2018中非合作论坛北京峰会于9月3-4日举行。联合国副秘书长兼联合国环境署执行主任埃里克·索尔海姆发表署名文章，称赞中国在打击珍稀野生动物交易及建设生态文明方面取得的成绩，表示相关经验尤其值得非洲国家借鉴。

一名偷猎老手可以惟妙惟肖地模仿大象被杀死时发出的尖叫声，还能绘声绘色地描述一头大象看到同伴倒地时哀嚎的景象。他们还知道，当母象被杀死后，幼象会围着她残破的尸体，在悲痛中等待自己的死亡。

Veteran poachers have killed so many elephants that they can often imitate the screams the animals make when speared. They can tell you how other elephants howl in distress when they see one of their own felled. Calves have been known to circle the disfigured body of their mother for days in mourning, even until their own death.

 象是大自然的杰作，它们聪敏智慧，却遭受如此野蛮对待，全然因为人类对象牙等光鲜亮丽的物件的贪念和欲望。早期的西方殖民者最先有了对象牙的需求，在当时，象牙是至高的奖赏；时至今日，消费水平的提升极大地推高了象牙需求，而偷猎活动也“进化”到了产业化运作的程度。

Behind the savagery visited on these magnificent, highly sensitive and intelligent creatures lies greed and a desire for shiny objects – sometimes rooted in trends, and sometimes tradition. It began with the early white settlers, with ivory becoming one of the great prizes of the colonial era. In recent years, however, demand has skyrocketed to match the rise in global consumer wealth, and poaching has reached an industrial scale.

过去十年，偷猎者为了获取象牙杀死了十万多头非洲象，超过非洲象种群总数的四分之一。许多象牙被运往亚洲地区，制作成饰品供人们交易，成为身份和地位的象征。

Over the past decade, poachers have slaughtered more than 100,000 African elephants for their ivory – more than one quarter of the population. Many of the tusks ended up in China and other parts of Asia, where they were turned into trinkets and marketed as status symbols.

这些非法交易在迫害大象的同时，也给那些腐败分子和犯罪集团带去了巨大利益，世界和谐稳定受到威胁。

Elephants are not the only victims. The illegal trade has generated enormous profits that feed corruption and financial criminal cartels, stoking instability around the world.

为响应1989年起实施的国际禁令，中国宣布全面禁止象牙交易，这一决定值得高度赞扬，它也明确传达出了中国的立场：中国会成为世界环保行动的领军者。

That is why China’s decision to ban the sale of ivory nationally, to come in line with the international ban that has been in place since 1989, deserves huge praise. The government ban will shut down the legal trade in ivory, and establish a new narrative for China’s worldview: as a leader for environmental action.

通过调查发现，在中国三大城市中有95%的人支持全面禁止象牙贸易，并相信禁止此类贸易有助于保护非洲象。而就几年前，类似的调查显示大多数人都不知道获取完整的象牙需要杀死一头大象，很多人以为拔掉象牙不会对大象造成什么伤害。

Surveys in China’s three largest cities found that 95 percent of people supported the ban because they believed it would protect African elephants. Only a few years ago, similar surveys found that average people did not even realize that an elephant had to die to obtain ivory – as the word for ivory in Chinese means tooth – many people thought it was gathered without harm.

禁令得到了大多数的人支持确实是一个重大胜利，不过终结对大象的屠杀还有很长的路要走。和黑市交易相比，过去合法的象牙交易本来就只是冰山一角，消灭非法象牙交易才是真正的挑战所在。

That the ban has such widespread support is a major victory. The fight to end the slaughter, however, is far from over. While the ban sends a strong message that ivory products are now taboo, the legal trade is only a very small part of the problem.

所谓“没有买卖就没有伤害”，赢得这场大象保卫战的关键在于减少需求。转变人们的思想需要有一个过程，然而非洲象却等不起。我们要马上行动起来，做出切实改变。我们要从供应链下手，加强执法力度，打击走私犯罪团伙，阻断大规模的互联网贸易，破坏他们藏匿资金的避税渠道。中非之间可以进行更高级别的安保合作，确保以上举措有效实施。

The bigger battle lies in tackling the far larger illegal trade. Reducing demand will be a key weapon in this fight but changing minds takes years of hard work – time that the world’s dwindling population of elephants may not have. It is essential that we also come down hard on the supply chain. This means tackling the booming internet trade, strengthening law enforcement, smashing the criminal cartels running smuggling operations and disrupting the tax havens where they stash their money. Much of this will require improved security cooperation between China and countries in Africa where the slaughter, and initial trafficking, takes place.

 当前，中国在非洲的影响力持续扩大，加上“一带一路”倡议的推进，这种影响力会进一步提升。在非洲的中国侨民人数超过100万人，大部分非洲国家中都活跃着中国企业的身影。在非洲民众心中，中国的声誉也很不错，一项调查显示，70%的非洲人表示对中国持积极态度。

China’s influence in Africa is growing, and with the Belt and Road Initiative, it is certain to grow further. There are more than one million Chinese expats living in Africa. Chinese firms have a strong foothold in most of its 54 countries. China’s reputation on the continent is also broadly positive. In attitude surveys, 70 percent of Africans say they view the country positively.

通过加强信息共享，中非双方可以更有效地携手遏制偷猎、走私活动，打击犯罪集团。中方应进一步加强执法力度，而非方应在发展当地生态旅游和其他产业过程中给予专业指导，当人们有更多方式谋生，就无需去偷猎，这就从根本上消除了非法狩猎的动机。

Better intelligence sharing with African countries could seriously disrupt the smuggling rackets and break the cartels. China could also strengthen anti-poaching teams – the embattled first line of defence against poachers – and support institutions that tackle corruption, including police and customs officials at African ports. Africa also needs expertise in eco-tourism and alternative livelihood programs that undermine the financial incentives for poaching.

此外，中国企业也可以在生态环境保护事业中有所作为。前不久，马云代表阿里巴巴公益基金会和桃花源生态保护基金会来到南非开普敦，为50名一线野生动物巡护员颁奖。他在颁奖仪式上做出承诺，支持野生动物保护，并指出野生动物巡护员是一项高危职业，不仅需要在财力上给予支持，还需要技术等其他资源的支持。

Chinese businesses can also get involved. I was in South Africa recently for the African Ranger Awards Ceremony, where Jack Ma, the co-founder of Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba, pledged his support for wildlife conservation. He said rangers should not only be given monetary support, but also the resources and technology they need to carry out their dangerous work. That’s a great example of the positive role Chinese businesses can play.

历史会记住中国为世界做出的贡献。现在，中国俨然成为非洲象和其它珍稀物种的救星，让这些大自然留给我们的生灵有地可栖。

Such steps could well see China go down in history as the saviour of the African elephant and other precious species – something that would be an incredible legacy.

回到中国国内，中国政府正在下大气力应对严峻的环境问题。中国启用了世界上最大规模的空气质量监测系统检测雾霾，设计更加宜居节能的城市，投资绿色能源。在可再生能源领域，中国投入了数百亿美元，比其他任何国家都多，并证明了经济增长不需要高污染排放为代价。中国的这些变化可喜可贺，而其他国家如果想要减少资源消耗同时提升人们生活质量，不妨向中国学习。

At home, China has made a series of giant strides toward addressing some of the country’s toughest environmental challenges. It has installed the largest air-quality monitoring systems in the world to combat the smog that shrouds its cities. It is designing better, more energy-efficient cities and investing in cleaner forms of transport. It has pumped tens of billions of dollars into renewable energy – more than any other country, proving strong economic growth does not require high emissions. The transformation is incredible, and one that other countries need to emulate if the world is to reduce resource use while continuing to lift people from poverty.

以上进步只是中国建设生态文明，回归人与自然和谐共处宏伟目标的一个缩影。中国正在打造一个资源节约型、环境友好型社会，而生态环境保护是一切经济活动和人民美好生活的根基。

These advances are part of China’s ambitious vision to build what it calls an “ecological civilization” – an ambition that harks back to its ancient philosophy of harmony with nature. The modern-day plan is to create a resource-efficient, environmentally-friendly society that recognizes the environment for what it is: the bedrock of our economies and our way of life, and therefore fundamental to our survival.

中国的经验打破了一直以来经济发展必然伴随着环境破坏的魔咒。中国可以以自身独特的发展经历为例，帮助非洲找到适合自身的工业化道路，完成跨越式发展。

By sharing its phenomenal development journey, China can help Africa leapfrog the rest of the world. That means helping African nations steer a more considered course to industrialization. China, after all, has suffered more from pollution than most nations, and has done more to tackle it. More broadly, it means showing that the old ways of development accompanied by environmental destruction can be broken.

早期人类发展史通常是这样：人们迁徙到哪里，就猎杀到哪里。美洲的乳齿象和巨河狸，澳大利亚的袋熊和袋狮……这些已灭绝的大型动物都是这种可悲的发展模式的牺牲品。非洲象在地球存在了六千万年，它们能否逃过这一劫呢？

Early human history often follows a sad pattern. Humans arrive in new lands and learn how to hunt the local wildlife for food. Large, plodding megafauna – America’s mastodons and giant beavers, Australia’s two-ton wombats and marsupial lions – tend to disappear first. The African elephant, which has roamed the earth for 60 million years, has so far bucked this trend.

历史是否会重演，人类是否会再从地球上抹去一个大型物种，还要看生态文明发展与社会发展能否和谐共进。

Whether history repeats itself and humans wipe out yet another of the world’s big beasts will depend greatly on how well ecological civilization is married to its development.