In March 2017, the mayor of Cape Town officially declared Cape Town a local disaster, as it had less than four months left of usable water. Residents were restricted to 100 liters of water per person, per day. But what does that really mean? With 100 liters of water per day, you can take a five-minute shower, wash your face twice and probably flush the toilet about five times. You still didn't brush your teeth, you didn't do laundry, and you definitely didn't water your plants. You, unfortunately, didn't wash your hands after those five toilet flushes. And you didn't even take a sip of water. The mayor described this as that it means a new relationship with water.
2017年3月, 开普敦市长正式宣布, 开普敦是旱情重灾区, 因为剩余可用水资源已经 不足以维系四个月的生活。 居民每人每天用水量 被限制在100升以内。 这意味着什么呢? 每天只有100升水, 你可以洗5分钟的澡, 洗两次脸, 大概可以冲五次马桶。 但不够你刷牙, 你也不能洗衣服, 当然更不用说浇花了。 并且很不幸,上完 那五次厕所你没有水洗手。 你甚至都没有喝一口水。 这就是市长想要表达的意思, 人与水的一种新关系。
Today, seven months later, I can share two things about my second home with you.
如今,7个月过去了, 我想和你们分享两个 我第二个故乡的故事。
First: Cape Town hasn't run out of water just yet. But as of September 3rd, the hundred-liter limit dropped to 87 liters. The mayor defined the city's new normal as one of permanent drought.
第一:开普敦现在还有水。 但是9月3号开始, 每天100升水的限量降到了87升。 市长宣布久旱会是这个城市的新常态。
Second: what's happening in Cape Town is pretty much coming to many other cities and countries in the world. According to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, excluding countries that we don't have data for, less than five percent of the world's population is living in a country that has more water today than it did 20 years ago. Everyone else is living in a country that has less water today. And nearly one out of three are living in a country that is facing a water crisis.
第二: 开普敦的遭遇同时 也在其他很多城市上演, 甚至是世界上其他国家。 根据联合国粮食署的数据, 除去我们没有收集到数据的国家, 不到百分之五的世界人口所在的国家 如今拥有比20年前更多的水资源。 其余国家的水资源都减少了。 同时,几乎三分之一人口所在的国家 面临着水资源危机。
I grew up in Jordan, a water-poor country that has experienced absolute water scarcity since 1973. And still, in 2017, only 10 countries in the world have less water than Jordan. So dealing with a lack of water is quite ingrained in my soul. As soon as I was old enough to learn how to write my name, I also learned that I need to conserve water. My parents would constantly remind my siblings and I to close the tap when we brushed our teeth. We used to fill balloons with flour instead of water when we played. It's just as much fun, though.
我在约旦长大, 一个从1973年开始 就面临水资源稀缺的国家。 即便在2017年, 全世界只有10个国家 水资源少于约旦。 所以应付缺水是我生活的一部分。 从我会写名字开始, 我就意识到我要节约用水。 我父母会不断提醒我和兄弟姐妹 在刷牙的时候关掉水龙头。 玩耍时,我们灌到气球里 的是面粉而不是水。 当然也很有意思。
(Laughter)
(笑声)
And a few years ago, when my friends and I were dared to do the Ice Bucket Challenge, we did that with sand.
几年前, 我和朋友们接受了冰桶挑战, 但用的是沙子。
(Laughter)
(笑声)
And you might think that, you know, that's easy, sand is not ice cold. I promise you, sand goes everywhere, and it took ages to get rid of it.
你们可能会觉得那很容易, 沙子一点也不冰。 但是沙子撒的到处都是, 而且要花很长时间清理。
But what perhaps I didn't realize as I played with flour balloons as a child, and as I poured sand on my head as an adult, is that some of the techniques that seem second nature to me and to others who live in dry countries might help us all address what is fast becoming a global crisis. I wish to share three lessons today, three lessons from water-poor countries and how they survived and even thrived despite their water crisis.
但是或许我没注意到, 当我小时候玩面粉气球时, 当我长大把沙子倒在 头上时, 这些行为似乎是我的天性, 干旱地区人民共有的天性, 这或许可以帮我们应对 即将到来的全球水资源危机。 我今天想和大家分享三个经验, 三个来自缺水国家的经验, 以及他们是如何 在水资源危机中存活下来的。
Lesson one: tell people how much water they really have. In order to solve a problem, we need to acknowledge that we have one. And when it comes to water, people can easily turn a blind eye, pretending that since water is coming out of the tap now, everything will be fine forever. But some smart, drought-affected countries have adopted simple, innovative measures to make sure their citizens, their communities and their companies know just how dry their countries are.
第一个经验: 让人们知道他们实际拥有多少水。 要解决问题, 我们首先需要认识到 我们面临着一个问题。 当涉及到水资源时, 人们经常欺骗自己, 假装只要水管中还有水, 就万事大吉了。 但是一些遭受干旱,却机智的国家 采取了一些简单新颖的方法, 让市民,社区和公司 认识到了他们的国家 有多么的缺水。
When I was in Cape Town earlier this year, I saw this electronic billboard on the freeway, indicating how much water the city had left. This is an idea they may well have borrowed from Australia when it faced one of the worst droughts of the country's history from 1997 to 2009. Water levels in Melbourne dropped to a very low capacity of almost 26 percent. But the city didn't yell at people. It didn't plead with them not to use water. They used electronic billboards to flash available levels of water to all citizens across the city. They were honestly telling people how much water they really have, and letting them take responsibility for themselves. By the end of the drought, this created such a sense of urgency as well as a sense of community. Nearly one out of three citizens in Melbourne had invested in installing rainwater holding tanks for their own households. Actions that citizens took didn't stop at installing those tanks. With help from the city, they were able to do something even more impactful.
今年早些时候, 我在高速上看到了一个电子广告牌, 写着这个城市还剩多少水。 这个方法可能是向澳大利亚借鉴的, 从1997到2009年,澳洲一直面临着 史上最严重的干旱。 当时墨尔本的水位降到最低谷, 差不多只有正常水平的26% 但政府没有控诉市民, 没有恳请他们不要用水。 他们通过电子广告牌 来展示剩余可用水量, 告诉所有市民, 他们坦诚地告诉市民剩余的水量, 让他们为自己负责。 在干旱结束时, 这给人们带来了一种紧迫感, 让人们更加团结。 几乎三分之一的墨尔本市民 在家里安装了存储雨水的装置。 市民所采取的措施 远不止于安装了这些装置。 在政府的帮助下 他们能做一些更有意义的事情。
Taking me to lesson two: empower people to save water. Melbourne wanted people to spend less water in their homes. And one way to do that is to spend less time in the shower. However, interviews revealed that some people, women in particular, weren't keen on saving water that way. Some of them honestly said, "The shower is not just to clean up. It's my sanctuary. It's a space I go to relax, not just clean up." So the city started offering water-efficient showerheads for free. And then, now some people complained that the showerheads looked ugly or didn't suit their bathrooms. So what I like to call "The Showerhead Team" developed a small water-flow regulator that can be fitted into existing showerheads. And although showerhead beauty doesn't matter much to me, I loved how the team didn't give up and instead came up with a simple, unique solution to empower people to save water. Within a span of four years, more than 460,000 showerheads were replaced. When the small regulator was introduced, more than 100,000 orders of that were done. Melbourne succeeded in reducing the water demands per capita by 50 percent.
第二个经验: 让人们节约用水。 墨尔本政府希望人们在家里减少用水。 其中一种方式就是缩短洗澡的时间。 然而调查发现, 有些人,尤其是女性, 不愿意在这方面减少用水。 有些人坦言, “洗澡不单单是为了清洁。 这是我的私密空间。 一个不仅仅提供清洁, 更是让我放松的地方。” 于是政府开始免费提供节水花洒。 然而一些人抱怨那个花洒有点丑, 或者不适用于他们的浴室。 好在“花洒小队” 发明了一种小型流量调节器, 可以安装在现有的花洒中。 尽管我不怎么在乎花洒的外观, 但我很欣赏这个团队的坚持, 并想出了一个 简单独特的解决方案 来帮助人们节水。 在四年的时间里, 人们更换了46万个花洒。 当流量调节器推出之后, 销量超过10万。 墨尔本成功将人均用水量 降低了50%。
In the United Arab Emirates, the second-most water-scarce country in the world, officials designed what they called the "Business Heroes Toolkit" in 2010. The aim was to motivate and empower businesses to reduce water and energy consumption. The toolkit practically taught companies how to measure their existing water-consumption levels and consisted of tips to help them reduce those levels. And it worked. Hundreds of organizations downloaded the toolkit. And several of them joined what they called the "Corporate Heroes Network," where companies can voluntarily take on a challenge to reduce their water-consumption levels to preset targets within a period of one year. Companies which completed the challenge saved on average 35 percent of water. And one company, for example, implemented as many water-saving tips as they could in their office space. They replaced their toilet-flushing techniques, taps, showerheads -- you name it. If it saved water, they replaced it, eventually reducing their employees' water consumption by half.
在阿联酋, 世界第二大缺水国家, 2010年,官方发明了 “商业英雄工具包”。 为了激励企业 减少水和能源的消耗。 这个工具包会指导公司 如何测量他们现有的用水量, 同时提供一些减少用水的方法。 这个方法奏效了, 上百个组织下载了这个工具包。 很多组织还参加了 “企业英雄网络”, 在这个平台上, 公司可以自愿参加一些挑战, 比如在一年之内,将其用水量 降至预设目标。 完成这些挑战的公司 平均节水量达到了35%。 比如,其中一个公司 在办公区部署了各种节水设施。 他们更新了冲厕技术, 水龙头,花洒等等—— 你能想到的都有。 只要能节水,他们就替换 最终员工用水量节省了一半。
Empowering individuals and companies to save water is so critical, yet not sufficient. Countries need to look beyond the status quo and implement country-level actions to save water.
个人和公司是节水的主力军, 但是还不够。 国家应该目光长远, 并采取国家层面的行动 来节约水资源。
Taking me to lesson three: look below the surface. Water savings can come from unexpected places. Singapore is the eighth most water-scarce country in the world. It depends on imported water for almost 60 percent of its water needs. It's also a very small island. As such, it needs to make use of as much space as possible to catch rainfall. So in 2008, they built the Marina Barrage. It's the first-ever urban water reservoir built in the middle of the city-state. It's the largest water catchment in the country, almost one-sixth the size of Singapore. What's so amazing about the Marina Barrage is that it has been built to make the maximum use of its large size and its unexpected yet important location. It brings three valuable benefits to the country: it has boosted Singapore's water supply by 10 percent; it protects low areas around it from floods because of its connection to the sea; and, as you can see, it acts as a beautiful lifestyle attraction, hosting several events, from art exhibitions to music festivals, attracting joggers, bikers, tourists all around that area.
这引出了第三个经验: 透过表面看本质。 我们可以在 很多意想不到的地方节水。 新加坡是世界第八大缺水国家, 几乎60%的用水依赖进口。 新加坡是一个很小的岛国。 出于这些原因 它需要尽可能地 收集并存储雨水。 在2008年, 他们建造了滨海堰坝。 这是有史以来第一个 建在城中央的水库, 是新加坡最大的集水池, 几乎占了新加坡六分之一的面积。 关于滨海堰坝最神奇的一点 在于它最大限度利用了所有空间, 以及它意想不到的重要位置。 它为新加坡带来了三个好处。 它将新加坡的供水量提高了10%; 它使低海拔地区免受洪水危及, 因为它连着海, 同时,正如你所看到的, 它也是一个美丽的景点。 这里举办过各式各样的活动, 从艺术展到音乐嘉年华, 吸引了周围居民 来慢跑,骑行和旅游。
Now, not all initiatives need to be stunning or even visible. My first home, Jordan, realized that agriculture is consuming the majority of its fresh water. They really wanted to encourage farmers to focus on growing low water-intensive crops. To achieve that, the local agriculture is increasing its focus on date palms and grapevines. Those two are much more tolerant to drought conditions than many other fruits and vegetables, and at the same time, they are considered high-value crops, both locally and internationally.
然而,并非所有倡议都令人叹服 或者可见。 我的故乡约旦 意识到农业消耗了 大部分的淡水资源。 他们很想鼓励农民 集中耕种低耗水量的作物。 ,为了达到这个目的 当地农业正转型增产 椰子和葡萄藤。 因为这两种植物相较于 其他蔬果而言更耐旱, 同时, 无论是在当地还是国际上, 它们都是高价值作物。
Locals in Namibia, one of the most arid countries in Southern Africa, have been drinking recycled water since 1968. Now, you may tell me many countries recycle water. I would say yes. But very few use it for drinking purposes, mostly because people don't like the thought of water that was in their toilets going to their taps. But Namibia could not afford to think that way. They looked below the surface to save water. They are now a great example of how, when countries purify waste water to drinking standards, they can ease their water shortages, and in Namibia's case, provide drinking water for more than 300,000 citizens in its capital city.
在纳米比亚, 非洲南部最干旱的国家之一, 从1968年起, 当地人就开始饮用再生水。 你也许会说, 如今很多国家都回收利用水。 确实如此。 但是少有国家将其用作饮用水, 大多是因为人们不愿意接受 自来水管里流的是冲过马桶的水。 但是纳米比亚却没有资本这么想。 他们做到了实质上的节水。 如今,他们是 将水净化到可饮用标准的典范, 他们缓解了饿水资源的紧缺。 纳米比亚通过这种方法 为该国首都三十多万 的市民提供了饮用水。
As more countries which used to be more water rich are becoming water scarce, I say we don't need to reinvent the wheel. If we just look at what water-poor countries have done, the solutions are out there. Now it's really just up to all of us to take action.
越来越多国家 虽然过去拥有充沛的水资源, 但开始逐渐陷入缺水困境, 我们不必重蹈覆辙。 只要我们借鉴那些缺水国家的做法, 答案自在眼前。 现在,我们只需要 开始采取行动。
Thank you.
谢谢。
(Applause)
(鼓掌)