Indigenous people are key to protecting our forests

甘肅 康慧珍

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難詞探意

1. intrinsic /?n?tr?ns?k/ adj. 固有的；內在的

2. nomad /?n??m?d/ n. 游牧部落的人

3. desertification /d??zз?t?f??ke??n/ n. 沙漠化

4. cultivated /?k?lt?ve?t?d/ adj. 用于耕作的

There's a first time for everything: the Paris Agreement on climate change recognized theintrinsicrelationship between indigenous people and their environment.Whether they're in Taiga, the Sahel or the rain forests of Africa, America or Asia, what all indigenous people have in common is a deep connection to the natural environment in which they live.

I like to think of nature as our supermarket: it produces the grass we use to feed livestock, the food we eat, the water we drink, and also the medicine we need. But nature is more than that:it inspires our culture, our traditions, our science and our identity. For instance, traditional knowledge based on observing nature, such as birds, bugs and trees, helpsnomadcommunities to define their seasonal migration. When you're in a city checking the weather forecast via an app on your smartphone, try to imagine my people, in Chad, far away from any network, anticipating the rain or the wind by looking up at the sky.

This is why we indigenous people are on the front line of nature conservation. Preserving the balance of the ecosystem has always been the indigenous way of life. Even in the tropical forests of Africa, where some communities use wood products to build settlements, they do so without negatively affecting the nature around them.

In Chad, the seasonal movement of communities helps fertilize the soil, creating a natural barrier against deforestation.For centuries,indigenous people and their communities have helped to fightdesertification, following the rhythm of seasons and helping to regenerate plants. But while they are first to preserve the environment, indigenous people are also the first to suffer the consequences of climate change.

In Africa, one of the most affected continents, all ecosystems are endangered by global warming.Forests that have survived for centuries today face new pressure. The change in climate threatens the ecosystem's ability to restore itself, while commercial agriculture damages biodiversity and changes primary forest intocultivatedareas.These activities make it hard for indigenous people to protect their environment, and also to preserve their culture, their languages, their knowledge and their unique traditions.

Reading

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1. What do indigenous people have in common?

A. They prefer to go to supermarkets.

B. They're good at making medicine.

C. They make a living by raising livestock.

D. They're linked to the natural environment deeply.

2. What does the author think of nature?

A. It is mysterious in the eyes of indigenous people.

B. It mainly provides food for indigenous people.

C. It is important in indigenous people's culture and tradition.

D. It is like a large supermarket with many goods for daily life.

3. What may Africans in the tropical forests use to build settlements?

A. Wood. B. Bamboo. C. Grass. D. Plastic.

4. How do people in Chad protect the environment?

A. By updating their traditions.

B. By moving seasonally and growing plants.

C. By cutting down trees seasonally.

D. By suffering the consequences of climate change.

Language

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Sentence for writing

These activities make it hard for indigenous people to protect their environment, and also to preserve their culture, their languages, their knowledge and their unique traditions. 這些活動使原住民難以保護他們的環境，也難以保護他們的文化、語言、知識和獨特的傳統。

【信息提取】make it hard for sb to do sth意為“使某人做某事很難”。

【句式仿寫】昨天的暴風雪使他開車很艱難。

Cultural

Background

《巴黎協定》

《巴黎協定》(Paris Agreement) 是2015年12月12日在巴黎氣候變化大會上通過、2016年4月22日在紐約簽署的氣候變化協定，該協定為2020年后全球應對氣候變化的行動做出了安排。 《巴黎協定》的長期目標是將全球平均氣溫較前工業化時期的上升幅度控制在2攝氏度以內，并努力將溫度上升幅度限制在1.5攝氏度以內。

2019年9月23日，俄羅斯總理梅德韋杰夫簽署政府令，批準《巴黎協定》，俄羅斯正式加入《巴黎協定》。 2019年11月4日，美國開啟退出《巴黎協定》的正式流程，于2020年11月4日正式退出《巴黎協定》。