第2277期:Indonesia's Nickel Mining Hurting Forests

Indonesia aims to be the world’s top nickel supplier. But its efforts to produce nickel have seriously harmed the country’s forests, nonprofit groups say.印尼旨在成为全球最大的镍供应国。但非营利组织表示，其生产镍的努力严重破坏了该国的森林。Indonesia is the world’s third most rainforest-covered country, home to giant forest flowers and rare wild animals such as orangutans and elephants.印尼是全球第三大雨林覆盖国家，拥有巨大的森林花卉和罕见的野生动物，如猩猩和大象。Indonesia also has the largest reserves of nickel in the world. The metal lies in shallow deposits in the rain forest. Mining it is easy when the rainforest is cut down.印尼也拥有全球最大的镍储量。该金属位于雨林中的浅层矿床中。当雨林被砍伐时，开采它变得很容易。Until recently, Indonesia mostly sold its nickel deposits in untreated form. It did not have factories to process the metal. Unprocessed nickel sells for less than the processed product.直到最近，印尼大部分镍矿都以未经处理的形式出售。它没有加工金属的工厂。未经处理的镍的售价低于加工后的产品。Ten years ago, Indonesian officials decided the country should stop selling its resources at such a low cost. Instead, officials said Indonesia would process the metal so it would sell at a higher price. This would result in more job openings, also, officials said.十年前，印尼官员决定该国不应再以如此低的价格出售其资源。相反，官员们表示，印尼将加工这些金属，以便以更高的价格出售。这也将带来更多的就业机会，官员们表示。A large nickel-processing project began. Indonesian President Joko Widodo pushed the project further by building nickel factories, or smelters, near electric vehicle battery factories. In addition to the new nickel plants, coal power plants were built also to serve the new industrial sites.一个大型的镍加工项目开始了。印尼总统佐科·维多多进一步推动了该项目，在电动车电池工厂附近建造镍工厂或冶炼厂。除了新的镍工厂，还建造了燃煤电厂来为新的工业场地提供服务。More than 740,000 square kilometers of Indonesian rainforest have been logged, burned or degraded, since 1950, reports the non-profit research group Global Forest Watch.非营利研究组织Global Forest Watch报告称，自1950年以来，超过74万平方公里的印尼雨林被砍伐、焚烧或退化。But at the sites where developers are building these smelters, the surrounding forest disappears twice as fast, a new study by the Indonesian nonprofit Auriga says.但印尼非营利组织Auriga的一项新研究称，在开发商建造这些冶炼厂的地方，周围的森林消失速度是之前的两倍。The new study of rainforest loss, based on government data, shows deforestation rose from an average of 33 square kilometers around each nickel processing plant, or smelter, to 63 square kilometers.根据政府数据的新研究显示，森林砍伐从每个镍加工厂或冶炼厂周围的平均33平方公里增加到63平方公里。Indonesia plans to build as many as 22 new plants. If plans go through deforestation will likely greatly increase.印尼计划建造多达22个新工厂。如果这些计划得以实施，森林砍伐可能会大大增加。“The damage to the environment is devastating,” said Timer Manurung of Auriga. “…Rivers are polluted, mangroves are cut to develop smelter areas, coastal areas and coral are being damaged by the smelters.”Auriga的Timer Manurung说：“对环境的破坏是毁灭性的。……河流被污染，红树林被砍伐以开发冶炼区，沿海地区和珊瑚也被冶炼厂破坏。”The waste from coal power plants is another problem, he said. The Associated Press verified the methodology used in the Auriga report.他说，燃煤电厂的废物是另一个问题。美联社验证了Auriga报告中使用的方法。