«Addressing Water Challenges: Swiss Priorities for a Global Partnership»
Bern, 22.03.2013 - The Hague, 22.03.2013 - Statement by Federal Councillor Didier Burhalter on the occasion of the World Water Day - Check against delivery
Ladies and gentlemen,
The world we want is blue. Water is a vital source of life. It lies at the heart of human development. The purpose of our gathering here is to ensure that more people get access to clean water and that water is a source of peace rather than conflict. These are no easy tasks. There are many indications that water-related challenges are bound to increase. But I am convinced that we can cope with these challenges if we give them sufficient weight on the political agenda, invest in means to address them, and go forward in a spirit of cooperation and partnership.
This important conference takes place in the middle of a dynamic process, where we are defining our priorities beyond 2015. Together with Liberia, Jordan, and the Netherlands, Switzerland has been engaged in bringing water and security to the UN global agenda 2013 right from the start. I would like to thank the Government of the Netherlands for hosting and co-organizing today’s celebration. I am also grateful to those UN Agencies that led and coordinated the inputs for the present high level meeting on Water Cooperation and the Global Thematic Consultation on Water.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
There is a Millennium Development Goal stipulating that the proportion of the world population without access to safe drinking water and basic sanitation should be halved by 2015. We are glad that an important first part of this goal, which concerns wider access to drinking water, has been met. However, this is no cause to rest. Today around 1billion people still do not have access to water. And several factors suggest that water issues will become an ever more critical issue in the decades ahead.
First, global demand for freshwater is rapidly rising. The world’s population has tripled during the last century. Water demand has increased even six-fold. Given the current demographic trends, urbanisation dynamics, and changing human consumption patterns, there is no sign that the trend of growing demand is being reversed anytime soon.
Second, water supply is unlikely to keep up with demand. Climate change will cause growing water shortages in some regions, as well as an increase in weather extremes like floods and droughts. Estimates show that by 2030 half of the world’s population will be living in areas of high water stress, where demand exceeds supply by far. Regions of particular concern include sub-Saharan Africa, the Middle East, South Asia, and parts of Latin America and East Asia. Already today, many big cities in the world, such as Beijing and Lima, are obliged to build massive water diversion schemes over hundreds of kilometres. Many cities over-exploit their aquifers. For instance, Sanaa in Yemen is in danger of exhausting its water aquifer in about ten years.
There are also the unresolved problems of bad water management and bad water quality. In developing countries, 80% of waste water and solid waste go directly into the environment without treatment. Daily, two million tons of sewage and waste are discharged into the world’s aquatic systems. Waste water management is now a fundamental part of water management.
Water challenges such as shortages and poor quality can have multifold negative effects:
• They can have dramatic impacts on the quality of life of millions of individuals by exacerbating disease, hunger, and poverty.
• They can negatively affect regional and global food security.
• They can produce electricity gaps and hamper economic development, as many developing countries rely heavily on hydropower in their energy mix.
• But water challenges can also fuel social tensions and further weaken fragile states.
• And, they can exacerbate regional tensions, particularly if water-sharing arrangements are absent, inadequate, or insufficiently implemented.
The multitude of water challenges and the diverse nature of their effects suggest that water must be a priority issue both on the development agenda and on the international security agenda. To deal with water issues effectively will require the commitment of a broad range of actors – from developed, emerging, and developing countries.
Another major lesson to draw is that these challenges must be tackled with a comprehensive approach that includes development cooperation tools, research for technological innovation, as well as diplomacy tools such as mediation and confidence-building efforts. Good examples of a comprehensive approach are the Water Convention and the Water and Health Protocol of the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe. Based on a strong institutional framework, these instruments provide for both technical capacity building and confidence building among participating Parties.
Ladies and Gentlemen
How should we deal with water in the follow-up arrangement to the Millennium Development Goals? In the two previous meetings on the thematic consultation on water, hosted by the Netherlands and Switzerland in The Hague and Geneva respectively, there was large consensus on the importance of a strong water goal. The following was concluded:
• Since water is irreplaceable, there must be a central focus for poverty eradication and sustainable development;
• a more comprehensive water goal is needed. A Water Goal that goes beyond water and sanitation; it has to include the water resources in general;
• the future Water Goal has to meet different relevant dimensions, such as quality, affordability, accessibility, equality, sustainability, and reliability of access to water for all;
• water security – both in a national and transboundary context – has to be addressed as one of the highest priorities.
Switzerland welcomes and supports the global dialogue on the post-2015 development agenda, chaired by his Excellency the Secretary General. We fully share the principles defined at the meetings in The Hague and Geneva.
Switzerland supports a standalone Water Goal in the new agenda setting for post-2015. Such a goal must refer to a ‘water-secure World’. It should address three pillars, as indentified in the course of the consultations in The Hague and Geneva, namely:
• Safe and sustainable drinking water, sanitation, and hygiene for all;
• Water resources to be managed sustainably in order to satisfy human needs by respecting ecosystem requirements;
• All waste water to be managed based on the concept of reduction/omission, treatment and reuse/discharge.
I invite you to discuss the strategic framework for our future joint efforts on the basis of this formulation of a comprehensive Water Goal. And I encourage you to “think big” when working on such a water goal, keeping in mind that water is often not just a development issue but also a major security concern.
Ladies and Gentlemen
Switzerland is committed to act in order to achieve a world in which equitable water management fosters sustainable development across all regions.
We focus our efforts on four dimensions:
The first dimension concerns safe water supply and sanitation. Drinking water and efficient water use in agriculture ensure food security and public health. Switzerland is strongly committed to this issue. In 2012, Switzerland invested about 170 million US dollars per year in the water sector. This is twice as much compared to what we spent prior to 2011.
Drinking water and sanitation, water for food production, and watershed and wastewater management are core elements of our humanitarian aid interventions and our bilateral and global cooperation. The Andean Region is one good example where Switzerland seeks to advance these issues through a multitude of coordinated measures.
The second dimension is about enhancing skills, performance, and capacity. A concrete example in this regard is the Swiss engagement in water-related projects in the Tunisian governorate of Kasserine, which contains improved access in rural areas, capacity building and strengthening of municipal water utility governance. We are generally supporting innovative partnership models to transfer knowledge and expertise.
The third dimension covers the aspect of human rights. Switzerland supports the implementation of the United Nations General Assembly Resolution 64/292, which recognizes the right to safe and clean drinking-water and sanitation as a human right.
We cooperate closely with the special procedure mechanism of the UN Human Rights Council, and I would like to commend the excellent work of its Special Rapporteur on the human right to safe drinking water and sanitation.
Last but not least, our fourth dimension encompasses the link between water and security, in what we call Blue Diplomacy: We have become particularly active in the development of new mechanisms for water policy negotiation and coordination, to promote water diplomacy in Africa, Asia, and Latin America. For instance, we support the strengthening of good governance and management mechanisms in ten transboundary river basins worldwide. It includes the wider Middle East and even Syria.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
Caring about water today is the best and cheapest way of guaranteeing clean water for future generations. Water needs special attention in the 21st century. It must be given a central place within the future sustainable development framework.
Thank you for your shared and determined commitment to a strong Water Goal in the upcoming post-2015 political processes.
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