10/01/09 13:57:53
翻訳お願いしますm(_ _)m
Earthquakes. Cyclones. Tsunamis. Floods. Mudslides. Natural
disasters have doubled in frequency over the last two decades. Catastrophes have also become more intense, destructive and threatening to human life. In 2008 alone, some 36 million people were suddenly displaced by these phenomena.
While that is an enormous figure, it is dwarfed by the number of
people whose security and livelihoods are being steadily undermined by the longer-term consequences of climate change: droughts and unpredictable rainfall patterns, the degradation and desertification of the land, coastal erosion and salinification.
A particularly disturbing characteristic of these developments
is their potential to ignite conflicts within and between states, especially in situations where communities are competing for increasingly scarce resources such as fresh water and grazing land.
Looking a little further into the future, citizens of
small and low-lying islands will face the prospect of their countries crumbling into the rising sea, their nationalities, cultures and identities drowned.
Nobody can say exactly how many people will be displaced
by natural disasters and climate change in the decades to come. Current predictions vary enormously: from tens of millions to over a billion.
What one can say with considerable confidence, however,
is that the impact of climate change will be felt most strongly by those low-income countries that are least responsible for the phenomenon and least equipped to deal with it.