Excellencies,
Distinguished Participants,
I am pleased to welcome you to the International Online Conference to Address Water-related Disaster Risk Reduction under the COVID-19 Pandemic.
I wish to express our sincere appreciation to the High-level Experts and Leaders Panel on Water and Disasters (HELP), the Asian Development Bank and the National Graduate Institute for Policy Studies (GRIPS) for co-organizing this Conference in collaboration with the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs.
At the recent High-level Political Forum on Sustainable Development (HLPF), held virtually in New York, UN Member States stressed the COVID-19 pandemic as a global crisis, affecting all countries around the world, socially and economically. It has reversed progress and gains achieved in alleviating poverty and hunger, thus placing even greater obstacles to achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
The pandemic is putting country resilience to a test, challenging all countries to focus on risk-informed, transformative, and sustainable pathways.
The risks of water-related disasters exacerbate the situation and must be addressed as part of the COVID-19 response and recovery.
Indeed, 90 per cent of global disasters are water-related. Increased incidences of flooding cause widespread devastation, resulting in the loss of many lives and damages to critical public health infrastructure desperately needed during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Currently, 3 billion people of the world’s population, lack access to basic hand-washing facilities in their homes, depriving them of the most effective prevention measure against the virus: frequent hand washing. The most vulnerable and marginalized segments of the population bear the brunt of associated risks and impacts.
Ensuring that everyone has access to sustainable water and sanitation services is critical to mitigate the spread of COVID-19.
In this context, I welcome the “Principles to Address Water-related Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) under the COVID-19 Pandemic” launched by the High-level Experts and Leaders Panel on Water and Disasters (HELP).
The Principles offer a much-needed practical advice to political leaders and all stakeholders on how to prepare and respond to avoid magnified impacts due to co-occurring disasters.
The United Nations will support countries in the implementation of the Principles through the SDG 6 Global Acceleration Framework, which aims at bringing together the collective efforts of stakeholders from different sectors to overcome the water and sanitation crisis through a multilateral response.
The United Nations system remains fully committed to working with you all to accelerate the transformational change needed to achieve water security and safely managed sanitation.
I wish you a successful Conference.
Thank you.