Hope and the Earth Summit

While the Earth Summit takes place in Johannesburg – it is the biggest gathering of heads of government since the summit in Rio De Janiero 10 years ago – a smoky orange pollution haze has settled over Singapore, Malaysia and Indonesia. The cause is the destruction of rainforests in South-East Asia, which has continued over the past decade despite the landmark agreements reached at Rio: the Climate Change Convention, designed to tackle global warming, and the Biodiversity Convention, designed to protect threatened species and the natural world. Rainforest became a symbol of the aspirations of the Rio conference. Saving rainforests was recognized as a way of honouring both conventions- while a failure to do so would also degrade air and water supplies, as well as the environment of those native peoples who still live in rainforests.

The Johannesburg summit has, so far, fulfilled the expectations of pessimists. The failure of countries such as the US and Australia to sign the Kyoto Protocol has set back the cause of international environmental cooperation. A great deal of momentum and goodwill has been lost since Rio. Over the past decade, the cause of globalization has progressed apace; but agricultural subsidies in the US and Europe are devastating to the poorest countries in Africa, which are locked out of global competition. But perhaps the Kyoto Protocol also gives reason for hope. Many countries have decided that small steps are better than none at all and have signed on. The combined will of concerned individuals may yet save the world.

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希望和地球峰会

当地球峰会（the Earth Summit）（自10年前在里约热内卢（Rio De Janeiro）召开峰会以来，最大的一次各国政府首脑集会）在约翰内斯堡（Johannesburg）召开之际，烟雾状的橘红色的污染烟雾已笼罩在新加坡（Singapore）、马来西亚（Malaysia）和印度尼西亚（Indonesia）的上空。造成这种状况的原因是东南亚（Southeast Asia）的热带雨林遭到破坏。尽管在里约热内卢签署了具有里程碑意义的协议：如《气候变化协定》（the Climate change Convention）, 旨在解决全球变暖问题，《生物多样性协定》（the Convention on Diversified Living Species），旨在保护濒危物种和自然界，破坏热带雨林的现象在过去的十年里仍继续存在。热带雨林成为了里约热内卢会议（Rio Conference）可望实现目标的象征。拯救热带雨林是纪念这两个条约的一种方式，而不去行动将破坏空气和水源，也会使仍居住在热带雨林那些当地人的环境恶化。

       约翰内斯堡峰会（the Johannesburg）到目前为止就已经实现了悲观主义者们的期望。由于一些国家如美国（the US）和澳大利亚（Australia）没有签署《京都议定书》（the Kyoto Protocol），使国际环境保护事业受到了挫折。自里约热内卢会议后（Rio），失去了大量的势头和努力。在过去的十年里，全球一体化进程发展迅速，但在美国和欧洲的农业补贴对非洲最贫穷的一些国家则是毁灭性的。这些贫穷的国家被排挤在国际竞争大门之外。但《京都议定书》（the Kyoto Protocol）肯也给人们以希望。很多国家下定决心认为采取一些小的措施毕竟要比什么都不做要好，因而也在条约上签了字。只有相关人士的共同努力才可能拯救地球。