NOON BRIEFING HIGHLIGHTS

Spokesperson for General Assembly President Csaba Kőrösi
United Nations Headquarters, New York

Tuesday, 22 August 2023

WORLD WATER WEEK

Starting with World Water Week in Stockholm…

This is the biggest annual water conference.

Given that we’re coming out of the UN Water Conference, the World Water Week is expected to pick up where the conversations left off.

In that context, the President of the General Assembly, Csaba Kőrösi, today spoke on a high-level panel to follow up on the UN 2023 Water Conference.

The President pointed to the importance of the SDG Summit, connecting the UN Water Conference in March, the World Water Week now and the SDG Summit that’s now less than a month away.

In terms of lessons learned, the President offered a few thoughts. I’m cherry picking some of them.

He said that if we do not use the opportunity of the SDG Summit for transformation – so here he means the sustainability transformation – and for breakthrough – so gamechangers, really innovative thinking and planning – then we are going to miss the opportunity to achieve the SDGs.

Second, the President noted that at the Water Conference we understood how to manage better, value, and protect water. We understood that we needed a new economics on water, and it is being developed.

The same needs to be done at the SDG Summit, the development of a new economics on sustainability. Here he is also referring to Beyond GDP, this concept that is being discussed in parts of the UN, about measuring not just the economic output, but what natural resources were used to get there.

He also spoke about the importance of data, to do a realistic stock taking of where we actually are on the SDGs.

And also about the importance of creating a new system to validate the implementation of the SDGs, that is based on scientific evidence.

In his remarks today, the President also expressed frustration about things not moving forward.

He said that before the Water Conference, everyone agreed that implementation would start on the day of the Water Conference.

That implementation isn’t coming fast enough.

Quote – “We have lost 150 days. Please send the same message of urgency to your missions.”

The President said we cannot have a repeat of this in the SDG Summit.

There are only 7 ½ years left to implement the 2030 Agenda.

So world leaders need to start implementing these plans, the day after the Summit.

So the discussion shouldn’t be about where and when the next conference will be.

Quote “On the next day of the SDG summit, we have to start the implementation of what has been agreed upon. So it’s not the place, not the year, not the next conference. It is the action, it is the validation and it is the investment.”

You have the President’s full remarks online and, in your inboxes, from my colleague Iseult Mc Nulty: https://www.un.org/pga/77/2023/08/22/pga-remarks-to-high-level-panel-to-follow-up-on-the-un-2023-water-conference-in-stockholm/

 

What you won’t have in those remarks is that there was a fire alarm evacuation in the middle of the panel. Everything turned out fine, just smoke from ovens. But the team told me that they were very impressed with the efficiency of the Swedish evacuation and how quickly they were able to reorganize and resume events.

 

Let me turn to two other comments that the President made today…

He had a conversation with the Stockholm Resilience Center… and said that he would ask the Secretary-General to somehow include the Stockholm Resilience Center in his Science Advisory Board, which was created just a couple of weeks ago, to advise UN leaders on breakthroughs in science and technology.  Related tweet: https://twitter.com/UN_PGA/status/1693999833017880741

In one of his interviews today, the President was asked what he thinks about a COP for water. And he said, well that maybe would have been a good idea 10 years ago. But now we know the shortcomings and the gamechangers. We need a platform for Member States to act together. That action needs to come now.”

JUNIOR WATER PRIZE

Right now, President Kőrösi is at the Stockholm Junior Water Prize Award Ceremony.

The awards will be given by the event’s patron, Her Royal Highness Crown Princess Victoria of Sweden… to students between the ages of 15 and 20 who developed research projects to solve major water challenges.

BILATERALS

And among the people with whom the President met today, was Mila Guli. You will remember her as the woman who completed 200 marathons in 1 year to raise awareness of water issues. She ran here in NY the day of the UN Water Conference.

The President wasn’t able to take part in a group run this morning in Stockholm, but they had a chance to speak today.

 

QUESTIONS

The Spokesperson was asked about the President’s reaction to Japan’s announcement that it will start releasing Fukushima released water into the sea. The Spokesperson said that this issue had come up when the President was on officials visits to China and Japan. The President had also met with IAEA during his official visit to Vienna. The President is not an expert on this field, but understands that this decision was based on scientific evidence. There is an IAEA press release available with more information.