VOA常速英语2015--商业农业双管齐下保护内罗毕水资源

Business, Farming Go Greener to Protect Nairobi Water Supply 商业农业双管齐下保护内罗毕水资源

NAIROBI—

In a unique pairing of business interests and conservation, a new water fund is launching in Kenya to better-protect Nairobi's main source of water -- the Tana River.  By investing in conservation, big corporations, including Coca-Cola and East African Breweries 1, hope to reap big rewards - a possible win-win for business and the environment.  

Jane Kabugi, 68, is readying for her planting season. For five years, she was a subsistence farmer - consuming all she produces.

现年68岁的简恩·卡布吉为自己的种植季节做好了准备。这5年来她一直自给自足。

But that has changed in the last year, with new techniques to produce surplus food she sells at the market.  

不过去年发生了变化，由于新的种植技术提高了产量，卡布吉就把剩余产品拿到市场去卖。

She is one of some 5,000 small-scale farmers located in the upper Tana River area who benefitted from a three-month training course given by the Water Fund on improved agricultural techniques, such as terracing so as to prevent soil erosion.

塔纳河上游地区约有5000名像卡布吉这样的小户农民，他们都参加了水基金提供的为期3个月诸如修梯田防止水土流失等改善农业技术的培训课程。

Kabugi says water is her main concern.

卡布吉表示她最大的担忧是水源问题。

“Water is a big challenge because like now if I had water you can see all this would have been green but because of lack of water, plants tend to die,” she said.

“水源是个大问题，因为现在如果我进行灌溉，这里都会是一片绿色。可是因为缺水，植物很快就会干死。”

Soil erosion and low water supplies impact businesses, farmers and communities - increasing costs.  

水土流失和缺乏供水给商业、农民和社区造成影响增加了成本。

And that is why 10 companies, led by the Nature Conservancy, created the Nairobi Water Fund - to protect the watershed 2 and catchment areas along rivers that supply water to approximately nine million people in Nairobi.

因此10家公司在自然保护协会创立的内罗毕水基金的带领下保护内罗毕大约900万居民生命之源的塔纳河流域和支流地区。

One key focus is the Thika Dam - which harnesses water from rivers around ensuring a steady supply of water to residents of the capital.

其中一处关键是锡卡坝，这座大坝控制着河流，确保首都居民的稳定供水。

With improved agriculture skills practiced by Kabugi and other farmers, less sedimentation 3 is deposited into the river. This drop in sedimentation reduces the cost of cleaning the water once it gets to the Thika Dam.

由于卡布吉和其他农民采用了更好的农业技术减少了向河流排放的沉积物。从而减少了锡卡大坝的清理工作成本。

Coca-Cola is one of the companies involved and contributed $150,000 towards the fund.  Part of the money went into training the farmers.

参与该项目公司之一的可口可乐公司向水基金提供了150，000美元捐款，其中部分资金用于农民培训。

Each month the beverage 4 company’s plant in Nairobi uses approximately 30 million cubic meters of water.

每个月这家饮料公司的内罗毕工厂大约要用掉3000万立方米的水。

Bob Okello, the public affairs manager at Coca Cola, says conserving 5 water catchment makes business sense to the company.

可口可乐公司的公共事务主管鲍勃·奥克罗表示保护流域符合公司的商业利益。

“Close to 10-15 million of our consumers are touched along this water catchment territory," he said. "So the people who live in Nairobi, the industries, you know all these guys depend on this water. And we think there’s a responsibility on our part to participate in conserving this important catchment.”

“在这个流域我们有将近1000万到1500万消费者。因此居住在内罗毕的人、各行各业都依赖这条河，我们认为我们有责任保护这条重要的河流。”

For Jane Kabugi and other farmers these gains are already translating into greater community returns and increased yields.

对简恩·卡布吉和其他农民而言这些得到的回报已转变成对社会更大的回报及更高的农业产量。