新疆取缔冰川旅游，游客只能远观

BEIJING — Glaciologists in China and elsewhere have said for years that climate change is the main cause of glacier¹ erosion, which threatens the water sources of much of humanity.

北京——多年来，中外冰川学家称，气候变化是导致冰川侵蚀的主要原因，而冰川的退缩危及了许多人的水资源供给。

Officials in the far northwestern Chinese region of Xinjiang now say another factor is putting the fragile glaciers² at risk: tourism.

中国西北偏远地区新疆的官员现在又表示，置脆弱的冰川于险境的还有另一个因素，那就是旅游活动。

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.

新疆自治区政府在本月宣布，将取缔当地的冰川旅游。新疆占中国陆地面积的六分之一。那里有许多冰川，尤其是在天山一带。这座山脉以东西向穿过这片广袤地区的中心地带。

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.

根据官方新闻机构新华社在上周四发布的一篇报道，新疆官员想要让游客只能远观，而不能亲自登上冰川。

The report said that, over the last 50 years, the average temperature in Xinjiang had risen 0.33 to 0.39 degrees Celsius³ a decade, or about 0.6 to 0.7 degrees Fahrenheit⁴, nearly three times the global average. China has 46,377 glaciers, and about 47 percent of the national ice reserves are in Xinjiang, a rugged⁵ region of deserts, forests and soaring mountains that shares borders with more than half a dozen countries.

这篇文章指出，过去50年来，新疆所在的西北干旱区的平均气温每10年上升0.33到0.39摄氏度，几乎是全球平均值的三倍。中国境内的冰川有4万6377条，而在新疆的冰川储量占了全国的47%。新疆地形复杂，拥有沙漠、森林和高耸入云的山峰，还与七八个国家接壤。

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

这篇报道表示，“全球变暖、放牧、采矿和旅游等因素加速了冰川消融，导致多个地区水资源短缺。”

It quoted Chen Xi of the Chinese Academy of Sciences as saying that glaciers in the Tianshan range have receded⁶ 15 to 30 percent in the last three decades.

文中还引述了中国科学院研究员陈曦的话，指出天山区域的冰川面积近30年来退缩了15%到30%。

Scientists say the main cause of climate change is greenhouse gas emissions⁷, 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.

科学家认为，气候变化主要是温室气体排放造成的，而这些排放大部分来自于工业燃煤，主成分则是二氧化碳。目前全球温室气体排放量最大的国家是中国，排名第二的则是美国。

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.

随着中国经济降温，国内燃煤用量的增长有所放缓，不过研究气候问题的本土学者仍然认为，中国的温室气体排放量会持续攀升，直到2025至2030年间达到峰值。

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.

冰川学家在中国西部各地都观测到冰川退缩的现象。甘肃省的梦柯冰川是祁连山脉最大的山谷冰川，而根据当地一所研究中心的报告，梦柯与另两座冰川自90年代就开始加速消融。文中指出，自90年代至本世纪前10年，这些冰川的退缩速率增加了两倍，这也导致了近年来的洪患。长远看来，该地区将普遍面临水源短缺的问题。

Provincial⁸ 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，其他省级与地方政府尚未宣布要取缔冰川旅游。在甘肃省的祁连山，这类旅游活动相当热门。七一冰川位于长城西端的终点嘉峪关西南55英里（约合90公里）处。这座冰川每年都吸引许多观光者。四川省的海螺沟国家冰川森林公园也有大批游客涌入，云南省则有广受欢迎的明永冰川。

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.

新疆首府乌鲁木齐的官员在2006年禁止游客前往该市附近的天山一号冰川。然而近年来，想赚上一笔的当地牧民还是会带观光客前去一游。在新华网转载的一篇报道中，记者曾在去年7月实地前往这座冰山，并描述了游客在那里拍照、乱丢垃圾的景况。

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.

上周四的新华社报道还引述了新疆旅游局官员李冀东的发言，指出新疆冰川旅游在过去十几年的收入不到10亿元人民币。

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

“但是冰川崩塌、消融带来的损失是不可估算的，”李冀东说。