Message on World Wildlife Day

世界野生动植物日致辞

On World Wildlife Day, we focus on the important role the planet's wild animals and plants play in our cultures and the sustainability of our societies. This year, the spotlight falls on the world's big cats. These magnificent predators, which include species such as cheetahs, jaguars, leopards, lions, pumas, snow leopards and tigers, are found from Africa to Asia and the Americas.

每逢世界野生动植物日，我们都会聚焦审视地球上野生动植物在我们各个文化中、在各个社会的可持续性方面所发挥的重要作用。今年我们的关注焦点是世界上的大型猫科动物。这些令人称叹的肉食动物分布于非洲、亚洲以及南北美洲，包括猎豹、美洲豹、豹、雪豹、狮、美洲狮和虎等物种。

These charismatic creatures are universally revered for their grace and power, yet they are increasingly in danger of extinction. Big cats have undergone a massive decline in recent times. Just over a century ago, there were as many as 100,000 wild tigers living in Asia. Today, fewer than 4,000 remain. They have lost 96 per cent of their historic range.

这些动物极具魅力，它们英俊强健，广受人们喜爱，可它们却日益面临灭绝的危险。近些年来，大型猫科动物数量大幅下降。仅在一个多世纪前，亚洲尚有多达10万只野生虎。如今，仅存不到4000只，在其历史上曾经踏足的地域内有96%的地方如今已看不到它们的踪影。

The story is similar for all the big cats. They are collectively under threat from habitat loss, climate change, poaching, illicit trafficking, and human-wildlife conflict. We are the cause of their decline, so we can also be their salvation.

所有大型猫科动物境遇相似，共同面临栖息地丧失、气候变化、偷猎、非法贩运以及人类与野生动植物之争等威胁。既然是我们人类导致了这些动物的衰退，我们就应该能够拯救它们。

The Sustainable Development Goals include specific targets to end the poaching and illegal trafficking of protected species of wild fauna and flora. Last year, United Nations Member States adopted the third in a series of ground-breaking resolutions to tackle this major cause of wildlife decline, and governments, civil society and the private sector actors around the globe are combining to translate this resolve into action.

可持续发展目标中列有终止偷猎和非法贩卖受保护的野生动植物物种的具体目标。去年，联合国会员国通过了第三项突破性的决议，旨在应对导致野生动植物衰退的这一主要原因。各国政府、民间社会和私营部门行为体也正在将这一决心转化为行动。

Ultimately, the solution to saving big cats and other threatened and endangered species is conservation policy based on sound science and the rule of law. It must also give full consideration to the needs of local people. When local communities and economies benefit from wildlife conservation, strategies are much more likely to succeed.

要拯救大型猫科动物及其他受威胁和濒危物种，归根结底是必须制定实施以扎实科学和法治为基础的保护政策。而且也必须充分考虑地方人民的需要。地方社区和经济体若能受益于野生动植物保护，有关战略才更有可能取得成功。

Big cats are keystone species. Protecting them also protects the vast landscapes they inhabit and the wide variety of life they harbour. It is a gateway to protecting entire ecosystems that are crucial to our planet's health.

大型猫科动物是关键物种。保护它们即是保护其栖息的广阔自然环境及其中的丰富多样生物。要保护对我们地球健康至关重要的整个生态系统，这是一个切入口。

Many brave park rangers and law enforcement officers are fighting wildlife crimes in the field, putting their lives at risk to protect our most threatened species. But wildlife conservation is a shared responsibility. On World Wildlife Day, I call on people around the world to help raise awareness and to take personal action to help ensure the survival of the world's big cats and all its precious and fragile biological diversity.

有许许多多勇敢的公园看护员和执法人员正在实地打击偷猎和贩运野生动植物犯罪活动，他们冒着生命危险保护着这些受威胁最严重的物种。然而，保护野生动植物，人人有责。值此世界野生动植物日之际，我呼吁世界各地人民为提高认识助一臂之力，并从自己做起，行动起来，帮助确保世界大型猫科动物及其珍贵而脆弱的生物多样性能够生生不息。