时代周刊:散落在太平洋深处的黑矿石--解锁气候密码(4)（在线收听）

The region may look lifeless, but it is home to thousands of species of tiny invertebrates fundamental to the ocean food web, says deep-ocean marine biologist Diva Amon, whose work is focused on the CCZ.

深海海洋生物学家迪瓦·阿蒙(Diva Amon)专注于研究CCZ，她说，该地区可能看起来没有生命，但它是数千种微小无脊椎动物的家园，这些动物是海洋食物链的基础。

The nodules themselves host microbial life forms that scientists are just starting to investigate— they play an important but poorly understood role in the nodules’ formation that may be vital for a wider comprehension of how ocean processes work.

结核本身承载着科学家们刚刚开始研究的微生物生命形式——它们在结核的形成中发挥着重要但人们知之甚少的作用，这可能对更广泛地理解海洋的工作原理至关重要。

Removing them would be akin to yanking a couple of wires out of the back of your computer just because you don’t know what they’re for.

去掉它们就像因为你不知道是干什么用的，就从电脑后面拔下几根电线一样。

“A lot of the life in the CCZ is very small, but that doesn’t mean it’s unimportant,” says Amon. “Think about our world without insects. It would collapse.”

阿蒙说道:“CCZ中的许多生命都非常渺小，但这并不意味着他们不重要。想想我们的世界没有了昆虫。它会崩溃的。”

The little data available suggests that deep-sea mining could have long-term and potentially devastating impacts on marine life.

现有的少量数据表明，深海采矿可能对海洋生物产生长期和潜在的毁灭性影响。

For example, in 1989, scientists simulated deep-sea mining in an area similar to the CCZ, and in those simulations, marine life never recovered, according to a recent study published in the journal Scientific Reports.

例如，根据最近发表在《科学报告》(scientific Reports)杂志上的一项研究，1989年，科学家们在一个类似于CCZ的区域模拟了深海采矿，在这些模拟中，海洋生物从未恢复。

Plough tracks remain etched on the seafl oor 30 years later, while populations of sponges, soft corals and sea anemones have yet to return.

30年后的今天，当初的犁形印迹仍然蚀刻在海床上，而海绵动物、软珊瑚和海葵的数量还没有恢复。

If the results of the experiment were extrapolated to the CCZ, the authors concluded, “the impacts of polymetallic-nodule mining there may be greater than expected and could potentially lead to an irreversible loss of some ecosystem functions, especially in directly disturbed areas.”

如果将实验结果外推到CCZ，作者总结道，“那里多金属结核开采的影响可能比预期的更大，可能导致某些生态系统功能不可逆转的丧失，特别是在直接受到干扰的地区。”

That said, it’s a hard call, says Amon.

也就是说，这是一个艰难的决定，阿蒙说。

“We want to transition to a green economy. But should that mean destroying a potentially huge part of the ocean? I don’t know.”

“我们希望向绿色经济转型。但这是否意味着要摧毁一大片潜在的海洋呢? 我不知道。”

In June, more THAN 400 marine scientists and policy experts from 44 countries signed a petition stating that the ISA should not make any decisions about deep-sea mining until scientists have a better understanding of what is at stake and all possible risks are understood.

今年6月，来自44个国家的400多名海洋科学家和政策专家签署了一份请愿书，声明在科学家更好地了解什么会有危险以及所有可能的风险之前，ISA不应该对深海采矿做出任何决定。

The ISA requires permit holders to undertake three years of environmentalimpact assessments before it will grant a commercial license, but given the slow-moving nature of the deep sea, scientists say it would be impossible to understand the impacts in such a short time.

ISA要求许可证持有人在颁发商业许可证之前进行三年的环境影响评估，但考虑到深海的缓慢移动特性，科学家们表示，在如此短的时间内了解其影响是不可能的。

Nor is it clear on what grounds, exactly, the ISA will evaluate the results of such studies.

目前也不清楚ISA会基于什么立场来评估这些研究的结果。