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After 29 hours of uninterrupted negotiations the latest report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC),
29個小時的無間斷談判后，8月7日下午，政府間氣候變化專門委員會（IPCC）關于
on how alterations in land use are contributing to such change, was gavelled through in Geneva on the afternoon of August 7th.
土地使用的改變如何促成這種變化的最新報道在日內瓦通過。
When, minutes later, your correspondent asked to speak with some of the researchers, she was informed they had "gone to bed".
幾分鐘后，當記者要求采訪研究人員時，她被告知他們已經“上床睡覺了”。
The report these exhausted delegates produced—all 1,300 pages of it—
這些精疲力盡的代表們的這份報告—共1300頁—
fires another warning shot about the state of the planet and the way people are transforming virtually every corner of every continent.
對地球現狀以及人們改變幾乎每個大陸每個角落的方式發出了另一個警告。
Human activities affect roughly three-quarters of Earth's ice-free land, with huge consequences for the climate.
人類活動對影響到了地球約四分之三的非冰覆陸地，對氣候也產生了巨大影響。
Land masses are natural carbon sinks, absorbing greenhouse gases by a variety of processes, including photosynthesis.
大陸塊是天然的碳匯，通過各種方式吸收溫室氣體，包括光合作用。
They also produce such gases—for instance, when vegetation decomposes or burns.
它們也產生氣體—如植物分解或燃燒的時候。
By conserving some ecosystems and destroying others to make way for pastures and fields,
通過保護一些生態體系以及破壞其他生態體系為牧草和農田讓步
or chopping down trees for timber, human activities on the land add an extra layer of complexity to already complex natural cycles.
或是砍伐樹木，陸地上的人類活動為本就復雜的自然循環增加了一層額外的復雜性。
The report found that between 2007 and 2016 such activities produced emissions equivalent to 9bn-15bn tonnes of carbon dioxide each year,
該報告發現在2007年到2016年間，這樣的活動每年產生的排放量相當于90億至150億公噸二氧化碳，
or roughly 23% of all manmade greenhouse-gas emissions. During that time, land surfaces soaked up 8.6bn-13.8bn tonnes of carbon dioxide.
或是約占所有人為溫室氣體排放的23%。在此期間，陸地表面吸收了86億至138億噸二氧化碳。
At the moment, then, these sinks and sources are roughly in balance.
目前，這些碳匯和碳源大致處于平衡狀態。
But climate change, deforestation and agriculture mean the CO2-soaking-up ability of the continents is being depleted.
但氣候變化、采伐森林和農耕意味著陸地吸收二氧化碳的能力正在枯竭。
The accelerating destruction of the Amazon forest, which researchers fear may be approaching a point of no return, is of particular concern.
研究人員擔心，亞馬遜叢林的加速破壞可能將臨近不可逆轉的地步，這一點讓人尤為擔憂。
And across the world, depending on the type of husbandry practised,
在世界各地，根據實施畜牧業方式的不同，
farming is eroding soil at a rate between ten times and more than 100 times faster than new soil forms.
農業侵蝕土地的速度是新土壤形成速度的10倍到100多倍。
Climate change, moreover, creates a vicious feedback loop. Higher temperatures promote the degradation of land through drought,
此外，氣候變化創造出了一個惡性反饋循環。更高的溫度促使土地因干旱、
desertification and rising seas, and the promotion of wildfires like the ones currently blazing in Alaska, Siberia and Greenland.
沙漠化和海平面上升以及像目前在阿拉斯加、西伯利亞和格陵蘭那樣燃燒的野火而退化。
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