来源：《卫报》
原文刊登日期：2021年11月19日
本文适合2023考生
The news that Derby has approved what promises to be Britain’s largest urban rewilding project so far is very welcome. The 320-hectare Allestree Park will, subject to detailed consultation, be given over to a range of habitats and perhaps even see the reintroduction of species such as dormice and red kites.
德比郡已经批准了英国迄今为止最大的城市再野化项目，这一消息非常受欢迎。320公顷的阿莱斯特里公园将在进行详细咨询后，移交给一系列栖息地，甚至可能重新引入睡鼠和红鸢等物种。
Urban rewilding – which is not the same as trimmed green space – can take many forms. They range from aiming to stem the rate of species loss by incorporating swift and sparrow boxes into new builds to designating areas the size of Allestree Park.
城市再野化与修剪整齐的绿地不同，可以采取多种形式。小到通过在新建筑中安装雨燕和麻雀箱来阻止物种流失的速度，大到指定阿莱斯特里公园大小的区域。
In fact, some of the most successful projects have been accidental. Canvey Wick, a derelict area of the Thames mouth, reverted to a “brownfield rainforest” that is now home to nearly 2,000 invertebrate species, including at least three previously thought to be extinct. Rivers make natural wildlife corridors, working their way through cities, then linking them to countryside – to the uplands where they begin and lowlands where they end. The River Wandle, which in the 19th century supported up to 90 factories, was described as “the hardest worked river for its size in the world”. Now it is full of wildlife, and the local authorities have considered introducing beavers.
事实上，一些最成功的项目都是偶然的。Canvey-Wick，一个泰晤士河口的废弃地区，现在变成了一个“棕地雨林”，现在是近2000种无脊椎动物的家园，包括至少三种以前认为已经灭绝的物种。河流形成了自然的野生动物走廊，穿过城市，然后将城市与乡村连接起来——河流从高地开始，到低地结束。温德尔河在19世纪支撑了多达90家工厂，被描述为“世界上最艰苦工作的河流”。现在这里到处都是野生动物，当地政府还考虑引进海狸。
Urban rewilding, in itself, won’t make a massive difference to global heating. But giving nature freer rein in parts of towns and cities could help to mitigate flooding, and to slow species loss. Importantly, about 83% of us live on the portion of the UK’s land that is classed as urbanised, and access to nature has also been shown to improve psychological wellbeing. One recent Canadian study found that adding just 10 trees to a city block had a big effect on people’s perceptions of their health; research is beginning to find that increasing biodiversity can heighten that impact.
城市再野化本身不会对缓解全球变暖产生什么作用。但是，在城镇和城市的部分地区，让大自然更自由地发挥作用，可以帮助缓解洪水，并减缓物种的灭绝。重要的是，大约83%的英国人生活在被列为城市化的土地上，亲近自然也被证明可以改善心理健康。加拿大最近的一项研究发现，在一个城市街区增加10棵树，就会对人们对自己健康的看法产生很大影响；研究开始发现，增加生物多样性可以增强这种影响。
The pressure for development means that there will always be tension with commercial interests: the Swanscombe Peninsula in Kent, another self-wilded brownfield site that is home to 1,992 species, including 250 of conservation concern, is now designated as the London Resort.
发展的压力意味着与商业利益的关系总是紧张的：肯特的斯旺斯孔贝半岛，另一个拥有1992种物种（包括250种受保护物种）的自我野化的棕色地带，现在被指定为伦敦度假胜地。
In these mid-pandemic, post-Brexit times, the financial arguments can be hardest to counter for cash-strapped councils, but the evidence that “we need nature as much as it needs us”, in the words of Jo Smith of the Derbyshire Wildlife Trust, is surely overwhelming. With a bit of imagination, flexibility and commitment, many more urban areas could follow Derby’s example.
在疫情中期、英国脱欧后的时代，财政上的论据对于资金紧张的地方政府来说可能是最难反驳的，但用德比郡野生动物信托基金的乔·史密斯的话来说，“我们需要自然，就像自然需要我们一样”的证据肯定是压倒性的。只要有一点想象力、灵活性和承诺，更多的城市地区就可以效仿德比郡的例子。