幾乎乾涸的鹹海：潘基文說是令人'震驚的災難'

Aral Sea
鹹海
西元2009年05月29日

幾乎乾涸的鹹海：潘基文說是令人'震驚的災難'
Aral Sea Almost DRIED UP: UN Chief Calls It 'Shocking Disaster'
First Posted: 04- 4-10 01:00 PM
Updated: 04- 4-10 05:10 PM

NUKUS, Uzbekistan -- The drying up of the Aral Sea is one of the planet's most shocking disasters, U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said Sunday, as he urged Central Asian leaders to step up efforts to solve the problem.
烏茲別克斯坦努庫斯 - 鹹海的乾涸是地球上其中一個最令人震驚的災難，聯合國秘書長潘基文週日說，當他呼籲中亞領導人加緊努力去解決這問題。
Once the world's fourth-largest lake, the sea has shrunk by 90 percent since the rivers that feed it were largely diverted in a Soviet project to boost cotton production in the arid region.
一旦世界第四大湖泊，大海已經縮水百分之九十，自餵飼它的河流在蘇聯的項目是大大地轉移，以提高在乾旱地區的棉花生產。
The shrunken sea has ruined the once-robust fishing economy and left fishing trawlers stranded in sandy wastelands, leaning over as if they dropped from the air. The sea's evaporation has left layers of highly salted sand, which winds can carry as far away as Scandinavia and Japan, and which plague local people with health troubles.

Ban toured the sea by helicopter as part of a visit to the five countries of former Soviet Central Asia. His trip included a touchdown in Muynak, Uzbekistan, a town once on the shore where a pier stretches eerily over gray desert and camels stand near the hulks of stranded ships.
潘基文坐直升機參觀鹹海，作為訪問五個前蘇聯中亞地區國家的一部分。他的行程包括著陸在烏茲別克斯坦的穆伊納克，一個鎮一度在岸邊，碼頭怪異地綿延在灰色沙漠上和駱駝站在滯留廢船的附近。
"On the pier, I wasn't seeing anything, I could see only a graveyard of ships," Ban told reporters after arriving in Nukus, the nearest sizable city and capital of the autonomous Karakalpak region.
"在碼頭上，我看不到任何東西，我只能看到一個船舶的墓地，”潘基文在抵達努庫斯後對記者說，最近的大型城市和卡拉卡爾帕克地區的自治首都。
"It is clearly one of the worst disasters, environmental disasters of the world. I was so shocked," he said.
“這顯然是其中一個最嚴重的災害，世界的環境災害，我是如此震驚，”他說。


The Aral Sea catastrophe is one of Ban's top concerns on his six-day trip through the region and he is calling on the countries' leaders to set aside rivalries to cooperate on repairing some of the damage.
鹹海災難是潘基文 6天通過該地區的旅程的其中一個最關注問題，和他探訪各國領導人去放開敵對，共同合作修復損壞。
"I urge all the leaders ... to sit down together and try to find the solutions," he said, promising United Nations support.
“我催促所有領導人 ...坐在一起並試圖尋找解決方案，”他說，答應聯合國的支持。
However, cooperation is hampered by disagreements over who has rights to scarce water and how it should be used.
但是，合作被歧見妨礙，着眼於稀缺的水的權利和它應如何使用。
In a presentation to Ban before his flyover, Uzbek officials complained that dam projects in Tajikistan will severely reduce the amount of water flowing into Uzbekistan. Impoverished Tajikistan sees the hydroelectric projects as potential key revenue earners.

Competition for water could become increasingly heated as global warming and rising populations further reduce the amount of water available per capita.

Water problems also could brew further dissatisfaction among civilians already troubled by poverty and repressive governments; some observers fear that could feed growing Islamist sentiment in the region.

Ban also is taking on the region's frequently poor human rights conditions.

That is likely to be an especially tense issue when he meets Monday with Uzbek President Islam Karimov, who has led the country since the 1991 Soviet collapse and imposed severe pressure on opposition and civil rights activists.

The meeting comes less than two weeks after the U.N. Human Rights Committee issued a report criticizing Uzbekistan, including calling for fuller investigation of the brutal suppression of a 2005 uprising in the city of Andijan. Opposition and rights groups claim that hundreds were killed, but authorities insist the reports are exaggerated and angrily reject any criticism.
Aral Sea
鹹海
西元2009年01月12日

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/04/04/aral-sea-almost-dried-up_n_524697.html

世界第四大湖乾涸　鹹海變死海
2010年04月06日
位於中亞的鹹海（ Aral Sea）， 50年前是全球第四大湖泊，但前蘇聯將大量湖水引灌乾旱地區種棉花，導致鹹海急劇萎縮，至今面積暴減九成。
鹹海位於烏茲別克和哈薩克交界，是一個內流鹹水湖。 1960年代測量顯示，鹹海面積達 68,000平方公里，全盛時間有多達 40,000人從事漁業。
但前蘇聯引湖水種棉花後，鹹海水位每年下降 90厘米，到 1997年面積只剩下原本的一成。
鹹海幾近乾涸，不但令漁民失去生計，更造成生態災難──乾涸的湖床沉積層含有大量鹽、化肥等，當強風吹起沉積層後就變成有毒沙塵暴，吹至北歐和日本。

潘基文:只見船隻墳墓
聯合國秘書長潘基文前日（周日）到鹹海視察，大吃一驚，形容「這是歷來最令人震驚的環境大災難。」他說：「我站在碼頭，甚麼都看不到，只見船隻的墳墓。」
潘基文促區內國家合作，對付水源越來越稀少的這個環境大災難。
英國《每日郵報》
http://hk.apple.nextmedia.com/template/apple/art_main.php?iss_id=20100406&sec_id=15335&subsec_id=10943028&art_id=13899591