Economist:Gloom from the climate-change front line

But not complete doom, if people behave sensibly

After 29 hours of uninterrupted negotiations the latest report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (ipcc), on how alterations in land use are contributing to such change, was gavelled through in Geneva on the afternoon of August 7th. When, minutes later, your correspondent asked to speak with some of the researchers, she was informed they had “gone to bed”. The report these exhausted delegates produced—all 1,300 pages of it—fires another warning shot about the state of the planet and the way people are transforming virtually every corner of every continent. Human activities affect roughly three-quarters of Earth’s ice-free land, with huge consequences for the climate.

经过29个小时不间断的谈判，政府间气候变化专门委员会(ipcc)于8月7日下午在日内瓦发布了一份关于土地使用变化如何促成这种变化的最新报告。几分钟后，当记者要求采访一些研究人员时，她被告知他们已经“上床睡觉了”。这些疲惫不堪的代表们撰写了一份长达1300页的报告，这是对地球现状以及人类正在改变每个大陆每个角落的方式的又一次警告。人类活动影响了地球上大约四分之三的无冰土地，对气候产生了巨大的影响。

Land masses are natural carbon sinks,absorbing greenhouse gases by a variety of processes, including photosynthesis.They also produce such gases—for instance, when vegetation decomposes or burns.By conserving some ecosystems and destroying others to make way for pasturesand fields, or chopping down trees for timber, human activities on the land addan extra layer of complexity to already complex natural cycles.

陆地是天然的碳汇，通过包括光合作用在内的各种过程吸收温室气体。它们也会产生这样的气体——例如，当植物分解或燃烧时。通过保护一些生态系统和破坏其他生态系统为牧场和农田让路，或者砍伐树木作为木材，人类在土地上的活动为本已复杂的自然循环增加了额外的复杂性。

Negotiation                      谈判

Correspondent                            记者

Exhausted delegate                          代表

Fire warning shot                                   警告

Photosynthesis                                         光合作用

Decompose                                    分解

Make way for                              为…让路

Pasture                              牧场

Timber                     木材