“Switzerland seeks to empower youth to build bridges and advance water cooperation”
Bern, 14.03.2016 - Burier, 14.03.2016 - Statement by Federal Councillor Didier Burkhalter at the 13th session of the European Youth Parliament for Water - Check against delivery
Ladies and gentlemen,
Dear friends
It is my great pleasure to welcome you, Young Parliamentarians, to Switzerland. You have come here from all over Europe to debate common solutions to our common water-related risks. In doing so, you are crossing boundaries – linguistic, political and cultural boundaries. You are real bridge-builders.
I am delighted that you are meeting in Switzerland this year, and I commend the International Secretariat for Water and everyone involved here in Burier for making this possible. I am sure you will find that Switzerland is an inspiring venue for bridge-builders. This holds true above all for this beautiful Lake Geneva region.
Near-by cities like Lausanne and Montreux have hosted important negotiations, for example those concerning the Iranian nuclear programme. And there is of course International Geneva, which stands for Switzerland’s commitment to advance international cooperation and dialogue. As host state, Switzerland supports substantially the United Nations in Geneva – one of the most active centres for multilateral diplomacy in the world. We do this, inter alia, by placing our expertise at the disposal of the United Nations. To give you just one example, several Swiss experts are involved in the UN efforts to advance the Intra-Syrian Talks that are currently resuming in Geneva.
And there is not only the UN. There are dozens of other international organisations and hundreds of NGOs based in Geneva and its vicinity. Taken together, these organisations and institutions form a unique, creative, and motivating environment to advance peace and development in all their dimensions.
Incidentally, this region also stands for an exemplary transboundary cooperation mechanism concerning water. For more than four decades, the ‘Commission Internationale pour la Protection des Eaux du Léman’ has contributed to the peaceful coordination of water policies between Switzerland and France concerning Lake Geneva, le Léman in French.
So, as you can see, as bridge-builders working on water issues, you are really meeting on home turf here.
The European Youth Parliament for Water combines two issues that are of great importance to Swiss foreign policy: youth and water cooperation. Switzerland is committed to promoting both issues, and we are making efforts to strengthen the link between the two and provide for a greater role of youth in water issues.
Let me start with the issue of youth. A core task of politics is to create good prospects for young people and for future generations. This has been my firm conviction ever since I entered politics more than 30 years ago. To fulfil this task, we as politicians must take measures to better understand the hopes and expectations of young people. We must give young people a voice and a stake in politics as well as opportunities to assume responsibilities.
Let me give you an example: As chair of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) two years ago, Switzerland set up the “Youth for Security and Cooperation in Europe” project. We invited 57 young people from all OSCE participating States to come together and negotiate a Model OSCE Youth Action Plan. The Action Plan identifies challenges that according to our ‘Youth Ambassadors’ need to be addressed, and contains recommendations directed to the OSCE and its participating States.
I have brought some copies of this Youth Action Plan with me today. You will see that it also contains a clause on the issue of water. The current German Chairmanship of the OSCE appointed three of our Youth Ambassadors as Special Representatives on Youth and Security this year so that efforts to promote youth issues in the OSCE can continue.
As for you, Young Parliamentarians, you have all volunteered to sit as a parliament this week. I commend you for this commitment. A parliament is a practical school of citizenship and political culture. Through your experiences you enrich the debate. Through your beliefs and values you assume a major responsibility for the future. This responsibility is at the very heart of politics.
We all have a responsibility towards our society, our country, our planet. And we all need to work together if we are to meet today’s challenges and spread the benefits of peace, prosperity and security. We rely on young people, on people like you, to build tomorrow’s world, a world that is increasingly yours. We rely on your creativity, your energy, and your zeal for dialogue and cooperative solutions.
In this regard, I wish to seize the opportunity to thank Bastian Baker for participating in the Democracy Without Borders initiative of the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation. We appreciate your commitment, Bastian. I am sure that your presentation about how you have promoted issues like involving women and young people in Switzerland’s water cooperation with Egypt has given an extra boost of motivation to our Young Parliamentarians to take action themselves.
I am particularly pleased that this Youth Parliament addresses the issue of water. Water is an indispensable resource for public health, food security, energy, and ecosystems. It is at the core of sustainable development. It is a priority issue in Switzerland’s foreign policy.
This vital resource is facing unprecedented challenges. While the world population grew fourfold in the 20th century, freshwater withdrawals grew nine times. According to the latest World Water Development Report by the UN, global water demand is projected to increase by another 55% by 2050. The world is projected to face a 40% global water deficit if current trends continue.
Climate change is adding to the water supply challenge by increasing the frequency and intensity of extreme weather events. Moreover, water resources are being threatened by pollution. Millions of tonnes of waste water are discharged every day directly into the environment completely untreated. This is impacting not only on people’s health. It is it also causing major environmental degradation and economic loss.
Within the framework of its development cooperation, Switzerland is committed to finding solutions to the water crisis and to improving the lives of people for whom access to safe water remains a daily challenge. Last year we spent more than 100 million Swiss Francs to help people have a reliable supply of drinking water and adequate provision of sanitation facilities.
We also worked hard to ensure that access to water and sanitation for all is listed as a stand-alone goal in the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development that was approved last September in New York. This Agenda for Sustainable Development provides a strategic framework for all international cooperation activities in the coming 15 years. The fact that it contains a plan of action concerning water issues will help us advance in our efforts to effectively deal with global water challenges.
But water is not just a development issue. It is also a security issue.
Water can be a source of tension and instability; it can be related to major security risks. Competition over water can cause or fuel conflicts. Poor governance exacerbates the risk of water-related conflicts. But water can also be a powerful instrument of cooperation. It can be a vehicle to promote trust. It is this notion of water as a driver for peace and security that is very much at the heart of Swiss diplomacy. This is really a big issue, and I was pleased to learn that this Parliament will address the theme of ‘Water and Peace’ in its next session in 2017.
Last year, the Swiss foreign ministry developed a set of Lines of Action on Water and Security that provide for a comprehensive approach to addressing the nexus of water, peace and security. Again, I have brought some copies of these Lines of Action.
One of our main activities under these principles is Switzerland’s engagement in ‘Blue Diplomacy’. We have become particularly active in the development of new mechanisms to negotiate and coordinate water policy to improve the management of surface- 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.
Another key activity concerns the High-level Panel on Water and Peace that Switzerland, together with 14 other countries, launched in Geneva last November. This independent panel of high-level officials and experts is tasked with putting forward concrete recommendations to make water an instrument of peace. It will formulate proposals regarding the instruments and architecture to be put in place to prevent and reduce water-related conflicts.
Dear Young Parliamentarians,
During your week in Switzerland, you will be focusing on the risk of water-related disasters. This is an area Switzerland has traditionally paid much attention to. Disaster risk reduction has a direct positive impact on people’s lives. I encourage you to try and benefit as much as possible from the expertise provided to you this week and then to spread your knowledge further.
After this week of exchange and work, you will both propose a joint declaration to be relayed to the Council of Europe and commit yourself to further action in the coming months. I consider this commitment to follow-up action between the sessions to be one of the most interesting aspects of this Youth Parliament. It is here that you can have a lasting impact.
When I was briefed about your activities, I was impressed by the broad spectrum of actions you are committing to, ranging from field operations to awareness dealings with your peers. Thus, in the last five years, the host Young Parliamentarians from Burier have invested in a water supply project in Niger, in the production of awareness video clips that are being presented to us this morning, and in the creation of educational materials on water governance. The quality of this work was recognised by UNESCO as part of the UN Decade of Education for Sustainable Development. I can only encourage you to continue with your remarkable work.
Switzerland has decided to further support the European Youth Parliament for Water through enabling follow-up actions by you as delegates. For the next two years, the Swiss foreign ministry will provide eight to ten annual grants of 2,500 Swiss Francs to assist you as Young Parliamentarians in implementing your water projects. We do this in accordance with our objective of empowering youth to engage in water issues.
Our scholarships are offered for projects that are jointly conducted by two or more delegations. We seek to encourage cooperative solutions to water challenges and longer-term cooperation by you as young bridge-builders.
I wish you fruitful and constructive discussions and productive results. And I look forward to learning about the advancements of your laudable enterprise.
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