第1段

Forests are one of the main elements of our natural heritage. The decline of Europe’s forests over the last decade and a half has led to an increasing awareness and understanding of the serious imbalances which threaten them. European countries are becoming increasingly concerned by major threats to European forests, threats which know no frontiers other than those of geography or climate: air pollution, soil deterioration, the increasing number of forest fires and sometimes even the mismanagement of our woodland and forest heritage. There has been a growing awareness of the need for countries to get together to co-ordinate their policies. In December 1990, Strasbourg hosted the first Ministerial Conference on the protection of Europe’s forests. The conference brought together 31 countries from both Western and Eastern Europe. The topics discussed included the co-ordinated study of the destruction of forests, as well as how to combat forest fires and the extension of European research programs on the forest ecosystem. The preparatory work for the conference had been undertaken at two meetings of experts. Their initial task was to decide which of the many forest problems of concern to Europe involved the largest number of countries and might be the subject of joint action. Those confined to particular geographical areas, such as countries bordering the Mediterranean or the Nordic countries therefore had to be discarded. However, this does not mean that in future they will be ignored.

第1段：

森林是我们自然遗产的主要组成部分之一。过去十五年来，欧洲森林的衰退引起了人们对严重不平衡问题的日益关注和理解，这些问题威胁着森林。欧洲国家对欧洲森林面临的重大威胁越来越担忧，这些威胁不受地理或气候的限制，包括空气污染、土壤恶化、森林火灾的增多，甚至是对我们的林地和森林遗产的管理不善。人们越来越意识到需要各国共同协调政策。1990年12月，斯特拉斯堡举办了首次有关保护欧洲森林的部长级会议。会议汇集了来自西欧和东欧的31个国家。讨论的话题包括协调研究森林破坏情况，以及如何应对森林火灾和扩大欧洲森林生态系统的研究项目。会议的准备工作是在两次专家会议上进行的。他们最初的任务是确定哪些欧洲森林问题涉及最多的国家，并可能成为联合行动的主题。那些局限于特定地理区域的国家，如地中海沿岸国家或北欧国家，因此被排除在外。然而，这并不意味着将来它们会被忽视。

第2段

As a whole, European countries see forests as performing a triple function: biological, economic and recreational. The first is to act as a ‘green lung’ for our planet; by means of photosynthesis, forests produce oxygen through the transformation of solar energy, thus fulfilling what for humans is the essential role of an immense, non-polluting power plant. At the same time, forests provide raw materials for human activities through their constantly renewed production of wood. Finally, they offer those condemned to spend five days a week in an urban environment an unrivalled area of freedom to unwind and take part in a range of leisure activities, such as hunting, riding and hiking. The economic importance of forests has been understood since the dawn of man – wood was the first fuel. The other aspects have been recognised only for a few centuries but they are becoming more and more important. Hence, there is a real concern throughout Europe about the damage to the forest environment which threatens these three basic roles.

第2段：

总体上，欧洲国家认为森林担负着生物学、经济和休闲三重功能。首先是作为我们地球的“绿肺”；通过光合作用，森林通过太阳能转化产生氧气，从而履行对人类来说是一个巨大且无污染的电力厂核心的任务。与此同时，森林通过不断更新的木材生产为人类活动提供原材料。最后，它们为那些被迫在城市环境中工作五天的人们提供了一个无与伦比的自由区域，可以放松身心并参与各种休闲活动，如狩猎、骑马和徒步旅行。森林的经济重要性自人类诞生以来就被认识到——木材是第一种燃料。其他方面的重要性仅在几个世纪前被认识到，但它们变得越来越重要。因此，欧洲各地对威胁森林环境的损害非常关注，这些损害威胁着森林的这三个基本角色。

第3段

The myth of the ‘natural’ forest has survived, yet there are effectively no remaining ‘primary’ forests in Europe. All European forests are artificial, having been adapted and exploited by man for thousands of years. This means that a forest policy is vital, that it must transcend national frontiers and generations of people, and that it must allow for the inevitable changes that take place in the forests, in needs, and hence in policy. The Strasbourg conference was one of the first events on such a scale to reach this conclusion. A general declaration was made that ‘a central place in any ecologically coherent forest policy must be given to continuity over time and to the possible effects of unforeseen events, to ensure that the full potential of these forests is maintained’.

第3段：

“自然”森林的神话依然存在，然而实际上欧洲已经没有剩余的“原始”森林。所有的欧洲森林都是人为的，数千年来人类对其进行了改造和开发利用。这意味着需要制定一项森林政策，这项政策必须超越国家边界和世代人之间的差异，同时也必须考虑到森林中不可避免的变化以及需求的变化，并因此制定相应的政策。斯特拉斯堡会议是如此大规模的首次活动之一，达成了这一结论。会议作出了一个总体宣言，“任何生态上连贯的森林政策都必须给予时间的连续和不可预见事件可能产生的影响以及确保这些森林的全部潜力得以维持。”

第4段

That general declaration was accompanied by six detailed resolutions to assist national policy-making. The first proposes the extension and systematisation of surveillance sites to monitor forest decline. Forest decline is still poorly understood but leads to the loss of a high proportion of a tree’s needles or leaves. The entire continent and the majority of species are now affected: between 30%and 50% of the tree population. The condition appears to result from the cumulative effect of a number of factors, with atmospheric pollutants the principal culprits. Compounds of nitrogen and sulphur dioxide should be particularly closely watched. However, their effects are probably accentuated by climatic factors, such as drought and hard winters, or soil imbalances such as soil acidification, which damages the roots. The second resolution concentrates on the need to preserve the genetic diversity of European forests. The aim is to reverse the decline in the number of tree species or at least to preserve the ‘genetic material’ of all of them. Although forest fires do not affect all of Europe to the same extent, the amount of damage caused the experts to propose as the third resolution that the Strasbourg conference consider the establishment of a European databank on the subject. All information used in the development of national preventative policies would become generally available. The subject of the fourth resolution discussed by the ministers was mountain forests. In Europe, it is undoubtedly the mountain ecosystem which has changed most rapidly and is most at risk. A thinly scattered permanent population and development of leisure activities, particularly skiing, have resulted in significant long-term changes to the local ecosystems. Proposed developments include a preferential research program on mountain forests. The fifth resolution relaunched the European research network on the physiology of trees, called Eurosilva. Eurosilva should support joint European research on tree diseases and their physiological and biochemical aspects. Each country concerned could increase the number of scholarships and other financial support for doctoral theses and research projects in this area. Finally, the conference established the framework for a European research network on forest ecosystems. This would also involve harmonising activities in individual countries as well as identifying a number of priority research topics relating to the protection of forests. The Strasbourg conference’s main concern was to provide for the future. This was the initial motivation, one now shared by all 31 participants representing 31European countries. Their final text commits them to on-going discussion between government representatives with responsibility for forests.

第4段：

这一总体宣言附带了六项详细决议，以支持国家政策制定。第一项决议提出扩大和系统化监测森林衰退的观测点。森林衰退仍然知之甚少，但导致了树木叶片或叶子的大部分丧失。整个欧洲大陆和大多数物种现在都受到影响：树木数量的30%至50%。这种状况似乎是由多种因素的累积效应引起的，其中大气污染物是主要原因。氮化合物和二氧化硫化合物应该受到特别密切关注。然而，它们的影响可能会受到气候因素（如干旱和严寒冬季）或土壤失衡（如土壤酸化）的进一步加剧，这些因素会对根部造成损害。第二项决议集中讨论保护欧洲森林的遗传多样性的需求。目标是扭转树种数量下降的趋势，或至少保留所有树种的“遗传材料”。虽然森林火灾的影响程度不同，但损害程度使专家们提议作为第三项决议，斯特拉斯堡会议应考虑建立一个有关这一主题的欧洲数据库。在制定国家预防政策时使用的所有信息将成为普遍可用的。部长们讨论的第四项决议是有关山地森林的问题。在欧洲，无疑是山地生态系统发生了最快速的变化，也是最危险的。分散稀疏的永久人口和休闲活动的发展，特别是滑雪，导致了当地生态系统的显着长期变化。拟议的发展包括一个优先考虑山地森林的研究计划。第五项决议重新启动了有关树木生理学的欧洲研究网络，称为Eurosilva。Eurosilva应该支持欧洲对树木病害及其生理和生化方面进行联合研究。每个相关国家可以增加在该领域博士论文和研究项目的奖学金和其他财务支持的数量。最后，会议建立了欧洲森林生态系统研究网络的框架。这还涉及到协调各个国家的活动，以及确定一些与森林保护相关的优先研究课题。斯特拉斯堡会议的主要关注点是为未来提供保障。这是最初的动机，现在被代表31个欧洲国家的所有31个参与者共同分享。他们的最终文本承诺由负责森林事务的政府代表之间进行持续讨论。