UN Secretary-General's Message on World Water Day
New York, 22 March 2010


Water is the source of life and the link that binds all living beings on this planet. It is connected directly to all our United Nations goals: improved maternal and child health and life expectancy, women's empowerment, food security, sustainable development and climate change adaptation and mitigation. Recognition of these links led to the declaration of 2005-2015 as the International Decade for Action “Water for Life”.


水是生命之源，也是維系地球上所有生命的紐帶。水直接關系到我們聯(lián)合國的各項目標：改善孕產(chǎn)婦和兒童健康和提高預期壽命、增強婦女力量、糧食安全、可持續(xù)發(fā)展以及適應和減緩氣候變化。正是因為認識到這些聯(lián)系才宣布2005-2015年為“生命之水”國際行動十年。


Our indispensable water resources have proven themselves to be greatly resilient, but they are increasingly vulnerable and threatened. Our growing population's need for water for food, raw materials and energy is increasingly competing with nature's own demands for water to sustain already imperiled ecosystems and the services on which we depend. Day after day, we pour millions of tons of untreated sewage and industrial and agricultural wastes into the world's water systems. Clean water has become scarce and will become even scarcer with the onset of climate change. And the poor continue to suffer first and most from pollution, water shortages and the lack of adequate sanitation.


我們不可缺少的水資源確實具有巨大的復原力，但它們越來越脆弱也日趨受到威脅。不斷增長的人口對食物、原材料和能源用水的需求與大自然本身對維持瀕危生態(tài)系統(tǒng)和繼續(xù)提供我們賴以生存的服務的水量需求之間競爭日趨激烈。人類每天都向世界各水系中傾倒千百萬噸未經(jīng)處理的污水以及工業(yè)和農(nóng)業(yè)廢物。清潔飲水已經(jīng)成為稀缺資源，而且隨著氣候變化的到來將變得更加稀缺。窮人將首當其沖地受到污染、缺水和缺乏適當衛(wèi)生條件的影響。


The theme of this year's World Water Day, “Clean Water for a Healthy World”, emphasizes that both the quality and the quantity of water resources are at risk. More people die from unsafe water than from all forms of violence, including war. These deaths are an affront to our common humanity, and undermine the efforts of many countries to achieve their development potential.


今年世界水日的主題是“保障清潔水源，創(chuàng)造健康世界”，強調(diào)水資源質(zhì)量和數(shù)量都面臨威脅。因飲用不衛(wèi)生的水而死亡的人數(shù)超過了包括戰(zhàn)爭在內(nèi)等一切形式暴力的死亡人數(shù)。這些死亡是對我們共同人性的侮辱，也破壞了許多國家充分發(fā)揮發(fā)展?jié)摿Φ呐Α?/p>


The world has the know-how to solve these challenges and become better stewards of our water resources. Water is central to all our development goals. As we mark the mid-point of the International Decade for Action, and look forward to this year's MDG Summit, let us protect and sustainably manage our waters for the poor, the vulnerable and for all life on Earth.


世界已掌握解決這些難題的專門技能，能夠更好地管理水資源。水對于我們的所有發(fā)展目標都至關重要?，F(xiàn)在，該國際行動十年已為期過半，我們期待今年舉行千年發(fā)展目標首腦會議，讓我們保護水資源并對之進行可持續(xù)的管理，以增進窮人和弱勢群體的利益，保護地球上的所有生命。