So many of us who care about sustainable development and the livelihood of local people do so for deeply personal reasons.
很多人關注永續發展 以及當地人民的生計, 是出於非常個人的理由。
I grew up in Cameroon, a country of enchanting beauty and rich biodiversity, but plagued by poor governance, environmental destruction, and poverty. As a child, like we see with most children in sub-Saharan Africa today, I regularly suffered from malaria. To this day, more than one million people die from malaria every year, mostly children under the age of five, with 90 percent occurring in sub-Saharan Africa.
我在喀麥隆長大, 那是個迷人美麗、物種豐富的國家, 卻困於糟糕的治理、環境破壞、貧困。 小時候,就像現今非洲撒哈拉以南 大部分孩子一樣, 我常常遭受瘧疾折磨。 至今,每年有超過 一百萬人死於瘧疾, 大部分是五歲以下的孩子, 90% 的病例都發生在撒哈拉以南非洲。
When I was 18, I left Cameroon in search of better educational opportunities. At the time, there was just one university in Cameroon, but Nigeria next door offered some opportunities for Cameroonians of English extraction to be trained in various fields. So I moved there, but practicing my trade, upon graduation as an ecologist in Nigeria, was an even bigger challenge. So I left the continent when I was offered a scholarship to Boston University for my PhD.
我十八歲時離開了喀麥隆, 去尋找更好的教育機會。 那時,在喀麥隆只有一所大學, 但鄰國奈及利亞, 給受過英語教育的喀麥隆人 提供接受不同領域訓練的機會。 所以我去了那裡。 但畢業之後,在奈及利亞 以生態學家的身份從事我的行業 卻是更大的挑戰。 所以當波士頓大學 提供博士學位的獎學金時, 我離開了非洲大陸。
It is disheartening to see that, with all our challenges, with all the talents, with all the skills we have in Africa as a continent, we tend to solve our problems by parachuting in experts from the West for short stays, exporting the best and brightest out of Africa, and treating Africa as a continent in perpetual need of handouts.
讓人沮喪的是,在面臨艱巨挑戰時, 儘管我們非洲大陸有人才、有技術。 但在解決自己的問題時, 我們卻傾向用空降到非洲 做短期停留的西方專家, 而把非洲最好、最聰明的人才 出口到其他國家, 然後把非洲視為是一塊 永遠需要施捨的大陸。
After my training at Boston University, I joined a research team at the University of California's Institute of the Environment and Sustainability because of its reputation for groundbreaking research and the development of policies and programs that save the lives of millions of people the world over, including in the developing world. And it has been shown that for every skilled African that returns home, nine new jobs are created in the formal and informal sectors. So as part of our program, therefore, to build a sustainable Africa together, we are leading a multi-initiative to develop the Congo Basin Institute, a permanent base where Africans can work in partnership with international researchers, but working out their own solutions to their own problems. We are using our interdisciplinary approach to show how universities, NGOs and private business can partner in international development. So instead of parachuting in experts from the West for short stays, we are building a permanent presence in Africa, a one-stop shop for logistics, housing and development of collaborative projects between Africans and international researchers.
我在波士頓大學畢業之後, 我加入的研究團隊隸屬於 加州大學環境及永續研究所。 因為它在開創性研究 以及政策和專案的開發上享有盛名, 並拯救了全世界數百萬的人, 包括發展中國家。 目前已知的是, 每當一個有技能的非洲人返鄉, 平均就會創造出 九個正式和非正式的工作。 因此,我們專案的一部分 是要建立一個永續的非洲, 我們發起了一個多重計畫, 要開發剛果盆地學院, 它是個永久的基地。 非洲人可在這裡和國際研究者合作 自行解決本地的問題。 我們用自己的跨學科方法 來展現大學、非政府組織 以及私人企業 如何共同進行國際開發。 所以,與其讓來自西方的專家 空降之後短暫停留, 如今我們建立在非洲的會永久存在, 提供一站式服務,包括物流、住房, 以及非洲與國際學者的合作項目的發展。
So this has allowed students like Michel to receive high-quality training in Africa. Michel is currently working in our labs to investigate the effects of climate change on insects, for his PhD, and has already secured his post-doctorate fellowship that will enable him to stay on the continent. Also through our local help program, Dr. Gbenga Abiodun, a young Nigerian scientist, can work as a post-doctoral fellow with the Foundation for Professional Development in the University of Western Cape in South Africa and the University of California at the same time, investigating the effects of climate variability and change on malaria transmission in Africa. Indeed, Gbenga is currently developing models that will be used as an early warning system to predict malaria transmission in Africa.
這讓像米歇爾這樣的學生 能在非洲接受高品質的教育。 米歇爾目前在我們的實驗室工作, 探究氣候變遷對於昆蟲的影響, 這是他的博士論文, 且他已經得而了他的 博士後研究員資格, 讓他能夠繼續留在非洲大陸。 此外,透過我們的當地協助計畫, 班加艾比歐登博士, 一位年輕的奈及利亞科學家, 能夠以後博士研究員的身份, 為南非的西開普大學的 專業發展基金會工作, 同時也在加州大學研究, 研究氣候變遷對非洲瘧疾傳染的影響。 的確,班加目前正開發的模型 將被用來預警非洲的瘧疾傳染。
So rather than exporting our best and brightest out of Africa, we are nurturing and supporting local talent in Africa. For example, like me, Dr. Eric Fokam was trained in the US. He returned home to Cameroon, but couldn't secure the necessary grants, and he found it incredibly challenging to practice and learn the science he knew he could. So when I met Eric, he was on the verge of returning to the US. But we convinced him to start collaborating with the Congo Basin Institute. Today, his lab in Buea has over half a dozen collaborative grants with researchers from the US and Europe supporting 14 graduate students, nine of them women, all carrying out groundbreaking research understanding biodiversity under climate change, human health and nutrition.
所以,我們不再把非洲最好、 最聰明的人才出口到其他國家, 而是在非洲培養和支持當地的人才。 以我為例, 艾瑞克佛康博士是在美國受教育的。 他回到家鄉喀麥隆工作, 但卻缺少必要的科研資助。 他發現在這種情況下, 儘管自己有能力進行科研和學習, 但現實卻難於登天。 當我遇到艾瑞克時 他已經打算要回美國了。 但我們說服他 與剛果盆地學院展開合作。 現今他在布埃亞的實驗室 有超過六項經費合作的計畫 與美國和歐洲的研究者一起進行, 資助十四名研究生, 其中九名是女性。 他們全都在進行開創性的研究, 探究在氣候變遷下的生物多樣性、 人類健康,以及營養。
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So rather than buy into the ideas of Africa taking handouts, we are using our interdisciplinary approach to empower Africans to find their own solutions. Right now, we are working with local communities and students, a US entrepreneur, scientists from the US and Africa to find a way to sustainably grow ebony, the iconic African hardwood. Ebonies, like most African hardwood, are exploited for timber, but we know very little about their ecology, what disperses them, how they survive in our forest 80 to 200 years. This is Arvin, a young PhD student working in our labs, conducting what is turning out to be some cutting-edge tissue culture work. Arvin is holding in her hands the first ebony tree that was produced entirely from tissues. This is unique in Africa. We can now show that you can produce African timber from different plant tissues -- leaves, stems, roots -- in addition from generating them from seeds, which is a very difficult task.
所以,不用再持有 非洲需要施捨的想法, 我們用我們的跨學科方法, 讓非洲人也有能力 找到自己的解決方案。 現在,我們在和當地社區及學生、 一位美國企業家, 及來自美國和非洲的科學家合作, 試圖找出永續的方法來種植 黑檀木,非洲的代表性硬木。 黑檀木和大部分的非洲硬木一樣, 被拿來當木材使用, 但我們不是很了解它們的生態特性。 它們是如何散播的, 以及它們如何在我們的森林中 生存 80 到 200 年。 這位是雅文, 我們的實驗室一位年輕的博士生。 正在進行最先進的組織培養研究。 在雅文手中的 是第一株完全從組織 培育出來的黑檀木。 這在非洲是獨一無二的。 現在我們能夠從不同的植物組織 培育出非洲的樹木, 用葉、莖、根, 而不只是從種子來培育。 這是個非常艱難的任務。
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So other students will take the varieties of ebony which Arvin identifies in our lab, graft them to produce saplings, and work with local communities to co-produce ebony with local fruit tree species in their various farms using our own tree farm approach, whereby we invite all the farmers to choose their own tree species they want in their farms. So in addition to the ebony, the species which the farmers choose themselves will be produced using our modern techniques and incorporated into their land-use systems, so that they start benefiting from these products while waiting for the ebony to mature.
其他的學生將用雅文在我們實驗室 所鑒定的黑檀木品種 接枝成樹苗, 並與當地社區合作 生產黑檀木和當地種類的水果, 種在各地的農場裡, 用我們自己的種樹農法。 我們藉此邀請所有的農夫, 選擇他們想種在自己農場的樹種。 所以,除了黑檀木, 農夫們自己選擇樹種, 也能用我們的現代技術培育, 整合到他們的土地使用系統中, 這樣他們就能開始從這些產物獲利, 同時等候黑檀木成熟。
Today we are planting 15,000 ebony trees in Cameroon, and for the first time, ebony won't be harvested from the middle of a pristine forest. This is the model for our African hardwoods, and we are extending this to include sapele and bubinga, other highly prized hardwoods.
現今,我們在喀麥隆種植了 一萬五千株黑檀木。 這是頭一回 黑檀木不是從原始森林中取得的。 這是為我們的 非洲硬木所做的模型, 我們延伸模型, 納入薩佩萊木和古夷蘇木都, 這些都是高價格的硬木。
So if these examples existed when I was 18, I would never have left, but because of initiatives by the Congo Basin Institute, I am coming back, but I'm not coming back alone. I'm bringing with me Western scientists, entrepreneurs and students, the best science from the best universities in the world, to work and to live in Africa.
如果我十八歲時已有這些例子, 我就不會離開非洲了, 但因為剛果盆地學院的計畫, 我回來了。 但我並非獨自歸來, 我還帶著西方的科學家、 企業家和學生, 以及世界頂尖大學的頂尖科研成果, 來非洲工作和居住。
But we all need to scale up this local, powerful and empowering approach. So far we have half a dozen universities and NGOs as partners. We are planning to build a green facility that will expand on our existing laboratory space and add more housing and conference facilities to promote a long-term disciplinary approach. I want it to offer more opportunities to young African scholars, and would scale it up by leveraging the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture's existing network of 17 research stations across sub-Saharan Africa.
我們得再發揚光大 這本土、強大又賦能的方法。 目前,我們的合作夥伴包括 六間大學和非政府組織。 我們打算要建立一間綠色機構, 從我們既有的實驗室空間來擴充, 再加上更多的住房以及會議設施, 來推動長期的學科研究。 我希望它能給年輕非洲學者 提供更多機會, 並通過在撒哈拉以南非洲 擁有十七個研究站的 國際熱帶農業研究所的 既存網路擴大規模。
The tables are starting to turn ... and I hope they keep turning, to reach several African nations like Côte d'Ivoire, Tanzania and Senegal, among the top fastest growing economies that can attract several opportunities for private-sector investment. We want to give more opportunities to African scholars, and I long to see a day when the most intelligent Africans will stay on this continent and receive high-quality education through initiatives like the Congo Basin Institute, and when that happens, Africa will be on the way to solving Africa's problems. And in 50 years, I hope someone will be giving a TED Talk on how to stop the brain drain of Westerners leaving your homes to work and live in Africa.
形勢開始被翻轉了, 我希望能繼續翻轉下去。 希望能延伸到數個非洲國家, 像是象牙海岸、 坦尚尼亞,與塞內加爾, 這些都是最快速成長的經濟體, 能吸引不少私營部門投資的機會。 我們希望能給非洲學者更多機會, 我渴望能看見有一天 最聰明的非洲人會待在這塊大陸上, 並能透過像剛果盆地學院這類計畫, 接受到高品質的教育, 當這點能夠實現時, 非洲將會朝向解決非洲 自身問題的方向邁進。 我希望五十年後 會有人來 TED 演講, 談如何阻止西方人 離開家鄉的人才外流, 到非洲工作並居住。
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Thank you.
謝謝你們。
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