联合国秘书长潘基文2015年防治荒漠化世界日致辞（中英对照）

Message on World Day to Combat Desertification

防治荒漠化世界日致辞

Invest in healthy soils

“投资于土壤的健康”

17 June 2015

2015年6月17日

Land degradation and desertification undercut human rights, starting with the right to food.  Nearly 1 billion people lack adequate nutrition, and those living off degraded areas are among the most affected.  Their situation could worsen if land degradation, as projected, reduces global food production by 12 per cent by 2035.

土地退化和荒漠化会削弱人权，首先是食物权。目前有近10亿人缺乏适足的营养，而那些生活在土壤退化地区的人们受影响最大。如果土地退化如预计的那样使全球粮食产量到2035年减少12%，他们的处境就可能会恶化。

Food security is also impacted by the decline in water resources.  Due to land degradation there is less water and snow being stored in the ground.  In 10 years, two out of every three people in the world could be living under stressed water conditions.

水资源的下降也影响到粮食安全。由于土地退化，地表水和雪的存量更少。十年后，世界上三分之二的人可能就生活在缺水的状况中。

We degrade 12 million hectares of productive land every year – an area the size of Benin or Honduras.  More than half our farmland is degraded, and only 10 per cent is improving.  About 500 million hectares could be restored cost-effectively, rather than being abandoned.  If we do not change how we use our land, we will have to convert an area the size of Norway into new farmland every year to meet future needs for food, freshwater, biofuels and urban growth.  This would cause deforestation and other negative environmental impact.

每年有1 200万公顷的耕地退化，相当于贝宁或洪都拉斯的国土面积。我们一半以上的农田已经退化，只有10%正在改善。大约5亿公顷土地可以以具有成本效益的方式加以恢复，而不应废弃。如果我们不改变我们的土地利用方式，我们就不得不每年新开发相当于挪威那么大面积的农田，以满足今后对食物、淡水、生物燃料的需求和城市增长的需要。这会造成毁林和其他的负面环境影响。

The threat does not stop there.  Through land degradation and other inappropriate land use, we release about a quarter of the greenhouse gases warming the planet.  Climate change and unsustainable land use, particularly by agriculture, are contributing to the decline of freshwater resources in all regions of the world.  As a consequence, global food production is projected to fall by 2 per cent every decade.

威胁不止于此。由于土地退化和其他的土地不当使用，我们释放了约四分之一的温室气体，造成地球变暖。气候变化和不可持续的土地使用，特别是农业对土地不可持续的使用，都是造成世界所有地区淡水资源减少的原因。其结果是，全球粮食产量预计将每十年下降2%。

A world where all rights to food, water and human security are guaranteed is possible.  But we need to change course and start securing every hectare of land that can provide food or freshwater.  Land is a renewable resource, but only if we invest in land degradation neutrality, which has been proposed by United Nations Member States for the post-2015 development agenda.  We must avoid degrading more land and, at the same time, rehabilitate all the degraded land that we can.  Then, we will also be able to make rapid steps towards controlling climate change.

保障世界所有人享有食物、水和人的安全的权利完全是可能的。但我们必须改弦更张，着手保护能够提供粮食或淡水的每公顷土地。只有我们按照联合国会员国在2015年后发展议程中所提出的那样，投资于制止土地退化，土地才能成为可再生资源。我们必须避免土地的继续退化，同时尽我们所能恢复退化的土地。由此，我们也将能够在控制气候变化方面取得飞速的进展。

Our lives and civilizations depend on the land.  Let us invest in healthy soils to secure our rights to food and freshwater.

我们的生命和文明依赖于土地。让我们投资于土壤的健康，以保障我们的食物和淡水权。