[ti:Study: About Half of World’s Lakes Are Shrinking]
[by:www.21voa.com]
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[00:00.04]A new study has found that more than half of the world's lakes
[00:05.76]have shrunk since the 1990s.
[00:09.04]The study blames the shrinkage on the effects of climate change.
[00:14.72]The researchers said the finding
[00:18.12]intensifies concerns about world water supplies for drinking,
[00:24.40]agriculture and hydropower.
[00:27.48]An international team of scientists
[00:31.76]recently reported their results in the publication Science.
[00:36.84]The team reported some of the world's most important
[00:41.80]freshwater suppliers lost water
[00:45.44]at an estimated rate of 22 gigatons per year for nearly 30 years.
[00:53.68]This included the Caspian Sea between Europe and Asia
[00:59.64]and South America's Lake Titicaca in the Andes mountains.
[01:05.00]Fangfang Yao is a water researcher
[01:09.40]at the University of Virginia who led the study.
[01:13.80]She told Reuters news agency
[01:16.92]the study found that climate warmingand human water usage
[01:22.64]drove 56 percent of drops in natural lakes.
[01:28.48]Some climate scientists believe the world's driest areas
[01:34.24]will become drier while wet areas are expected to get wetter.
[01:39.92]But the study said major water loss
[01:44.04]took place even in humid parts of the world.
[01:48.00]Scientists examined nearly 2,000
[01:52.96]large lakes using satellite measurements
[01:56.36]combined with computer models for climate and water.
[02:01.44]The team found the main reasons for lake drying around the world
[02:07.80]included unsustainable human use,
[02:11.92]changes in rainfall and run-off,
[02:14.96]sedimentation and rising temperatures.
[02:19.16]Those elements led to drops in lake levels
[02:23.80]of 53 percent of lakes worldwide from 1992 to 2020.
[02:31.40]The study said that nearly 2 billion people
[02:36.00]living in drying lake areas
[02:38.72]have been directly affected by the shortages –
[02:42.36]many of which came in recent years.
[02:46.20]Some scientists and environmental activists
[02:50.84]have urged steps to prevent the world's average temperature
[02:56.32]from increasing by more than 1.5 degrees Celsius.
[03:02.24]The study found that unsustainable human use dried up several lakes,
[03:09.12]including the Aral Sea in Central Asia
[03:13.32]and the Dead Sea in the Middle East.
[03:16.76]On the other hand,
[03:18.24]rising temperatures caused lake drying
[03:21.64]in Afghanistan, Egypt and Mongolia.
[03:25.92]The researchers noted that water levels rose
[03:30.60]in a quarter of the lakes studied.
[03:33.64]This often resulted from dam building projects in rural areas
[03:40.04]such as the Inner Tibetan Plateau, the study found.
[03:44.84]I'm Bryan Lynn. 更多听力请访问21VOA.COM