新加坡亚太环境部长会议 | 创新改变世界
车尾冒着黑烟，伴随着轰隆隆的噪音，常常出没在亚太城市街头的三蹦子，就如同蚊子的嗡嗡声一样，恼人却又挥之不去。
The noise and black exhaust of tiny tuk tuk engines are as familiar and irritating as the buzz of a mosquito in many Asian cities.
然而，如果对这些方便易行的交通工具进行改造，将噪声降至最低且实现零排放，会怎样呢？这是Sasiranga da Silva致力于达成的目标。他为三蹦子发明了一套电动转换工具，在他的家乡斯里兰卡的科伦坡进行推广。
But what if hauling passengers and packages produced only a quiet hum and zero emissions? That’s the goal of Sasiranga da Silva, who invented an electric conversion kit for tuk tuks and is rolling it out across his hometown of Colombo, Sri Lanka.
海洋垃圾被频频冲上太平洋海岸，令人堪忧。然而，如果针对一次性塑料产品开刀，将它变成可重复使用的物品，重塑塑料潮流，会怎样呢？
Marine litter is washing up too frequently on Pacific coastlines. But what if we make a dent in the plastic tide by turning disposable products into something reusable?
Samoan Angelica Salele就在朝着这一方向努力。她研发了可重复使用的女性卫生用品，在此过程中，不仅在阿皮亚成立了一家小型工厂，还因此创造了很多工作岗位。
Samoan Angelica Salele has found a way to do that with reusable feminine hygiene products. In the process, she’s creating a small manufacturing industry and jobs in Apia at the same time.
如果你住在世界上最袖珍的国家之一，却面临着垃圾成山的问题，你会怎么做？出台聪明的解决办法。
And when trash is piling up, what do you do when you live in one of the tiniest countries in the world? You get clever.
新加坡的大士南焚烧厂能将垃圾的体积缩小将近90％，处理过程中，不仅能分离出可回收的金属，同时也能成功清除排放物中大部分有害物质。焚烧产生的热量可转化成电能，发电量甚至达到了所需电力的4倍，所有电能可被注入电网。
Singapore’s Tuas South Incineration Plant reduces refuse volume by 90 per cent, while separating out recyclable metals and scrubbing most harmful substances from its emissions. It even generates four times the electricity it needs, which it then puts back into the grid.
诸如此类的案例仅仅是亚太地区长久以来“以创新驱动发展”的区域活力的零星体现。我认为，亚太地区与生俱来的 “跳出惯性思维”的基因，是世界仰赖其寻求环境解决方案的根源所在。
Innovations like these are merely recent examples in a long history of regional ingenuity. This instinct to think beyond is why I think the world often looks to Asia and the Pacific for solutions to our environmental problems.
亚太地区40亿居民体会到的经济发展的两面性，要比大多数人更深刻。
The four billion inhabitants of Asia and the Pacific have seen both sides of the development ledger more vividly than most.
随着传统消费和生产模式的膨胀式发展，人们的生活水平也大幅提高。
Standards of living have skyrocketed as traditional consumption and production models have gone into overdrive.
然而，全球各地普遍存在的不良发展习惯所产生的环境债务却日益明显：气候变化、污染、栖息地丧失和生态系统破坏。
Yet the environmental debt accrued by these global habits is increasingly obvious: climate change, pollution, habitat loss, and ecosystem destruction.
如果我们甘愿沉溺于此，执迷不悟，我们的未来将黯淡无光。
If we continue to make the same choices, our future looks bleak.
但是，如果我们投资寻找可持续的解决方案来应对挑战，那么我们将拥抱一个更加富裕、健康、公平的未来。
But there is a wealthier future, a healthier future, a more equal future if we invest in finding sustainable solutions to our challenges.
亚太地区各国的政府、企业和公民已经有所行动，在近几十年来引领了一些重大转变。
Governments, companies and citizens in Asia and Pacific have scripted some of the greatest transformations seen in recent decades.
如今，面对地球所承受的压力和威胁，世界再次期待亚太能够发挥主导作用，带领我们迈向一个更清洁、更可持续且更公正的未来。
And as our planet comes under threat, once again the world is looking to the Asia Pacific to lead us into a cleaner, more sustainable and just future.
评估表明，实施联合国可持续发展目标能够释放12万亿美元的经济机会，创造3.8亿个就业岗位。
Estimates show that implementing the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals can unlock US$12 trillion worth of economic opportunities and create 380 million jobs.
为了实现这一目标，为了我们能够拥有更多类似Sasiranga， Angelica以及新加坡一样的标杆人物和示范国家，我们需要做到“创新无界”。
To achieve this, like Sasiranga, like Angelica, like Singapore, we need to think beyond.
这对我们的现实生活有怎样的启示？
What does this mean, practically?
这意味着我们要直面现实，破解难题，改变消费习惯。你可知道，肉类和乳制品的生产占用了83％的农田，却仅提供18％的卡路里。
It means altering consumption habits and confronting conundrums like the fact that meat and dairy products use 83 per cent of farmland but comprise only 18 per cent of the calories we consume.
这意味着政府须大力投资可持续解决方案，来恢复自然并重建生物圈。
It means governments investing heavily in sustainable solutions that restore nature and regenerate the biosphere.
这意味着消费者要推动公司承担企业责任，投资于质量更高且可持续的材料、流程和基础设施。
It means consumers holding companies accountable to invest in better and sustainable materials, processes and infrastructure.
爱因斯坦曾说：“我们不能用制造问题时的同一水平思维来解决问题。”
Einstein said that "We cannot solve our problems with the same level of thinking that created them."
我们不能寄希望于通过调整边缘来改变世界。我们要彻底变革系统，放眼大局而不拘泥于某一特定问题，并且要比以往任何时候都更加雄心勃勃。
We cannot transform the world by tweaking the edges. We need to transform our systems, looking beyond specific issues to the big picture, and being more ambitious than ever before.
幸运的是，我们迎来了一个绝佳的契机。上周，来自亚洲和太平洋地区的41个国家齐聚新加坡，共同确定区域环境问题和解决方案，各国携手将环境保护工作提升到一个新的水平。
We are fortunate that countries took things to the next level last week, as Singapore hosted 41 nations from around Asia and the Pacific to identify regional environmental problems and solutions.
这是史无前例的。齐聚狮城的与会人员包括总统、部长、首席执行官、企业家和活动家。
That’s unprecedented. We have presidents, ministers, CEOs, entrepreneurs and activists in the Lion City last week.
这也是首次，亚太各国齐聚一堂，为当前地球所面临的问题寻找突破口。
It is the first time every country from the region has come together here to discuss the problems and solutions our planet is facing.
紧接着，今年3月，这些国家的代表会将相关解决方案带到联合国环境大会——世界最高级别环境决策机制——予以讨论。
Then, in March, representatives from these countries will bring these solutions to the United Nations Environment Assembly, the world’s highest decision-making body on the environment.
我诚挚希望，亚太地区政府、私营部门和公民所迸发的创新活力，不仅能够点亮本土区域，还能推动世界一起向前发展。
I have high hopes that the innovation from countries, companies and citizens from Asia and the Pacific is not only going to change the region for the better, but move the world forward as well.
编者注
本文写于新加坡亚太环境部长会议召开之际，作者为联合国环境署代理执行主任乔伊斯·姆苏亚（Joyce Msuya）。
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