饥荒救济旨在挽救生命，但一批货物运来的可能远不止食物。据埃塞俄比亚生物多样性研究所称，一种杂草据信是通过食品援助货物意外进入埃塞俄比亚的。这种植物蔓延迅速，导致部分地区饲料产量下降多达 90%。危机时刻到来的援助20 世纪 80 年代，埃塞俄比亚依赖外国援助，美国是提供援助的国家之一。一份存放在国务院历史档案中的 1987 年美国国际开发署文件显示了援助的规模。
Famine relief is meant to save lives, but a shipment can carry a lot more than just food. According to the Ethiopian Biodiversity Institute, a weed is believed to have entered Ethiopia by accident through food aid shipments. The plant is spreading rapidly, causing a drop of up to 90% in forage production in some areas. Help that arrived in a moment of crisisIn the 1980s, Ethiopia relied on foreign aid, with the United States being one of the contributing nations. The scale of the effort is apparent in a 1987 paper from the U.S. Agency for International Development that sits in the State Department’s historical record.
该文件日期为 1987 年 10 月 30 日，称埃塞俄比亚政府和联合国估计，1988 年将有约 500 万人需要紧急援助。这项救济将涉及约 95 万吨进口粮食。
Dated October 30, 1987, it says the Ethiopian government and the United Nations estimated that approximately five million people would require emergency assistance in 1988. That relief would involve some 950,000 metric tons of imported food.
文件还详述了美国迄今批准的援助。那是 11.5 万吨紧急粮食，价值 3700 万美元，含运输、仓储和装卸费用。分发工作将由四家美国私人志愿组织负责。文件从未提及蒿莱菊。尽管如此，它让我们了解当时有多少粮食进入该国。可能搭便车的杂草那么蒿莱菊从何而来？埃塞俄比亚生物多样性研究所称，学名为 Parthenium hysterophorus 的这种杂草，据信是随食品援助货物意外引入的。
The paper also detailed what the U.S. had approved so far. That was 115,000 metric tons of emergency food, valued at $37 million, including transport, storage, and handling costs. The distribution was to be handled by four American private voluntary organizations. It never mentions parthenium. Still, it gives us an idea of how much food was coming into the country at that time. A weed that may have hitched a rideSo where does parthenium come in? The Ethiopian Biodiversity Institute says the weed, known scientifically as Parthenium hysterophorus, is believed to have been introduced accidentally in food aid shipments.
该研究所未指出发送粮食的国家，也未给出年份。1987 年文件中未提及杂草。因此，这两个来源均未证明美国食品援助在 20 世纪 80 年代将蒿莱菊引入埃塞俄比亚。
The institute does not identify the country that sent the food and does not give a year. Weeds are not mentioned in the 1987 paper. Thus, neither source proves that U.S. food aid introduced parthenium to Ethiopia in the 1980s.
我们能说的相当简单。20 世纪 80 年代末，大量救济粮食进入埃塞俄比亚，而一家政府机构认为食品援助是这种杂草传入的途径。
What we can say is fairly simple. In the late 1980s, large amounts of relief food were moving into Ethiopia, and a government institute believes food aid is how this weed got here.
这是一个讲故事的好切入点，但这仍然只是一种看法，而非既定事实。
That's a good place to start a story, but it is still a belief and not an established fact.
对牧场的影响该研究所将蒿莱菊列为埃塞俄比亚首要的入侵植物。不过，它同时也将刺槐、凤眼蓝和马缨丹列为造成严重问题的物种。研究所指出，蒿莱菊正在迅速蔓延，在某些地方导致饲草产量下降高达90%。饲草是指家畜食用的植物材料。这是个别地区的最坏情况数据，而非全国平均水平。
What it does to grazing landThe institute describes parthenium as foremost among Ethiopia’s invasive plants. However, it also lists mesquite, water hyacinth, and Lantana camara as causing major problems. It states that parthenium is spreading rapidly and causing a fall in forage production by up to 90% in some places. Forage refers to the plant material eaten by livestock. This is a worst-case figure for some areas, not an average across the country.
研究所还指出，该杂草对自然栖息地的影响尚未得到评估。然而，它显然对牧场——即用于放牧的开阔地——构成了重大威胁。名单上的其他一些入侵物种是通过其他途径进入的。刺槐是作为农林树种被刻意引入阿瓦什河流域的，马缨丹主要是作为观赏灌木被刻意引入的。在所描述的入侵物种中，据该研究所认为，蒿莱菊是唯一一种意外到达的物种。
The institute also points out that the effect of the weed on natural habitats has not been assessed. However, it clearly poses a major threat to rangelands, open lands used for grazing. Some of the other invaders on its list came in other ways. Mesquite was deliberately introduced as an agroforestry species in the Awash River Basin, and Lantana was primarily deliberately introduced as an ornamental shrub. Among the invaders described, parthenium is the one that, as far as the institute believes, arrived by accident.
为何这个故事依然重要每天，世界都在跨国调运食物、植物和货物，微小的种子可能会不被察觉地搭便车。这并不意味着提供援助是一个错误。1987年的那篇论文指出，当时人们正在挨饿，美国迅速采取行动提供援助。但它确实表明，检查物资中夹带了什么、及早发现新植物，是一些值得保持的好习惯。
Why this story still mattersEvery day the world moves food, plants and goods across borders, and tiny seeds can hitch a ride unnoticed. That doesn’t mean the sending of aid was a mistake. The 1987 paper says people were starving and the U.S. quickly acted to help. It does, however, suggest that checking what comes with supplies and spotting new plants early are some habits worth having.