Nearly every one of us has a connection with a tree or trees which may have been with us physically or in memory since childhood. Trees provide a focus for play, adventure, discovery, and exploration and from an early age the presence of trees in our cities and landscape offer landmarks, wayfinding, comfort, and recognition of their role as providers of habitat, nurturers of soils, home to animals, insect life and provision of lumbar for fuel as well as fruits and nuts for food.

几乎我们每个人，或多或少都与一棵或多棵树有过关联，自童年起，它们可能就在身体或记忆中与我们同在。儿时，树木是我们游戏、冒险及探索的场所；如今，树木在我们的城市景观中发挥着地标、寻路、调节气候等重要作用。它们是土壤培育者，是栖息地，树干可做燃料，果实可为食物，它们也是动物及昆虫们的家园。

As National Arbor Day 2022 approaches, I look back to my childhood and career and recall my favorite toy, a “Tree House” that provided a home and family days out climbing trees in the forests and parklands of England.

随着2022年国家植树节的临近，当我回顾我的童年和职业生涯，首先浮现在脑海的便是我儿时最喜欢的玩具——一个"树屋"，以及许多个家庭日里，年幼的我和家人一起在英格兰的森林公园里爬树的欢乐时光。

After studying Landscape Design with Plant Science and becoming a Chartered Landscape Architect I moved to China, with my first role designing and implementing a 114km long Ning-Hang Expressway. Lessons learnt from earlier work experience in Scotland and Northern England such as “Learning from Nature”, a publication and philosophy of sustainable development related to road infrastructure, guided the use of diverse native plant species, bio-engineering solutions, swales, detention ponds as low-carbon and low-impact landscape design.

在学习了植物科学和景观设计并成为专业的景观设计师之后，我来到了中国，第一个工作任务是设计和实施一条114公里长的宁杭高速公路。我运用早期在苏格兰和英格兰北部的工作经验，以及《向自然学习》这本指导道路基础设施可持续发展的出版物中的哲学理念，全心投入到这个高速公路项目中。我们使用各种本地植物物种，提出生物工程解决方案，打造洼地、滞留池作为低碳和低影响开发的景观设计。

I applied Nature-based Solutions to deliver landscape, tourism, and environmental benefits by promoting biodiversity and ecological restoration as part of the expressway corridor. In 2002 I planted my first tree in China, a Cedar (Cedrus deodara), the city tree of Nanjing.

作为高速公路走廊设计的一部分，基于自然的解决方案被应用于该项目中，通过促进生物多样性和生态恢复，实现景观、旅游和环境效益。2002年，我在中国种下了我的第一棵树——一棵雪松（Cedrus deodara），它也是南京的市树。

The benefits of “Working with Nature” remain a central focus to my work and over the course of twenty years in China my passion for Nature-based solutions is central to my goals to tackle climate change, reverse biodiversity loss and to achieve carbon neutrality through the landscapes my plans and designs.

强调"与自然共生"一直是我的工作核心。在中国的二十年间，对基于自然的解决方案的推崇和热情，始终贯穿在我的景观设计规划中，旨在有效应对气候变化、缓解生物多样性减少和实现碳中和目标。

This is evident in the international award-winning work I has delivered at AECOM including the Yong River Waterfront Park, Nanjing Eco-Island Scenic Waterfront Belt, Binjiang Forest Park, East Bund and Zhangjiabang Green Wedge.

这一设计理念也在我主持交付的多个AECOM国际获奖作品中得到深刻体现，包括甬江滨水公园、新加坡 · 南京生态科技岛滨江风光带、上海碧云绿地、滨江森林公园和外滩东岸景观。

In recent years my advocacy includes joining the annual Shanghai International Nature Conservation Festival Celebrity Roundtable to discuss issues such as “Environmental Protection, building a Green Homeland”, “Ecological Protection of the Yangtze River: Dialogue between the Plateau and the Sea” and “How to Develop a Carbon Neutral and Eco-friendly Model Zone with World Influence”.

近年来，我多次参与每年一度的上海国际自然保护周“名人讲坛”圆桌会议，分享讨论了“环境保护，建设绿色家园”，“长江生态保护：高原与海洋的对话”和“如何发展具有世界影响力的碳中和生态友好示范区”等议题。

I also co-founded the Shanghai Landscape Forum, through which I have shared lectures such as a keynote speech in 2019 entitled “Inspired by Trees”, an exploration of the memory trees creates in landscape, in history, ecology and in culture.

此外，作为上海景观论坛的创办者之一，我在该论坛分享了多场演讲，例如2019年的主题演讲"灵感来自树木"，探索树木在景观、历史、生态和文化中创造的记忆。

At the 8th Shanghai Landscape Forum in 2021 I introduced the concept of a “Nature Positive Future” inspired by climate scientists such as Professor Johan Rockström who warns us that what we do between 2020 and 2030 will be the decisive decade for humanity’s future on earth. Leading up to 2021’s COP15 Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) leading scientists put forward a conceptual shift which puts forward Nature (the environment) as the context for all life, human society, and all human activities (including all economic activity). The idea of Nature-positive goals recognizes that the Sustainable Development Goals can only be realized if the Biosphere related goals are met.

在2021年举行的第八届上海景观论坛上，受约翰教授 (Johan Rockström) 等气候科学家的启发，我提出了"走向自然增长的未来"的概念。约翰教授认为， 2020年至2030年我们所做的事情，将决定人类的未来。在2021年联合国《生物多样性公约》第十五次缔约方大会（COP15）之前，顶尖科学家们提出了一个全新的概念转变，即把自然（环境）作为所有生命、人类社会和所有人类活动（包括所有经济活动）的基础。以自然为增长目标的理念让我们意识到，只有实现与生物圈相关的目标，可持续发展目标才有可能得以实现。

Trees play a major role in governing our biosphere, however unsustainable land use practices, driven by agricultural systems, development, infrastructure, and energy, now threaten our fragile ecosystems and planet stability. As there is no Planet B, we must become the changemakers in our lives and communities for the benefit of environment, society, and the governance of our home here on planet earth.

树木在维护我们生物圈方面发挥着重要作用，然而人类发展进程中的过度开采用于农业耕种、城市发展、基础设施建设和能源使用，正不断地威胁着我们脆弱的生态系统和地球稳定。因为没有另外一个星球可以让我们居住，我们必须成为身体力行的变革者，通过自身的积极参与，促进社区环境友好、增强社会责任、优化治理水平，最终造福我们赖以生存的地球家园。

One simple way to act, is to stop the reckless felling of trees and forests and support the restoration of forest cover which in turn will restore our soils, freshwater cycles, and air quality through carbon sequestration. Understanding the links between deforestation causes and the decisions we make in our everyday lives, through our consumption, the food we eat or the products we use is key to support these changes.

一种简单的行动方法是停止对树木和森林的无度砍伐，并支持恢复森林覆盖面积，通过固碳来改善土壤，增加淡水循环和提升空气质量。而造成森林砍伐的原因恰恰是我们的生活方式，通过改变我们的消费行为、饮食习惯或日用产品，都将助力这一变化。

We need to understand and measure the natural capital of our trees and forests, to account for the environmental, social, and economic benefits trees provide. For example, trees can take up substantial amounts of carbon dioxide, influence local cooling, thereby ameliorating the urban heat island effect, reducing building energy use, improving air quality, mitigating rainfall run-off, and flooding, and lowering noise levels.

我们需要了解并衡量树木和森林的自然资本，意识到树木对环境、社会和经济的效益。例如，树木可以吸收大量的二氧化碳，影响局部降温，从而改善城市热岛效应，减少建筑能源使用，改善空气质量，减少降雨径流和洪水灾害，并降低噪音水平。

Hence as Arbor Day 2022 arrives in China, remember a tree from your childhood, hug a tree in your community, protect a tree in your city and plant a tree for future generations.

值此2022年植树节，记住你儿时的一棵树吧，去拥抱社区的一棵树，保护城市里的一棵树，为子孙后代种上一棵树。