新疆取締冰川旅遊 遊客只能遠觀

BEIJING — Glaciologists in China and elsewhere have said for years that climate change is the main cause of glacier erosion, which threatens the water sources of much of humanity.

北京——多年來，中外冰川學家稱，氣候變化是導致冰川侵蝕的主要原因，而冰川的退縮危及了許多人的水資源供給。

Officials in the far northwestern Chinese region of Xinjiang now say another factor is putting the fragile glaciers at risk: tourism.

中國西北偏遠地區新疆的官員現在又表示，置脆弱的冰川於險境的還有另一個因素，那就是旅遊活動。

The Xinjiang government announced this month that it was banning tourism on glaciers across the region, which is one-sixth of the Chinese land mass. Many glaciers are found in Xinjiang, and in the Tianshan range in particular, which runs east-west through the middle of the vast region.

新疆自治區政府在本月宣佈，將取締當地的冰川旅遊。新疆佔中國陸地面積的六分之一。那裏有許多冰川，尤其是在天山一帶。這座山脈以東西向穿過這片廣袤地區的中心地帶。

Officials want to ensure that tourists observe the glaciers from a distance, not atop the glaciers themselves, according to a report published on Thursday by Xinhua, the state news agency.

根據官方新聞機構新華社在上週四發佈的一篇報道，新疆官員想要讓遊客只能遠觀，而不能親自登上冰川。

The report said that, over the last 50 years, the average temperature in Xinjiang had risen 0.33 to 0.39 degrees Celsius a decade, or about 0.6 to 0.7 degrees Fahrenheit, nearly three times the global average. China has 46,377 glaciers, and about 47 percent of the national ice reserves are in Xinjiang, a rugged region of deserts, forests and soaring mountains that shares borders with more than half a dozen countries.

這篇文章指出，過去50年來，新疆所在的西北乾旱區的平均氣溫每10年上升0.33到0.39攝氏度，幾乎是全球平均值的三倍。中國境內的冰川有4萬6377條，而在新疆的冰川儲量佔了全國的47%。新疆地形複雜，擁有沙漠、森林和高聳入雲的山峯，還與七八個國家接壤。

The report said that “global warming, grazing, mining and tourism have accelerated destruction of the glaciers, and led to water shortages in several areas.”

這篇報道表示，“全球變暖、放牧、採礦和旅遊等因素加速了冰川消融，導致多個地區水資源短缺。”

It quoted Chen Xi of the Chinese Academy of Sciences as saying that glaciers in the Tianshan range have receded 15 to 30 percent in the last three decades.

文中還引述了中國科學院研究員陳曦的話，指出天山區域的冰川面積近30年來退縮了15%到30%。

Scientists say the main cause of climate change is greenhouse gas emissions, mostly from industrial coal use. China emits more greenhouse gases — carbon dioxide being the primary one — than any other country. The United States is second in emissions.

科學家認爲，氣候變化主要是溫室氣體排放造成的，而這些排放大部分來自於工業燃煤，主成分則是二氧化碳。目前全球溫室氣體排放量最大的國家是中國，排名第二的則是美國。

The growth in China’s coal use has slowed as the national economy cools, but climate researchers here expect emissions to continue rising until sometime between 2025 and 2030.

隨着中國經濟降溫，國內燃煤用量的增長有所放緩，不過研究氣候問題的本土學者仍然認爲，中國的溫室氣體排放量會持續攀升，直到2025至2030年間達到峯值。

Glaciologists have observed glaciers in retreat across western China. In Gansu Province, the Mengke Glacier, the largest valley glacier in the Qilian range, and two others have been retreating at an accelerating rate since the 1990s, according to a report by a local research center. That rate tripled from the 1990s to the 2000s, the report said. That has resulted in floods in recent years. In the long term, it said, there will be water shortages across the region.

冰川學家在中國西部各地都觀測到冰川退縮的現象。甘肅省的夢柯冰川是祁連山脈最大的山谷冰川，而根據當地一所研究中心的報告，夢柯與另兩座冰川自90年代就開始加速消融。文中指出，自90年代至本世紀前10年，這些冰川的退縮速率增加了兩倍，這也導致了近年來的洪患。長遠看來，該地區將普遍面臨水源短缺的問題。

Provincial and regional governments outside Xinjiang have not announced bans on glacier tourism. In Gansu, such tourism in the Qilian range is popular. The July 1st Glacier, about 55 miles southwest of Jiayuguan, site of the western end of the Great Wall, draws many people each year. In Sichuan Province, tourists flock to Hailuogou National Glacier Forest Park, and Yunnan Province has the popular Mingyong Glacier.

除了新疆，其他省級與地方政府尚未宣佈要取締冰川旅遊。在甘肅省的祁連山，這類旅遊活動相當熱門。七一冰川位於長城西端的終點嘉峪關西南55英里（約合90公里）處。這座冰川每年都吸引許多觀光者。四川省的海螺溝國家冰川森林公園也有大批遊客涌入，雲南省則有廣受歡迎的明永冰川。

Officials in Urumqi, the capital of Xinjiang, banned tourism to No. 1 Glacier near the city in 2006. But in recent years, tourists have gotten rides to the glacier with local herders looking to make money. A Xinhua reporter who visited the glacier in July described seeing tourists there taking photos and littering.

新疆首府烏魯木齊的官員在2006年禁止遊客前往該市附近的天山一號冰川。然而近年來，想賺上一筆的當地牧民還是會帶觀光客前去一遊。在新華網轉載的一篇報道中，記者曾在去年7月實地前往這座冰山，並描述了遊客在那裏拍照、亂丟垃圾的景況。

The Xinhua article from Thursday quoted Li Jidong, a Xinjiang tourism official, saying that glacier tourism in the region brought in less than one billion renminbi, or $153 million, over the last dozen years.

上週四的新華社報道還引述了新疆旅遊局官員李冀東的發言，指出新疆冰川旅遊在過去十幾年的收入不到10億元人民幣。

“The loss from shrinking glaciers,” Mr. Li said, “is incalculable.”

“但是冰川崩塌、消融帶來的損失是不可估算的，”李冀東說。