曼谷——国际货币基金组织（IMF）的一位官员在泰国举行的会议上表示，持续的厄尔尼诺气候现象正在推高食品价格，并加剧全球粮食安全问题。其他专家则呼吁制定相关融资计划来帮助那些处于困境中的国家。
BANGKOK -- The ongoing El Nino climate pattern is contributing to rising food prices and worsening global food insecurity, an IMF director said during a meeting in Thailand, with other experts calling for financing schemes to support vulnerable countries. Rodrigo Valdes, the International Monetary Fund's director of the fiscal affairs department, said Thursday in a session of the IMF and World Bank annual meetings that global food prices in August reached the highest since late 2022 due to persistent droughts in Asia and Africa that damaged crops.
国际货币基金组织财政事务部门负责人罗德里戈·瓦尔德斯（Rodrigo Valdes）在IMF与世界银行年度会议的会议上指出，由于亚洲和非洲的持续干旱导致农作物受损，8月份的全球食品价格达到了2022年底以来的最高水平。他称，今年大米价格上涨了50%，小麦价格上涨了37%，大豆价格上涨了21%。他还表示，预计将持续到明年第一季度的厄尔尼诺现象正在使本已严峻的粮食安全形势进一步恶化；而中东冲突导致的化肥价格高涨也加剧了这一趋势。
He said rice prices have risen 50% this year, while wheat prices rose 37% and soybeans 21%, adding that El Nino which is expected to last until the first quarter of next year, is worsening a situation that has already been affected by high fertilizer prices stemming from the Middle East conflict. "The ongoing El Nino is expected to strengthen further, with effects alongside rapid warming weather, water deficits and higher temperatures in Africa, Central and South America, and Southeast Asia," Valdes said during a panel session on food security. The food price index released by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations -- which tracks prices of meat, cereals, dairy, vegetable oils and sugar -- hit 136 in September, up from 124.1 in January.
瓦尔德斯在关于粮食安全的讨论会上指出：“持续的厄尔尼诺现象预计会进一步加剧，其影响将包括非洲、中美洲、南美洲和东南亚地区的天气变暖、水资源短缺以及气温升高。”
Across the globe, African countries were the most vulnerable group, adversely affected by persistent dry weather, as most are net importers of staple foods.
联合国粮食及农业组织发布的食品价格指数显示，9月份的食品价格指数达到了136点，而1月份仅为124.1点。在全球范围内，非洲国家受到的影响最为严重，因为这些国家大多是主要食品的净进口国。
During the session, Somalian Finance Minister Bihi Iman Egeh said a severe El Nino has already damaged agricultural production. At the same time, wars in the Middle East and Ukraine significantly disrupted markets for food, energy, shipping and fertilizer.
索马里财政部长比希·伊曼·埃盖（Bihi Iman Egeh）在会议上表示，严重的厄尔尼诺现象已经对农业生产造成了严重破坏；同时，中东和乌克兰的战争也严重扰乱了食品、能源、航运及化肥市场的正常运行。埃盖强调：“许多国家的财政缓冲能力已经减弱，债务负担加重，利息成本上升，这进一步加剧了它们的财政压力。”
"And this happened at a time when a lot of countries have weakened buffers, high debt, and high interest costs, increasing fiscal pressure," Egeh said. To tackle the problem, he said, the country's government used digital money to reach people struggling to afford food, saying nearly 90% of Somalis were connected to the system.
他说，为解决这一问题，该国政府利用数字货币向负担不起食物的人群提供援助，称近90%的索马里人已接入该系统。“我们通过数字系统提供现金援助，成本效益高，”他说。
"We utilized cash assistance through digital system, and it was cost-effective," he said. With deleterious weather patterns becoming more severe, the U.N. has tried to raise funds to prevent and mitigate risks caused by extreme climate change.
随着有害天气模式日益严重，联合国一直在努力筹集资金，以防范和减轻极端气候变化造成的风险。
Rania al-Mashat, executive secretary of the U.N. Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia (ESCWA), said climate finance and financing for food systems will be high on the agenda at the U.N. Climate Change Conference (COP31) next month in Turkey.
联合国西亚经济社会委员会（ESCWA）执行秘书拉尼亚·马沙特表示，气候融资和粮食体系融资将成为下个月在土耳其举行的联合国气候变化大会（COP31）的重点议程。
Climate finance refers to local, national or transnational funding -- sourced from public, private and alternative channels -- that supports actions to address climate change and mitigate risks.
气候融资是指来自公共、私人和替代渠道的地方、国家或跨国资金，用于支持应对气候变化和减轻风险的行动。
"This is something that we need to keep on pushing for, and the climate crisis today creates a very good case that we need more of that financing," al-Mashat said.
“这是我们需要持续推动的事情，当今的气候危机为我们需要更多这类融资提供了非常有力的理由，”马沙特说。
She added that the Somalia model, delivering help via digital infrastructure to reach the targeted group, was an interesting model that ESCWA could apply to distribute aid funds through digital channels.
她补充说，索马里模式——通过数字基础设施向目标群体提供援助——是一个有趣的模式，ESCWA可以借鉴该模式，通过数字渠道分发援助资金。
ESCWA has been trying to initiate innovative financing that can alleviate fiscal pressure, al-Mashat said, particularly in some countries where the government has a limited budget to help subsidize food when the countries were hit by severe climate that cut food production.
马沙特表示，ESCWA一直在努力推出能够缓解财政压力的创新融资，特别是在一些国家，当这些国家遭受严重气候冲击导致粮食产量下降时，政府预算有限，难以帮助补贴食物。
"We are trying to create a financing tool that can alleviate the pressure on the fiscal.
“我们正在努力创建一种能够缓解财政压力的融资工具。希望我们能在2027年第一季度推出它，”她说。
Hopefully, we come out with it in the first quarter of 2027," she said.