2022年11月10日 VOA慢速英語：聯(lián)合國討論氣候談判中的損失和損害

 

The United Nations climate change meeting known as COP27 began Sunday in the vacation town of Sharm El-Sheikh, Egypt.
被稱為 COP27 的聯(lián)合國氣候變化會議于周日在埃及的度假小鎮(zhèn)沙姆沙伊赫開始。
 
The meeting is the 27th held since the first U.N. climate agreement in 1992.
該會議是自 1992 年第一個聯(lián)合國氣候協(xié)定以來舉行的第27次會議。
 
This year, delegates from nearly 200 countries started the meeting by discussing aid for poor nations suffering damage from weather events linked to changing climates.
今年，來自近 200 個國家的代表在會議開始時討論了對遭受與氣候變化有關(guān)的天氣事件損害的貧困國家的援助。
 
For more than 10 years, wealthy nations have rejected official discussions of what is called loss and damage. The U.N uses the term to describe damage from weather events blamed on warming temperatures caused by human activity. The term also is used in the insurance industry to describe things that are or are not covered by insurance policies.
十多年來，富裕國家拒絕正式討論所謂的損失和損害。聯(lián)合國使用該術(shù)語來描述天氣事件造成的損害，這些損害歸咎于人類活動引起的氣溫升高。該術(shù)語還用于保險業(yè)，用于描述保險單涵蓋或不涵蓋的事物。
 
United Nations officials said they are looking for "something meaningful in loss and damage." They added they were hopeful that the issue would be discussed in the meetings.
聯(lián)合國官員表示，他們正在尋找“對損失和損害有意義的東西”。他們補充說，他們希望在會議上討論這個問題。
 
Financial aid
經(jīng)濟資助
 
Money for loss and damage would be in addition to two other financial aid systems already proposed to help poor nations. Those systems aim to reduce the amount of heat-trapping gasses poor nations produce.
損失和損害賠償金將是已經(jīng)提議幫助貧窮國家的另外兩個財政援助系統(tǒng)的補充。這些系統(tǒng)旨在減少貧窮國家產(chǎn)生的吸熱氣體的數(shù)量。
 
Since 2009, the rich nations of the world have promised to spend about $100 billion in climate aid for poor nations. Most of that money is meant to limit the expansion of the coal, oil, and natural gas industries and replace them with what are called "green" energy systems. Officials now want as much as half of the promised aid to go to dealing with future weather disasters blamed on changes in the many climates that exist around the world.
自 2009 年以來，世界上的富裕國家已承諾為貧困國家提供約 1000 億美元的氣候援助。大部分資金用于限制煤炭、石油和天然氣行業(yè)的擴張，并用所謂的“綠色”能源系統(tǒng)取而代之。官員們現(xiàn)在希望將承諾援助的一半用于應(yīng)對未來的天氣災(zāi)害，這些災(zāi)害歸咎于世界各地存在的許多氣候變化。
 
Neither form of financial support has been carried out yet. But both are separate from the idea of paying for current and past weather disasters, such as high temperatures in India, floods in Pakistan, and droughts in Africa.
這兩種形式的財政支持都尚未進行。但兩者都與為當(dāng)前和過去的天氣災(zāi)害（例如印度的高溫、巴基斯坦的洪水和非洲的干旱）買單的想法是分開的。
 
Also, U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, some European leaders, and U.S. President Joe Biden have called for a tax on oil companies. The leaders want the energy companies to pay a windfall profits tax on gains earned while oil prices are high.
此外，聯(lián)合國秘書長安東尼奧·古特雷斯、一些歐洲領(lǐng)導(dǎo)人和美國總統(tǒng)喬·拜登都呼吁對石油公司征稅。領(lǐng)導(dǎo)人希望能源公司對在油價高企時獲得的收益繳納暴利稅。
 
Leaders in many countries say they want some of that money in addition to aid from rich nations. They say the leading industrial nations created much of the heat-trapping gases that are blamed for changing climates around the world.
許多國家的領(lǐng)導(dǎo)人表示，除了來自富裕國家的援助外，他們還想要其中的一些錢。他們說，主要的工業(yè)國家制造了許多吸熱氣體，這些氣體被指責(zé)為世界各地氣候變化的罪魁禍首。
 
Losses and damages
損失和損害
 
Adelle Thomas of the Bahamas is a scientist with Climate Analytics, a non-profit group based in Berlin. Thomas said, "Our current levels of global warming at 1.1 degrees Celsius have already caused dangerous and widespread losses and damages to nature and to billions of people."
巴哈馬的 Adelle Thomas 是位于柏林的非營利組織氣候分析的科學(xué)家。托馬斯說：“我們目前1.1 攝氏度的全球變暖水平已經(jīng)對自然和數(shù)十億人造成了危險和廣泛的損失和破壞。”
 
She added, "Losses and damages are unavoidable and unequally distributed" among poor nations, the old, poor and weak.
她補充說，“損失和損害是不可避免的，而且分配不均”在貧窮國家、老舊、貧窮和弱國之間。
 
U.S. and European officials say they are willing to have loss and damage discussions after not wanting to for years. But the top U.S. climate diplomat, John Kerry, said the U.S. will not agree to anything that sounds like liability.
美國和歐洲官員表示，在多年不愿意之后，他們愿意就損失和損害進行討論。但美國最高氣候外交官約翰克里表示，美國不會同意任何聽起來像是責(zé)任的事情。
 
Reparations
賠償
 
Justin Mankin of Dartmouth College in New Hampshire said, "Loss and damage is a way of both recognizing past harm and compensating for that past harm." He added that, "These harms are scientifically identifiable…" He said it is now up to "the politics" to either defend that harm or pay for it.
新罕布什爾州達特茅斯學(xué)院的賈斯汀·曼金 (Justin Mankin) 說：“損失和損害是承認過去傷害和補償過去傷害的一種方式。” 他補充說，“這些危害在科學(xué)上是可以識別的……”他說，現(xiàn)在取決于“政治”來捍衛(wèi)這種危害或為此付出代價。
 
"In many ways we're talking about reparations," said University of Maryland environmental health and justice professor Sacoby Wilson. He said it is the right term to use because the rich northern countries gained from the use of fuels. Poor southern nations got the damage in floods, droughts, refugees and hunger.
“在很多方面，我們都在談?wù)撡r償，”馬里蘭大學(xué)環(huán)境健康與司法教授 Sacoby Wilson 說。他說這是一個正確的術(shù)語，因為北方富裕國家從使用燃料中獲益。貧窮的南方國家遭受洪水、干旱、難民和饑餓的破壞。
 
The government of the island of Barbados has suggested changes in how development banks loan money to poor nations. It wants banks to consider the risk of damage from climate change and disasters. Pakistan and other nations have called for debt to be cancelled.
巴巴多斯島政府建議改變開發(fā)銀行向貧窮國家貸款的方式。它希望銀行考慮氣候變化和災(zāi)害造成的損害風(fēng)險。巴基斯坦和其他國家呼吁取消債務(wù)。
 
Climate diplomat Avinash Persaud of Barbados suggests an unusual long-term tax on oil, coal, and natural gas sales. At current high energy prices, he proposes that there should be no tax. He said this would prevent inflation. But once fuel prices fall by 10 percent, one percent of the price drop would go to countries facing loss and damage from disasters blamed on climate change.
巴巴多斯的氣候外交官 Avinash Persaud 建議對石油、煤炭和天然氣銷售征收不尋常的長期稅。在目前的高能源價格下，他建議不應(yīng)該征稅。他說這將防止通貨膨脹。但是，一旦燃料價格下降 10%，價格下降的 1% 將流向因氣候變化而遭受災(zāi)害損失和損害的國家。
 
Climate change talks
氣候變化會談
 
U.N. Climate Secretary Simon Stiell told reporters Sunday that discussing loss and damage at the meetings shows progress.
聯(lián)合國氣候大臣西蒙斯蒂爾周日告訴記者，在會議上討論損失和損害表明取得了進展。
 
He said, "This is a difficult subject area. It's been floating for thirty plus years." He added what will be most telling is how discussions progress over the next two weeks.
他說：“這是一個困難的學(xué)科領(lǐng)域。它已經(jīng)漂浮了三十多年。” 他補充說，最能說明問題的是未來兩周討論的進展情況。
 
The U.N. climate conference on Egypt's Red Sea coast will last until November 18.
埃及紅海沿岸的聯(lián)合國氣候大會將持續(xù)到 11 月 18 日。