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Drylands and arid zones were long considered “barren”, with few water resources, extreme climates and poor soil. Often distant from governing bodies, these zones have been neglected by policy- and decision-makers.
长期以来，旱地和干旱地带因其缺水、极端气候条件和土壤贫瘠等特点而被视为“荒漠”。干旱地带往往远离决策中心，所以一直被政策制定者和决策者所忽视。
They are nonetheless important ecosystems that are home to 100 to 200 million people. They are also home to unique species that have adapted to difficult environments and act as barometers of global climate change. As a result of climate change and unsustainable agricultural practices, the desertification and degradation of these regions, which are some of the most vulnerable on the planet, are endangering vast territories and the livelihoods of millions of people.
然而，干旱地区却是养育着1亿到2亿人口的重要生态系统，那里还栖息着适应严酷环境并发挥世界气候变化晴雨表作用的特有物种。作为地球上最为脆弱的地区之一，干旱地区因气候变化以及不可持续的农耕方式的影响而出现荒漠化以及土地退化问题，这使广袤的地区岌岌可危，数百万人的生存遭受威胁。
On this World Day to Combat Desertification and Drought, we reaffirm the urgency of implementing solutions for the sustainable management of arid zones. These solutions are useful to people outside these areas, too, as sustainable land management is an issue everywhere. UNESCO’s arid zones programme is an exemplary initiative that has accelerated scientific research on these ecosystems and has shown that sustainable arid-zone management is the best way to adapt to the effects of climate change.
在防治荒漠化和干旱世界日，我们重申应紧迫地实施干旱地区可持续管理解决方案。这种解决方案对于生活在干旱地区之外的人们也有价值，因为土地的可持续管理是一个世界性的问题。教科文组织的干旱地带计划是一个加快相关生态系统科学研究的范例。该项计划表明，干旱地区的可持续管理是帮助人们适应气候变化影响的最佳方式。
Climate change is no general or abstract phenomenon; it has a real impact on the daily lives of millions of people who depend directly on these fragile resources for survival and can see their environment deteriorating gradually. By sharing the experiences of those on the front line and by understanding the genuine impact of climate change on their daily lives, we can help them to adapt and raise global awareness. Such is the objective set for the Project on Sustainable Management of Marginal Drylands (SUMAMAD) led by UNESCO since 2002 in partnership with the United Nations University Institute for Water, Environment and Health (UNU-INWEH). With the support of the Flemish Government of Belgium, the project is designed to combat desertification in project sites in nine countries, namely Bolivia, Burkina Faso, China, Egypt, India, Iran, Jordan, Pakistan and Tunisia, by rehabilitating degraded drylands, improving agricultural yields through better water management, formulating policy guidelines for decision-makers and sharing information and experiential data among scientists. Owing to the project, local communities have adopted more sustainable life practices (ecotourism, handicraft production, beekeeping and dietary diversification) to reduce their dependence on traditional dryland agriculture in a deteriorating environment.
气候变化不是一个笼统和抽象的概念。它真切地影响到数百万直接依靠脆弱资源为生并见证自己的环境日益恶化的人们的日常生活。通过分享在第一线生活的人们的实际经验，了解气候变化对他们日常生活的真实影响，我们才能帮助他们适应并提高全世界公众的认识。教科文组织自2002年以来与联合国大学水、环境与健康问题国际网络合作实施的旱地可持续管理计划正是以此为目的。在比利时弗拉芒政府的支持下，该项目力图在九个国家（玻利维亚、布基纳法索、中国、埃及、印度、伊朗、约旦、巴基斯坦和突尼斯）的试点地区开展防治荒漠化的工作，途径包括修复退化的旱地；通过改善水资源管理提高农业产量；制定决策者政策指南；以及在科学家之间交流信息和经验。通过开展项目，当地社区采纳了更加可持续的谋生方式，例如生态旅游、手工艺制作、养蜂以及食品多元化，在干旱和脆弱环境里减少对传统农业的依赖。
This proves that, by thinking up context-specific solutions, we can combat poverty and improve population health. To achieve that goal, the provision of global scientific cooperation must be expedited and experiential data and better integrated approaches that take into account the physical, social and cultural factors necessary for the sustainable preservation of dryland ecosystems must be shared among countries. This is the goal to which UNESCO is committed on the 2014 World Day to Combat Desertification and Drought.
这就证明通过找到适应具体环境的解决办法，我们可以消除贫困，增进人民福祉。为此，我们需要加快国际科学合作的步伐，加强各国之间的经验交流以及兼顾可持续保护干旱地区生态系统所必需的物质、社会和文化因素的综合办法的共享。这就是教科文组织在防治荒漠化和干旱世界日所做的承诺。
