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Australia’s Great Barrier Reef hit by ’worst’ bleaching

澳大利亞大堡礁“嚴重”白化

The National Coral Bleaching Taskforce says 95% of reefs from Cairns to Papua New Guinea are now severely bleached.

國家珊瑚白化工作組指出：從凱恩斯到巴布亞新幾內亞沿岸，95%的珊瑚礁發生了嚴重的白化現象。

It says only four reefs out of 520 have no evidence of bleaching.

據說在全部520座珊瑚礁中，只有4座沒有發生白化。

Unesco voted not to put the reef on its World Heritage in Danger list last year, but green groups want the decision reassessed.

去年聯合國教科文組織投票決議不把大堡礁列入世界瀕危遺產名錄，但是一些綠色組織希望重新評估這個決定。

Coral taskforce convener Professor Terry Hughes told the BBC his team was yet to find the southern border where the bleaching ended.

珊瑚白化工作組的發起人Terry Hughes教授告訴BBC：他的團隊還沒有找到白化現象在南部延伸的邊界。

"Tomorrow we will continue further south from Cairns to Townsville about 400km (250 miles) and spend the day scoring another 150 reefs," Professor Hughes said.

Hughes教授說：“明天我們會從凱恩斯往南到湯斯維爾再走400公里(250英里)，再檢查150座珊瑚礁”

Mass coral bleaching

大片珊瑚白化

Coral bleaching is caused by rising water temperatures resulting from two natural warm currents

珊瑚的白化現象是由兩個自然暖流引起的海水升溫導致的。

It is exacerbated by man-made climate change, as the oceans are absorbing about 93% of the increase in the earth’s heat

人類活動導致了氣候的變化，進而引起了海水溫度的上升，因為海洋吸收了全球熱量增加值的93%。

Bleaching happens when corals under stress drive out the algae known as zooxanthellae that give them colour

“蟲黃藻”能夠給珊瑚染色，而在高溫壓力下珊瑚會排出這種藻類，從而發生白化現象。

If normal conditions return, the corals can recover, but it can take decades, and if the stress continues the corals can die

如果氣候恢復正常的話，珊瑚能夠變回原來的顏色，但這往往需要幾十年的時間。而如果高水溫的情況持續下去的話，珊瑚就會死亡。

The current worldwide bleaching episode is predicted to be the worst on record

據預測，現在全世界范圍內的珊瑚白化現象是有記錄以來最嚴重的。

Experts say it is too early to tell whether the corals will recover, but scientists "in the water" are already reporting up to 50% mortality of bleached corals.

有學者表明現在斷言珊瑚能不能恢復還為時尚早，但是經過實地考察的科學家們的報告指出白化珊瑚有超過50%的死亡率。

Climate change and the effects of El Nino are being blamed for the rise in sea temperatures that causes coral bleaching.

全球變暖和厄爾尼諾被認為是導致海水升溫和珊瑚白化的罪魁禍首。

"What we’re seeing now is unequivocally to do with climate change," Professor Justin Martin University of Queensland told the ABC.

昆士蘭大學的Justin Martin教授告訴ABC電視臺：“全球變暖是珊瑚礁白化的重要原因”

"[At] the Paris climate change meeting, essentially the whole world has agreed this is climate change, and we’re seeing climate change play out across our reefs".

“在巴黎的氣候變化會議上，從根本上來講，全世界都同意這是氣候變化的結果，我們可以看到全球變暖正在對我們的珊瑚礁造成毀滅性的影響”

World Wildlife Fund (WWF) spokesperson Nick Heath said the unspoiled northern section of the reef had acted as a vital bank of genetic material to reseed areas further to the south.

世界野生動物基金會(WWF)發言人Nick Heath說大堡礁北部沒有白化的區域已經成為了向南部推進物種多樣性和生物遺傳物質的重要來源。

"We have been working to save the reef in [recent] years, and we always took for granted that we had the bank in the northern quarter that was safe, and seemed resilient in previous bleaching episodes, but now it’s cooked to an inch of its life," Mr Heath told the BBC.

Heath告訴BBC：“盡管近年來我們已經采取了很多措施來保護珊瑚礁，但是我們一直理所當然地認為北邊的地方很安全、不會被白化，而且以前白化現象的好轉也讓我們放松了警惕。但是現在它已經危在旦夕了”

The Department of the Environment said state and federal governments were investing a projected A2bn dollars over the next decade to protect the reef.

環境部門表示州政府和聯邦政府預計在未來10年內投資一個20億澳元(合15億美元;10億英鎊)的項目來保護大堡礁。