At World Water Forum, Deputy Secretary-General Calls for ‘New Global, Practical Vision for Water Management’

Following are Deputy Secretary-General Jan Eliasson’s remarks at the opening of the Seventh World Water Forum in Daegu, Republic of Korea, 12 April:

Thank you for inviting me to the world-renowned World Water Forum.  I bring you warm greetings and best wishes for the Forum from Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon.  I also want to thank President Park Geun-hye of the Republic of Korea and the city of Daegu for hosting this conference and for your dedication to finding solutions to global water challenges, and by that, to sustainable development.

On my flight over the Pacific Ocean to Asia, I had plenty of time to think about water and what water means to our lives and to our civilization.  Water is a precious, but a finite and growingly scarce resource.  Only 2.5 per cent of the water on the planet is fresh water.  Seventy per cent of freshwater is locked up in icecaps and snow-fields.  Worldwide, water demand is projected to grow by over 40 per cent by 2050.  

The global population at that time is estimated to be around 9 billion.  This means 9 billion people who are to share a finite resource.  As water becomes more scarce, we see a growing risk of shortages, disputes between communities and even increased tensions among nations.  It is interesting that the word “rival” literally means “someone sharing another’s stream”.  When it comes to water, we are all “rivals” in that sense of the word.

What is also interesting is that history tells us that water more often has been a cause for cooperation than for conflict.  Different forms of water diplomacy, “hydro-diplomacy”, as I would call it, are today at work across the world, where as many as 148 countries share rivers or lake basins.

But, regretfully, water continues to be a source of conflict in many places around the world.  When I served as Special Envoy in the Darfur crisis, I experienced first-hand how water was used as a weapon in the conflict.  And as we speak, ISIS [Islamic State in Iraq and Sham] in Iraq is exploiting water access to control territory and dominate people.  This extremist movement has brutally cut off water to some villages and flooded others in order to hurt or chase away the civilian population.

This leads me to stress the need and urgency to make water a basis for cooperation and a source of positive interdependence.  In this regard, I very much welcome the idea presented by President Park Geun-hye in her opening remarks at this Forum on possible cooperation on waterways between South and North Korea. 

Water use has been one area where limited cooperation has been possible between Israelis, Jordanians and Palestinians.  Still, a more equitable distribution of water between Palestinians and Israelis on the occupied West Bank could be an important confidence-building measure in the troubled situation today.  And the water crisis in Gaza exacerbates an already desperate situation.  There is an urgent need to accelerate infrastructure projects, including a desalination plant, to help address the chronic water shortages in the area. 

Instead of seeing scarce water as a reason for competition or conflict, we have to treat it as a challenge to collaborate, a challenge to engage in innovative hydro-diplomacy.  In today’s world, we must be more aware of the risks of water conflict.

FAO [Food and Agriculture Organization] projects that by 2025 1.8 billion people will be living in countries or regions with absolute water scarcity.  And about two thirds of the world population could then be living under conditions of water stress.  Let us admit that our water resources are distributed unequally, allocated inequitably and used excessively.

Most of the water we use can be traced to the food we consume.  From farm to table, a kilogram of wheat requires 1,500 litres of water; a kilo of beef 15,000 litres.  Agriculture already accounts for 70 per cent of all the water we use.  The water that agriculture uses is usually not available for hydro-energy, for industry, or for drinking and sanitation.

All this means that we are now starkly facing the challenge of sharing and saving finite resources.  Different effects of climate change are today contributing to even more water scarcity and greater security risks.  I think of the growing number of serious droughts but also of vehement floods.  “Too much water — but not a drop to drink,” is a common phenomenon these days.

If water is a finite resource, what kind of action can we then take?  The answer lies in better management — using the water resources more equitably, and more innovatively.  And that is — dare I say — where your vital role here at the Forum comes in.

This World Water Forum is taking place at a crucial time, a time when the United Nations Member States are elaborating a post-2015 sustainable development agenda.  Member States have proposed 17 sustainable development goals.  One of them is to ensure the “availability and sustainable management of water and sanitation for all”.  This goal addresses water challenges in an integrated and holistic manner.  It involves three dimensions of sustainable development:  the economic, by stressing affordability; the social, by a focus on equitable access; and the environmental, by aiming to protect ecosystems.

This universal water goal gives us a framework to address water and sanitation in all parts of the water cycle.  It also makes linkages to other sectors, such as gender, health, energy and food sectors, which are cross-cutting and interrelated.

Thanks to the global mobilization behind the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), 2 billion people have benefitted from access to improved water sources.  Still, 748 million people around the world lack access to safe drinking water.  Roughly 80 per cent of global water resources are discharged untreated into oceans, rivers and lakes.  2.5 billion people do not have proper sanitation.  Over 1 billion people in 22 countries defecate in the open.  Every day, nearly 1,000 children under the age of five die due to a lack of safe water, sanitation and basic hygiene. 

This is why I, in March 2013, launched a Call to Action on Sanitation on behalf of the UN Secretary-General.  And I am glad to say: the world is responding!  At the Sanitation and Water for All Meeting in 2014, Ministers from 18 countries set the goal to end open defecation by 2030.  And 39 Governments committed to increase financing for sanitation and water supply.

There is a cost to action, yes.  But the cost of inaction is even greater.  Research shows that each dollar invested in eliminating open defecation will bring a $6 gain in benefits by keeping people healthy and productive.  And each dollar invested in access to safe drinking water will have a four-fold return.   

It is gratifying that this Forum brings together Governments and international organizations, the private sector, civil society and academia, unified by one overriding concern:  to take action on the global water crisis.  No one can do this alone.  As we enter the post-MDG period, we need effective partnerships for action.  The partnerships at this Forum provide crucial means of implementation for the post-2015 development agenda.

In particular, science and technology will be key to finding solutions which are sustainable, affordable and provide jobs for our youth — a prerequisite for meaningful life and for our future well-being.  And you can all play a vital role in mobilizing financial support and spreading knowledge, as well as bringing the key actors together.  The United Nations system is ready to continue to provide support, from policy guidance to technical advice and on-the-ground action.

There is a Chinese proverb:  “When you drink from the stream, remember the spring.”  Let us demonstrate respect for our most precious and basic resource — water.  We cannot continue to exploit, destroy and contaminate.  It is high time for us all to make peace with nature.  I urge you to use this meeting to help shape a new global practical vision for water management.  This is imperative if we are to build a world of dignity for all.  I thank you for your attention and for your work and wish you a World Water Forum that makes a difference for millions and millions of people in need around the world.