Fahad Al-Attiya: A country with no water

Translator: Timothy Covell Reviewer: Morton Bast

Translator: Allen Zhu Reviewer: Hang Zhan

Salaam alaikum.

願平安與各位同在！

Welcome to Doha.

歡迎大家蒞臨多哈

I am in charge of making this country's food secure.

我宜家嘅工作係負責卡塔爾嘅食品安全

That is my job for the next two years,

但喺未來兩年

to design an entire master plan,

我要幫手規劃一個大項目

and then for the next 10 years to implement it --

同埋喺之後嗰十年執行項目

of course, with so many other people.

當然有好多同事兼埋一齊做啦

But first, I need to talk to you about a story, which is my story,

但首先，我想同大家 分享一個我自己嘅故仔

about the story of this country that you're all here in today.

呢個故仔發生喺大家身處嘅呢個國家

And of course, most of you have had three meals today,

在座嘅大多數今日都應該食過三餐

and probably will continue to have after this event.

或者喺活動之後仲會食

So going in, what was Qatar in the 1940s?

但係，二十世紀四十年代嘅 卡塔爾是乜嘢樣嘅呢？

We were about 11,000 people living here.

大概有 11,000 人口

There was no water. There was no energy, no oil, no cars, none of that.

冇水、冇能源 冇石油、冇汽車…乜都冇

Most of the people who lived here

喺度生活嘅大多數人

either lived in coastal villages, fishing,

一係喺海邊村莊打魚為生

or were nomads who roamed around with the environment trying to find water.

一係周圍遊牧揾水源

None of the glamour that you see today existed.

宜家大家所見嘅迷人景緻喺當時仲未有

No cities like you see today in Doha or Dubai or Abu Dhabi or Kuwait or Riyadh.

多哈、迪拜、阿布扎比、科威特 或者利雅得以前都係好落後

It wasn't that they couldn't develop cities.

之所以落後唔係因為人哋發展唔到城市

Resources weren't there to develop them.

而係事關資源貧乏

And you can see that life expectancy was also short.

眾所週知，當時嘅人均壽命短

Most people died around the age of 50.

大多數人嘅壽命都係得 50 歲

So let's move to chapter two: the oil era.

隨著時間發展，石油時代蒞臨嘞

1939, that's when they discovered oil.

1939 年，當時嘅人首次喺中東發現石油

But unfortunately, it wasn't really fully exploited commercially

但遺憾嘅係，直到二戰之前

until after the Second World War.

石油仲未得到全面嘅商業開採

What did it do?

咁，石油到底起到幾大作用？

It changed the face of this country, as you can see today and witness.

正如各位所見 佢改變咗呢個國家嘅面貌

It also made all those people who roamed around the desert --

佢亦令喺沙漠揾水源同食物嘅 遊牧民族移居到城市

looking for water, looking for food,

trying to take care of their livestock -- urbanize.

You might find this strange,

大家可能會覺得奇︰

but in my family we have different accents.

我屋企人嘅口音不盡相同

My mother has an accent that is so different to my father,

我嘅母親同我嘅父親嘅口音有好大分別

and we're all a population of about 300,000 people in the same country.

那怕喺呢個人口 30 萬嘅國家

There are about five or six accents in this country as I speak.

就已經有五六種唔同口音

Someone says, "How so? How could this happen?"

有人會問點解？

Because we lived scattered.

査實係事關我哋住得好零散

We couldn't live in a concentrated way simply because there was no resources.

畢竟資源唔集中

我哋冇可能咁集中居住

And when the resources came, be it oil,

但當資源，即係石油，豐富嘅時候

we started building these fancy technologies

我哋就開始發展先進技術

and bringing people together because we needed the concentration.

並因應發展所需，將人集中起嚟

People started to get to know each other.

住喺唔同地方嘅人開始瞭解對方

And we realized that there are some differences in accents.

於是乎發現大家嘅口音好唔相同

So that is the chapter two: the oil era.

以上就係石油時代嘅情況

Let's look at today.

宜家我哋嚟關注今日

This is probably the skyline that most of you know about Doha.

呢個就係今時今日嘅多哈

So what's the population today?

今日嘅人口有幾多？

It's 1.7 million people.

經已係 170 萬人嘅大城市

That is in less than 60 years.

但發展所花嘅時間卻少過 60 年

The average growth of our economy is about 15 percent for the past five years.

過去五年經濟平均增長 15%

Lifespan has increased to 78.

壽命預期提升至 78 歲

Water consumption has increased to 430 liters.

人均用水量上到去 430 升

And this is amongst the highest worldwide.

人均用水量達到世界高水平

From having no water whatsoever

由水資源極其匱乏

to consuming water to the highest degree, higher than any other nation.

到用水量達到世最高水平

I don't know if this was a reaction to lack of water.

我唔知係咪因為過往啲人太缺水所致

But what is interesting about the story that I've just said?

之不過呢個故仔最盞鬼係乜嘢呢？

The interesting part is that we continue to grow

最盞鬼係過去五年係冇水嘅情況下

15 percent every year for the past five years without water.

我哋仍然能夠保持 15% 經濟增長

Now that is historic. It's never happened before in history.

呢個簡直係傳奇

係從未喺歷史出現過嘅

Cities were totally wiped out because of the lack of water.

歷史上，冇水源嘅城市都會被廢棄

This is history being made in this region.

但係喺多哈，啲人卻改寫歷史

Not only cities that we're building,

城市唔止係講緊興建咁簡單

but cities with dreams and people who are wishing to be scientists, doctors.

更加載住好多人嘅夢想 想成為科學家、醫生

Build a nice home, bring the architect, design my house.

佢哋都想起靚嘅家園 請建築師設計屋企

These people are adamant that this is a livable space when it wasn't.

正因為人嘅堅定同努力

令呢笪不毛之地變成宜居繁榮

But of course, with the use of technology.

但一切都必須歸功於先進科技

So Brazil has 1,782 millimeters per year of precipitation of rain.

巴西嘅年降雨量有 1,782 毫米

Qatar has 74, and we have that growth rate.

卡塔爾淨係得 74 但同巴西經濟發展率一樣

The question is how.

咁點解我哋可以齋靠 74 毫米嘅 雨量成就今日呢？

How could we survive that?

We have no water whatsoever.

雖然我哋冇水資源

Simply because of this gigantic, mammoth machine called desalination.

但我哋有好龐大嘅海水淨化裝置

Energy is the key factor here. It changed everything.

呢個時候能源就係關鍵︰能源改變一切

It is that thing that we pump out of the ground, we burn tons of,

能源就係我哋從地底抽取同消耗嘅石油

probably most of you used it coming to Doha.

査實在大多數人嚟到多哈都係靠佢

So that is our lake, if you can see it.

所以，石油就似係我哋嘅湖泊同河流

That is our river.

That is how you all happen to use and enjoy water.

事關有佢，大家先至有淡水可用

This is the best technology that this region could ever have: desalination.

講到呢度，海水淡化技術 係對呢個地方最大嘅恩物

So what are the risks?

但呢個地方咁樣發展，有咩風險？

Do you worry much?

你哋有冇擔心過？

I would say, perhaps if you look at the global facts,

我想講嘅係，當我哋放眼全球

you will realize, of course I have to worry.

你就會發現，擔心並非多餘

There is growing demand, growing population.

人口不斷增長 對資源嘅需求亦都不斷增長

We've turned seven billion only a few months ago.

幾個月前，全球人口總數 經已經超過 70 億

And so that number also demands food.

隨之而嚟嘅就係對食物需求嘅增長

And there's predictions that we'll be nine billion by 2050.

據預測，到 2050 年 全球人口會突破 90 億

So a country that has no water

對於一個缺乏水資源嘅國家嚟講

has to worry about what happens beyond its borders.

必須要考慮未來人口增長帶嚟嘅負擔

There's also changing diets.

呢一事實甚至改變咗人嘅飲食方式

By elevating to a higher socio-economic level,

隨著社會經濟水平提高

they also change their diet.

人嘅飲食習慣亦都隨之改變

They start eating more meat and so on and so forth.

例如會食更加多肉

On the other hand, there is declining yields

另一方面，因為氣候變化同其他原因

because of climate change and because of other factors.

農作物產量減少

And so someone has to really realize when the crisis is going to happen.

所以，人不得不面對危機會發生嘅事實

This is the situation in Qatar, for those who don't know.

呢個就係卡塔爾嘅現況

We only have two days of water reserve.

我哋嘅淡水儲備只夠用到兩日

We import 90 percent of our food,

我哋 90% 嘅食物都依賴進口

and we only cultivate less than one percent of our land.

我哋亦衹開發咗 1% 嘅國土

The limited number of farmers that we have

我哋為數唔多嘅農民

have been pushed out of their farming practices

亦都因為市場開放政筞 同引進激烈競爭等原因

as a result of open market policy and bringing the big competitions, etc., etc.

而唔再從事農業生產

So we also face risks.

所以話，危機的確存在

These risks directly affect the sustainability of this nation and its continuity.

呢啲危機直接影響著呢個國家嘅 可持續發展同延續性

The question is, is there a solution?

咁，有乜解決方案呢？

Is there a sustainable solution?

有冇解決方案？

Indeed there is.

答案係有嘅

This slide sums up thousands of pages of technical documents

呢份投影片總結咗數千頁嘅 技術文件內容

that we've been working on over the past two years.

亦都係我哋過去兩年嘅工作成果

Let's start with the water.

我先講水資源

So we know very well -- I showed you earlier -- that we need this energy.

之前我哋經已知道，我哋確實需要能源

So if we're going to need energy, what sort of energy?

如果我哋需要能源，要係咩能源？

A depletable energy? Fossil fuel?

不可再生資源？化石燃料？

Or should we use something else?

定係我哋可以用其他能源？

Do we have the comparative advantage to use another sort of energy?

假設我哋使用其他能源 係咪會有更多著數？

I guess most of you by now realize that we do: 300 days of sun.

我斷估大多數人都諗到太陽能

冇錯，呢度全年晴天日數 高達 300 日，陽光充沛

And so we will use that renewable energy to produce the water that we need.

所以，我哋要利用太陽能製造水

And we will probably put 1,800 megawatts of solar systems

於是我哋興建 180 萬千瓦功率嘅 太陽能發電設施

to produce 3.5 million cubic meters of water.

嚟製造 350 萬立方米嘅淡水

And that is a lot of water.

350 萬一啲都唔細數

That water will go then to the farmers,

呢啲淡水將會分配畀農民

and the farmers will be able to water their plants,

用嚟灌溉農作物

and they will be able then to supply society with food.

進而為社會供應糧食

But in order to sustain the horizontal line --

但係，我哋唔單止要做到可持續

because these are the projects, these are the systems that we will deliver --

we need to also develop the vertical line:

我哋仲需要追求發展同進步

system sustenance, high-level education, research and development,

包括系統可靠性、高等教育 研究開發、工業、科技

industries, technologies, to produce these technologies for application, and finally markets.

令製造出嚟嘅科技可以 用於應用同市場裏面

But what gels all of it, what enables it, is legislation, policies, regulations.

但係要將所有嘢到位 需要有法律、政策同規範

Without it we can't do anything.

冇咗法律、政策同規範 一切都衹係空談

So that's what we are planning to do.

呢個亦正係我哋計劃之中嘅工作

Within two years we should hopefully be done with this plan

順利嘅話，成個規劃方案 將喺兩年內完成

and taking it to implementation.

然之後實施方案

Our objective is to be a millennium city, just like many millennium cities around:

我哋嘅目標係建成 一個千年難得一見嘅城市

Istanbul, Rome, London, Paris, Damascus, Cairo.

就好似伊斯坦堡、羅馬、倫敦 巴黎、大馬士革，以及開羅一樣

We are only 60 years old, but we want to live forever

我哋城市雖然淨係得 60 年歷史

但我哋希朢佢能夠和平地永遠存在

as a city, to live in peace.

Thank you very much.

多謝

(Applause)

（掌聲）