联合国驻华协调员常启德:中国一直在推进人类发展和繁荣

发布时间:2021-04-22 16:56:20  |  来源:中国网  |  作者:  |  责任编辑:姚宇琛
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中国网讯 4月22日,联合国驻华协调员常启德发表题为《春日绽放之际 赠予“岁寒三友”的最后一首赞歌》的署名文章。全文如下:

今天是世界地球日。值此之际,我们呼吁采取紧急行动,保护地球免受气候变化构成的生存威胁,并实现向更加可持续的经济转型,让人类和地球都能受益。

现在,华夏大地之上,人人都沉浸于喜迎春日的欢欣之中,我亦如此。这是我作为联合国驻华协调员,来中国度过的首个春天。会赏到什么花、闻见何种香气,这些都令我无比期待。

光阴荏苒,春暖花开,冰河解冻,农民也回到田间劳作。春雨绵绵,无论是城市、小镇还是乡间,都将笼罩在轻柔的春雾中。

梨花、桃花、杜鹃、樱花将铺满大地,供人们观赏品鉴。我听说,在北京能欣赏到杏花、紫丁香和牡丹绽放之姿。

有太多的事情值得庆贺。

在经历疫情肆虐的漫漫冬日之后,如今人们心怀期许,在世界各地,早春的迹象正悄然来临。

眼下,疫苗正在扩大生产,人们开始复工复学,即便我们为蒙受的沉重损失而惋惜,但仍有诸多值得感恩的事。

但是,在春日降临之际,让我们携手感谢冬天。并非感谢带来灾难的疫情本身,而是感谢疫情让我们展现出来的种种品质。

许多人想必都知道“岁寒三友”这一中国艺术和诗歌中的常见意象。“岁寒三友”指松、梅、竹,代表着刚毅、谦逊和坚韧的气节,这是我近期所习得的。

刚毅、谦逊、坚韧,这些品质指引着我们熬过寒冷的冬日,也带领着我们挺过疫情的考验。

我对“岁寒三友”感到格外亲切。在联合国,我们常常提及韧性、平等和可持续性。这些是一个和平而繁荣的世界的标志,是联合国为全人类及子孙后代努力实现的愿景。

谈及“韧性”,我们看到许多国家和地区展现出坚强的品质,无论是暴力、灾难还是疾病都无法将其击垮。“平等”指的是关注全人类的基本平等和尊严,不论他们的出身或地位如何。“可持续性”意为在一个平衡的世界,我们享有地球资源却不会贪婪索取,而是为子孙后代积极培育。

“韧性”、“平等”和“可持续性”是联合国经常使用的术语。我认为松、梅、竹是这三者的诗意表达。

松树四季常青,展现了坚韧的美德,承载着我们对于家庭或世界的美好祝愿。竹生来坚韧,能用于建造住宅或乐器,有简约的美感。而梅花则在寒冬中静静含苞,等到春天来临,绽放它们鲜活的花瓣。我认为“岁寒三友”生性谦逊,从不炫耀,亦无须如此。

如果没有寒冬,春天便不会来临。田地需要休耕,大地需要休憩。

年复一年,我们都在经历四季循环。除此之外,我们还面临着更广义的“四季”和循环。

所有成员国都承诺在2030年前实现可持续发展目标,在我看来,届时将是一个“春”的来临。这个春天的馈赠,将是一个没有贫困、所有人都能获得教育和医疗资源、性别平等、宜居的世界。

在这方面,中国一直是全球领袖。中国每天都在全力以赴,努力终结贫困、推进人类发展和繁荣。我很荣幸能够来到中国,与优秀的联合国驻华国别小组一道,和中国就这一重要工作展开合作,确保不让任何人掉队。

今年的世界地球日恰逢《巴黎协定》开放签署五周年。但是我们不能骄傲自满、止步不前。正如联合国秘书长安东尼奥·古特雷斯指出,“让我们共同致力于开展艰苦工作,努力恢复我们的星球,与大自然和谐相处。”

我们都将需要刚毅、谦逊、坚韧的品格。让我们向“岁寒三友”看齐,共同迈向代表持久和平、进步和繁荣的春天。


英文全文如下:

《As spring blooms, one last thanks for the friends of winter》

By Siddharth Chatterjee

Resident Coordinator of the United Nations in China.

Today marks International Mother Earth Day, as we call for urgent action to protect the planet from the existential threat of climate change and to shift to a more sustainable economy which work for both people and planet.

While here in China, people are celebrating the arrival of spring. I, too, am excited about what flowers I may see or smells I might savour in this, my first spring as the UN Resident Coordinator.

As the days go by, temperatures will rise, frozen lakes will melt, and farmers will get to work in their rice paddies. Cities and towns, and villages will be showered with rain or shrouded in soft mists.

We’ll be seeing and smelling pear blossoms and peach blossoms, azaleas blooming, and cherry blossoms carpeting the land. In Beijing, I am told that we can look forward to apricot flowers and lilacs and peonies.

There is much to celebrate.

The whole world, we can now hope, is seeing the first signs of spring, emerging from the long winter of the pandemic.

As vaccines proliferate and as people return to work and school, we have much to be grateful for, even as we mourn our many losses.

But before we turn fully to spring, let us give thanks for winter. Not thanks for the pandemic, which has been so catastrophic, but thanks for what it brought out in us.

Many of my readers will already know something that I just recently learned. That is the “three friends of winter,” a motif in much Chinese art and poetry. For those who don’t know, these three friends are pine, bamboo, and plum blossoms. They are symbols of fortitude, modesty, and endurance.

Fortitude, modesty, and endurance. Those are the traits that help us through the frosty, dark days of winter. And they have helped us through the pandemic.

I feel a kinship with the three friends of winter. At the United Nations, we often speak of resilience, equity, and sustainability. They are the marks of a peaceful and prosperous world that the UN is working towards for all of us today and countless generations to come.

In “resilience,” we see societies that have been made strong enough to withstand what shocks may come their way, be it violence or disaster or disease. By “sustainability,” we mean a world in balance, one in which we enjoy the fruits of the earth but do not gorge on them; we cultivate them for future generations. By “equity,” we mean to focus on the basic equality and dignity of all human beings, no matter their birth or their station.   

“Resilience,” “sustainability”, and “equity” are technical terms, as the UN is wont to use. I think they find poetic expression in the image of pine, bamboo, and plum blossoms.

Pine is evergreen and demonstrates the virtue of endurance, working day in and day out for whatever spring glories we wish for in our families or the world. Bamboo is strong stuff, whether for shelters or musical instruments, and it has a simple beauty. Plum blossoms have been lying quietly in wait all winter, and they are among the first flowers to blossom in spring, showing their rich and lively pink shades, with dashes of white and yellow. I like to think that all three are modest; they do not show off, they do not need to.

Spring would not happen without winter. The fields need to lay fallow. The earth needs its rest.

There are the seasons that we cycle through every year. And then there are greater seasons and wider circles.  

There is a spring which the nations of the world have committed to reaching by the year 2030. That spring is called the Sustainable Development Goals, or SDGs. The gifts of that spring are no hunger, education and health for all, gender equality, a livable planet, and more.

China has been a global leader in this effort and is working tirelessly everyday to end poverty, advance human development and prosperity. I am grateful to be here in China with a brilliant United Nations Country Team in this important work with China and ensure we leave no one behind.

This year’s Earth Day marks the 5th anniversary of the opening for signature of the Paris Agreement on Climate Change. But we must not rest on our laurels. As UN Secretary-General António Guterres said, “let us all commit to the hard work of restoring our planet and making peace with nature”.

Together, we will need endurance, modesty, and fortitude. Let us all join with the three friends of winter, and let us march towards the spring of lasting peace, progress and prosperity.

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