Un'intervista a un'ecologa del ripristino ambientale

Atteggiamento, opinione e inferenza

1. c) That restoration consists mainly of plantingDice che nei primi quattro anni non si è quasi piantato nulla; si è soprattutto rimosso il drenaggio.
2. a) Seeds that had been dormant in the soil began to growDice che i semi giacevano dormienti da decenni e sono germogliati quando il terreno è tornato bagnato.
3. d) Fertiliser helped a few aggressive reeds crowd out other plantsIl fertilizzante favoriva canne aggressive, che soffocavano altre specie.
4. b) They found the strips also protected their own soilDice che nessuno è stato obbligato e che la maggior parte ha accettato quando ha visto che la fascia riduceva la perdita di suolo nei propri campi.
5. c) They are useful but can give a misleading impressionDice che l'aumento delle specie è reale, ma gli uccelli arrivano in volo da altrove, quindi possono trarre in inganno.
6. a) It persuaded doubters more effectively than written evidenceIl villaggio è rimasto asciutto, e questo ha convinto gli scettici più di qualsiasi relazione.
7. d) It made local people feel the project belonged to themQuando le famiglie hanno potuto vedere gli aironi, il progetto è diventato loro anziché suo.
8. b) Not collecting local people's knowledge earlierDice che hanno raccolto dati sulle piante ma quasi nessuno su ciò che ricordavano gli abitanti, e una parte del sapere è andata perduta.

Ascoltare i dettagli

1. eleven / 11Il conduttore dice che lei ha dedicato undici anni al progetto.
2. four / 4Dice che nei primi quattro anni non si è quasi piantato nulla.
3. forty-three / forty three / 43Dice che le specie di uccelli sono passate da diciannove a quarantatré.
4. two / 2Dice che due inverni fa la pioggia forte ha fatto straripare il fiume.
5. heronsDice che le famiglie possono venire a guardare gli aironi di persona.
6. grassLa fascia era di erba incolta lungo le sponde del ruscello.

Presenter: My guest today is Marisol Teixeira, a restoration ecologist who has spent eleven years bringing a drained river marsh back to life. Marisol, when people hear the word restoration, they picture planting. Is that the whole story?

Marisol: Far from it. In fact, our first four years involved hardly any planting at all. What we did was remove things. We blocked the drainage ditches and let the water return. Seeds had been lying dormant in the soil for decades, and once the ground was wet again, plants that nobody had seen since my grandmother's time simply reappeared.

Presenter: That sounds almost too easy.

Marisol: It would have been, had the water been clean. But the farmland upstream was washing fertiliser into the marsh, and that favoured a few aggressive reeds, which crowded out everything else. So we negotiated with the farmers to leave a strip of rough grass along the stream banks. Nobody was forced, and most agreed once they saw that the strip also reduced soil loss from their own fields.

Presenter: How do you know the project has worked? What counts as success?

Marisol: That's the hardest question, and I'd distrust anyone who gives a quick answer. We count bird species, which have risen from nineteen to forty-three, but birds can be misleading, because they fly in from elsewhere. I'm more reassured by the insects and the water quality, which respond to what's happening on the spot. And honestly, the real test is whether it still works after a flood.

Presenter: And has it been tested?

Marisol: Two winters ago, heavy rain pushed the river over its banks. The marsh absorbed so much of the water that the village downstream stayed dry, which, frankly, did more to win over the sceptics than any report I could have written.

Presenter: Were there people who opposed it?

Marisol: Plenty, at first. Some saw it as land going to waste. What changed minds wasn't an argument. It was the walking path. Once families could come and watch herons for themselves, the project stopped being mine and became theirs.

Presenter: If you could do it again, what would you change?

Marisol: I'd have started recording people's memories sooner. We kept careful data on plants, but almost none on what local people remembered of the old marsh, and some of the best guidance came from an elderly neighbour who recalled where the water used to pool. A great deal of knowledge was lost simply because we didn't think to ask.