[ti:Report: Some U.S. Bases Not Prepared for Climate Change] [by:www.51voa.com] [00:00.00]更多听力请访问51VOA.COM [00:00.04]A recent report from the Inspector General of the Department of Defense [00:06.56]says that United States military bases in the Arctic and Sub-Arctic [00:12.72]are failing to prepare for long-term climate change. [00:17.76]The report gives a rare bit of public information [00:21.72]about the military's state of readiness for the worsening weather conditions [00:27.08]that many expect from a warming Earth. [00:30.96]The U.S. military long has recognized climate change [00:35.04]as a threat to national security. [00:37.88]That is in part because of the effect that floods, wildfires, [00:43.56]extreme heat and other natural disasters are having [00:47.88]and will have on U.S. bases and troops around the world. [00:54.12]Increasing hurricanes, flooding, storms and wildfires in recent years [01:00.08]have caused billions of dollars in damage to Florida's Tyndall Air Force Base, [01:06.00]Nebraska's Offutt Air Force Base and other U.S. military bases. [01:11.56]It also has interrupted training and other operations. [01:16.92]For years, laws, presidential orders and Pentagon rules [01:22.36]have required the military to plan and work so that its bases, [01:27.80]warships, warplanes and troops can carry out their missions [01:33.56]despite increasingly difficult weather conditions. [01:37.40]President Joe Biden directed faster, larger action on climate change [01:43.16]by the Department of Defense and other agencies [01:47.16]as one of his first acts in office. [01:50.76]Inspectors visiting the United States' six northernmost military bases [01:56.72]last June and July found none were carrying out the required planning [02:02.76]to prepare their bases and operations against long-term climate change. [02:08.16]Further, the inspector general report said, [02:11.68]"most installation leaders at the six installations [02:16.04]we visited in the Arctic and sub-Arctic region [02:20.00]were unfamiliar with military installation resilience [02:23.88]planning requirements, processes, and tools." [02:27.40]Resilience is a term that means the ability to adjust to change. [02:32.60]Senior officers told the inspector general's inspection team [02:37.24]that their operations lacked the training and funding [02:41.24]to start the required work. [02:44.20]Some saw requirements for that kind of long-term planning [02:48.60]as making up a "wish list" that would go up against [02:52.56]competing priorities, the officers told the inspectors. [02:57.08]A Pentagon spokesman did not immediately [03:00.12]respond to a request for comment. [03:03.00]The inspector general report cited Defense officials [03:07.16]as saying that the Biden administration has finished [03:11.40]or is working on many of the report's recommendations. [03:16.00]One of the bases is in Greenland and the other five are in Alaska: [03:21.68]Thule Air Base, Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson, Clear Space Force Station, [03:28.80]Eielson Air Force Base, Fort Wainwright and Fort Greely. [03:34.76]The Arctic and sub-Arctic are important to the U.S. [03:38.76]because of rising tensions and competition with Russia and China, [03:44.04]and because rising temperatures are melting sea ice. [03:47.92]The melting sea ice will, possibly, [03:51.04]allow oil exploration and open shipping lanes. [03:55.16]The inspectors found that the kind of problems [03:58.64]linked with worsening climate change [04:01.08]are already causing trouble at the U.S. bases. [04:04.96]At Fort Wainwright in Alaska, increased wildfire risks in 2019 [04:11.32]interrupted training for two Pacific Air Force groups [04:15.28]known as squadrons, so that one was able to carry out [04:19.76]only 59 percent of planned training for a period, the report said. [04:25.84]Many of the exact discussions of climate risks at the six bases [04:31.16]were blacked-out in the version of the report made public last week. [04:36.24]But inspectors photographed and described some of the issues. [04:41.40]These included cracked runways, damaged buildings and roads, [04:46.12]and a collapsed rock barrier that had been piled up [04:49.96]to hold back floodwater at Thule in Greenland. [04:54.12]The report said of the base leaders, "They stated that their day-to-day focus [04:59.68]was on reacting to immediate problems or reducing risk [05:03.96]to existing hazards, rather than planning for future hazards." [05:09.40]The Arctic is warming two to three times faster than the rest of the world. [05:14.84]A March heat wave that increased Arctic temperatures [05:18.76]30 Celsius higher than normal surprised scientists. [05:24.64]Of 79 U.S. military installations overall, [05:28.76]the Department of Defense says two-thirds are at risk [05:32.44]of worsening flooding conditions and half are vulnerable [05:36.52]to increasing drought and wildfires. [05:40.36]I'm John Russell. 更多听力请访问51VOA.COM