by Andy Corbley 笪景行

“Here we have a mangrove bud2. You take it and you plant the lower third in the mud， and then you take 2 steps—one， two， and then you plant another one，” said the retired politician， with a smile ear to ear， as he wades3 in the coastal waters of Senegals Casamance Delta.

Planting since 2009， Haidar el Alis efforts have produced one of the most amazing successes in the history of modern large-scale reforestation4—the restoration of an entire Senegalese mangrove swamp5.

Forests are one of the most resilient6 habitats7 on our planet while also being one of the most exploited8. Ever since the scientific community began to encourage the planting of trees to “re-wild” previously lost forest ecosystems to respond to climate change， some very determined people have rolled up their sleeves and produced great results.

The 67-year-old was able to rally9 citizens from the local coastal population to help him plant 152 million mangrove buds by hand， and it created a truly beautiful coastal mangrove forest stretching hundreds of square miles—one of the largest of its kind in the world.

Because they store great amounts of carbon in their root systems， mangroves and other bodies of coastal vegetation10 are some of our planets most important ecosystems. They reduce the effect of the force of waves and tsunamis. And they also provide some of the most valuable habitat for wildlife including birds， insects， fish， and even monkeys.

In a video interview with BBC， Haidar described how the original mangrove forest in Southern Senegal was destroyed in the 80s and 90s as the nation began to build roads.“At the time there were no environmental impact studies， of course.”

It wasnt until the salt from the sea water entering the delta poisoned the nearby rice fields that people began to think about what had been lost.

Though nearing his seventh decade of life， Haidar swims butterfly stroke through the water-borne forest of his and his colleagues making， pointing out the returning wildlife is good to the local economy.

“I take a lot of satisfaction from this. Im ready to do it every day， all evening， all my life.”

“這里有一片（紅樹林）葉子?！边@位退休的政治家在塞內(nèi)加爾卡薩芒斯三角洲沿海水域淌水。他笑著說：“你拿著它，把下面的三分之一種在泥里，然后你走兩步，一、二，然后再種另一顆?！?/p>

海達(dá)爾·阿里自2009年開始種的，他的努力造就了現(xiàn)代大規(guī)模造林史上最驚人的成就之一，恢復(fù)了整個塞內(nèi)加爾紅樹林濕地。

森林是地球上最具彈性的棲息地之一，同時也是最易被開發(fā)的棲息地之一。自從科學(xué)界開始鼓勵植樹來“再野化”以前失去的森林生態(tài)系統(tǒng)，以應(yīng)對氣候變化以來，一些非常堅(jiān)定的人挽起了袖子，并取得了顯著的成果。

這位67歲的老人能夠召集當(dāng)?shù)匮睾＞用瘢瑤椭斯しN植1.52億株紅樹林芽，并創(chuàng)造了一片真正美麗的沿海紅樹林，綿延數(shù)百平方英里——這是世界上最大的紅樹林之一。

由于在根系中儲存了大量的碳，紅樹林和其他沿海植被是我們星球上最重要的生態(tài)系統(tǒng)之一。它們減少了海浪和海嘯力量的影響。它們還為包括鳥類、昆蟲、魚類甚至猴子在內(nèi)的野生動物提供了一些最有價值的棲息地。

在接受英國廣播公司（BBC）的視頻采訪時，海達(dá)爾描述了塞內(nèi)加爾南部最初的紅樹林在上世紀(jì)80年代和90年代是如何被破壞的，當(dāng)時該國開始修建道路?！爱?dāng)然，當(dāng)時沒有環(huán)境影響方面的研究?！?/p>

直到進(jìn)入三角洲的海水中的鹽分毒害了附近的稻田，人們才開始考慮失去了什么。

雖然海達(dá)爾已經(jīng)快七十歲了，但他還是游著蝶泳穿過了他和同伴們建造的水上森林，并指出野生動物的回歸對當(dāng)?shù)亟?jīng)濟(jì)有好處。

“我對此感到非常滿意。我已經(jīng)準(zhǔn)備好了每天、整個晚上、一輩子都這樣做?！?/p>

（英語原文選自：www.goodnewsnetwork.org）

【Notes】

1. mangrove [■] n. 紅樹林 2. bud [■] n. 芽，萌芽

3. wade [■] v. 涉水;費(fèi)力行走 4. reforestation [■] n. 重新造林

5. swamp [■] n. 沼澤，水洼;濕地 6. resilient [■] adj. 有彈力的;能復(fù)原的

7. habitat [■] n. 棲息地 8. exploit [■] vt. 開發(fā)，開拓

9. rally [■] v. 召集;集結(jié);聯(lián)合 10. vegetation [■] n. 植被;植物

▲Discussion議一議：

1. What do you think of Haidars efforts？ 你對海達(dá)爾所做的有什么看法？

2. What can you do to protect the forests？ 你能做些什么來保護(hù)森林？

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