30 August 2022

Excellencies,

 

Access to water is a universal right and ensuring that right is a universal obligation.

 

Acting on this is critical, especially at this time, as clean, and fresh water is necessary to support a sustainable and resilient recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic.

 

Yet even before the pandemic, we were struggling to meet the targets outlined in Sustainable Development Goal 6 on access to clean water and sanitation.

 

In the post-pandemic context, the situation has become dire. Today, 2.2 billion people live without access to safe water, and more than 700 million people are at risk of being displaced due to water scarcity by 2030.

 

This is compounded by a raging climate crisis and its drastic consequences on water-availability.

 

As temperatures soar, longer droughts are becoming more frequent, and the weather grows more unpredictable. This directly affects the availability and distribution of rainfall, snowmelt, river flows and groundwater. The quality of already available water continues to deteriorate due to a variety of factors, including pollution.

 

We must urgently accelerate initiatives aimed at addressing the challenges related to water resources. Climate adaptation strategies in managing water-resources must be implemented to ensure everyone has access to clean water.

The need for this grows more pressing with a rising population, that is expected to reach 8 billion by November this year, causing increasing demand for water and stress on existing resources.

 

Water-scarcity is not only a crisis by itself, but it has several spillover effects. It undermines our health and food security, and has the potential to trigger further displacements, refugee-crises, and political instability.

 

My friends,

 

For these reasons, it is important that we raise awareness on water related issues and put them front and center in our multilateral discussions.

 

Only by giving this issue the serious attention it deserves can we generate effective strategies, identify best-practices, and integrate water management tools.

 

It is not yet too late to enact meaningful change. But we must work collectively and with purpose, if we are to achieve internationally agreed water-related goals and targets, including those contained in the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.

 

Towards this end, let us build upon the commitments and initiatives made during COP26 in Glasgow; Stockholm +50; the Dushanbe Water Conference; the UN Ocean Conference; and the ECOSOC High-level Political Forum on Sustainable Development.

 

We need to build momentum as we prepare for the UN 2023 Water Conference, in March next year.

 

Let us recommit to solving water-related issues and water scarcity, which have such profound repercussions environmentally, economically, socially, and on global sustainable development.

 

Together, we can build a more inclusive and effective path for the achievement of the 2030 Agenda, in the context of the Water decade of action, running from 2018 to 2028.

 

Together, we can guarantee the right to clean and fresh water, to all our communities.

 

Thank you.