Message from Ms. Audrey Azoulay, Director-General of UNESCO, on the Occasion of the World Environment Day
教科文组织总干事奥德蕾·阿祖莱世界环境日致辞
Air Pollution
“空气污染”
5-Jun-19
2019年6月5日
For forty-five years, World Environment Day has been a vehicle for inspiring, informing, and enabling nations and peoples to acknowledge the importance of the environment, improve quality of life, and foster sustainable development for the well-being of humankind and that of future generations.
四十五年来,世界环境日一直是启发、教育并促使各国和人民认识到环境重要性、提高生活质量及为人类和子孙后代福祉促进可持续发展的工具。
This year's theme, "Air Pollution", underlines the fragility of life on Earth without air that is clean and safe to breathe. The World Health Organization recently reported that more than 90% of the world's population lives in areas where levels of air pollution do not meet safe standards. Millions of premature deaths worldwide can be traced to harmful substances in the atmosphere as a result of human activities. Air pollution costs the global economy US $5 trillion every year in welfare.
今年的主题“空气污染”强调无法呼吸干净、安全空气的地球生命的脆弱性。世界卫生组织最近报告指出,90%以上的世界人口生活在空气污染程度不符合安全标准的地区。全球数百万过早死亡案例都可归咎于人类活动带来的大气中的有害物质。空气污染每年给全球经济造成的福利成本达5万亿美元。
Atmospheric pollution endangers our health, our habitats, but also our common environmental heritage. It has a negative impact on terrestrial, marine and coastal areas, and causes disturbances in regulatory ecosystems that are fundamental for the overall quality of life of human societies, and for the health of lands, seas and other living species.
大气污染危及我们的健康、我们的住区以及我们共同的环境遗产。它会对陆地、海洋和沿海地区带来负面影响,导致具有调节功能的生态系统发生紊乱。而生态系统对于人类社会的总体生活质量,以及土地、海洋和其他物种的健康至关重要。
Reducing air pollution is about protecting the environment, preserving biodiversity, and mitigating climate change, which make up some of the most pressing challenges of today.
减少空气污染关乎保护环境、维持生物多样性和减缓气候变化,这是我们当前最为迫切的挑战。
These challenges are highlighted in the first Global Assessment Report on biodiversity that was launched on 6 May 2019 at UNESCO as a conclusion of the plenary of the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES). It alerts us to the unprecedented deterioration of nature and of its ecological and evolutionary processes which provide us with quality air, fresh water and healthy soils. The Global Assessment Report also stresses the need to take urgent and immediate collective action to preserve the living fabric of our planet. Doing so is our duty of solidarity to future generations.
2019年5 月6日,首份关于生物多样性的《全球评估报告》在教科文组织发布,作为生物多样性和生态系统服务政府间科学—政策平台全体会议的结论。报告着重指出了上述挑战,并让我们意识到,为我们提供优质空气、清洁水源和健康土壤的大自然及其生态和进化进程正面临空前恶化。《全球评估报告》还强调有必要立即采取紧急集体行动,保护地球的生命机体。这是我们对子孙后代的应尽之责。
Reducing air pollution requires not only technological change, but also a change of mindsets with regards to environmental issues, innovative policies and social regulation. We know that the closer people are to their natural environment, the more likely they are to appreciate nature and its biodiversity, to be aware of our common heritage, and to understand the paramount importance of safe air, which we all depend on for life, well-being and for the future of our planet.
减少空气污染不仅需要改变技术,还需要改变人们在环境问题上的思维方式,需要创新政策以及社会规范。众所周知,人越接近自然环境,就越有可能欣赏自然及其生物多样性,认识到我们的共同遗产并理解安全空气无可比拟的重要性——我们所有人的生命、福祉和地球的未来都有赖于此。
This spirit guides UNESCO's action, embodied in a unique global network of UNESCO-designated sites, designed to bring people closer to nature, and which draws a new map of the world — a map of peace that goes beyond borders, that extends to women and men across generations, and to the living species and the environment around them.
教科文组织正是在这一精神的引领下开展行动,通过教科文组织认定区域组成的独特全球网络让人们走近自然,从而绘制出一张全新的世界地图:这张和平地图超越疆界,涵盖人类今世后代、其他生物及其周围的环境。
The UNESCO Biosphere Reserves, UNESCO Global Geoparks and World Heritage sites — often representing "green lungs" for the planet — bring together more than 2,000 exceptional sites around the world, covering an area as large as China, which is the host country to this year's World Environment Day. These sites combine conservation with education and innovative approaches to sustainable local development. They hire from the local communities and open their doors to the world's citizens, taking the path to a more inclusive and sustainable development.
作为地球的“绿肺”,教科文组织生物圈保护区、教科文组织世界地质公园和世界遗产地汇集了世界各地2000多处胜地佳境,其覆盖面积与中国相当,而中国正是今年世界环境日的主办国。这些区域将保护与教育以及促进当地可持续发展的创新办法相结合,从当地社区招聘,向世界人民敞开大门,走出一条更具包容性和可持续性的发展之路。
On this World Environment Day, I call on all countries to take action to reduce air pollution. Most of all, I call on women and men everywhere to reconnect to nature around them, nature that sustains life and offers us beauty, meaning and harmony.
值此世界环境日,我呼吁所有国家采取行动,减少空气污染。我更呼吁世界各地的人们重新拥抱身边维系生命、赋予我们美丽、意义与和谐的大自然。
Let us celebrate this World Environment Day by drawing a deep breath of hope, and let us all take action for better quality of air and for the preservation of our world.
庆祝世界环境日,让我们满怀希望,为改善空气质量和保护地球行动起来。