EarthSky speaks with water expert Mark Smith, who heads the Water Program for the International Union for the Conservation of Nature – IUCN – the world’s oldest and largest network of environmental scientists and agencies.
EarthSky 与水务专家马克·史密斯进行了对话。史密斯为建立时间最长、规模最大的环境科学家与机构的组织网国际自然保护联盟（IUCN）领导一个饮水项目。
Mark Smith: When we think of climate change impacts… mostly what people are talking about is drought and floods and storms, and sea level rise, and melting glaciers. And all those things have to do with water.
马克·史密斯：当我们提及气候变化的影响时……最常说起的就是干旱、洪水、风暴、海平面上升，以及冰川融化，而所有这些都与水有关。
He talked about one example: According to a 2009 study, published in the proceedings of the National Academies of Sciences, humancaused climate change is linked to the rapid melting of Kilimanjaro’s glaciers, which could disappear entirely in just a few decades. More than 2 million people depend on water from the Kilmanjaro’s glaciers. Dr. Smith spoke about an IUCN project to help people in northern Tanzania better manage their water.
他举了一个例子：根据2009 年一项在美国国家科学院公报上刊登的研究，乞力马扎罗山冰川的加速融化与由人类活动造成的气候变化有关。乞力马扎罗山的冰川在几十年内便会完全消失，而有200 多万人都依赖此冰川的水生活。史密斯博士谈到了一个帮助坦桑尼亚北部居民更好地管理水源的国际自然保护联盟计划。
Smith: This is in the Pangani River Basin in northern Tanzania, which has Mount Kilamanjaro at its headwaters. So…very iconic place for climate change, but also a very typical place for Africa, where people are struggling with water security. The big problem in the Pangani is that water is running out. And climate change is making this worse.
史密斯：这里地处坦桑尼亚北部的潘加尼河流域，它的源头是乞力马扎罗山。对气候变化来说，这里是个非常具有标志性的地点，而这里在非洲也是个很有代表性的地方——人们都在为饮水安全而努力。潘加尼河的大问题是它的水就要流干了，而气候变化让这种情况愈发严重。
Mount Kilamanjaro ：乞力马扎罗山位于坦桑尼亚东北，是非洲最高的山脉，素有“非洲屋脊” 之称。它临近赤道，是世界著名的“赤道雪山”，也是非洲最具标志性的景观之一。 |