外文翻译---最高审计机关的环境审计活动-会计审计(编辑修改稿)

外文翻译---最高审计机关的环境审计活动-会计审计(编辑修改稿)内容摘要：

orts, 18%). These most mon topics were roughly the same in all parts of the world. Besides these topics, many other issues attracted the attention of SAIs: marine pollution, air pollution, climate change, soil pollution/contaminated sites, the environment and human health, noise reduction, biodiversity and ecosystems management, agriculture, pesticides, disaster management and emergency preparedness, industrial pollution, minerals and natural resources, mining, fishery, transport, radioactivity, and so on. To get a better understanding of the environmental audit work of SAIs in practice, about 50 reports related to water issues were gathered. The theme ―water‖ was chosen because it was frequently audited by SAIs and it was the central theme for the exchange of experiences within the Working Group during the past 6 years. The reports collected all have a different focus. Some deal with financial control and management issues, and have water issues as a secondary subject. Nearly all reports have water problems in society as a starting point, such as the lack of access to clean water, or the pollution of rivers and lakes. To give an idea of the wide variation of environmental audits in practice, some examples are briefly described. An example of a regularity audit is an audit focused on the operating funds of a wastewater treatment plant, conducted by the SAI of China (1999). It was found that the wastewater treatment fee level was low, and a rather big gap existed between the subsidy the plant receives and the operating funds available to the plant. The Chinese SAI remended that the fee for wastewater treatment should be raised step by step to ensure normal operation of the plant. 8 The following audits examples are performance audits. Compliance to the Ramsar Convention on the Protection of Wetlands and two related European Union directives was the subject of an audit by the SAI of The Netherlands (1999). In this audit, the implementation of national environmental programs related to wetlands was also included. The main findings were that The Netherlands had drafted many plans for the management and restoration of wetlands, but in practice the implementation of these plans was often problematic or extremely slow. The international obligations were inadequately operationalized in national policy: the ministry of nature management had not made agreements with local authorities on the fulfilment of international obligations. As a result, the local authorities were badly informed about the substance of the obligations. In the audit by the SAI of Egypt on the prevention of pollution of the Nile River (2020), pliance to national rules and regulations was the most important aspect. The audit was focused on pliance with environmental rules, legislations, and standards that safeguard protection of the Nile River and other fresh waterways, the actions taken against violations, and the state of the sanitation system. The SAI of France did an audit on the pollution of water that is intended for huma n consumption (2020). The audit report illustrates the dilemma of sustainable development— balancing the economic and social objectives with the environmental objectives. The main conclusion of the audit was that despite public expenditure since 1993, there has been no significant improvement in water quality. The regulations designed to reconcile water protection with agricultural activities were ignored in favor of the latter. Moreover, the regulations were poorly monitored and were primarily designed to avert accidental pollution and not pollution from diffuse sources. In 2020, the SAI of Mauritius conducted an audit on leakage in potable water storage and distribution systems. The reason for this audit was a large volume of unaccountedforwater (UFW) (around 47 percent of total production in 1998 and 1999) that led to the classification of Mauritius as a ―water stressed‖ country. The decrease in rainfall in bination with an estimated increase in the demand for potable water by more than 20% by 2020 poses an urgent problem for the country. This shortage can seriously hamper economic and social development. The audit office concluded that if the target of decreasing UFW to 35% by 2020 can be achieved, no other substantial water resources 9 have to be harnessed. The main identified causes of the high level of UFW are the poor performance of contractors, an inadequate monitoring of their work by the water panies, the abundant use of substandard materials, a general shortage of materials, equipment, and skilled labor, and limited job specifications. The last example is an audit of the SAI of the United States (2020), which is focused on policy information. The SAI determined whether the information in the National Water Quality Inventory of the En。