What do Britain, Greenland, Australia, Hawaii, and Cuba all have in common, Rob?
英国、格陵兰岛、澳大利亚、夏威夷和古巴有什么共同点，罗伯？
Rob(罗伯)
Are you planning your summer holidays, Sam? Or is it that they’re all islands?
山姆，你在计划你的暑假吗？还是说它们都是岛屿？
Sam(山姆)
Right, Rob, they are all islands, but that’s about all they have in common. There’s as much variety in the world’s islands as in the people who live there!
是的，罗伯，它们都是岛屿，但这就是它们的共同点。世界上的岛屿和生活在那里的人们一样多！
Rob(罗伯)
In tourist holiday magazines, Pacific islands like Fiji, Tonga and Tahiti look like paradise, with tropical rainforests, white, sandy beaches and turquoise blue sea. But in reality, life is far from paradise for these island communities. In 2022, the island of Tonga suffered a tsunami – a huge wave caused by an earthquake that flowed inland, killing people and causing largescale damage. The destruction was terrible and added to the continuing crisis of rising sea levels threatening the island’s survival.
In this programme we’ll be hearing some Pacific islander voices and, as usual, learning some new vocabulary too. But first I have a question for you, Rob. We already named some islands, large and small, but how much of the world’s population, do you think, lives on an island? a) 11 percent; b) 15 percent c) 20 percent.
Ooh, that’s a tricky question! It can’t be that many, so I’ll guess a) 11 percent.
哦，这是一个棘手的问题！不可能那么多，所以我猜 a） 11%。
Sam(山姆)
OK, Rob. I’ll reveal the correct answer at the end of the programme. The South Pacific is home to thousands of low-lying islands dotted across miles of Pacific Ocean. With rising sea levels, it’s predicted that many of these islands will simply disappear in coming years.
And if that wasn’t bad enough, the effects of climate change are making life difficult for these island communities right now. The tsunami that hit Tonga left the main island, Tonga Tarpu, in ruins. One of those leading the clean-up was, Ofa Ma'asi Kaisamy, manager of the Pacific Climate Change Centre. She told BBC World Service programme Business Daily the extent of the problem.
The projected impacts of climate change on agriculture and fisheries will undermine food production systems in the Pacific. Our Pacific people are also dependent on crops, livestock, agriculture, fisheries, handicrafts for food security and income, and these sectors are also highly vulnerable to the impacts of climate change.
The economy of many islands like Tonga depends on tourism, farming or fishing, and on handicrafts – skilfully making traditional objects like jewellery, textiles or pottery by hand. These are usually sold to tourists, but when tsunamis keep the tourists away, local jobs become vulnerable – unprotected and open to damage.
This affects not only handicrafts, but Tonga’s ability to produce enough food to feed its population, something known as food security.
这不仅影响手工艺品，还影响汤加生产足够粮食养活其人口的能力，这就是所谓的粮食安全。
Sam(山姆)
As the effects of climate change hit the local economy, young people are leaving Tonga to find work elsewhere. Tonga Youth Employment and Entrepreneurship is a project working with local organisations to help young people start businesses.
and find jobs. Here’s project director, Lusia Latu-Jones, speaking with BBC World(并找工作。这是项目总监 Lusia Latu-Jones 在接受 BBC World 采访时说的)
Service’s Business Daily:
服务商报：
Lusia Latu-Jones(露西亚·拉图-琼斯)
It can be emotional, very emotional and heartbreaking to see what’s happening in our island… but it’s even harder when you see young people coming through… just looking, looking for chance to help their families, for them to get on their feet again. So the question we ask ourselves as an organisation is how can we address these challenges to better support our people so that they can get back on their feet, feed their families.
She says her role is to help people get back on their feet, an idiom which means be able to function again after having difficulties in life.
她说，她的职责是帮助人们重新站起来，这是一个谚语，意思是在生活中遇到困难后能够重新发挥作用。
Rob(罗伯)
The many problems Tongans face are made worse by perhaps the biggest problem of all - the fact that poverty, hunger and the loss of their traditional culture is being caused by the carbon emissions of larger countries halfway around the world. If we all learned to adapt our lifestyle, just as Pacific islanders have done, it may not yet be too late to change the fate of their island paradise.
And the fate of the millions living on other islands too, which reminds me of my question, Rob! Eleven percent of us are islanders, which works out as over 730 million people.
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