Message from Ms Irina Bokova, Director-General of UNESCO, on the Occasion of World Water Day

联合国教科文组织总干事伊琳娜·博科娃在世界水日的致辞

Water and Energy

水与能源

22 March 2014

2014年3月22日

Water is fundamental to life and is the common denominator of all sustainable development challenges. We need water to produce food and we need water to produce energy. Improving access to freshwater is about enabling millions of girls to go to school instead of walking kilometres to fetch water. It is about improving maternal health, curbing child mortality and preserving the environment.

水对生命至关重要，也是一切可持续发展挑战的共同点。我们需要水来生产粮食和能源。促进水资源的获取同时也意味着数百万女童得以上学，而不必跋涉数公里去汲水。它还意味着改善孕产妇健康、降低新生儿死亡率和保护环境。

We need to better understand the complex interactions between resources that are closely interlinked, such as water, food and energy. And we must acknowledge that it is impossible to manage these resources sustainably if we treat them in isolation. Each mode of energy production has implications for the quantity and quality of water available. The choices made in one sector have repercussions on the other, for better and for worse. The World Water Development Report released today confirms, for example, that people who lack electricity are also those who lack water. This is no mere coincidence – water is required to produce energy, and energy is required to sanitize and convey water. Both are essential to human wellbeing and sustainable development.

我们应当更好地理解水、粮食及能源等资源之间的复杂互动。我们还应当承认，如果以割裂方式对待这些资源，就无法以可持续的方式对其加以管理。每种能源生产方式都会对可用水资源的质量和数量产生各种后果。一个部门做出的选择会对另一个部门产生或好或坏的影响。例如今天发布的世界水资源报告就确认了缺乏电力的人群同样也缺乏水资源。这并非偶然：生产能源需要水，而净水和输水又需要能源。二者对人类福祉和可持续发展都是不可或缺的。

Sustainability depends on our ability to understand all these connections and to develop more relevant policies that take an integrated approach to interconnected resources. The challenge is all the greater as the demand for water and energy is soaring, particularly in emerging economies, where agriculture, industry and cities are developing at a tremendous pace. We must find ways to ensure access to water and energy in sufficient quantity and quality, in a sustainable way.

可持续性取决于我们能否理解所有这些联系，能否制定更合适的政策，能否以更全面一体化的方式理解彼此相关的资源。随着对水资源与能源的需求发生爆炸性增长，特别是在工农业和城市飞速发展的新兴经济体，挑战也愈加严峻。我们应当设法确保以可持续的方式获取质量和数量有充足保证的水资源和能源。

Sustainability also requires better cooperation between all water stakeholders – policymakers, scientists and businesses, both public and private, who all too often ignore each other while in reality they depend on each other. The International Year of Water Cooperation in 2013 set important milestones. The initiative on sanitation of Mr Jan Eliasson, United Nations Deputy Secretary-General, also calls for greater collective action for the better management of human waste and wastewater. Poor sanitation has devastating consequences, particularly for children, and the key to the problem includes energy.

可持续性还取决于水资源的所有行动者的良好合作，包括政策制定者、科学家和公私企业，他们往往意识不到他们是相互依存的。2013年国际水合作年已打下重要基础。联合国副秘书长扬·埃利亚松先生在其卫生倡议中也呼吁加强集体行动，以便更好地管理人类垃圾和废水。卫生匮乏造成很多灾难性影响，特别是对儿童，解决这一问题同样需要能源。

There is enough water in the world for everyone. What we continue to lack is better governance and the collective courage to craft fair compromise solutions. These should be based on research results and reliable data. UNESCO will continue to commit its resources to this cause, in particular through our International Hydrological Programme, the Institute for Water Education in Delft, our centres and Chairs specialized in water, and the data from the World Water Assessment Programme, which are all ways of building capacity, carrying out research and sharing good practices. Together, we can better integrate water and sanitation and the link between water and energy as positive levers for sustainable development.

地球拥有足供所有人使用的水资源。我们依然缺乏的是良好治理和找到公平的妥协办法的集体勇气。它们应仰赖于研究成果和可靠数据。教科文组织将继续把本组织的资源用于这一事业，特别是我们的国际水文计划、代尔夫特的水教育研究所、专精于水资源问题的各中心和教席、世界水资源评估计划的数据等用于加强能力、深化研究和分享良好作法的手段。携起手来，我们能够更好地结合水与卫生，以及水与能源之间的联系，将它们作为促进可持续发展的杠杆。

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