埃希环礁，土阿莫土群岛，法属波利尼西亚 Kauehi Atoll, Tuamotu Archipelago, French Polynesia (© WaterFrame_dpr/Alamy)

埃希环礁，土阿莫土群岛，法属波利尼西亚 Kauehi Atoll, Tuamotu Archipelago, French Polynesia (© WaterFrame_dpr/Alamy)

海洋生命的律动 The shape of life at sea

国际生物多样性日

每年5月22日为“国际生物多样性日”，它向全球发出提醒：地球上的生命远比肉眼所见更加丰富，却也更加脆弱。这一由联合国设立的纪念日，旨在强调保护动植物及其生态系统为何对粮食安全、药物研发、气候稳定以及人类的日常福祉至关重要。

鲜有地方能像法属波利尼西亚土阿莫土群岛的考埃希环礁（如图中俯瞰所示）这样，如此清晰地展示地球的奥秘。其纤细的珊瑚环带围合出一片广阔的碧色泻湖，这是由活体珊瑚礁与避风洋流历经数千年雕琢而成的杰作。作为法卡拉瓦生物圈保护区的重要组成部分，考埃希的生态系统承载着繁茂的珊瑚群落、鱼类育幼场、海鸟以及适应了海天之间极端生境的岛屿植被。

几个世纪以来，波利尼西亚航海家们早已深谙这种生态平衡之道，将健康的泻湖与礁石视为生存与文化的基石——这种纽带至今仍映照在环礁的日常之中。在“国际生物多样性日”之际，考埃希环礁这样的景观提醒着我们：守护自然，不仅是在保护生物物种，更是在守护全人类共享的文化记忆与未来。

International Day for Biological Diversity

Observed each year on May 22, International Day for Biological Diversity is a global reminder that life on Earth is richer—and more fragile—than it appears. Established by the United Nations, today highlights why protecting plants, animals, and ecosystems matters for food, medicine, climate stability, and everyday well-being.

Few places reveal our planet's secrets with such clarity as Kauehi Atoll, seen here from above in the Tuamotu Archipelago of French Polynesia. Its thin coral ring encloses a vast turquoise lagoon, shaped over millennia by living reefs and sheltered currents. Kauehi's ecosystem is part of Fakarava Biosphere Reserve and supports coral communities, fish nurseries, seabirds, and island vegetation adapted to life between ocean and sky.

For centuries, Polynesian navigators understood this balance, relying on healthy lagoons and reefs for survival and culture—a relationship still reflected in the atoll today. On International Day for Biological Diversity, landscapes like Kauehi remind us that safeguarding nature protects stories, cultures, and futures across our shared planet.