26 October 2022

Excellencies, Dear Water Friends,

How rewarding it can be to cooperate on water!

This impression is still fresh with all of us from the last two days.

Yesterday, we agreed – you agreed – on the interactive dialogues of the 2023 UN Water Conference.

We have also, in a consultation process with 1200 stakeholders, been able to define the transformative game changers for the Conference and the process to follow.

Game changers that are practical, like the Early Warnings for All initiative and the integration of water and climate information through the Global Water Information Services.

Game changers like the global network for capacity development and the proposal to reframe the economic cost of water inaction.

We have put down a stepping-stone on the SDG 6 pathway. Congratulations.

In November, the next stepping-stone awaits us in Sharm el Sheik.

The event there will be the first UNFCCC-COP that will feature water as a means of adaptation as well as a lever for mitigation.

I commend the Egyptian COP Presidency for this bold move. It is not an easy step since water is at least as political as climate. But a move that we are all looking forward to.

The AWARe initiative targets the interface and adaptation. It is focus on building. It has a science validation mechanism. It brings actors together to provide peaceful solutions to water scarcity and early warnings.

It tells us how we can make our water management climate smart.

There are other, related issues that will also take center stage in COP this year.

Finances will be a main topic. AWARe can be a tool to let finances for adaptation spark action in Africa.

Loss and Damage needs to be addressed, but the best remediation in this field is to use science-based solutions to reduce current and future losses.

Again, here the Early Warnings for All initiative and the Water and Climate Leaders Action plan are exemplary solutions.

Water reuse and water loss reduction as well as the decoupling of biodiversity loss, CO2 emissions, water consumption and the production of the calories we need to feed the world shall guide our path.

I have a wish for the Egyptian COP presidency: please do all you can to ensure that water makes it into the negotiated outcome. It will be the first “water” COP.

Our glass is half empty and half full.

The bad news is: we will not resolve the water and climate challenges in a single year.

Our transformative efforts will require not only enormous investments, but also the complete rethinking of our views on water and our approaches to it.

But there is good news, as well.

It is invigorating to see that we have common interests and the common will to resolve our challenges.

It is encouraging to recognize that, against all political odds, we are capable of acting together.

And it is reassuring to know that we have solutions for water scarcity, droughts, floods and wet heat bulbs.

The path will continue: the next COPs in Egypt and then in the United Arab Emirates will be interlinked to the process of the UN 2023 Water Conference, the Sendai Mid Term Review, the SDG summit in September 23 and the Summit of the Future in 2024.

It is a unique chance to transform our ways of assessing, doing business and planning.

At the kind invitation of Minister Shukry, I will go to Sharm el Sheik, as has been announced.

I will connect with the climate community during the water, biodiversity and energy days in COP27.

I really look forward to a series of important meetings there.

But, first and foremost, I hope to see change in Sharm el Sheik.

I thank you.