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The Congo Basin isn't just a source of folklore, however. It's a crucial ecosystem for both local communities and the planet.
然而，剛果盆地并不僅僅是民間傳說的搖籃。無論是對(duì)當(dāng)?shù)厣鐓^(qū)還是我們的星球，它都是一個(gè)至關(guān)重要的生態(tài)系統(tǒng)。
Spanning an area second only to the Amazon, it is often called the "lungs of Africa."
作為僅次于亞馬遜的廣袤區(qū)域，剛果盆地被譽(yù)為“非洲之肺”。
It absorbs 1.5 billion tons of CO2 annually, ranking it the world's largest carbon sink.
這片地區(qū)每年吸收15億噸二氧化碳，是世界上最大的碳匯。
But it's under siege. Agriculture, logging, mining, and a swelling population carve more into the jungle each year, while government corruption greenlights unchecked encroachment.
然而它正陷入圍困。農(nóng)業(yè)生產(chǎn)、林木采伐、礦物開采和不斷膨脹的人口每年都將叢林侵蝕更深，政府的腐敗則為肆無忌憚的蠶食開了綠燈。
The relentless appetite for bushmeat, the march of industry, and the looming shadow of climate change all have a hand in destroying the Congo.
對(duì)叢林肉的無情渴求、不斷推進(jìn)的工業(yè)鐵蹄以及氣候變化的陰云全都摧毀著剛果。
Weakening the rainforest, of course, will have global implications.
破壞雨林顯然會(huì)對(duì)全球產(chǎn)生影響。
One of those is the growing proximity between humans and wildlife, which facilitates the transmission of zoonotic diseases -- illnesses that jump from animals to humans, such as COVID-19, Ebola, and monkeypox.
其中之一是人類與野生動(dòng)物之間的距離越來越近，這就為人畜共患疾病的傳播提供了便利，這類疾病可以由動(dòng)物傳染給人，如COVID-19，埃博拉和猴痘。
"The more we're exposed to wild animals, the higher the chances these viruses will make the jump into the human population," says Blom. "It's a simple question of statistics."
“我們和野生動(dòng)物接觸得越多，病毒感染人群的可能性就越大，”布洛姆說，“這是很簡(jiǎn)單的統(tǒng)計(jì)學(xué)問題。”
But this dynamic is a double-edged sword.
而這一作用對(duì)雙方皆有傷害。
The "rapid increase in the Congo Basin, driven by commerce," exposes endangered gorillas and chimpanzees to disease -- an impact his team sees clearly as both populations continue to decline year after year, says Gwili Gibbon, conservation manager at African Parks.
非洲公園保護(hù)經(jīng)理格威利·吉本說，“在剛果盆地商業(yè)推動(dòng)下的人口快速增長(zhǎng)”讓瀕臨滅絕的大猩猩和黑猩猩進(jìn)一步面臨疾病的威脅，他的團(tuán)隊(duì)清晰地觀察到，在這種影響下，兩邊數(shù)量都在逐年下降。
The ripple effects of these interactions aren't new to Selah Abong'o, who mistook a forest elephant for a mokele-mbembe nearly 20 years prior.
塞拉·阿邦?yuàn)W對(duì)這類相互作用會(huì)產(chǎn)生的漣漪效應(yīng)并不陌生，近20年前，她就曾錯(cuò)將一頭森林象當(dāng)成魔克拉-姆邊貝。
"My colleagues still tease me about that," she says with a smirk. "But when I think about it now, it saddens me.
“我的同事還在因?yàn)檫@件事嘲笑我，”她笑著說，“但是現(xiàn)在想到它，我還是很難過。
People are still confusing elephants and apes for mokele-mbembe, and that's largely because of deforestation.
人們今天仍然會(huì)把大象和猩猩誤認(rèn)成魔克拉-姆邊貝，但這很大程度上是因?yàn)樯譃E伐。
Zoonotic diseases, like Ebola, are still spreading as people encroach more on the forest. And the Congo," she paused, "is still disappearing."
當(dāng)人們侵占的森林越來越多，埃博拉病毒等人畜共患疾病還將繼續(xù)擴(kuò)散。而剛果，”她停頓了一下，“也將不斷消失。”
