UN Secretary General's message on the World Day to Combat Desertification and Drought
17 June 2010

聯(lián)合國秘書長2010年防治荒漠化和干旱世界日致辭
2010年6月17日

More than one billion poor and vulnerable people living in the world's drylands, where efforts to achieve the Millennium Development Goals face particular challenges and thus have lagged behind.

在全世界的干地上，生活著10多億貧窮弱勢的居民。他們實現(xiàn)千年發(fā)展目標的努力面臨特殊挑戰(zhàn)，發(fā)展落后于其他地區(qū)。

Almost three-quarters of rangelands show symptoms of desertification. Over the past 40 years, nearly one third of the world's cropland has become unproductive, often ending up abandoned. The unremitting stress of drought, famine and deepening poverty threatens to create social strains, in turn creating the potential for involuntary migration, the breakdown of communities, political instability and armed conflict. Indeed, human, environmental and social vulnerability come together with unusual force and symmetry in the world's drylands. Climate change will only exacerbate such pressures.

全世界近四分之三的草地牧場已經(jīng)出現(xiàn)荒漠化癥狀。四十年來，全世界近三分之一的耕地已經(jīng)變成貧瘠之地，其中大多已被廢棄。干旱、饑餓和日益加深的貧困迸發(fā)出持久的壓力，它造成社會緊張，并埋下了非自愿移徙、社區(qū)崩潰、政治動蕩和武裝沖突的種子。的確，貧窮居民、不良環(huán)境和社會弱勢的結(jié)合，在全世界的干地上爆發(fā)出異乎尋常的力量，并在破壞中留下了各自的印跡。氣候變化只會進一步加劇這種壓力。

In this International Year of Biodiversity, we must remember that drylands are areas of enormous biological diversity and productivity. Thirty per cent of the crops that are cultivated and consumed in every corner of the world originate in drylands. The biodiversity of dryland soil also plays a critical role in transforming atmospheric carbon into organic carbon – the earth's largest pool of organic carbon.

在這國際生物多樣性年，我們必須牢記，干地蘊藏著巨大的生物多樣性和生產(chǎn)力。干地為全世界貢獻了30%的糧食。并且，干地土壤的生物多樣性在把大氣碳轉(zhuǎn)變?yōu)橛袡C碳——地球最大的有機碳庫方面發(fā)揮著舉足輕重的作用。

When we protect and restore drylands, we advance on many fronts at once: we strengthen food security, we address climate change, we help the poor gain control over their destiny, and we accelerate progress towards the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals. On this Day, let us reaffirm our commitment to combating desertification and land degradation and mitigating the effects of drought; and let us recognize that enhancing soils enhances life.

對干地進行保護和恢復，我們就能同時在幾個方面取得進展：我們就能加強糧食安全，我們就能應對氣候變化，我們就能幫助窮人掌握命運，我們就能加速實現(xiàn)千年發(fā)展目標。值此防治荒漠化和干旱世界日，讓我們重申對防治荒漠化和土地退化以及減少干旱影響的承諾；我們應當認識到，改善土壤，就是改善我們的生活。