VOA标准英语2009年-UN Report Calls for More Funds to Combat G

The United Nations is calling for billions of dollars to be spent by governments to fight climate change and greenhouse gasses to stem rising global temperatures.
　
Smoke is seen rising from chimneys of the largest metal working company in Bulgaria (File)

A United Nations report released Tuesday calls for major spending of nearly $600 billion by governments to deal with the impact of global warming.

The report, Promoting Development, Saving the Planet, said that up to $1 trillion a year would be needed to deal with issues of climate change in the future.

The report also said that climate change cannot be battled by relying exclusively on cutting emissions² or market-based solutions.

It said the global community needed to be as serious about committing resources "on the same scale" to combating global warming as countries were during the the rescue of global economies during the financial crisis.

Noeleen Hayzer, executive secretary of the UN's Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (UNESCAP) says climate change remained "the biggest challenge faced by this generation."

"Climate change challenges us all to find a new development paradigm³ that balances economic growth and long-term prosperity with social progress and ecological⁴ sustainability. If we don't address the challenges of climate change an increasing number of nations and their peoples will be pushed into poverty - never has there been a greater call for global solidarity," he said.

The report calls for stronger steps to be taken by advanced economies to reduce carbon emissions, seen as the main cause of global warming. It says since the adoption⁵ of the 1997 Kyoto Protocol⁶, policies designed to deal with the threat of dangerous climate change, are lagging "far behind" the scientific evidence.

The agency report called for the need to adapt to an increase in more intense hurricanes in the Caribbean, above-average warming impact on glacier-dependent river flows in Central Asia, and droughts affecting fragile economies in North Africa.
　
Tiziana Bonapace

Tiziana Bonapace, a senior economist⁷ with the UNESCAP, says developing countries need financial aid to assist them in developing low-emission technologies and agriculture methods and ensuring poverty reduction policies are maintained.

"Development is a right and that should continue but that perhaps - paths where there could be a reconciliation⁸ of the objective of poverty reduction, enhanced standards of living, a life of greater dignity in developing countries - can be reconciled with climate objectives by shifting the sources of energy away from the fossil fuels to the cleaner and lower carbon emissions. But it costs money," said Bonapace.

The report comes in the lead up to the December meeting of the Copenhagen Climate Change Conference, to agree on a new climate pact¹ before the end of the Kyoto Protocol in 2012.

1 pact   

n.合同，条约，公约，协定

参考例句：

• The two opposition parties made an electoral pact.那两个反对党订了一个有关选举的协定。
• The trade pact between those two countries came to an end.那两国的通商协定宣告结束。

2 emissions   

排放物( emission的名词复数 )； 散发物（尤指气体）

参考例句：

• Most scientists accept that climate change is linked to carbon emissions. 大多数科学家都相信气候变化与排放的含碳气体有关。
• Dangerous emissions radiate from plutonium. 危险的辐射物从钚放散出来。

3 paradigm   

n.例子，模范，词形变化表

参考例句：

• He had become the paradigm of the successful man. 他已经成为成功人士的典范。
• Moreover,the results of this research can be the new learning paradigm for digital design studios.除此之外，本研究的研究成果也可以为数位设计课程建立一个新的学习范例。

4 ecological   

adj.生态的，生态学的

参考例句：

• The region has been declared an ecological disaster zone.这个地区已经宣布为生态灾难区。
• Each animal has its ecological niche.每种动物都有自己的生态位.

5 adoption   

n.采用，采纳，通过；收养

参考例句：

• An adoption agency had sent the boys to two different families.一个收养机构把他们送给两个不同的家庭。
• The adoption of this policy would relieve them of a tremendous burden.采取这一政策会给他们解除一个巨大的负担。

6 protocol   

n.议定书，草约，会谈记录，外交礼节

参考例句：

• We must observe the correct protocol.我们必须遵守应有的礼仪。
• The statesmen signed a protocol.那些政治家签了议定书。

7 economist   

n.经济学家，经济专家，节俭的人

参考例句：

• He cast a professional economist's eyes on the problem.他以经济学行家的眼光审视这个问题。
• He's an economist who thinks he knows all the answers.他是个经济学家，自以为什么都懂。

8 reconciliation   

n.和解，和谐，一致

参考例句：

• He was taken up with the reconciliation of husband and wife.他忙于做夫妻间的调解工作。
• Their handshake appeared to be a gesture of reconciliation.他们的握手似乎是和解的表示。