考研英语真题|2024年英语阅读理解2:英国或将因木材短缺面临建筑业危机

The UK is facing a future construction crisis because of a failure to plant trees to produce wood, Confor has warned. The forestry and wood trade body has called for urgent action to reduce the country’s reliance on timber imports and provide a stable supply of wood for future generations. Currently only 20 percent of the UK’s wood requirement is home-grown while it remains the second-largest net importer of timber in the world.

Coming at a time of fresh incentives from the UK government for landowners to grow more trees, the trade body says these don’t go far enough and fail to promote the benefits of planting them to boost timber supplies. “Not only are we facing a carbon crisis now, but we will also be facing a future construction crisis because of failure to plant trees to produce wood.” said Stuart Goodall, chief executive of Confor. "For decades we have not taken responsibility for investing in our domestic wood supply, leaving us exposed to fluctuating prices and fighting for future supplies of wood as global demand rises and our own supplies fall."

The UK has ideal conditions for growing wood to build low-carbon homes and is a global leader in certifying that its forests are sustainably managed, Confor says. While around three quarters of Scottish homes are built from Scottish timber, the use of home-grown wood in England is only around 25 percent.

While productive tree planting can deliver real financial benefits to rural economies and contribute to the UK's net-zero strategy, the focus of government support continues to be on food production and the rewinding and planting of native woodland solely for biodiversity. Goodall add：“ While food production and biodiversity are clearly of critical importance, we need our land to also provide secure supplies of wood for construction, manufacturing and contribute to net zero.

“While the UK government has stated its ambition for more tree planting, there has been little action on the ground." Confor is now calling for much greater impetus behind those aspirations to ensure we have enough wood to meet increasing demand."

翻译

英国林业与木材行业协会（Confor）发出警告：由于没有种植足够林木来生产木材，英国未来将面临建筑业危机。该林业及木材贸易机构呼吁立刻采取行动，降低本国对木材进口的依赖，为子孙后代稳定供应木材。目前，英国国内木材需求仅有 20% 由本土供给，该国仍是全球第二大木材净进口国。

英国政府近期出台新激励政策，鼓励土地所有者多种树，但该行业机构认为这些举措力度不足，也没有宣传种树能够增加木材供给带来的好处。协会首席执行官斯图尔特・古德尔表示：“我们当下不仅面临碳危机，如果不种树生产木材，未来还会爆发建筑业危机。数十年来，我们一直没有投入建设本土木材供应体系，这使得我们极易受价格波动影响；随着全球木材需求上涨、本国供给缩减，我们还要争抢木材货源。”

Confor 称，英国具备培育用材林、建造低碳住宅的优越条件，并且在森林可持续经营认证方面处于世界领先水平。苏格兰大约四分之三的住宅使用本地木材建造，而在英格兰，本土木材的使用率仅约 25%。

丰产林木种植既能切实带动农村经济增收，也有助于英国实现净零排放目标，但政府扶持的重心依旧放在粮食生产，以及单纯为了保护生物多样性而开展的生态修复和本土林地培育工作上。古德尔补充道：“粮食生产和生物多样性固然至关重要，但我们的土地同时也需要稳定供给木材，满足建筑、制造业需求，助力净零目标落地。”

“尽管英国政府表态希望扩大植树规模，但实际落地行动寥寥无几。”Confor 呼吁，应当大力推动这些规划落地，保障木材供给，应对持续增长的需求。

注释

Confor：Confederation of Forest Industries，英国林业联合会 net-zero：净零排放 rewinding（原文笔误，应为 rewilding）：生态野化、生态修复。

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