22 March 2020

“本世纪，水将比石油更重要。”联合国前秘书长布特罗斯·布特罗斯-加利在1994年作出的这一预测，在2020年的今天听来振聋发聩。

Water will be more important than oil this century. This prediction, made in 1994 by former Secretary-General of the United Nations Boutros Boutros-Ghali, has alarming resonance in 2020.

未来，水资源无论在数量上还是质量上都将面临威胁。这是因为目前愈演愈烈的气候变化增加了水资源短缺的风险。

Water resources, in terms of both their quantity and their quality, are under threat. This is because climate change, now in full swing, increases the risk of water shortages.

今年世界水日着重强调的，便是水问题与气候变暖之间的关联。

World Water Day draws attention to the links between global warming and the world water issue.

在世界很多地区，供水和基本卫生设施问题迫在眉睫。今天，全世界有40 亿人面临缺水的局面。研究预测，随着气候变暖的加剧，这一问题将日趋严重，到2050年，全球或有52%的人口生活在水资源紧张的地区。水资源短缺首当其冲的受害者将是女童和妇女，这也会进一步加剧世界上的不平等现象。

Access to water and to basic sanitation infrastructure is already precarious in several regions. Today, four billion people worldwide are forced to contend with water scarcity. Studies predict that accelerated global warming will so exacerbate the problem that by 2050, 52% of the earth’s population could be living in areas subjected to water stress. The first victims of this insufficiency will be girls and women, a circumstance which is likely to increase inequality even further throughout the world.

水危机是一场全球性危机。没有可持续的水资源，优质教育或发展更繁荣、更公正社会等目标将无法实现。历史已经证明了这一点：例如，在中国和中东，是大江大河（长江、尼罗河和幼发拉底河等）让最早的农业文明和城市文明成为可能。

A water crisis is a global crisis. Without sustainable access to water, we will be unable to achieve goals such as quality education or the development of more prosperous, fairer societies. History has demonstrated this. In China and in the Middle East, for example, the major rivers (the Yangtze, Nile and Euphrates) made the first great agrarian and urban civilizations possible.

鉴于形势的紧迫性，未来的十年应该是行动的十年。作为全球对话的卓越论坛，教科文组织发挥着独特的作用。正是本着这一精神，本组织于2月24日主办了政府间气候变化专门委员会第52届会议开幕式。

Given the urgency of the situation, the coming decade needs to be one of action. As the ultimate forum for global conversation, UNESCO has a unique role to play. It was with this in mind that on 24 February the Organization hosted the opening of the 52nd Session of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).

本着同样的精神，教科文组织与联合国水机制大家庭合作出版的《联合国世界水发展报告》将侧重于气候变化问题。《联合国世界水发展报告》将提出具体解决方案，以确保为所有人提供水包括改善水资源管理，减轻水灾水患，并确保更便利且更可持续享有卫生设施。

In the same spirit, the United Nations World Water Development Report (WWDR), published by UNESCO in collaboration with the UN-Water family, will be focused on climate change. The WWDR will set out concrete solutions for ensuring access to water for all: improved water resources management, the mitigation of water-related hazards, easier and more sustainable access to sanitation.

只有确保子孙后代的充分参与，这场为了地球及水资源发起的行动才能从长远角度发挥效力。这正是环境教育的意义所在，而环境教育也是水教育，它教会人们如何更好地管理和保护水资源。教科文组织已呼吁其会员国将水教育问题纳入课程，从小学和幼儿园开始，并为此提供专业技术支持。

However, action to save the planet and its water will not be useful in the long term unless we make sure that future generations are fully involved. That is the point of environmental education, which is also education about water and about how we can better manage and preserve it. UNESCO has called upon its Member States to incorporate these issues into their school curricula, from pre-primary to elementary, and will share its technical expertise to help them with this undertaking.

教科文组织在今年世界水日的志向在于：不仅揭示当前的严峻局势，也号召一起付诸行动。

For UNESCO, this day is not just about issuing a distressing assessment of the current state of affairs; it must also be about taking action.

值此世界水日，我们邀请会员国、民间社会和每一个人为有“蓝金”之称的水资源行动起来，铭记安托万·德·圣-埃克苏佩里在《人的大地》的“水之颂”：“水，你无色无味，无香无嗅，无可定义，润化万物却不被认知。你不是生命之必需，你就是生命本身”。

And so on World Water Day, we call on States, civil society and regular people to take a stand for the blue gold about which Antoine de Saint-Exupéry said the following in Terre des hommes (Wind, Sand and Stars): “Water, thou hast no taste, no colour, no odour; canst not be defined, art relished while ever mysterious. Not necessary to life, but rather life itself [...]”.