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 年三月, 開普敦的市長正式宣佈 開普敦的地方性災難: 當地可用的水只剩下 不到四個月的存量。 居民被限制每人每天 只能使用一百公升的水。 但那真正的意思是什麼? 若你每天有一百公升的水, 你可以做一次五分鐘的沖澡、 洗臉兩次, 可能可以沖馬桶大約五次。 你還沒有刷牙、 你還沒有洗衣服, 你肯定也還沒有給植物澆水。 不幸的是,五次沖完馬桶之後 你都沒有洗手。 你甚至還沒有喝一口水。 市長的形容方式是:這意味著 要和水建立新的關係。
Today, seven months later, I can share two things about my second home with you.
現今,七個月後, 關於我的第二個家, 我可以與各位分享兩件事。
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:開普頓還沒有把水用盡。 但截至九月三日為止, 一百公升的限制被減到八十七公升。 市長把該市的新常態 定義為永久的乾旱。
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: 發生在開普頓的事, 也即將襲擊世界上許多 其他城市及國家。 根據聯合國糧食及農業組織, 除了我們沒有資料的國家之外, 不到 5% 的世界人口 住在目前可用水量 比二十年前還多的國家中。 所有其他人居住的國家, 現今的可用水量都比較少。 接近三分之一的人所居住的國家 正在面臨用水危機。
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.
我在約旦長大, 該國的水資源很缺乏,從 1973 年 開始就在經歷絕對的水資源短缺。 2017 年,全世界 仍然只有十個國家的 可用水比約旦還少。 處理缺水問題可說是 深植在我的靈魂中。 到了我會寫自己名字的年紀, 我就已經學到我要懂得省水了。 我父母會經常提醒我和我的手足, 在刷牙的時候要把水龍頭關好, 我們以前在玩耍時, 是把氣球裝滿麵粉而不是水。 不過,那也一樣好玩。
(Laughter)
(笑聲)
And a few years ago, when my friends and I were dared to do the Ice Bucket Challenge, we did that with sand.
幾年前, 我和我朋友鼓起勇氣做冰桶挑戰時, 我們是用沙子來做。
(Laughter)
(笑聲)
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.
你們可能會認為那很簡單, 沙子又不是冰冷的。 我向你們保證, 沙子會鑽進任何地方, 要花好長的時間才能清理掉。
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.
但當我小時候在玩麵粉氣球時, 以及我長大後把沙子 從頭上倒下去時,可能並不了解, 對我以及其他住在乾旱國家的人而言 似乎是第二天性的一些技巧, 可能可以協助我們所有人處理 這個正在快速擴展到全球的危機。 今天,我想要分享三課, 從水資源缺乏國家學到的三課, 以及它們如何存活, 甚至在水資源危機之下還能繁榮。
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.
第一課: 告訴人們他們真正有多少水資源。 為了解決問題, 我們得要先承認我們有問題。 當談到水資源時, 人們很容易就視若無睹, 假裝既然現在還有水從水龍頭出來, 一切就會永遠沒問題。 但,一些受到乾旱影響的聰明國家 已經採用了簡單、創新的手段, 來確保它們的公民、 它們的社區、它們的公司 都知道它們的國家有多乾旱。
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.
今年早些時候,我在開普頓, 我在高速公路上看到電子告示板, 上面顯示出該城市還剩多少水。 這個點子很可能是向澳洲學的, 當時澳洲正面臨該國 史上最嚴重的乾旱之一, 發生在 1997 至 2009 年間。 墨爾本的水位掉到非常低, 幾乎只剩 26%。 但該城市沒有對人民吼叫。 它沒有懇求人民不要用水。 他們用電子告示板來 迅速傳遞剩水量資訊 給該市的所有市民。 他們很誠實地告訴人民 他們真正還有多少水可以用, 讓人民自己負起責任。 到乾旱末期,這方式創造出了急迫感 以及社區團結感。 墨爾本幾乎三分之一的市民都自費 安裝雨水蓄水池 供他們自己的家庭使用。 市民所採取的行動, 並不僅止於安裝蓄水池。 在該市的協助之下, 他們還能夠做出更有影響的事情。
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.
這就帶到了第二課: 讓人民能夠做到節水。 墨爾本希望人民在家中能少用點水。 其中一種做法,就是縮短淋浴時間。 然而,訪談顯示, 有些人,特別是女性, 對於這種節水方式並不熱衷。 當中有些人很誠實地說: 「淋浴並不只是清洗而已。 它是我的聖所。 它是個讓我能夠放鬆的空間, 不僅僅是清洗用。」 所以,該市開始 免費提供省水蓮蓬頭。 接著,有些人抱怨說 那些蓮蓬頭看起來很醜陋, 或是和他們的浴室不搭。 所以,被我稱為 「蓮蓬頭團隊」的團隊 開發出了一種小型的水流調節器, 能夠裝在既有的蓮蓬頭裡面。 雖然對我來說蓮蓬頭 好不好看並不重要, 但我很欣賞那個團隊沒有放棄, 反而還想出了簡單、 獨特的解決方案, 來讓人民能夠做到節水。 在四年的期間, 超過 46 萬個蓮蓬頭被置換掉。 當小型調節器推出的時候, 有超過十萬筆的訂單。 墨爾本成功地使 每人平均水需求量減半。
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.
在阿拉伯聯合大公國, 世界上水資源第二稀少的國家, 官員在 2010 年設計了他們 所謂的「企業英雄工具組」。 目標是要讓企業有動機和能力 去減少水資源和能源的消耗。 該工具組能實際教導公司 如何測量它們現有的水消耗量, 還提供一些秘訣 來協助它們降低消耗量。 結果此舉奏效。 數以百計的組織下載了這套工具組。 當中有許多組織都加入了 「企業英雄網路」, 這是它們取的名稱, 在這個網路中, 公司可以自願接受挑戰, 來減少其水資源消耗量 到某個預設目標, 在一年內要達成。 完成挑戰的公司 平均省下 35% 的水。 比如,有一間公司, 在辦公室中盡可能 把所有的省水秘訣都用上。 他們換了沖馬桶的方式、 水龍頭、蓮蓬頭── 任何你想得到的。 如果能省水,他們就置換, 最終,員工的水資源消耗量減半。
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.
讓個人和公司有辦法 能夠省水,是很重要的, 但光這樣還不夠。 國家得要把視野放到超越現況之外, 採取國家等級的行動, 來節省水。
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.
於是要談到第三課: 看到表面底下。 省水能夠出現在意想不到的地方。 新加坡是世界上水資源 第八稀少的國家。 該國的水需求中, 近六成要仰賴進口水來滿足。 它也是個很小的島國。 確切來說,他們需要 盡可能使用最大的空間 來收集雨水。 所以,2008 年, 他們建造了濱海堤壩。 這是史上第一個 建立在城邦中的都市水壩。 它是新加坡最大的集水設施, 尺寸大約是新加坡的六分之一。 濱海堤壩之所以很了不起, 是因為它的大尺寸被運用到極至, 且它的所在地雖然是意想不到的, 卻相當重要。 它為國家帶來了三項珍貴的益處: 它讓新加坡的水供應量提升了一成; 它能保護周圍的低窪區域 不受洪水災害, 因為它和海洋是連結在一起的; 還有,如你們所見, 它也是個很漂亮有特色的勝地, 這裡舉辦過幾個大活動, 從藝術展覽到音樂節都有, 吸引那一帶的慢跑者、 自行車騎士、觀光客。
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.
並非所有計畫都必須很驚人 或看得見。 我的第一個家園,約旦, 了解到該國大部分的淡水 都被消耗在農業上。 他們非常想要鼓勵農夫 多種植比較不需要水的作物。 為了這個目的, 地方農業更把重點放在 椰棗與葡萄藤上。 比起許多其他蔬菜水果, 這兩種作物更能 承受乾旱的環境條件, 而且它們同時 被視為是高價值作物, 不論在當地或國際上皆是。
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.
納米比亞是南非 最乾燥的國家之一, 當地人從 1968 年就開始喝回收水。 你們可能會說, 很多國家都會回收水。 我會說,是的。 但很少國家是回收來當飲用水的, 主因是人民不喜歡 水龍頭的水來自廁所的這個想法。 納米比亞沒有本錢想這麼多。 他們能看到表面底下, 而去節省水資源。 他們現在是個很好的典範, 展示國家要如何把廢水 淨化到可以喝的標準, 這麼做能夠緩和水資源短缺的問題, 在納米比亞的例子中, 這方法能夠提供飲用水 給首都至少三十萬個居民。
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.
隨著越來越多過去富含水資源的國家 開始面對水資源缺乏, 我認為我們不需浪費時間 和精力去重新發明。 如果我們就看看 水資源貧乏國家有什麼做法, 解決方案就在那裡。 要不要採取行動, 就由我們所有人自己決定了。
Thank you.
謝謝你們。
(Applause)
(掌聲)