深海采矿
Deep-sea mining
In the waters off Malaga,
在马拉加附近的水域，
an experiment with a strange looking machine – lowered underwater to test a new and controversial kind of mining – on the ocean floor.
一项试验用一种外观奇怪的机器潜入水下，目的是测试一种新的、有争议的海底采矿方法。
A camera on the machine monitors its advance over the seabed.
机器上的摄像头监控着它在海床上的移动。
A soft coral stands in its path.
软珊瑚挡住了它的去路。
Mining would involve excavating rocks down here and no one knows the implications.
采矿需要在这里挖掘岩石，没有人知道这意味着什么。
The project is run from this Spanish research ship – funded by the EU to find new sources of important metals.
该项目由欧盟资助的这艘西班牙研究船负责，目的是寻找重要金属的新来源。
What this project shows is how the technology is advancing in a way that makes deep-sea mining seem much more plausible
这个项目显示技术的进步使深海采矿显得更加真实可信
which confronts us with a very difficult question
但也让我们面临一个非常困难的问题
is it the right thing to do given how little we know about the potential impact it could have on life on the ocean floor?
我们对深海采矿对海底生命的潜在影响知之甚少，这样做对吗？
Operating underwater, mining the seabed has never been tried before.
在水下作业，在海床上采矿以前从未有人尝试过。
It would destroy whatever is directly in front of the machines and they'd create clouds of sand and silt
它会破坏任何直接在采矿机器正前方的东西，还会制造出大量的沙子和淤泥
which could smother marine plants and creatures even a long way away.
这些沙子和淤泥会让周边甚至很远的地方的海洋植物和生物窒息。
But there's growing pressure for mining to start.
但要求开始采矿的压力越来越大。
Rocks like these – billions of them – are the target.
像这样的岩石，目标是要采出数十亿块。
Because, they're amazingly rich in important metals, especially cobalt, which is needed for batteries.
因为它们富含重要的金属，尤其是电池所需的钴。
So the boom in electric cars means there's growing demand for cobalt.
因此，电动汽车的蓬勃发展意味着对钴的需求在不断增长。
And mining companies think the deep ocean could provide it.
矿业公司认为深海可以提供金属钴。
So if mining goes ahead, can the damage be limited?
那么，如果采矿继续进行，相关破坏会受到限制吗？
We're on the brink of a new time that we will go down to the deep sea and start changing the landscape of the deep sea and the deep-sea life.
我们正处在一个新时代的边缘，我们将进入深海，开始改变深海的景观和深海生物。
And then we have to consider, is it worth it?
然后我们需要考虑，这样做值得吗？
Do we want to do that in the same say as we did already with the land?
我们想要像对待我们的土地一样对待海洋吗？
This is a trial device – the machines that will actually do mining will be about ten times bigger.
这是一个试验装置，实际用于采矿的机器将会大十倍。
Dozens of ventures are planning to open mines on the seabed.
数十家企业正计划在海底开矿。
This is a glimpse of how they might look.
这就是可能出现的海底采矿景象。