每日英語跟讀 Ep.K334: Pollution causing more deaths than COVID, action needed, says UN expert
Pollution by states and companies is contributing to more deaths globally than COVID-19, a UN environmental report published on Tuesday last week said, calling for “immediate and ambitious action” to ban some toxic chemicals.
上周二發佈的一份聯合國環境報告稱，國家和公司的污染導致全球死亡人數超過COVID-19，呼籲"立即採取雄心勃勃的行動"禁止一些有毒化學品。
The report said pollution from pesticides, plastics and electronic waste is causing widespread human rights violations and at least 9 million premature deaths a year, and that the issue is largely being overlooked.
該報告稱，農藥，塑膠和電子廢物的污染正在造成廣泛的侵犯人權行為，每年至少有900萬人過早死亡，這個問題在很大程度上被忽視了。
The coronavirus pandemic has caused close to 5.9 million deaths, according to data aggregator Worldometer.
根據數據聚合器Worldometer的數據，冠狀病毒大流行已造成近590萬人死亡。
“Current approaches to managing the risks posed by pollution and toxic substances are clearly failing, resulting in widespread violations of the right to a clean, healthy and sustainable environment,” the report’s author, UN Special Rapporteur David Boyd, concluded.
"目前管理污染和有毒物質構成的風險的方法顯然失敗了，導致清潔，健康和可持續環境的權利受到廣泛侵犯，"該報告的作者，聯合國特別報告員大衛博伊德總結道。
Due to be presented next month to the UN Human Rights Council, which has declared a clean environment a human right, the document was posted on the Council’s Web site on Tuesday last week.
該檔將於下個月提交給聯合國人權理事會，該理事會已宣佈清潔環境為人權，該檔已於上週二發佈在理事會的網站上。
It urges a ban on polyfluoroalkyl and perfluoroalkyl, man-made substances used in household products such as non-stick cookware that have been linked to cancer and dubbed “forever chemicals” because they don’t break down easily.
它敦促禁止多氟烷基和全氟烷基，這是家用產品中使用的人造物質，例如與癌症有關的不粘炊具，被稱為"永遠的化學物質"，因為它們不容易分解。
That term, originally used to describe nuclear test zones, was expanded in the report to include any heavily contaminated site or place rendered uninhabitable by climate change.
該術語最初用於描述核試驗區，在報告中已擴大到包括任何因氣候變化而無法居住的嚴重污染場地或地方。
It also seeks the clean-up of polluted sites and, in extreme cases, the possible relocations of affected communities — many of them poor, marginalized and indigenous — from so-called “sacrifice zones.”
它還尋求清理受污染的地點，在極端情況下，可能將受影響的社區——其中許多是貧窮、邊緣化和土著——從所謂的"犧牲區"遷移出去。
UN rights chief Michelle Bachelet has called environmental threats the biggest global rights challenge, and a growing number of climate and environmental justice cases are invoking human rights with success.
聯合國人權事務負責人蜜雪兒·巴切萊特（Michelle Bachelet）稱環境威脅是最大的全球人權挑戰，越來越多的氣候和環境正義案件成功地援引了人權。
Chemical waste is set to be part of negotiations at a UN environment conference in Nairobi, Kenya, starting on Monday next week, including a proposal to establish a devoted panel, similar to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.
化學廢物將成為下週一在肯亞內羅畢舉行的聯合國環境會議談判的一部分，其中包括一項建立類似於政府間氣候變化專門委員會的專門小組的提案。Source article: https://www.taipeitimes.com/News/lang/archives/2022/02/22/2003773512