So on the Barrier Reef, we were very lucky to have a 14-year gap between mass coral bleaching in 2002 and 2016.
在大堡礁,在2002年和2016年之间,出现了长达14年的大规模珊瑚白化间隔,这很幸运。
And that was sufficient for a half-decent recovery.
它足以让珊瑚礁恢复到以往的一半。
But since then, we've had gaps of three years, two years and one year.
但从那以后,白化事件之间的间隔变成了三年、两年和一年。
So the Barrier Reef seems to be settling into about a 50% chance of bleaching occurring again in each summer.
因此,大堡礁每年夏天再次发生白化的可能性似乎在50%左右。
And that's really horrific in terms of the capacity of the reef to bounce back.
就珊瑚礁的恢复能力而言,这简直是灭顶之灾。
Ironically, the corals that come back the quickest are also among the most heat sensitive.
讽刺的是,恢复最快的珊瑚对热也是最敏感的。
It's a bit like fire in a terrestrial landscape where a forest is destroyed and flammable grasses come back quicker than the trees do, which makes that ecosystem, ironically, more vulnerable to climate change, to driving fires.
就像陆地上发生火灾一样,森林被摧毁,易燃的草比树木恢复更快,这使得生态系统更容易受到气候变化的影响,更容易引发火灾。
Exactly the same thing is happening on the world's coral reefs.
世界上的珊瑚礁也在发生同样的事情。
And of course, corals are critically important for the habitat that they provide to fish and crustaceans, all the iconic biodiversity that coral reefs are famous for.
当然,珊瑚也是鱼类和甲壳类动物至关重要的栖息地,珊瑚礁以其标志性的生物多样性而闻名。
So when you lose a lot of corals, which you're seeing, sadly, everywhere now, it alters the entire ecosystem.
所以当大量的珊瑚失去后,它就会改变整个生态系统,遗憾的是,现在世界各地的珊瑚都在消失。
It's like having a rainforest without the rainforest trees.
这就像雨林失去了雨林树种。
Of course, there’s a lot of research looking for ways to protect coral reefs and make them more resilient to climate change.
当然,有很多研究在寻找保护珊瑚礁的方法,让它们对气候变化的适应能力更强。
Is any of that making a difference?
这有什么意义吗?
One of the most confronting aspects of the current global event is that it is destroying existing attempts to restore coral reefs.
当前这一全球事件最令人担忧的方面之一是,它正在破坏现有的恢复珊瑚礁的努力。
So in Florida, we saw that coral nurseries literally cooked.
在佛罗里达,我们看到珊瑚从真的会被煮熟。
We're seeing the same thing happening on the Great Barrier Reef, where many of the intervention trials are now failing, because putting more corals back out is really a death sentence as temperatures continue to rise.
同样的事情也发生在大堡礁,那里的许多干预试验现在都失败了,因为随着气温的持续上升,把更多珊瑚放回大堡礁上相当于给它们判了死刑。
So it's short-term.
它只是短期措施。
It might be worth doing at a high-value tourism site, but we shouldn't kid ourselves that we can save coral reefs by planting a few acres of corals.
在一个高价值的旅游景点这么做可能是值得的,但我们不应该自欺欺人地认为,我们可以通过种植几英亩珊瑚就能拯救珊瑚礁。
What do we need to do in order to keep corals alive in the long term?
我们需要做些什么才能让珊瑚长期存活?
There's only one answer to that question, and that is we need sea temperatures to stabilize.
这个问题只有一个答案,那就是我们需要海洋温度稳定下来。
Local management, looking after things like overfishing and pollution, is important, but it's not going to stop the intrusion of hot water.
地方管理固然重要,如控制过度捕捞和污染,但这并不能阻止海水升温。
Even the most pristine, most remote, best-managed coral reefs in the world are being hammered by repeated bouts of mass coral bleaching.
即使是世界上最原始、最偏远、管理最好的珊瑚礁也正在经历反复的大规模珊瑚白化。
And so the overwhelming challenge is for all countries to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions as quickly as possible.
因此,对所有国家来说,最大的挑战是尽快减少温室气体排放。
As someone who has firsthand experience seeing these bleaching events unfold, what do you want people to know?
作为亲眼目睹这些白化事件发生的人,你想告诉人们什么?
I'll be underwater on the southern Great Barrier Reef at study sites that I have been studying since 1985, revealing my age.
我将在大堡礁南部的研究地点潜入水下,从1985年以来我一直在研究这些地区,透露我的年龄了哈。
And I'm dreading it because the reef where my study sites are in the south has been exposed to the highest level of heat stress it has ever seen.
我之所以害怕它,是因为我在南部研究地点的珊瑚礁已经暴露在有史以来最高水平的高温压力下。
And we already know that 80 percent of the corals there are bleached, and I'm fully expecting the majority of those to be dead or dying.
我们已经知道那里80%的珊瑚都白化了,我完全相信它们中的大多数都已经死亡或濒临死亡。
My message is we shouldn't give up on the world's coral reefs.
我想说的是,我们不应该放弃世界上的珊瑚礁。
They're just too valuable to lose, but restoration's not the way to save them.
它们是无价之宝,我们不能失去,但仅靠修复并不能拯救它们。
The way to save them is to deal with greenhouse gas emissions, and that's, of course, much, much harder.
拯救它们的办法就是解决温室气体排放,当然,这要困难得多。