Now without these local leaders, local wisdom, local knowledge and the passion that drives restoration champions, scaling restoration on the African continent would virtually be impossible.
没有这些地方领导人,地方智慧,地方知识,和驱动森林恢复卫士们的热忱,扩张恢复非洲大陆的计划,是几乎不可能的。
Now, my name is Wanjira Mathai, and I have a personal connection to trees.
我的名字是万吉拉·马塔伊,我对树木有一种私人联系。
When we were growing up, my brothers and I, our mother, Wangari Mathai, who founded the Green Belt Movement and won the 2004 Nobel Peace Prize for this work -- Thank you.
在我们的成长过程中,我和我的兄弟,我的母亲,旺加里·马塔伊,创办了绿化带运动并因此荣获2004年诺贝尔和平奖,谢谢。
She spent hours sharing just how beautiful Kenya was when she was growing up.
她花了无数时间分享她成长中的肯亚是有多么的美丽。
The river’s, crystal clear.
清澈见底的河川。
The hillsides and valleys, covered in forests.
碧树涛涛的千山万壑。
The plains were teeming with wildlife and the soils, she would say, produced the most delicious sweet potatoes and vegetables.
充满了野生动物的平原,而她说我们的土壤,生产出让人垂涎欲滴的红薯和蔬菜。
Hunger was virtually unknown.
饥馑几乎不存在。
By the 1970s, a lot had changed.
但是在1970年代,一切经历了很大的变化。
Landscapes were already degraded, rivers were silted with precious topsoil.
景观已经历退化,珍贵的表土淤积于河川里。
The plains were already losing their wildlife, and the soils were largely degraded.
野生动物已逐渐从平原中消失,大部分的土壤也已经退化。
Now, half a century on, and the process of degradation has only accelerated.
半个世纪以后的如今,退化的过程正持续加剧中。
And not only in Kenya.
而这不仅仅是在肯亚而已。
27 of the 40 most climate-vulnerable countries in the world are found on the African continent.
在40个最易受气候影响的脆弱国家之中,有27个处于非洲大陆。
And hunger and drought, for those farmers, 60 percent of them who live on the African continent, is an everyday occurrence.
饥馑和干旱,对60%生活在非洲大陆的农民来说已是习以为常的事。
But why is this important? Why is this important?
但是,为什么这是这么重要呢?为什么这点那么重要?
Because restoration reverses and breaks the cycle of degradation.
因为森林恢复能逆转和打断退化的循环。
And there is hope.
我们还有希望。
Because here is an example, the Green Belt Movement.
因为这里有个先例,绿化带运动。
The Green Belt Movement is an example of a restoration champion in Kenya.
绿带化运动是肯亚森林恢复的一个最佳榜样。
50 million trees planted by a network of 5,000 women today.
如今,由5,000名女士组成的网路种植了5,000万棵树。
And they do this by organizing themselves into groups, generating tree nurseries, collecting seeds themselves that they sow, generate seedlings and plant on public land and private land.
她们通过分类小组来完成这一点,建立苗圃,收集自己所散播的种子,孕育出幼苗,然后把它们种植在公共和私人土地上。
This is the genius of restoration champions.
这就是森林恢复卫士们的才智。
Now, I have seen this work firsthand in a forest not too far from where I live, the Aberdare Forest.
我曾经亲眼目睹了这一切,就在离我居所不远处的一片森林,阿伯德尔森林。
This is one of my favorite forests.
这是我最喜爱的森林之一。
A few years ago it was degraded, but thanks to the pioneering work of the Green Belt Movement and many others like them, this forest has largely been restored.
数年前,这片森林还处于退化状态,但是多亏了绿化带运动的开拓性工作,以及许多和他们一样的人,大部分的森林已经被恢复了。