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The issue of loss and damage, meanwhile, gets directly to the core of injustices of climate change. In 2013, parties to the UN’s climate negotiation framework, the UNFCCC, established Warsaw International Mechanism for Loss and Damage associated with Climate Change Impacts, also called WIM in UN-speak.
与此同时，关于损失和毁坏的问题，直接触动了气候变化的不公正的核心。
联合国气候变化框架公约，UNFCCC的当事人们在2013年缔结了称为WIM的华沙气候变化损失与损害国际机制。
As the name suggests, it’s a way for countries to work together to help deal with the losses and damages that are occurring from the changes in the climate that are already underway, like rising oceans and weather becoming more extreme. This mechanism actually predates the Paris climate agreement, but the rules on how to fund and govern the program remain up in the air and were up for review at COP25.
像其称谓指出的那样，此机制致力于提供一种国家们一起处理由气候所引发的损失与毁坏的方法，例如海平面升高与极端天气的问题。
实际上这个机制成立的时间早于巴黎协定，但是关于如何资助和掌管这项项目的规定始终悬而未决并且有待于COP25进行复审。
So it’s not surprising that securing funding for a loss and damage mechanism was a top priority for the countries facing some of the highest climate risks: small island states, least-developed countries, African nations.
因此对于一些面临最为严重的气候变化威胁的国家，比如小岛国家，欠发达的国家以及非洲国家来说，损失与损害国际机制是他们的优先级任务就并不为人所惊。
“Loss and damage is an existential issue for us,” said Omar Figueroa, Belize’s environment minister. “We need clear and predictable finance that we can access to really compensate for the loss and damage that so many of our sister nations are feeling.”
“损失与毁坏对于我们来说是具有存在感的问题”，伯利兹的环境部长Omar Figueroa如是说，“我们需要更为透明以及可预测的资助用以赔偿那些我们与我们的兄弟国家所切身感受到的损失与破坏。
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But wealthier countries were reluctant to sign onto language that would commit them to fund the program and instead agreed in broad strokes to study the issue. The United States in particular tried to introduce language that would put the WIM solely within the purview of the Paris agreement and not the larger UNFCCC. Since the US is withdrawing from the Paris agreement, but not the UNFCCC, this would draw a line around the program to exclude the US from contributing to prevent the US from being asked to chip in.
但是富裕国家们并不情愿资助这项项目，取而代之的是他们同意在大框架之中对这一议题进行研究。
尤其是美国，试图引入一种话术来使得华沙气候变化损失与损害国际机制位于巴黎协定的条款之中而非更大范围的联合国气候变化框架公约之内。
由于美国正从巴黎协定之中退出而非退出联合国气候变化框架公约，美国的做法可以圈出一条线来排除它在这项项目中被要求捐款的可能性。
Ian Fry, a delegate from Tuvalu, called out the United States without mentioning it by name for trying to introduce this provision. “Ironically, or strategically, this party will not be a party to the Paris agreement in 12 months time,” he said during the closing session of COP25. “This means if they get their way with the governance of the WIM, they will wash their hands or any actions to assist countries that have been affected by the impacts of climate change. This is an absolute tragedy and a travesty.”
图瓦卢的代表Ian Fry，在不指名的情况下疾呼美国想要引入的条例：
“讽刺的是又或者是具有战略意义的，当事人在12个月的时间内将不再是巴黎协定的当事人，”在COP25的闭幕期内他如是说到。
“这将意味着如果他们可以对WIM随心所欲，他们将从援助那些受气候变化影响的国家的活动中金盆洗手，这将绝对是一场悲剧和滑稽剧。
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For some wealthier countries, they worry that they could be liable for climate damages, and want to indemnify themselves, but many of the countries most vulnerable to climate change say this is a non-starter. Instead, wealthy countries would prefer to provide disaster loss and damage money as charity on their own terms and not bound by any international rules.
对于某些较为富有的国家而言，他们也担心自己对气候变化负有一定责任，并且想要作出赔偿，但是那些最易受到气候变化影响的国家认为这是没有希望的。
与此相对的，富有国家更倾向于在自己的条件下给慈善机构捐款来对灾害带来的损失和破坏做出补偿而不是受到国际协定的约束。
The US delegation did not respond to requests for comment.
美国代表团没有对此请求作出回应。
There will likely be few ways to move forward on an international climate action without an agreement on how to fund loss and damage, but with countries so far apart on the issue, there may not be any progress anytime soon, and the topic will be on the table again in the next rounds of climate talks.
也许会有不通过对损失和毁坏作出赔偿的公约来推进国际间气候行动的可能性，但是在这一问题上国与国之间所持态度相悖甚远，短期内应该不会有任何进展，这项议题将会再次出现在下一届的国际气候大会之上。
All the while, some wealthy countries are continuing to make the problem worse. Greenhouse gas emissions in the United States are on the rise, and Japan noted at COP25 that the country is planning to build more coal-fired power plants and export coal generators.
一直以来，一些富裕的国家一直在让问题恶化。
美国的温室气体排放在上升，日本在世界气候大会上说日本正打算建造更多的燃煤发电厂和出口更多煤炭发电机。
“In Japan, coal power is not seen as problematic as the international community does,” Japan Environment Minister Shinjiro Koizumi said at a press conference at COP25. “There is a plan to build coal-fired plants in Japan, but with that fact in mind I have some complex feelings about attending COP25.”
“在日本，煤电并不像国际社会所认为的那样有很大问题。
”日本环境大臣小泉进次郎在第25届联合国气候大会的一次记者招待会上说。
“日本有建造燃煤发电厂的计划，考虑到这一事实，我对参加此次气候大会百感交集。
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Why it’s so damn hard to get an international climate deal
为什么达到一个国际气候协定如此困难
With all the consternation around the UN negotiation process, one might wonder if there is a better way to do this. These ongoing climate negotiations are governed by consensus, which means everyone has to agree.
由于联合国协商过程中的种种出乎意料之事，我们可能会想是否有更好的方式来处理这个问题。
正在进行的气候谈判建立在共同协商基础上，这意味着每一个人都要同意。
One would have a hard time even getting 197 countries to agree that the sky is blue without a multi-day summit, a dozen drafts of the resolution, and one country threatening to derail everything because they believe that turquoise should count as blue in some circumstances. On climate change, this process often results in the most tepid and toothless actions.
如果没有多日峰会，十几个决议草案，要让197个国家都同意天空是蓝的都很难。
一个国家威胁要使每个人脱轨，因为他们坚信青绿色在某种情况下也该被视为蓝色。
在气候变化问题上，这个过程所导致的结果经常是不温不火且效用甚微的行动。
At a time when scientists are warning that the world may have as little as a decade to get on track for the goals of the Paris climate agreement to limit warming to less than 2 degrees Celsius this century, if not 1.5 degrees Celsius, the byzantine UN process for negotiating a solution to climate change seems unbearably slow and inadequate.
科学家们发出警告，世界可能只有不到十年的时间用来实现巴黎气候协定的目标，即将本世纪的气候升温限制在2摄氏度以内。
在这个时间点上，如果没有控制在1.5摄氏度，这意味着为了协商出一个解决气候变化的方案，联合国复杂繁琐的谈判可能是非一般的低效率和力不从心。
If you live the #ClimateEmergency in a very real way almost on a daily basis, you’d understand why we in the Global South and the vulnerable countries are tremendously disappointed with #COP25. If you want to sugarcoat that, it’s up to you. Tired of this dishonest optimism.
如果你每天非常真切地感受到生活在#气候紧急状态，你就会明白我们这些生活在南半球和最容易受到影响的国家的人为什么会对今年的气候大会感到巨大失望。
如果你想要粉饰这个气候大会，那是你的问题。
反正我对这种欺骗性的乐观累觉不爱了。
— Yeb Saño (@YebSano) December 15, 2019
— Yeb Saño (@YebSano)2019，12月15日
But the key issue is that while everyone needs to act, there are few levers to compel countries to do so. Ultimately, international actions on climate change have to be self-driven and voluntary within countries. That’s why everything in the talks is framed in terms of “ambition” rather than “obligation.” There are lots of carrots, but very few sticks.
但是关键问题是，尽管每个国家都需要行动，但是很少有强制措施迫使各国采取行动。
最终，应对气候变暖的国际行动必须是各国内部的自我驱动和自愿行为。
这就是为什么会谈中所有内容都以“愿景（或野心）”而不是“义务”为框架的原因。
胡萝卜很多，但是棍棒很少。
That the world has gotten this far at all is a minor miracle, and the UNFCCC remains the only truly global framework to tackle climate change. But global emissions are still growing, the commitments to reduce them right now are nowhere near enough, and a small handful of countries are blocking more coordinated action.
这个世界迄今为止所达到的不过是一些很小的奇迹，联合国气候变化框架公约依旧是唯一一个能正确解决气候问题的全球框架。
但是全球排放还是在上升，致力于减排的承诺现在还是远远不够，而且一小撮国家正在阻止更多的协调行动。
