洪都拉斯鸟类（保护洪都拉斯的国鸟有新招）

THE MOSQUITO COAST of eastern Honduras is not notably infested with mosquitoes, but swarms with cocaine traffickers. They use the sparsely populated region as a trans-shipment point for drugs headed for the United States. (The area gets its name from the Miskito people, descendants of a mix of shipwrecked slaves, English seafarers and indigenous people.)

洪都拉斯东部的蚊子海岸并不是因蚊虫奇多而闻名，而是由于可卡因贩毒者无处不在。他们利用人口稀少的地区作为进入美国的毒品转运点。（该地区因米斯基托人而得名，米斯基托人是在海上遇难的奴隶，英国海员和土着人民的混血后代。）

The region holds another treasure coveted by rich foreigners. To spot it, just look up. Splodges of red, blue and gold amidst the trees in Mabita, a Miskito hamlet four hours’ drive from the coast, are guaras—large, loud parrots known to English-speakers as scarlet macaws. The ancient Mayans thought they flew between Earth and the heavens and honoured them with statues. They are Honduras’s national bird.

该地区还有一个宝藏，为国外富人们梦寐以求。若想发现它，只需抬头看就行了。玛毕塔，一座距离海岸4个小时车程的米斯基托小村庄，在树木之间闪耀着红色、蓝色和金色的斑点，那就是是guaras— 一种大型的，叫声洪亮的鹦鹉，名叫“绯红金刚鹦鹉”。古代玛雅人认为，它们在地球和天空之间飞行，并立下纪念雕像。它们还是洪都拉斯的国鸟。

Once common across Central America, they are extinct in El Salvador and rare elsewhere in the region. The 500 or so on the Mosquito Coast are the last big population, says Marlene Arias of the Forest Conservation Institute, a Honduran government agency. They are under threat.

绯红金刚鹦鹉曾在中美洲随处可见，如今却在萨尔瓦多灭绝，在中南美洲其他地方也是罕见。洪都拉斯的政府机构森林保护研究所的Marlene Arias称，蚊子海岸目前仅存的500多只鹦鹉，是最后一个规模较大的聚居地。这些鸟儿处于濒危境地。

Poachers, many from nearby Jamaica, climb the pine trees where the guaras nest and pinch the chicks before they learn to fly. Fanciers in China, Australia and the Middle East buy them online for up to $6,000. In 2014 not one newborn guara reached adulthood in its native habitat.

从邻国牙买加来的偷猎者爬上鹦鹉筑巢的松树，捉住还没学会飞行的幼雏。在网上，中国、澳大利亚和中东的鹦鹉爱好者愿以高达6000美元的价格收购。2014年，没有一只新生鹦鹉在原有栖息地安全长大。

Four years earlier, LoraKim Joyner of One Earth Conservation, an American parrot-conservation group, had enlisted the residents of Mabita, which consists of a score of wooden huts, to patrol the forest. At first little happened. That changed in 2015 when the group started paying villagers 200 lempiras ($8) a day. They began camping in the forest to chase poachers away. Last year 103 nests were left undisturbed in the area, says Ms Joyner. About 150 baby guaras survived.

四年前，美国的鹦鹉保护组织“同一个地球保护区”（One Earth Conservation）的LoraKim Joyner招募了玛毕塔当地的居民在森林中巡逻，分住在二十几个木屋里。起初没有什么改变。不过，在2015年情况发生了变化，该组织开始每天向村民支付200伦皮兰（8美元）。居民们开始在森林里露营，追捕偷猎者。Joyner表示，去年在该地区的103个巢穴没有遭受干扰。大约150只鹦鹉幼雏幸免于难。

Once scarcely seen, now they are everywhere, says Anaide Pántin López, a resident of Mabita who manages the patrollers. This has disadvantages. The birds devour the wild mangoes and guavas that the villagers once enjoyed, says Ms Pántin, cradling a piglet on her porch. “In fruit season, the humans don’t taste anything,” she grumbles.

玛毕塔地区的居民，同时也是巡逻队的管理人员的Anaide Pántin López称，曾经几乎看不到鹦鹉，现在遍地都是了。不过，这也带来不好的影响。Pántin站在门廊上，抱着小猪仔抱怨道：“这些鹦鹉会食用野生芒果和番石榴，这些曾是村民们喜爱的食物。但在结果季节，我们什么也吃不到。”

But there are compensations. The money from patrolling has seeded a cash economy in Mabita. The inhabitants have used it to build a small stone church. Five other villages in the area have joined the scheme, which is financed by the United States Fish and Wildlife Service. And the folk of the Mosquito Coast seem to get as much pleasure from watching guaras as those who pay to have them stolen from their habitat. “It is so beautiful to see them flying in the morning,” says Ms Pántin López.

不过，这也得到了补偿。巡逻的资金促进了马比塔商品经济的发展。居民们用这笔钱建造了一座石头教堂。该地区还有五个村庄也加入该项目，并获得了美国鱼类和野生动物管理局的资助。蚊子海岸的民众能从观赏鹦鹉中获得的乐趣，与偷猎行为的买家在他们居住地偷猎而付出的报酬相差无几。Pántin López说： “一大早就看到鹦鹉飞行，真是太美好了。”

编译：方涵

编辑：翻吧君

来源：经济学人（2019.01.10）

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