Our planet is thirsty — thirsty because it is hungry. It takes one thousand times more water to feed the human population than it does to satisfy its thirst.
Water lies at the core of sustainable development concerns, and its rational and equitable management is crucial for human survival. That was one of the key messages to arise from the World Summit on Sustainable Development2 that was held in Johannesburg this summer. Next year’s Third World Water Forum in Japan will address this issue in greater depth.
It is therefore fitting that this year’s World Food Day spotlights the role of water in food security. Without water, there can be no food production. In fact, the agricultural sector is the user of 70 percent of the planet’s water supply. In a world in which per capita water availability is declining, we need to focus on appropriate water management if we are to sufficiently increase food production, with a view to reduce hunger and malnutrition, and feed a population expected to rise to 8 billion in 30 years’time.
Shortage of water threatens extensive agricultural regions in developing countries and fans the prospect of food crises. At present, twenty countries do not have enough water to produce the food their populations need. In some cases, the overexploitation of water resources undermines future agricultural production, while in others, their underexploitation inhibits development.
The combined vicious impact of poverty, rising demand for food and insufficient availability of water therefore poses a serious challenge for world food security and universal access to clean water. One billion people are deprived of clean water, and most of these people are also hungry. They live in rural areas and agriculture is their main source of income.
How are we to ensure water availability and food security, while safeguarding the environment? At present, more than one-third of the world’s food production comes from the irrigated areas that make up 16 percent of the planet’s arable land. Irrigated farming is at least twice as productive as rainfed farming3, and during the next 30 years some 70 percent of additional food production in developing countries should come from irrigated land.
It is urgent to avoid poor irrigation practices that have often led to diminishing water supplies, land degradation and spread of disease . Far too often, more water is being pumped than can possibly be recharged. Also , too much water is being lost along canals, because of leakage , wastage , seepage or evaporation. Too many schemes are losing productivity because of inappropriate drainage, waterlogging and a build-up of salts in the soil.
We thus have to turn increasingly to adopt integrated watershed management, curb the upstream deforestation that generates flooding and erosion, and significantly increase investment in water control infrastructure. Finally, water use will be sustainable only if it is done in a socially equitable manner.
New water policy, and institutions and laws will facilitate the integrated management of river basins and water resources by all stakeholders, in a climate of transparency, accountability and social justice.
The cooperation of all development partners, the public, private and non-profit sectors at national and international level, will be indispensable to resolve conflicts of interest, mobilize substantial financial resources and create conditions for a fairer distribution of food and water.
The countries of Africa , the Middle East and southern Asia that are already facing serious water shortages will see their situation rapidly worsen unless there is stronger solidarity between the regions of abundance and the regions of scarcity. Such solidarity is necessary if we are to avoid a proliferation and aggravation of tensions relating to water .
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CET4大學(xué)英語四級閱讀練習(xí)題：
Ⅰ. Fill in e ach bla nk with p rop er wo rds or p hra ses from the p as sage :
1. Many people in Africa ( 剝奪) their rights of living peacefully.
2. A few of spies are planning to ( 破壞) the social stability.
3. Library is usually regarded as a ( 非盈利) organization.
?、? Question :
Why should we avoid poor irrigation practices?
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參考答案：
Ⅰ. 1. are deprived of 2. undermine 3 . non-profit
?、? Because such practices have often led to diminishing water supplies, land degradation and spread of disease.
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CET4大學(xué)英語四級閱讀參考譯文：
水:糧食安全之源
我 們的星球很渴。它之所以渴是因為它饑餓。它用于生產(chǎn)供養(yǎng)人類的糧食所需要的水比用于人類飲用的水多一千倍。
水是可持續(xù)發(fā)展關(guān)注的核心問題。對水進(jìn)行公平合理的管理是人類生存的關(guān)鍵。這是今年夏天在約翰內(nèi)斯堡舉行的可持續(xù)發(fā)展首腦會議發(fā)出的主要信息之一。明年在日本舉行的第三屆“ 世界水論壇”將要更加深入地討論這一問題。
因此, 今年的“ 世界糧食日”突顯水在糧食安全中的作用是正逢其時的。沒有水, 就不可能進(jìn)行糧食生產(chǎn)。事實上, 地球上的供水量有70% 為于農(nóng)業(yè)部門所用。世界上水的人均占有量正在下降, 必須對水進(jìn)行適當(dāng)集中管理才能充分提高糧食生產(chǎn), 從而減少饑餓和營養(yǎng)不良, 為30 年后預(yù)計將達(dá)到80 億的人口提供食品。
缺水對發(fā)展中國家的廣大農(nóng)業(yè)地區(qū)造成威脅, 可能引起糧食危機。目前有20 個國家無充足的水用于生產(chǎn)該國人口需要的糧食。在某些情況下, 水資源過度開發(fā)影響了農(nóng)業(yè)生產(chǎn)前景, 而在另一些情況下, 水資源利用不足抑制了發(fā)展。
貧困、對糧食日益增加的需求以及供水量不足等綜合因素對世界糧食安全及人人獲得凈水提出了嚴(yán)重挑戰(zhàn)。有十億人缺乏凈水, 他們中的大多數(shù)還遭受饑餓。他們生活在農(nóng)村地區(qū), 農(nóng)業(yè)是主要收入來源。
我們?nèi)绾尾拍茉诒Ｗo(hù)環(huán)境的同時確保水的供應(yīng)和糧食安全呢? 今天, 世界糧食產(chǎn)量有三分之一以上來自灌溉地區(qū), 灌溉面積占全球耕地面積的16% 。灌溉農(nóng)業(yè)的產(chǎn)量至少是雨育農(nóng)業(yè)的兩倍。在今后30 年間, 發(fā)展中國家增加的糧食產(chǎn)量約有70% 來自灌溉土地。我們急需避免通常會導(dǎo)致供水減少、土地退化和疾病傳播的不良灌溉方法。更多時候抽水量都超過了儲水重新補給的能力。同樣, 因流失、消耗、滲透或蒸發(fā), 有太多的水在灌渠沿途損失。由于排水不當(dāng)、積水和土壤鹽堿化日益嚴(yán)重, 許多灌區(qū)的生產(chǎn)率下降。
因此, 我們必須更多地采用小流域綜合管理方法, 制止造成水災(zāi)和侵蝕的上游毀林, 大量增加對水利基礎(chǔ)設(shè)施的投資。最后, 水的利用只有以社會公平的方式進(jìn)行才可能持續(xù)。新的水政策和體制及法律將在一種透明、負(fù)責(zé)和社會公正的氛圍下, 促使所有利益相關(guān)者接受對江河流域及水資源的綜合管理方法。
國家和國際范圍內(nèi)所有發(fā)展伙伴之間、公共、私營及非盈利部門之間必須進(jìn)行合作, 才能解決利益沖突, 調(diào)動大量經(jīng)濟資源, 為更加公平分配糧食和水創(chuàng)造條件。除非富足地區(qū)與匱乏地區(qū)之間加強團(tuán)結(jié)協(xié)作, 否則非洲、中東和南亞已經(jīng)面臨嚴(yán)重缺水國家的形勢將會迅速惡化。如果我們要避免與水有關(guān)的緊張狀況擴散和加劇, 就需要這種團(tuán)結(jié)協(xié)作。
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閱讀導(dǎo)評
凡去過中國西北和華北的人都知道那里缺水的情況有多嚴(yán)重, 即便是上海這種位于長江口的城市實際上也不是水資源富足的地區(qū): 2003 年討論中國最適合發(fā)展電腦芯片工業(yè)的地域是珠江三角洲地區(qū)而不是長三角的滬寧杭等地, 更別提連生活用水都有些拮據(jù)的京津唐地區(qū)了( 芯片工業(yè)是已知產(chǎn)業(yè)中耗淡水之最) ?？茖W(xué)合理地用水, 保護(hù)現(xiàn)有水源免受污染, 比如把鈕扣電池投放到指定的電池采集點從而免于污染大量水源, 是目前我們急需要做的。
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閱讀講解：
1. 這是世界糧食日慶祝儀式上一位總干事的講話。
2. 可持續(xù)發(fā)展。18、19 世紀(jì)歐美實行工業(yè)化的過程當(dāng)中以犧牲環(huán)境為代價換取經(jīng)濟的高速發(fā)展, 同時產(chǎn)生的問題就是當(dāng)時的人們生存環(huán)境十分惡劣: 倫敦得了個世界“ 霧都” 的臭名, 美國的中西部黑風(fēng)暴肆虐, 因此在第三世界國家走工業(yè)化的過程中不能再重復(fù)那種先污染后治理的道路, 而且現(xiàn)代技術(shù)的產(chǎn)品往往具有比那時更高的污染程度和對人體更長遠(yuǎn)更可怕的傷害, 所以可持續(xù)發(fā)展就被提上議事日程: 要以負(fù)責(zé)任的態(tài)度對待發(fā)展問題, 不能把一個重度污染、物種滅絕、資源耗盡的地球留給后代。
3. 雨水灌溉的農(nóng)業(yè)。所謂“ 靠天田”, 這種田一般產(chǎn)量不高, 也不穩(wěn)定。
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