Message from Ms. Irina Bokova, Director-General of UNESCO, on the Occasion of the World Day to Combat Desertification and Drought
教科文组织总干事伊琳娜·博科娃防治荒漠化和干旱世界日致辞
17 June 2017
2017年6月17日
Our land. Our home. Our future.
我们的土地。我们的家园。我们的未来。
This must be our motto today – especially in the struggle against desertification.
这必须是我们今天的座右铭，特别是在防治荒漠化的斗争中。
The role of environmental changes in migration and population displacement across the world is increasingly clear. Massive numbers of ‘environmental refugees’ are now regularly presented as one of the most dramatic possible consequences of climate change and desertification. And this is only set to increase. By 2030, the Secretariat of the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification warned that 135 million people were at risk of being displaced because of desertification, with 60 million people expected to move from sub-Saharan Africa to Northern Africa and Europe.
在世界各地的人口移徙和民众流离失所问题上，环境变化的作用日益明显。大量的“环境难民”涌现，于今经常被视为气候变化和荒漠化带来的最可怕的一个后果。而这种现象只会有增无减。联合国防治荒漠化公约秘书处警告 说，到2030年，将有一亿三千三百万人因为荒漠化而面临流离失所的危险，预计将有六千万人从撒哈拉以南非洲迁往北非和欧洲。
These forecasts show that arid and semi-arid regions would be mostly affected by desertification and population movements. Rural populations, relying on pastoral livelihoods, agriculture and natural resources, will be highly exposed due to existing vulnerabilities, including poverty, poor levels of education, lack of investment, remoteness, and isolation.
这些预测显示，干旱和半干旱地区将是受到荒漠化和人口流动影响最大的地区。农牧人口、农业和自然资源，由于其现有脆弱性，如贫困、教育水平低、缺乏投资、地域偏僻、与外界隔绝等原因，将受到首当其冲的损害。
We must counter these trends and this means acting at two levels.
我们必须对这些趋势加以遏止，为此需要在两个方面有所作为。
First, we must manage land correctly, because this is crucial in preventing its desertification and for keeping its productivity. The UNESCO Biosphere Reserve Las Bardenas Reales in Spain shows that informed management of arid lands, based on an alternation between pasture uses, cultivations and fallow periods, allows not only the halt of desertification but also the possibility of inverting the process and restoring previously degraded lands. This is why the UNESCO International Hydrological Programme is so committed to build capacity and provide policy guidance and tools to address drought and desertification related challenges, particularly related to water resources management, through the Global Network on Water and Development Information for Arid Lands (G-WADI).
首先，要正确管理土地，因为这对防治土地荒漠化和保持土地生产力至关重要。西班牙 Las Bardenas Reales教科文组织生物圈保护区的经验显示，以放牧、耕作与休牧、休耕交替的方式对干旱土地进行知情管理，不仅可以防止荒漠化，而且还可能会逆转进程，使退化的土地得到修复。正因如此，教科文 组织国际水文计划通过干旱地区水资源及其发展信息全球网，正努力开展能力建设工作并提供政策指导和工具，以解决特别是与水资源管理相关的干旱和荒漠化问题。
Second, we must bolster the resilience of vulnerable populations by supporting alternative livelihoods to break the vicious circle of desertification and related socioeconomic consequences often leading to migration. In seeking to foster education and capacity building in science, technology and engineering, for both girls and boys in vulnerable countries, UNESCO’s International Basic Sciences Programme is working to create new employment opportunities for youth, lessen the reliance on climate dependent income resources, to offer people a future that is resilient at home.
其次，我们必须通过支持另谋生计，来打破荒漠化的恶性循环，应对经常导致移徙的相关社会经济后果，从而增强弱势群体的复原力。旨在促进弱势国家男女青年在科学、技术和工程方面的教育和能力建设的教科文组织国际基础科学计划，正在致力于为青年创造新的就业机会，减少对靠天吃饭式收入来源的依赖，为人们提供一个不用离乡背井、可在家园自立自强的未来。
On this day, we must recognise that desertification is a global phenomenon that threatens everyone and we must start to act globally to build a sustainable and stable future for all.
在这样的一天，我们必须认识到，荒漠化是一个威胁到每个人的全球现象，我们必须开始在全球采取行动，为所有人建立一个可持续且稳定的未来。
