由于人类的过度开发，我们原本绿意盎然的地球日渐披黄蒙黑。所幸的是，人类已经认识到绿色发展的重要性。自2000年以来，我们的地球正在变绿，中国在环境保护方面功不可没。
(CNN)-TheEarth is facing a climate crisis, but it's also getting greener and leafier.According to new research, the rise is largely courtesy of China and India.
（CNN）—地球正面临着一场气候危机，但它也变得越来越“绿色”了。根据最新研究，这一增长主要得益于中国和印度。
A study by NASA, based on extensivesatellite imagery and published in the journal Nature Sustainability, hasrevealed that the two countries with the world's biggest populations are alsoresponsible for the largest increase in green foliage.
美国宇航局基于大量卫星图像进行的一项研究显示，世界上人口最多的两个国家也是绿色植物增加最多的国家。这项研究发表在《自然·可持续发展》杂志上。
Since the turn of the new millennium, theplanet's green leaf area has increased by 5%, or over two million square miles.That's an area equivalent to the sum total of the Amazon rainforests, NASAsays. But researchers stressed that the new greenery does not neutralizedeforestation and its negative impacts on ecosystems elsewhere.
自新千年开始以来，全球的绿化面积增加了5％，即超过200万平方英里。美国宇航局表示，这一面积相当于亚马逊热带雨林的总面积。但研究人员强调，新的绿化不会抵消森林砍伐及其对其他生态系统的负面影响。
A third of the leaf increase isattributable to China and India, due to the implementation of major treeplanting projects alongside a vast increase in agriculture.
三分之一的植被面积增长，要归功于中国与印度，由于两国实施的植树造林工程和农业的大幅增长。
"China and India account for one-thirdof the greening, but contain only 9% of the planet's land area covered invegetation -- a surprising finding, considering the general notion of landdegradation in populous countries from overexploitation," Chi Chen, thestudy's lead author and a graduate researcher at Boston University's Departmentof Earth and Environment, said in a statement.
“尽管中国和印度的国土面积仅占全球陆地的9%，但两国为这一绿化过程的贡献超过三分之一。考虑到人口过多的国家一般存在对土地过度利用的问题，这个发现令人吃惊，”该研究的主要作者、波士顿大学地球与环境系研究院陈池（音）在一份声明中说。
NASA satellite data reveals the Earth isgreening, with China and India jointly responsible for a third of the increase.
美国宇航局卫星数据显示，地球正在变绿，三分之一的植被面积增长要归功于中国和印度。
Between 2000 and 2017, a NASA sensor knownas the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) gatheredhigh-resolution data of the Earth's surface from aboard two satellites, theTerra and the Aqua.
2000年至2017年间，美国宇航局通过安装在两颗卫星Terra和Aqua上的“中分辨率成像光谱仪”（MODIS），收集了地球表面的高分辨率数据。
Using the MODIS data, researchersdiscovered that China is the source of a quarter of the increase in green leafarea, despite possessing only 6.6% of the world's vegetated area. Forestsaccount for 42% of that increase, while croplands make up a further 32%.
利用MODIS数据，研究人员发现，尽管中国的植被面积仅占世界的6.6%，但中国的绿化面积却增长了四分之一。森林占增长的42%，耕地占32%。。
China's increase in forest area is theresult of forest conservation and expansion programs, NASA said, established tocombat the impacts of climate change, air pollution and soil erosion.
中国森林面积的增加是森林保护和造林计划的结果，美国国家航空航天局表示，这些计划是为了应对气候变化，空气污染和土壤侵蚀的影响。
India has contributed a further 6.8% rise ingreen leaf area, with 82% from croplands and 4.4% from forests.
印度的绿化面积增加了6.8％，其中82％来自农田，4.4％来自森林。
Both countries have engineered asignificant increase in food production, thanks to "multiple croppingpractices," which see fields replanted and crops harvested multiple timeseach year. "Production of grains, vegetables, fruits and more haveincreased by about 35-40% since 2000 to feed their large populations,"NASA said.
两国的粮食产量都有了显著的增长，这归功于“集约型农业”，在一年不同的时间种植不同的农作物。“自2000年以来，粮食，蔬菜，水果等的产量增加了约35-40％，满足了其大量人口的需求，”美国宇航局说。
Rama Nemani, a co-author of the study and aresearcher at NASA's Ames Research Center, said in a statement, "When thegreening of the Earth was first observed, we thought it was due to a warmer,wetter climate and fertilization from the added carbon dioxide in theatmosphere, leading to more leaf growth in northern forests, forinstance."
该研究的共同作者，美国宇航局艾姆斯研究中心的研究员拉马·内马尼在一份声明中说：“当首次观察到地球变绿时，我们认为是由于气候变暖、变潮湿以及大气中二氧化碳增加所产生的施肥效应。例如，在大气中二氧化碳的增多，导致北方森林生长的更好。“
"Now, with the MODIS data that lets usunderstand the phenomenon at really small scales, we see that humans are alsocontributing," Nemani said. "This will help scientists make betterpredictions about the behavior of different Earth systems, which will helpcountries make better decisions about how and when to take action."
“现在，有了MODIS的数据，我们可以在很小的范围内理解这种现象，我们看到人类也在做出贡献，”内马尼说。“这将有助于科学家更好地预测不同地球系统的行为，这将有助于各国更好的决定如何以及何时采取行动。”
The researchers emphasized however thatthis phenomenon does not make up for negative impacts on environmentalecosystems elsewhere. "The gain in greenness, which mostly occurred in theNorthern temperate and high latitudes, does not offset the damage from loss ofleaf area in tropical natural vegetation," the study authors wrote, citingdepleted areas in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Brazil and Indonesia.
然而，研究人员强调，这种现象并不能弥补其他地方对环境生态系统的负面影响。“绿色的增加，主要发生在北温带和高纬度地区，不能抵消热带自然植面积减少造成的损害，”该研究的作者写道，以刚果民主共和国，巴西和印尼遭到破坏的地区为例。
Still, the researchers are optimistic aboutthe results of the study. "Once people realize there's a problem, theytend to fix it," Nemani said. "In the '70s and '80s in India andChina, the situation around vegetation loss wasn't good. In the '90s, peoplerealized it. And today things have improved. Humans are incredibly resilient.That's what we see in the satellite data."
尽管如此，研究人员仍对研究结果表示乐观。“一旦人们意识到问题所在，他们就会解决这个问题，”内马尼说。“在上世纪七八十年代的印度和中国，植被流失的情况很糟糕。在90年代，人们意识到了这一点。今天，情况有所改善。人类的适应力非常强。这就是我们在卫星数据中看到的。”
Thomas Pugh, an associate professor at theUniversity of Birmingham's School of Geography, Earth and EnvironmentalSciences, said the NASA report expands scientists' understanding of the causesbehind global greening. Previously, Pugh told CNN, the increase in greenvegetation over the past two decades was attributed to higher levels ofatmospheric CO2.
伯明翰大学地理与环境科学学院副教授托马斯·普格说，美国宇航局的报告深化了科学家对全球绿化背后原因的理解。此前，普格告诉CNN，在过去的20年里，绿色植被的增加是由于大气中二氧化碳含量的增加。
Global greening is a "tangible sign ofhow the biosphere is responding to human activities, whether through climatechange or how we use the land," he said. "It generally implies anincrease in vegetation coverage or productivity of that vegetation, or both,although neither of those relationships are unambiguous and universallyconsistent."
他说，全球绿化是“生物圈如何应对人类活动的具体迹象，无论是通过气候变化还是我们如何利用土地”。“它通常意味着植被覆盖率或植被生产力的增加，或两者兼而有之，尽管这些关系并不是明确和普遍一致的。”
Pugh cautioned that a direct line cannot bedrawn between an increase in global greening and a decrease in adverse impactsof climate change. "In some ecosystems, such as forests, greening mayimply more net carbon removal from the atmosphere, but the relationship isn'tdirect," he explained. "In croplands the relation of greening tocarbon storage is even less clear. Then there is the effect on the reflectivityof the Earth, which again can go in both warming and cooling directionsdepending on the local context."
普格警告说，并不能在全球绿化增加和气候变化负面影响减少之间划出一条直线。“在某些生态系统中，例如森林，绿化可能意味着从大气中去除更多的碳，但这种关系并不是直接的，”他解释道。“在农田中，绿化与碳储存的关系就更不清楚了。然后是对地球的反射率的影响，这也可以根据当地环境的不同而分为升温和降温两个方向。”
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