Message from Ms. Audrey Azoulay, Director-General of UNESCO, on the Occasion of International Day for Disaster Risk Reduction
教科文組織總幹事奧德蕾·阿祖萊女士國際減少災害風險日致辭
13 October 2019
2019年10月13日
The devastation caused by Hurricane Dorian in the archipelago of the Bahamas is yet another stark reminder of the grave consequences that natural disasters inflict upon communities.
多裡安颶風在巴哈馬群島造成的破壞，促使我們再次關注自然災害給人類社區造成的嚴重後果。
Last March in Mozambique, Cyclone Idai alone caused the destruction of 3,300 classrooms and disrupted the education of almost 260,000 students, demonstrating the vulnerability of this infrastructure that is so crucial to the life and future of States.
今年3月，伊達颶風在莫三比克摧毀了3300間教室，影響了將近26萬名學生上學，讓世人看到這些事關生命和國家未來的學校基礎設施何其脆弱。
This year’s International Day for Disaster Risk Reduction is dedicated to the prevention of damage to essential infrastructure, such as hospitals and schools.
因此，今年國際減少災害風險日的主旨在於：防止醫院或學校等關鍵基礎設施遭到破壞。
Faced with such common challenges that demand strong international mobilization, UNESCO has committed to strengthening its support to Member States through the implementation of the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction, in line with the 2030 Agenda.
面對這些需要強化國際動員的共同挑戰，教科文組織決心根據《2030年議程》加強對會員國實施《仙臺減少災害風險框架》的支持。
UNESCO is at the crossroads of education, culture, communication, information and the sciences, and thus has unique value based on an all-encompassing, multidisciplinary vision that fully caters to the cross-cutting nature of today’s issues. UNESCO is therefore in a position to combine expertise and perspectives to catalyse efforts and foster positive synergies for the common good.
教科文組織處在教育、文化、傳播和信息以及科學的交匯點，擁有獨特的附加值，這一附加值的基礎是從多學科的角度全面看待事物，非常適合應對具有貫穿各領域性質的當今各種挑戰。因此，教科文組織能夠匯集專門知識和觀點，為共同利益推動各項工作，促進積極的協同作用。
In recent years, UNESCO has undertaken a paradigm shift through prioritizing preventative approaches over reactive policies. This enables us to predict the causes of disasters rather than mitigate their consequences, by which time it is usually too late.
近年來，教科文組織改變了模式，優先考慮預防性方針而非反應性政策，目的是未雨綢繆，應對災害，而不再是亡羊補牢，因為到那時往往為時已晚。
This approach has already resulted in concrete action for the protection of vital infrastructure. In this regard, UNESCO, which currently chairs the Global Alliance for Disaster Risk Reduction and Resilience in the Education Sector, has provided invaluable technical support to Member States through VISUS, a new evaluation methodology that takes into account a diverse range of potential hazards. This system was successfully tested in seven countries, including in Haiti, Laos, Peru and Mozambique, and enabled rigorous evaluations to be carried out that will significantly improve the safety of over 500,000 students, professors and teaching staff.
這種辦法已經具體應用於保護重要基礎設施。在這方面，教科文組織作為教育部門減少災害風險以及抗災能力全球聯盟的現任主席，通過VISUS（「旨在確定安全升級戰略的視察」）方法向會員國提供了寶貴的技術支持，VISUS方法是一種考慮到各種潛在風險的新的評估方法。該系統在海地、寮國、秘魯和莫三比克等七個國家成功進行了測試，使得進行嚴格評估成為可能，由此將切實加強50多萬名學生、教師和教育工作者的安全。
In addition to this innovative programme, our Organization’s technical expertise is always available to Member States, so that governments can ensure that infrastructure is resilient.
除了這一創新計劃之外，本組織還在日常工作中向會員國提供專門的技術知識，以便各國政府確保其基礎設施抵禦災害的能力。
Another example of UNESCO’s prioritization of this preventative approach is the Organization’s continued fine-tuning of the development of early warning systems for tsunamis, floods, earthquakes and droughts.
教科文組織始終優先考慮這種預防性方針，繼續完善海嘯、洪水、地震和乾旱預警系統的開發。
However, there is a risk that such initiatives shall no longer be sufficient if humanity does not succeed in limiting global warming, as the climate crisis and erosion of biodiversity exacerbate the number and intensity of natural disasters. We can ignore this no longer. TheSpecial Report on the Ocean and Cryosphere in a Changing Climate of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), published on 25 September 2019, was yet another reminder of this reality. For this reason, full compliance with the Paris Agreement, for which UNESCO is strongly mobilized, should also increase the disaster resilience of our societies.
然而，我們不能再忽視的是，如果人類無法遏制全球變暖，僅有這些舉措可能遠遠不足，因為氣候災害和生物多樣性喪失導致的自然災害日益增多並且愈發嚴重。2019年9月25日發表的氣專委關於氣候變暖對海洋和低溫層的影響的特別報告再次提醒我們注意這一現實。因此，全面遵守教科文組織大力支持的《巴黎協定》，也有助於增強人類社會的抗災能力。
The mitigation of devastation caused by disasters is therefore a global issue that determines the future, not only of our economies and environmental heritage, but also of humanity. Let us join forces in this fight – there is no time to lose.
減輕災害造成的破壞是一個全球性挑戰，不僅關乎我們的經濟和環境遺產的未來，也關乎人類的未來。因此，讓我們勠力同心，投入這場迫在眉睫的戰鬥。