Old people in Thiengoly say they can remember when there were so many trees that you couldn’t see the sky. Now, miles of reddish-brown sand surround this village in northwestern Senegal, dotted with occasional bushes and trees. Dried animal dung is scattered everywhere, but hardly any dried grass is.

　　Overgrazing and climate change are the major causes of the Sahara’s advance, said Gilles Boetsch, an anthropologist who directs a team of French scientists working with Senegalese researchers in the region.“The local Peul people are herders, often nomadic. But the pressure of the herds on the land has become too great,” Mr. Boetsch said in an interview. “The vegetation can’t regenerate itself.”

　　Since 2008, however, Senegal has been fighting back against the encroaching desert. Each year it has planted some two million seedling trees along a 545-kilometer, or 340-mile, ribbon of land that is the country’s segment of a major pan-African regeneration project, the Great Green Wall.First proposed in 2005, the program links Senegal and 10 other Saharan states in an alliance to plant a 15 kilometer-wide, 7,100-kilometer-long green belt to fend off the desert. While many countries have still to start on their sections of the barrier, Senegal has taken the lead, with the creation of a National Agency for the Great Green Wall.

　　“This semi-arid region is becoming less and less habitable. We want to make it possible for people to continue to live here,” Col. Pap Sarr, the agency’s technical director, said in an interview here. Colonel Sarr has forged working alliances between Senegalese researchers and the French team headed by Mr. Boetsch, in fields as varied as soil microbiology, ecology, medicine and anthropology. “In Senegal we hope to experiment with different ways of doing things that will benefit the other countries as they become more active,” the colonel said. Each year since 2008, from May to June, about 400 people are employed in eight nurseries, choosing and overseeing germination of seeds and tending the seedlings until they are ready for planting. In August, 1,000 people are mobilized to plant out rows of seedlings, about 2 million plants, allowing them a full two months of the rainy season to take root before the long, dry season sets in.

　　After their first dry season, the saplings look dead, brown twigs sticking out of holes in the ground, but 80 percent survive. Six years on, trees planted in 2008 are up to three meters, or 10 feet, tall. So far, 30,000 hectares, or about 75,000 acres, have been planted, including 4,000 hectares this summer.

　　There are already discernible impacts on the microclimate, said Jean-Luc Peiry, a physical geography professor at the Université Blaise Pascal in Clermont-Ferrand, France, who has placed 30 sensors to record temperatures in some planted parcels.“Preliminary results show that clumps of four to eight small trees can have an important impact on temperature,” Professor Peiry said in an interview. “The transpiration of the trees creates a microclimate that moderates daily temperature extremes.” “The trees also have an important role in slowing the soil erosion caused by the wind, reducing the dust, and acting like a large rough doormat, halting the sand-laden winds from the Sahara,” he added. Wildlife is responding to the changes. “Migratory birds are reappearing,” Mr. Boetsch said.

　　The project uses eight groundwater pumping stations built in 1954, before Senegal achieved its independence from France in 1960. The pumps fill giant basins that provide water for animals, tree nurseries and gardens where fruit and vegetables are grown.

　　答案：

　　司恩高利村的老人們常說(shuō)，他們記得曾經(jīng)該村周邊樹(shù)木多得遮天蔽日。如今，司恩高利這個(gè)塞內(nèi)加爾西北小村已被綿延數(shù)英里的紅棕色沙子包圍，沙子上零星散布著灌木叢和樹(shù)叢。干結(jié)的動(dòng)物糞便到處都是，但干枯的草卻很難到處可見(jiàn)。

　　過(guò)度放牧和氣候變化是導(dǎo)致撒哈拉沙漠?dāng)U張的主要原因，人類學(xué)家吉勒思·波特舍這樣說(shuō)道，他帶領(lǐng)的一隊(duì)法國(guó)科學(xué)家正和塞內(nèi)加爾研究員一道在此開(kāi)展研究工作。“當(dāng)?shù)氐念H耳族人以放牧為生，且常常是流動(dòng)放牧。但是畜群對(duì)草地帶來(lái)的壓力太大以致于植被無(wú)法復(fù)生，”波特舍先生在一次采訪中說(shuō)道。

　　不過(guò)，塞內(nèi)加爾自 2008 年起就一直抗擊不斷擴(kuò)張的沙漠的侵襲。每年，該國(guó)將約 200 萬(wàn)株樹(shù)苗沿 545 千米(約 340 英里)長(zhǎng)的狹長(zhǎng)地帶栽種，這塊狹長(zhǎng)地帶是“綠色長(zhǎng)城”這一泛非洲植被再生工程在塞內(nèi)加爾境內(nèi)的部分。“綠色長(zhǎng)城”這一工程在 2005 年被提出，它將塞內(nèi)加爾和其他 10 個(gè)地處撒哈拉的國(guó)家聯(lián)接成同盟來(lái)通過(guò)植樹(shù)創(chuàng)建一個(gè) 15 千米寬、7100 千米長(zhǎng)的綠化帶，以此阻擋沙漠的擴(kuò)張。隨著主管其境內(nèi)的“綠色長(zhǎng)城”工程的一個(gè)國(guó)家級(jí)機(jī)構(gòu)的成立，塞內(nèi)加爾在植樹(shù)治沙方面已經(jīng)走在了前列，而許多國(guó)家甚至都還沒(méi)有著手建設(shè)它們境內(nèi)的綠化帶屏障。

　　“這個(gè)半干燥地區(qū)正變得越來(lái)越不適宜居住。我們想讓人們還能夠繼續(xù)在此居住，”帕薩上校在一次采訪中說(shuō)道，他是這個(gè)新成立的機(jī)構(gòu)的技術(shù)主任。薩上校已促成塞內(nèi)加爾研究人員和波特舍領(lǐng)導(dǎo)的法國(guó)科學(xué)家團(tuán)隊(duì)在土壤微生物學(xué)、生態(tài)學(xué)、藥學(xué)和人類學(xué)方面組成研究聯(lián)盟。薩上校說(shuō)：“隨著其他國(guó)家變得更積極起來(lái)，我們希望塞內(nèi)加爾嘗試的不同治沙方式能讓這些國(guó)家受益”。自 2008 年起，每年 4 月到 6 月，約 400 名工人會(huì)受雇于 8 個(gè)苗圃室，他們要挑選種子、照看種子的發(fā)芽，然后修剪幼苗直到這些幼苗能用于載種。到了 8 月，1000 多人將被調(diào)動(dòng)來(lái)栽種一排排樹(shù)苗，約 200 萬(wàn)株，這就使得這些樹(shù)苗在漫長(zhǎng)而干燥的旱季到來(lái)前能有足足兩個(gè)月的雨季來(lái)扎根。

　　在經(jīng)歷了第一個(gè)旱季之后，這些小樹(shù)苗看上去都枯死了，只剩棕色的枝條從地上的洞中凸出來(lái)，但 80% 的樹(shù)苗都會(huì)存活。6 年之后，這些 2008 年栽下的樹(shù)苗已經(jīng)長(zhǎng)到了 3 米之高(約 10 英寸)。迄今已有 30000 公頃，約 75000 英畝的地帶已經(jīng)栽上了樹(shù)木，其中 4000 畝是今年夏天栽種的。

　　“植樹(shù)對(duì)微氣候的影響已經(jīng)顯現(xiàn)，”法國(guó)克萊蒙費(fèi)朗市布萊斯•帕斯卡大學(xué)物理地理學(xué)教授讓·呂克·派瑞說(shuō)道，他在一些已經(jīng)栽種了樹(shù)木的地帶放置了 30 個(gè)傳感器來(lái)記錄溫度變化�！俺醪降慕Y(jié)果顯示 4 至 8 棵樹(shù)組成的樹(shù)叢能對(duì)溫度產(chǎn)生重要影響，”派瑞教授在一次采訪中說(shuō)道�！皹�(shù)木體表的水分蒸發(fā)能創(chuàng)造一個(gè)微氣候，這個(gè)微氣候能降低每日溫度的上限�！薄巴瑫r(shí)，這些樹(shù)木在減輕大風(fēng)造成的土壤流失、減少沙塵以及起到粗糙的地墊作用方面功不可沒(méi)，從而阻斷從撒哈拉刮來(lái)的滿是沙子的大風(fēng)”他補(bǔ)充說(shuō)道。野生動(dòng)物因這些變化而改變了行為。波特舍先生說(shuō)：“遷徙的鳥(niǎo)類重現(xiàn)此地�！�

　　該工程所用的 8 個(gè)地下水泵站建于 1954 年，即在塞內(nèi)加爾 1960 年脫離法國(guó)統(tǒng)治取得獨(dú)立之前。這些水泵抽取地下水灌滿巨型蓄水盆，而這些蓄水盆為動(dòng)物、苗圃室和種植有果樹(shù)的花園供水。

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