Et ekspertpanel har netop offentliggjort en erklæring, som opfordrer til, at vi håndterer klodens vand på en fundamental anderledes måde.
Making Every Drop Count: A New Agenda for Water Action, lyder titlen på rapporten, og den handler om, hvordan vi realiserer FN’s verdensmål nummer 6 om vand.
Panelet mener, at en fordobling af investeringer i infrastruktur for vand er nødvendig. Derudover opfordrer den til politik på området, som bygger på evidens samt innovative tilgange, der kan gøre investeringer i vand og sanitet attraktivt.
Der er ligeledes anbefalinger til nye partnerskaber og samarbejder, der inddrager sektorer som eksempelvis landbruget og nye aktører som borgmestre.
I et åbent brev skriver paneldetagerne:
“Whoever you are, whatever you do, wherever you live, we urge you get involved, and contribute to meeting this great challenge: safe water and sanitation for all, and our water resources managed sustainably. Make every drop count. It’s time for action.”
Vandkrise med mange dimensioner
Rapporten konkluderer, at den globale vandkrise har mange dimensioner. I dag er 40% af verdens befolkning påvirket af vandknaphed. 700 millioner mennesker i verden er i risiko for at blive fordrevet fra deres hjemstavn af mangel på vand i 2030.
Mere end 2 milliarder beboere på kloden er tvunget til at drikke vand med sundhedsrisiko, mens 4,5 milliarder ikke har adgang til ordentlig sanitet.
Piger og kvinder lider mest, når der er mangel på vand og sanitet, hvilket påvirker helbredet og er en hindring for uddannelse og karriere.
80% af verdens spildevand ryger direkte ud i naturen og katastrofer med relation til vand har stået for 90% af de mest ødelæggende naturkatastrofer siden 1990.
11 statsoverhoveder og en særlig rådgiver
Panelet har fået et mandat på 2 år til at finde løsninger på den globale vandkrise, og det er det arbejde, der nu er fuldbyrdet. Det består af 11 statsoverhover og en FN-ekspert.
Her er en liste over medlemmerne og efterfølgende deres udtalelser i forbindelse med offentliggørelsen af rapporten:
Mauritius (Co-Chair) – President, H.E. Mrs. Ameenah Gurib-Fakim
Mexico (Co-Chair) – President, H.E. Mr. Enrique Peña Nieto
Australia – Prime Minister, H.E. Mr. Malcolm Turnbull
Bangladesh – Prime Minister, H.E. Mrs. Sheikh Hasina
Hungary – President, H.E. Mr. János Áder
Jordan – Prime Minister and Minister of Defense, H.E. Dr. Hani Al-Mulki
Netherlands – Prime Minister, H.E. Mr. Mark Rutte
Peru – President, H.E. Pedro Pablo Kuczynski Godard
South Africa – President, H. E. Mr. Jacob Zuma*
Senegal – President, H.E. Mr. Macky Sall
Tajikistan – President, H.E. Mr. Emomali Rahmon
Special Advisor Former Prime Minister of the Republic of Korea, Dr. Han Seung-soo
Mauritius (Co-Chair):
President, H.E. Mrs. Ameenah Gurib-Fakim
“Access to clean water and sanitation must the goal of every responsible leader in an effort to leave no one behind. Let us act in solidarity to ensure the wise and sustainable management of this precious resource”.
Mexico (Co-Chair):
President, H.E. Mr. Enrique Peña Nieto
For Mexico, the High Level Panel on Water represents a historical and unprecedented
opportunity to promote the recognition of water as an essential transversal element and the basis for the development and welfare of all our Nations. This multilateral initiative stands for the commitment of worldwide leaders to foster existing efforts and generate new dynamics, promoting the water and sanitation’s SDG within the 2030 agenda.”
Australia:
Prime Minister, H.E. Mr. Malcolm Turnbull
“To achieve the global goal of all people having access to safe water and sanitation by 2030 – just 12 years from now – requires leadership at all levels. Australia will continue to share internationally our experience of managing water scarcity and support poorer communities in our region to access safe water and sanitation, with a focus on women and girls.”
Bangladesh:
Prime Minister, H.E. Mrs. Sheikh Hasina
“Access to safe water improves the quality of our life and more positive behavior brings immense opportunity with this finite resource. I urge the leaders around the globe to count our call for urgent actions to understand, value, manage, and invest the best in water for the posterity to whom we owe our present.”
Hungary:
President, H.E. Mr. János Áder
“Today the world faces an approaching global water crisis, which it has yet to take seriously – despite daily warning signs generated by an ever growing number of local water supply problems. We are sleepwalking towards the point at which local and regional water crises trigger a chain reaction which could have incalculable consequences for our societies and economies. The bad news is that we have ever less time to take action. The good news is that there are solutions. The outcome document of the HLPW seeks to assist in this. Let us take action before it is too late – and let us thereby make it possible for us to look our children and grandchildren in the eye.”
Jordan
Prime Minister and Minister of Defense, H.E. Mr. Hani Al-Mulki
“Water scarcity is a critical issue that must be addressed at the international level. And we need to work together on national and regional plans to coordinate financial support and initiatives to address drought, displaced people’s impact on water security and resilience. Setting up local and large-scale projects to realize the human right to water is vital in a region suffering from instability and political conflicts. Much more emphasis is needed on the value of water and its contribution to socio-economic development and sustainability.”
Netherlands
Prime Minister, H.E. Mr. Mark Rutte
“We must work to tackle global water crises now. There is no other option. The innovative solutions of today’s creative minds can safeguard the future of generations to come.
The UN High Level Panel on Water initiated the Valuing Water Leadership Coalition, to bring together global experience and leadership from the public and private sectors to change the way the world values water. Join us, and together let us build a global coalition for a water-secure world.”
Peru
President, H.E. Mr. Pedro Pablo Kuczynski Godard
“Billions of people still do not have clean running water and sewerage in their homes. This is a huge challenge for human health and arguably the greatest development challenge for the next decade. Climate change and global warming are making the water challenge much more complex: desertification, melting glaciers, floods and unpredictable weather. That is why we must fight for a sustainable environment. In order to implement the sustainable development goal N° 6 on clean water and sanitation, we need worldwide cooperation and partnerships. It is a very urgent task.”
South Africa
President, H. E. Mr. Cyril Ramaphosa
“We have a single opportunity, to change the narrative on water, by acting timeously in pursuit of a more promising future, in a better world, which should never face the scenario of the last single drop of water, in our lifetime and for generations to come.”
Senegal
President, H.E. Mr. Macky Sall
“With regard to the rather average performances recorded by Africa within the framework of the Millennium Development Goals, our biggest challenge today will consist in accelerating access to safely managed water, hygiene and sanitation services towards the 2030 targets. Therefore, as we are actually doing in Senegal and consistently with the call for action of the HLPW, our states have to pay more attention to allocating more financial resources to the WASH sector accordingly to its high potential impact to promote good health and eradicate poverty. We also need to better anchor our regional and national strategies in promoting IWRM to strengthen hydro-diplomacy and resilience.”
Tajikistan
President, H.E. Mr. Emomali Rahmon
“For the past two decades, Tajikistan has been implementing many initiatives to
advance water issues in the Global Development Agenda and advocating for the further
acceleration of actions in this field. In our view, the initiatives and recommendations of
the High-Level Panel on Water and International Decade for Action “Water for
Sustainable Development”, 2018-2028 provide solid basis in this regard. Therefore, we
call upon all stakeholders to join collective efforts in this direction.”
Special Advisor
Former Prime Minister of the Republic of Korea, Dr. Han Seung-soo
“Water-related disasters wipe out hundreds of thousands of lives and the years of nation’s development efforts in a few hours or even minutes. International community has to work together to prevent the recurrence of these tragedies by working closely to enhance preparedness and resilience.”
