Message from Ms. Audrey Azoulay, Director-General of UNESCO, on the Occasion of World Water Day
教科文組織總幹事奧德蕾·阿祖萊世界水日致辭
22 March 2020
2020年3月22日
世界水日
Water will be more important than oil this century. This prediction, made in 1994 by former Secretary-General of the United Nations Boutros Boutros-Ghali, has alarming resonance in 2020.
“本世紀，水將比石油更重要。”聯合國前秘書長布特羅斯·布特羅斯加利在1994年作出的這一預測，在2020年的今天聽來振聾發聵。
Water resources, in terms of both their quantity and their quality, are under threat. This is because climate change, now in full swing, increases the risk of water shortages.
未來，水資源無論在數量上還是質量上都將面臨威脅。這是因為目前愈演愈烈的氣候變化增加了水資源短缺的風險。
世界水日
World Water Day draws attention to the links between global warming and the world water issue.
今年世界水日著重強調的，便是水問題與氣候變暖之間的關聯。
Access to water and to basic sanitation infrastructure is already precarious in several regions. Today, four billion people worldwide are forced to contend with water scarcity. Studies predict that accelerated global warming will so exacerbate the problem that by 2050, 52% of the earth’s population could be living in areas subjected to water stress. The first victims of this insufficiency will be girls and women, a circumstance which is likely to increase inequality even further throughout the world.
在世界很多地區，供水和基本衛生設施問題迫在眉睫。今天，全世界有40億人面臨缺水的局面。研究預測，隨著氣候變暖的加劇，這一問題將日趨嚴重，到2050年，全球或有52%的人口生活在水資源緊張的地區。水資源短缺首當其衝的受害者將是女童和婦女，這也會進一步加劇世界上的不平等現象。
A water crisis is a global crisis. Without sustainable access to water, we will be unable to achieve goals such as quality education or the development of more prosperous, fairer societies. History has demonstrated this. In China and in the Middle East, for example, the major rivers (the Yangtze, Nile and Euphrates) made the first great agrarian and urban civilizations possible.
水危機是一場全球性危機。沒有可持續的水資源，優質教育或發展更繁榮、更公正社會等目標將無法實現。歷史已經證明了這一點：例如，在中國和中東，是大江大河（長江、尼羅河和幼發拉底河等）讓最早的農業文明和城市文明成為可能。
世界水日
Given the urgency of the situation, the coming decade needs to be one of action. As the ultimate forum for global conversation, UNESCO has a unique role to play. It was with this in mind that on 24 February the Organization hosted the opening of the 52nd Session of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).
鑑於形勢的緊迫性，未來的十年應該是行動的十年。作為全球對話的卓越論壇，教科文組織發揮著獨特的作用。正是本著這一精神，本組織於2月24日主辦了政府間氣候變化專門委員會第52屆會議開幕式。
In the same spirit, the United Nations World Water Development Report (WWDR), published by UNESCO in collaboration with the UN-Water family, will be focused on climate change. The WWDR will set out concrete solutions for ensuring access to water for all: improved water resources management, the mitigation of water-related hazards, easier and more sustainable access to sanitation.
本著同樣的精神，教科文組織與聯合國水機制大家庭合作出版的《聯合國世界水發展報告》將側重於氣候變化問題。《聯合國世界水發展報告》將提出具體解決方案，以確保為所有人提供水包括改善水資源管理，減輕水災水患，並確保更便利且更可持續享有衛生設施。
However, action to save the planet and its water will not be useful in the long term unless we make sure that future generations are fully involved. That is the point of environmental education, which is also education about water and about how we can better manage and preserve it. UNESCO has called upon its Member States to incorporate these issues into their school curricula, from pre-primary to elementary, and will share its technical expertise to help them with this undertaking.
只有確保子孫後代的充分參與，這場為了地球及水資源發起的行動才能從長遠角度發揮效力。這正是環境教育的意義所在，而環境教育也是水教育，它教會人們如何更好地管理和保護水資源。教科文組織已呼籲其會員國將水教育問題納入課程，從小學和幼兒園開始，併為此提供專業技術支持。
世界水日
For UNESCO, this day is not just about issuing a distressing assessment of the current state of affairs; it must also be about taking action.
教科文組織在今年世界水日的志向在於：不僅揭示當前的嚴峻局勢，也號召一起付諸行動。
And so on World Water Day, we call on States, civil society and regular people to take a stand for the blue gold about which Antoine de Saint-Exupéry said the following in Terre des hommes (Wind, Sand and Stars): “Water, thou hast no taste, no colour, no odour; canst not be defined, art relished while ever mysterious. Not necessary to life, but rather life itself [...]”.
值此世界水日，我們邀請會員國、民間社會和每一個人為有“藍金”之稱的水資源行動起來，銘記安託萬·德·聖-埃克蘇佩裡在《人的大地》的“水之頌”：“水，你無色無味，無香無嗅，無可定義，潤化萬物卻不被認知。你不是生命之必需，你就是生命本身”。
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