Scientists Fear Amazon May Face Early Destruction (3/3)

The WWF report says much of the destruction results from burning of the forest to clear land, which is then used to meet the global demand for soybeans, beef and biofuel. It says one way to help preserve the forest is to strengthen existing government land-use policies and programs.

Nepstad praises recent efforts by Brazil to create conservation areas.

"We see enormous successes the Brazilian government has made in creating protected areas in the pathway of the expanding agro-industrial frontier - 23 million hectares of new areas protected in the two-year period beginning in early 2004."

Even so, the report says the prediction of substantial damage by 2030 is conservative. It urges a reforesting of cleared areas and promotion of reduced-impact logging and sustainable agriculture, to slow or reverse damage to the rain forest.

Eduardo Bandeira de Mello of the Brazilian Development Bank says his bank is trying to fund such efforts.

Besides absorbing heat from sunlight and converting it into cooling water vapor, the Amazon provides as much as one-fifth of the earth's river water. It is one of the world's most biologically diverse regions.

参考译文：

世界自然基金会的报告指出很多破坏是由于烧林开垦耕地，然后用此以满足全球对大豆、牛肉和生物燃料的需求造成的。报告说一种帮助保存森林的方法是加强现有的政府土地利用政策和项目。

Nepstad赞扬了巴西最近新建保护区的努力。“我们看到巴西政府取得了巨大的成功，在扩展的工农业边境沿线创建保护区，从2004年开始的两年时间里巴西政府保护了23，000，000公顷的新区域。”

虽然如此，报告说对到2030年大规模破坏的预测是保守的。迫切需要在空地上重新造林，倡导影响减轻的伐木业和可持续发展的农业，以减缓或者扭转对雨林的破坏。

巴西发展银行的Eduardo Bandeira de Mello说他的银行正在试图为这些努力筹集资金。

除了从阳光中吸收热量并将之转换成冷的水气之外，亚马逊提供了地球上五分之一的河流水。它是世界上生态多样性最丰富的地区之一。