信用. Rimba Raya项目并未给该地区构成真正的威胁.该地区存在许多错综复杂的优惠,包括为棕榈种植园开发颁发初步的许可证，这些许可证的持有者已经投资到这些优惠当中,所以他们实际上并不愿意放弃.

　　According to those following the project, this is a political battle in which the forces on the other side have considerable muscle. It also reflects a broader struggle over REDD in Indonesia being fought at the national level. Last May Indonesia’s president, Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, announced a two-year moratorium²⁴ on commercial deforestation starting on January 1st this year. In return, Norway committed $1 billion for REDD payments.

　　根据跟进这些项目的人说,这是一个政治斗争,并且另一方有相当大的权利，它也反映出在印度尼西亚关于REDD方面的斗争是全国范围的。在去年5月份印度尼西亚的总统Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono宣布从今年1月份开始进行为期2年的禁止商业森林砍伐。挪威承诺为REDD支付1亿美元作为补偿。

　　By coincidence, Central Kalimantan has been picked as the pilot province for the national REDD scheme—against fierce competition from other places scenting²⁵ the cash on offer. Norway has already disbursed²⁶ $30m. It has helped to produce a suitcase-sized book of 280 maps that is buckling²⁷ the desk in the Jakarta office of Kuntoro Mangkusubroto, head of Mr Yudhoyono’s “delivery unit”, who is entrusted²⁸ with implementing²⁹ REDD. The maps are to be attached to a long-overdue presidential decree meant to formalise the moratorium. But both maps and decree are controversial. The maps show, in dark green, Indonesia’s virgin³⁰ jungle and, in a lighter³¹ shade, the secondary forest which, in many places, surrounds it. In Mr Kuntoro’s favoured draft of the decree, the moratorium would cover all the green splodges. A rival draft, by the forestry³² ministry³³, would cover just virgin forest—much of which, activists³⁴ say, is in theory protected anyway.

　　与此同时,中加里曼丹为了赢得金钱在与其他地方激烈的竞争中取胜被选为全国REDD计划的试点省.挪威已经支付了30百万美元给中加里曼丹.这些钱帮助中加里曼丹制造了一本含有280页地图的盒装书，这书被放到Kuntoro Mangkusubroto所在的雅加达办公室，在Yudhoyono先生之前，他被委托实施REDD计划。该地图附带了一份被推迟了很久的总统法令，意思是想使禁令正式化。但是不管是地图还是禁令都备受争议。地图上显示，在印度尼西亚深绿色的原始森林周围有一个比较浅的阴影，在那里有许多地方被再生林包围。受Kuntoro先生欢迎的禁令草案是暂停砍伐的范围包括所有绿色部分，而另外一份林业部的与之相对的草案，却只包括原始森林。但是据活动家所说，不管是原始森林还是再生林，在理论上都应该受到保护。

　　Money still grows on trees

　　钱仍然长在树上

　　Both the Norwegians and Mr Kuntoro play down the importance of the delay in issuing the decree, and indeed of the moratorium itself. They argue that it matters most as a means to an end: a radical³⁵ overhaul³⁶ of Indonesia’s land-use and forest-management systems. These have long been riddled³⁷ with corruption³⁸. Under the 32-year dictatorship of Suharto, which ended in 1998, forest concessions became weapons in the armoury of crony capitalism³⁹. Such traditions are hard to break.

　　挪威人和Kuntoro先生都对推迟发行法令的重要性不太重视,实际上禁令本身也是如此.他们认为这最重要的是作为一种达到目的的手段:是对印度尼西亚土地使用和森林管理系统的一次彻底的审查.它们长期以来充斥着贪污腐败.在长达32年并于1998年结束的的苏哈托独裁政权的统治下,森林优惠变成了发展裙带资本主义的有利武器,这种传统很难被打破.

　　Much hope is invested in Mr Kuntoro himself, perhaps Indonesia’s most respected civil servant. But success will depend on the political will of the president. Erik Solheim, Norway’s minister in charge of the environment and development, points to the encouraging example of Brazil, which has cut deforestation rates by 70% in five years. Indonesia, he concedes, “is harder”. Ms Galdikas knows what he means. “They all talk a wonderful talk,” she says, “but the forest keeps getting destroyed.”

　　大部分希望还是要寄予Kuntoro先生自己，他或许是印度尼西亚最受尊敬的公民，但是要想成功的话还是要看该总统的政治意愿。Erik Solheim是挪威负责环境与发展的部长，他提到了巴西这个鼓舞人心的榜样，该国家在5年之内把森林砍伐率降低了70%。印度尼西亚与之相比，他承认：“可能会困难点”。Galdikas女士明白她的意思. “他们只会说漂亮话，”她说，“但是森林还是不断受到破坏”。

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