警報！ 過去40年野生動物數量減半

From the forest elephants of Africa, to India’s tigers and even our own harbour seals, wildlife is losing the battle for survival all over the world.
無論是非洲森林象、孟加拉虎（又名印度虎）還是斑海豹，世界上所有的野生動物時時刻刻都在面臨着生存的威脅。

Exotic mammals such as the magnificent big cats are under the greatest threat, but even here in Britain numbers of once-familiar species have collapsed.
除了諸如大型貓科動物之類的哺乳動物數量稀少外，很多曾經很常見的動物數量也在銳減。

And responsible for this dramatic decline is man. In fact, humankind’s ever-growing need for land and resources, coupled with hunting and poaching, has halved the number of wild animals in world in just 40 years, according to a shocking report. The Living Planet Report by WWF and the Zoological Society of London has found that wildlife populations around the globe have declined by 52 per cent on average since 1970.
而人類是造成這種情況的罪魁禍首。根據世界自然基金會和倫敦動物學會最新發布的《地球生命力報告2014》顯示，人類對土地、資源日益增長的需求，以及非法獵捕等活動，已經讓世界的野生動物數量在40年內減少了一半。該報告稱，自1970年，全球野生動物的數量平均減少了52%。

The authors compiled data on 10,380 animal populations, including 3,038 different species, as an index to judge how global wildlife is faring as a whole.
報告的統計數據包括動物總量爲10380，涉及3038個種類，以此作爲整體判斷全球野生動物數量變化趨勢的一個索引。

It shows that British animals have not escaped the global decline.
報告顯示英國境內的許多動物數量也在不斷減少。

The audit, which is published every two years, found that 90 per cent of corn buntings, a bird once often seen perched on fences, have disappeared from our countryside.
該項統計每兩年進行一次，今年的統計顯示，過去經常棲息在圍欄上的一種鳥類---黍鵐，現在已經消失了90%。

The number of northern lapwings – another once-familiar sight on farmland – have fallen 60 per cent and grey partridges have halved in number. Harbour seals have declined by 40 per cent in the last decade alone in Orkney and Shetland, killed off by disease and measures to protect salmon farms.
另一種以前常見於鄉村的禽類---鳳頭麥雞的數量減少了60%，還有，灰山鶉的數量減少了一半。僅在過去十年中，奧克尼郡和設得蘭羣島的斑海豹數量就減少了40%，這些斑海豹或者因爲疾病或者因爲保護鮭魚養殖場而被殺。

The global picture is worst for freshwater creatures such as amphibians, river fish and mammals, with average population declines of 76 per cent between 1970 and 2010, says the latest data available. Land-dwelling animals declined by 39 per cent over the same period and sea creatures fell 39 per cent, the report found.
從全球來看，淡水生物如兩棲動物、淡水魚和哺乳動物等的狀況更糟，最新數據顯示，1970年至2010年間其平均數量減少了76%。報告表明同時期內陸棲動物和海洋生物的數量都減少了39%。

The authors said the main threats to wildlife are loss or damage to their habitat and exploitation through hunting and fishing.
報告的作者稱，野生動物面臨的最大威脅來自於人類打獵和捕魚對動物們的棲息地和活動場所造成的佔用和破壞。

They also warned that humans are using resources faster than the planet can provide, cutting down forests too quickly, overfishing and pumping out pollution faster than the world can cope with it.同時他們還警告稱，人類獲取資源的速度已經遠遠超過了地球可以提供資源的速度，過度伐木、過度捕魚、過度污染等，都大大超過了地球的承受能力。

Professor Ken Norris, director of science at Zoological Society of London (ZSL), said: ‘The scale of biodiversity loss and damage to the very ecosystems that are essential to our existence is alarming. This damage is not inevitable, but a consequence of the way we choose to live.’
倫敦動物學會的科學總監肯·諾里斯教授說：“生物多樣性的不斷下降，人類賴以生存的生態環境持續遭到破壞，這都爲我們敲響了警鐘。這些情況不是不可避免的，只是人類選擇的生活方式所導致的。”