Secretary-General's message to People's World Conference on Climate Change and Mother Earth Rights

Cochabamba, Bolivia, 20 April 2010


Mother Earth – our only home – is under pressure. We are making progressively unreasonable demands on her, and she is showing the strain. For all of human history we have depended on nature's bounty for sustenance, well-being and development. Too often we have drawn on nature's capital without putting back. We are now beginning to see the consequences of failing to safeguard our investment.


地球母親——我們唯一的家園——面臨著壓力。我們對她的索求越來越不合理，使之漸露疲態(tài)。在整個人類歷史中，我們一直依賴大自然的賜予維持生計、增進福祉和謀求發(fā)展。我們常常提取大自然的資本而未予以回報?，F(xiàn)在，我們漸漸看到?jīng)]有確保投資的后果。


Climate change and the depleted ozone layer are among the starkest examples. Biological diversity -- the incredible variety of life on Earth that sustains us -- is in rapid decline. Freshwater and marine resources are increasingly polluted; soils and once-prolific fisheries are growing barren.


氣候變化和臭氧層耗減就是其中最明顯的例子。生物多樣性——我們賴以為生的地球上難以置信的大量物種——正在迅速減少。淡水資源和海洋資源日益受到污染；土壤和一度豐富多產(chǎn)的漁場日趨貧瘠。


The impact of our neglectful stewardship is being felt most by the world's most vulnerable people: those who live on the desert margins; indigenous communities; the rural poor; the inhabitants of the squalid slums of the world's expanding megacities. If they are to break out of the poverty trap and prosper, they need – at the very minimum – fertile land, clean water and adequate sanitation.


對管理疏忽的影響感受最深的是世界上最脆弱的群體：即那些在沙漠邊緣生活的人們、土著民族、農(nóng)村窮困者和世界上不斷擴大的特大城市的貧民窟居民。他們?nèi)缫獢[脫貧困的束縛和實現(xiàn)繁榮，就至少要有肥沃的土地、清潔的飲水和適當(dāng)?shù)男l(wèi)生條件。


Environmental sustainability – the wise management of Mother Earth's bounty – is one of eight Millennium Development Goals adopted a decade ago by United Nations Member States. The deadline for achieving the goals is 2015. This September, I will convene a summit in New York to review progress towards the MDGs and develop an agenda for action – a practical, results-oriented plan, with concrete steps and timelines. Protecting Mother Earth must be an integral component of our strategy.


環(huán)境可持續(xù)性——即明智管理地球母親所賜財富——是聯(lián)合國會員國十年前通過的八個千年發(fā)展目標(biāo)之一。實現(xiàn)這些目標(biāo)的最后期限是2015年。今年9月，我將在紐約召集舉行一次首腦會議，審查實現(xiàn)千年發(fā)展目標(biāo)的進展情況，并制定一項行動議程——即一項切合實際和注重成果的計劃及其具體步驟和時間安排。保護地球母親的工作必須成為我們戰(zhàn)略中不可分割的組成部分。


Without a sustainable environmental base, we will have little hope of attaining our objectives for reducing poverty and hunger and improving health and human well-being. For these reasons and more, the General Assembly has proclaimed that each year on 22 April we will observe International Mother Earth Day. I call on all governments, businesses and citizens of the world to give our Mother Earth the respect and care she deserves.


如果沒有可持續(xù)的環(huán)境基礎(chǔ)，我們就沒有什么希望實現(xiàn)減少貧困和饑餓、改善健康和人類福祉的目標(biāo)。出于這些和其他原因，大會已宣布我們每年4月22日紀念國際地球母親日。我呼吁世界各國政府、企業(yè)和公民給予地球母親應(yīng)有的尊重和關(guān)愛。