VOA新闻杂志2022--联合国讨论气候谈判中的损失和损害

UN Discusses Loss and Damage in Climate Talks

The United Nations climate change meeting known as COP27 began Sunday in the vacation town of Sharm El-Sheikh, Egypt.

The meeting is the 27th held since the first U.N. climate agreement in 1992.

This year, delegates¹ from nearly 200 countries started the meeting by discussing aid for poor nations suffering damage from weather events linked to changing climates.

For more than 10 years, wealthy nations have rejected official discussions of what is called loss and damage. The U.N uses the term to describe damage from weather events blamed on warming temperatures caused by human activity. The term also is used in the insurance industry to describe things that are or are not covered by insurance policies.

United Nations officials said they are looking for "something meaningful in loss and damage." They added they were hopeful that the issue would be discussed in the meetings.

Financial aid

Money for loss and damage would be in addition to two other financial aid systems already proposed to help poor nations. Those systems aim to reduce the amount of heat-trapping gasses poor nations produce.

Since 2009, the rich nations of the world have promised to spend about $100 billion in climate aid for poor nations. Most of that money is meant to limit the expansion of the coal, oil, and natural gas industries and replace them with what are called "green" energy systems. Officials now want as much as half of the promised aid to go to dealing² with future weather disasters blamed on changes in the many climates that exist around the world.

Neither form of financial support has been carried out yet. But both are separate from the idea of paying for current and past weather disasters, such as high temperatures in India, floods in Pakistan, and droughts in Africa.

Also, U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, some European leaders, and U.S. President Joe Biden have called for a tax on oil companies. The leaders want the energy companies to pay a windfall profits tax on gains earned while oil prices are high.

Leaders in many countries say they want some of that money in addition to aid from rich nations. They say the leading industrial nations created much of the heat-trapping gases that are blamed for changing climates around the world.

Losses and damages

Adelle Thomas of the Bahamas is a scientist with Climate Analytics, a non-profit group based in Berlin. Thomas said, "Our current levels of global warming at 1.1 degrees Celsius³ have already caused dangerous and widespread losses and damages to nature and to billions of people."

She added, "Losses and damages are unavoidable and unequally distributed" among poor nations, the old, poor and weak.

U.S. and European officials say they are willing to have loss and damage discussions after not wanting to for years. But the top U.S. climate diplomat⁴, John Kerry, said the U.S. will not agree to anything that sounds like liability⁵.

Reparations

Justin Mankin of Dartmouth College in New Hampshire said, "Loss and damage is a way of both recognizing past harm and compensating⁶ for that past harm." He added that, "These harms are scientifically identifiable..." He said it is now up to "the politics" to either defend that harm or pay for it.

"In many ways we're talking about reparations," said University of Maryland environmental health and justice professor Sacoby Wilson. He said it is the right term to use because the rich northern countries gained from the use of fuels. Poor southern nations got the damage in floods, droughts, refugees⁷ and hunger.

The government of the island of Barbados has suggested changes in how development banks loan money to poor nations. It wants banks to consider the risk of damage from climate change and disasters. Pakistan and other nations have called for debt to be cancelled.

Climate diplomat Avinash Persaud of Barbados suggests an unusual long-term tax on oil, coal, and natural gas sales. At current high energy prices, he proposes that there should be no tax. He said this would prevent inflation⁸. But once fuel prices fall by 10 percent, one percent of the price drop would go to countries facing loss and damage from disasters blamed on climate change.

Climate change talks

U.N. Climate Secretary Simon Stiell told reporters Sunday that discussing loss and damage at the meetings shows progress.

He said, "This is a difficult subject area. It's been floating for thirty plus years." He added what will be most telling is how discussions progress over the next two weeks.

The U.N. climate conference on Egypt's Red Sea coast will last until November 18.

Words in This Story

insurance –n. an agreement in which a person or group makes payments to a company in exchange for the promise that the company will pay for loss or damage to the insured object or person

fossil⁹ fuel – n. a fuel (such as coal, oil, or natural gas) that is formed in the earth from dead plants or animals

windfall profits tax – phr. n. a one-time tax on a company or industry when economic conditions result in large and unexpected profits

drought – n. a long period of time during which there is very little or no rain

global – adj. involving the entire world

distribute – v. to spread or place (something) over an area

reparations – n. money and other forms of support and payment that a state gives to another state or group for damages and injuries they caused, often due to war or historical injustices¹⁰

liability – n. the legal responsibility for something

compensate¹¹ – v. to give money to make up for loss or damage

1 delegates   

代表，代表团成员( delegate的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The conference was attended by delegates from 56 countries. 此次会议有来自56个国家的代表出席。
• Delegates expressed strong opposition to the plans. 代表强烈反对这些计划。

2 dealing   

n.经商方法，待人态度

参考例句：

• This store has an excellent reputation for fair dealing.该商店因买卖公道而享有极高的声誉。
• His fair dealing earned our confidence.他的诚实的行为获得我们的信任。

3 Celsius   

adj.摄氏温度计的，摄氏的

参考例句：

• The temperature tonight will fall to seven degrees Celsius.今晚气温将下降到七摄氏度。
• The maximum temperature in July may be 36 degrees Celsius.七月份最高温度可能达到36摄氏度。

4 diplomat   

n.外交官，外交家；能交际的人，圆滑的人

参考例句：

• The diplomat threw in a joke, and the tension was instantly relieved.那位外交官插进一个笑话，紧张的气氛顿时缓和下来。
• He served as a diplomat in Russia before the war.战前他在俄罗斯当外交官。

5 liability   

n.责任[pl.]负债，债务，不利条件

参考例句：

• Bad pronunciation is a liability in being a narrator.不良的发音是做解说员的不利条件。
• Because of his injury ,Tom was just a liability to the team.汤姆的伤使他成为全队的累赘。

6 compensating   

补偿，补助，修正

参考例句：

• I am able to set up compensating networks of nerve connections. 我能建立起补偿性的神经联系网。
• It is desirable that compensating cables be run in earthed conduit. 补偿导线最好在地下管道中穿过。

7 refugees   

n.避难者，难民( refugee的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The UN has begun making airdrops of food to refugees. 联合国已开始向难民空投食物。
• They claimed they were political refugees and not economic migrants. 他们宣称自己是政治难民，不是经济移民。

8 inflation   

n.胀大，夸张，通货膨胀

参考例句：

• Gold prices are often seen as an indicator of inflation.黃金价格常常被看作是通货膨胀的指标。
• The inflation of the airbed took several minutes.给空气床垫充气花了几分钟时间。

9 fossil   

n.化石，食古不化的人，老顽固

参考例句：

• At this distance of time it is difficult to date the fossil.时间隔得这么久了，很难确定这化石的年代。
• The man is a fossil.那人是个老顽固。

10 injustices   

不公平( injustice的名词复数 )； 非正义； 待…不公正； 冤枉

参考例句：

• One who committed many injustices is doomed to failure. 多行不义必自毙。
• He felt confident that his injustices would be righted. 他相信他的冤屈会受到昭雪的。

11 compensate   

vt.补偿，赔偿；酬报 vi.弥补；补偿；抵消

参考例句：

• She used her good looks to compensate her lack of intelligence. 她利用她漂亮的外表来弥补智力的不足。
• Nothing can compensate for the loss of one's health. 一个人失去了键康是不可弥补的。