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This is where the battle for the Cerrado is being waged, between those who cherish the otherworldly place as it is and those bending the land to their will.
這里同時也是爭奪塞拉多的陣地，對峙者的一方珍視其原生態的異境之美，另一方則想把土地重塑成合用的狀態。
Less than 10 percent of the Cerrado falls under any environmental protection, mostly state parks and mixed-use areas where people live and grow crops.
塞拉多地區享有環境保護措施的面積占不到10%，多數屬于州立公園和混合用途土地（有居民和作物種植區）。
Only 3 percent is under full federal preservation. The national parks are just specks in the vastness.
僅3%處于全面聯邦保護狀態。兩座國家公園的占地如同微不足道的斑點。
By comparison, about half of the Amazon biome is protected—and the Amazon is specifically named in the Brazilian Constitution as a national heritage zone, but not the Cerrado.
相較之下，亞馬孫生物群落受保護的部分約占一半，并作為國家遺產地列入巴西憲法，塞拉多望塵莫及。
An estimated four-fifths of the entire Cerrado has already been disturbed by human activities, almost everything happening in the past 50 years.
整個塞拉多地區估計有五分之四已受到人類活動侵擾，且在過去50年來幾乎沒有止息過。
No one knows how many unique species of plants or animals have already been lost.
誰都不知道有多少獨特的動植物物種在此期間消失。
International conservation organizations like WWF and Global Witness, as well as Brazilian groups such as the National Campaign in Defense of the Cerrado, have mobilized.
世界自然基金會、“全球見證”等國際環保組織以及“保衛塞拉多全國行動”等巴西團體已經動員起來。
They seek to spread awareness of the Cerrado and its precarious situation and implore the Brazilian government to safeguard what's left.
他們大力宣傳塞拉多及其危險處境，敦促巴西政府保護剩余自然資源。
A team of Brazilian forestry scientists, in a notable 2017 paper, demonstrated that the Cerrado's essential ground layers, which contain most of the endemic species, are painfully slow at self-repair; a section of cleared land that had been abandoned for more than 20 years hardly seemed to regenerate much biodiversity.
巴西林業科學家在2017年的一篇論文中指出，塞拉多包含大多數原產物種的關鍵土層具有異常緩慢的自我修復速度；例如，有一片被清空的土地在撂荒二十多年后也沒有回復多少生物多樣性。
At times, Brazilian legislators seem receptive to the idea that consumption and conservation can exist hand in hand.
在有些時期，巴西立法者似乎能接受消費與自然保護可以并行不悖的觀念。
The same government lab that originally developed the fertilizer that fueled the Cerrado's cultivation has now been tasked with creating an improved version to significantly increase crop yield, so economic growth can be maintained without surrendering more land.
那家國有實驗室在開發出點燃塞拉多農業熱潮的化肥之后，現階段的任務是創造新一代肥料，使作物產量大幅提高，從而在不犧牲更多土地的情況下維持經濟增長。
Technology can both harm us and save us, the great roulette wheel of the modern world.
科技是一種禍福相倚的力量，猶如現代世界的大型輪盤賭。
So far, progress has been modest, with the leaders of Brazil more actively enforcing environmental protections to slow the rate of deforestation.
塞拉多迄今為止的建設尚屬克制，當局領袖們實施環境保護、降低毀林速度的意愿較強。
Meanwhile, plenty of historic grassland continues to be plowed over.
但與此同時，大片野生草原持續被改造成耕地。
There appears to be a reluctance among legislators to enact regulations that will likely harm finances.
政府對于可能損害財政收入的舉措似乎仍抱著某種不情愿態度。
And the agribusiness, undeniably, is helping keep the economy of Brazil, and the globe, rolling along.
不可否認，塞拉多的農業生產正在幫助巴西經濟乃至世界經濟保持動力。
At the same time, the National Campaign in Defense of the Cerrado and science journalists have reported about the particularly convenient and widespread belief that nothing is really being lost -- agricultural lobbyists have indicated to legislators that the Cerrado's last untouched places are little but infertile, uninhabited regions just waiting to turn a profit.
同時，“保衛塞拉多全國行動”組織和科技領域記者們報道了時下偏重功利的普遍心態：開墾塞拉多沒有什么真正的損失；農事企業的說客們向立法者表示，該地區剩余的原生荒野只不過是些既不肥沃也不適宜居住、有待被轉化出經濟價值的區域。
