At the opening of the Panel on Water and Peace, Federal Councillor Didier Burkhalter asked those present to observe a minute of silence in memory of the victims of the attacks in Paris, Beirut, Baghdad, the Sinai and other regions of the world.

Distinguished ministers
Dear panellists
Ladies and gentlemen
Dear friends

It is my great pleasure to welcome you to the official launch of the Global High Level Panel on Water and Peace.

We started this ceremony with a captivating piece of music. I have been told that Mich Gerber is not only a musician and composer, but also a ferryman on the Aare river that runs through Bern. He creates – and he also carries people across the river. This really makes him a fitting symbol of our initiative. The panel we are launching should both create and convey: it will hopefully come up with stimulating recommendations, but it will also ferry ideas and act as a go-between.

Why is Switzerland launching this panel?

Two reasons: Given the multitude of crises and conflicts in our multipolar world, Switzerland is stepping up its efforts to advance peace and security. And within this overall effort, we attach strategic importance to the issue of water.

Water can be a source of tension and instability; it can be related to major security risks. But water can also be a powerful instrument of cooperation. It is this notion of water as a driver for development, peace and security that is very much at the heart of Swiss diplomacy – and of this Panel.

Water is an indispensable resource for public health, food security, energy, and ecosystems. It is at the core of sustainable development.

Today, this vital resource is facing unprecedented challenges. While the world population grew fourfold in the 20th century, freshwater withdrawals grew nine times. According to this year’s World Water Development Report by the UN, global water demand is projected to increase by another 55% by 2030. The world is projected to face a 40% global water deficit if the current trends continue.

Climate change adds to the water supply challenge by increasing the frequency and intensity of extreme weather events. Moreover, water resources are threatened by pollution. Millions of tons of sewage and sensitive waste are discharged every day directly into the world’s aquatic ecosystems.

But water is not just a development issue. It is also a security issue. Competition over water can cause or fuel conflicts. Bad governance exacerbates the risk of water-related conflicts, as it impacts on variations in the distribution and availability of water resources.

Conflicts over water have already occurred in different parts of the world. Water has even been used as a weapon of war, most notably in the conflict in Syria and Iraq. In Syria, half of the production capacity of the country’s water infrastructure has been lost as a result of war damage.

The ICRC has documented numerous cases where water supplies for major cities such as Damascus and Aleppo have been cut deliberately by warring parties. In Iraq, violent extremist organisations have taken control of dams and other water resources and threatened to cut supply or release excess supply to flood the downstream areas. Such methods of warfare are a blatant violation of international humanitarian law.

Ladies and gentlemen

The challenges and risks associated with water are indisputable. Water security is one of the major challenges that we and future generations are going to have to contend with. That is why it is so important that we work to transform water from a source of crisis into an instrument for peace.

The potential for cooperation is evident. Let me illustrate this again with an example from the Syrian war – a context where we are seeing much of the worst of what humans are capable. In a watershed a few hundred kilometres from Damascus, a huge irrigation scheme is occupied by opposing factions. There is fighting along various unstable front lines all over the irrigation fields. Remarkably, we have watched opponents who are fighting during the day sit together and negotiate a fair quota of water in the evening.

This is of course no model for how we envisage water cooperation. But the Syria example indicates that cooperative water solutions can be found even in the most difficult situations.

Many other examples have demonstrated the power of water as an instrument of peace. One is the Senegal River Basin Organisation. This is an acclaimed example of good practice in transboundary water cooperation linking four West African countries: Senegal, Mauritania, Mali and Guinea. In the 1980s it was the only functioning channel of communication between two of its member countries when they were at war. The Senegal River Basin Organisation controls all water infrastructure in the four countries, which is really quite a remarkable model.

Ladies and gentlemen

It is this belief in the power of water cooperation that has guided Switzerland throughout the four decades of our engagement in the field of water. It is the same belief that has prompted us to develop lines of action on water and security this year. These lines of action guide the work of the Swiss foreign ministry in this field. They are also meant to inspire others to work on water and security, which is why we published them.

Our lines of action make the case for a comprehensive approach when addressing the nexus of water and security. Rendering water an effective source of cooperation and security requires a broad range of tools, from development cooperation and humanitarian aid instruments to peace promotion and international law.

The lines of action also map the bilateral and regional avenues for our work on water and security, and they outline how we work in multilateral processes and with the private sector to achieve the best possible results.

One of our main activities under these lines of action is Switzerland’s engagement in ‘blue diplomacy’. We have become particularly active in the development of new mechanisms to negotiate and coordinate water policy that can promote diplomacy regarding surface water and groundwater in Africa, Asia, and Latin America. Switzerland is supporting efforts to strengthen good governance and management mechanisms in seventeen transboundary river basins worldwide.

Ladies and gentlemen

Convening the high level panel that we are launching today is another milestone in Switzerland’s engagement for water and peace.

The task of this Panel will be to develop a set of proposals aimed at strengthening the global architecture to prevent and resolve water-related conflicts and to facilitate the use of water for building peace.

There are many facets to this issue. Among the Panel’s tasks, we propose that it:

- identify economic and financial mechanisms to incentivise multi-sectoral and transboundary water cooperation;
- examine how to prevent and cope with water-related conflicts – possibly exploring potential mechanisms to promote hydro-diplomacy;
- promote effective implementation of the global water conventions;
- and promote tangible best practices in water cooperation at basin level.

While independent, the Panel will work closely with the United Nations. We are very happy that UN-Water has agreed to become an observer. UN-Water will play a central part in relaying knowledge to the Panel and helping shape its recommendations.

The Panel will also build on the experience of the wealth of actors here in International Geneva who are working on water-related issues. Let us make full use of Geneva as an international hub for water diplomacy.

In developing the concept of Blue Peace, Switzerland has worked closely with the Strategic Foresight Group, an international think tank based in India. In our journey ahead, I would encourage the Panel to continue to engage with a broad range of actors, including government, the private sector, civil society, international financial institutions, and academia. This really should become a common enterprise.

The Panel’s mandate will last two years. Towards the end of 2016, Switzerland together with the co-convening countries will disseminate the Panel’s preliminary findings. In 2017, at the end of the Panel’s work, Switzerland and the co-convening countries will disseminate the final recommendations of the Panel.

Let me express my deep gratitude to the distinguished panellists for agreeing to take part in this initiative – to join us in this common enterprise. Thank you for your dedication. I would especially like to thank Dr Danilo Türk, Former President of the Republic of Slovenia, who agreed to chair the Panel, a decision endorsed by the Panel at its first session yesterday.

When I look at the list of panellists, two words come to mind: excellence and diversity. Co-convening countries nominated fifteen prominent figures. There is a strong geographical mix, with panellists from all regions of the world. And there is a good balance between political experience and high-level academic knowledge around the issue of water and security.

We have panellists with backgrounds in government, in international organisations, in academia and in the private sector. Together they combine outstanding experience and expertise in politics and strategic and geopolitical issues related to water, as well as in hydraulics, water and sanitation, energy and the environment, and the management of land, coastal and natural resources.

I consider it essential that the work of this Panel and its ideas and recommendations have close connections at the political level. This is the ‘ferryman’ role of the Panel.

Switzerland is committed to facilitating this kind of interaction and organising the relevant consultations and debates in the margin of fora such as the UN General Assembly and the World Economic Forum. I also encourage governments of co-convening countries to support the Panel in this way. And I invite other countries to join our common endeavour and participate in our Group of Friends. I personally am ready and very motivated to support the Panel, advocate for its work, open doors, and spread its ideas. You can count on me, dear panellists, just as I count on you!

Ladies and gentlemen

Mich Gerber will begin to compose a “Water for Peace Symphony” today. This artwork will be co-created step by step by different musicians from around the world in parallel to the work done by the Global High-Level Panel on Water and Peace. The symphony will be completed to coincide with the presentation of the Panel’s results. It is intended to become a powerful symbol for our common efforts to make water a source of cooperation and peace.

Let me finish by thanking you all for joining us today. Thank you to the panellists, their supporters and their enablers. Thank you to the creators and to the ferrymen. I look forward to the advancement of our common enterprise.

“Creators, ferrymen and a symphony: Promoting water as a source of peace”