Christine's life

【Earth From Above】            　          2009.5.5

從高空看地球

An aerial portrait of our planet - towards sustainable development,

每張我們地球陸地面上的空拍圖，都關於現今人類的永續發展。

by Yann Arthus-Bertrand

揚.阿爾蒂斯-貝特朗   

【sustainable development】

【永續發展】

            也就是說，在滿足於人類現今開發的需求下，

            並同時能保存及維護自然資源環境。這樣一來

            自然資源不僅能符合現今經濟產業的需求，也

            能不危害到後代子孫們的生活環境。

    Heart in Voh, New Caledonia, France

    A mangrove swamp is an amphibious tree formation common to muddy tropical coastlines

    with fluctuating tides. It consists of various halophytes (plants that can develop in a saline

    environment) and a predominance of mangroves. These swamps are found on four continents,

    covering a total area of 65,000 sq. miles (170,000 km2), or nearly 25% of the world's coastal

    areas. This represents only half of the original range, because these fragile swamps hae been

    continually reduced by the overexploitation of reasources, agricultural and urban expansion,

    and pollution. The mangrove remains, however, as indispensable to sea fauna and to the

    equilibrium of the shorelines as it is to the local exconomy. New Caledonia, a group of Pacific

    islands covering 7,000 sq. miles (18,575 km2), has 80 sq, miles ( 200 km2) of a fairly low (25 - 33

    feet, or 8 -10 m ) but very denxe mangrove swamp, primaily on the west coast of the largest island,

    Grande Terre. At certain spots in the interior that are not reached by seawater except at hight tides,

    vegetation gives way to bare, oversalted stretches called "tannes", such as this one near the city of

     Voh, where nature has carved this clearing in the form of a heart.

  **上面這段英文來自此明信片背面上的圖片介紹**

上面那張非常浪漫的天然愛心高空照，是法國

      在大洋洲西南部的一個境外領地 - 新喀里多尼

        亞島，位在南回歸線附近。 此島的北省有座叫  

        Voh 的小鎮，就是天然愛心紅樹林沼澤高空照

        的所在地。

     Bora Bora, Polynesia, France

     An overseas French territory since 1946, the archielago of the leeward islands in Polynesia

     includes this 38 km2 island whose vernacular name means  "first born".  Made up of the

     emerged portion of the crater of a 7 million years old volcano, it is surrounded by a coral    

     barrier reef upon which have developed small corral island with a vegetal cover chiefly

     constituted of coconut trees. The lagoon's only opening to the sea is Teavanni Pass, deep

     enough to allow cargo and warships in. (This island served as an American military base

     from 1942-1946.) In all, the coral formations of the planet cover only 284,000 km2 of ocean

     floor and less than 0.06% of the Earth's surface, but they offer remarkable biodiversity with

     some 100,000 plant and animal species inventoried. With 60% of coral reefs under  threat,

      thesituation is serious - but not desperate. Against devastation resulting from pollution, over     

      fishing and rising temperature, it has been observed that regenerated coral surfaces are on

      the increase.

     **上面這段英文來自此明信片背面上的圖片介紹**

    法屬波利尼西亞位在南太平洋上。 從1842年開始，為法國的保護領地；

        從1946年開始，為法國的境外領地；從2004年開始，為法國的海外屬國  

        (相當於自治區)。