Your Imperial and Royal Highnesses, Excellencies, Ministers, colleagues and participants in the third World Water Forum&..
I should like to compliment the organisers of this Forum on making Kyoto the water capital of the world for the next week. But the discussions will not be confined to Kyoto. Many events are also taking place in Shiga and Osaka prefectures, which share the water resources of Lake Biwa and the Yodo river basin.
The reason for choosing Kyoto becomes even clearer when we look at the history of this beautiful city. We now know that access to groundwater was the key factor in the decision to found a city here. The positions of some key buildings in Heankyo, the old capital city, are directly linked to the main access points to the groundwater reservoir.
Is it not ironic that geologists recently found a huge natural groundwater reservoir right under the city? With a capacity estimated at over 21 billion cubic meters, this reservoir is almost as large as Lake Biwa itself!
Ever since the Netherlands began preparing for the second World Water Forum, I have closely followed the growing world water movement. At the Forum in The Hague it was inspiring to hear participants discuss how they think we should be managing water in the year 2025. Managing it to meet the social and economic needs of the growing world population, while sustaining the ecosystems that supply us with all our needs, including water.
At the second World Water Forum I undertook to be an ambassador for the world water movement.
I agreed to support the UN Secretary-General in his preparations for the World Summit on Sustainable Development in Johannesburg. In this connection I prepared a paper with the title "No Water No Future".
On the way to Johannesburg many activities took place connected with organising water policy. And many new initiatives were launched. That made it possible to put water high on the agenda of the Johannesburg summit.
The water sector really came together in Johannesburg, at the WaterDome, which had been organised so well by our friends of the Africa Water Task Force.
One of the main goals the organisers of the third World Water Forum have in mind is: to translate visions into concrete actions.
The intention was to organise a forum that will not simply be a platform for presenting technical papers, defining theoretical concepts and discussing research design. Instead, experts have been invited to share their experience of proven actions and best practice. This will be supported by sound research, science and theory, all of which have facilitated sustainable solutions to water problems.
I am impressed by the agenda. And the informative meetings I have attended have convinced me that the organisers have been successful in creating a forum where an exchange of practical information and experience can take place.
Of course there must also be room for 'new subjects'. Many actions were launched as a result of the second WWF. I would like to mention a few, like the dialogues on water and climate and the dialogues on water, food and environment.
Managing water wisely is not only a question of new institutions or new organisations to govern distribution or maintain the infrastructure. It is also a matter of bearing in mind the relationship between water and climate. According to scientific reports our climate is changing. The conclusions are not very encouraging. The earth's temperature is rising, arid areas are becoming more arid and the so-called 'wet countries' are becoming wetter.
The Dialogue on Water and Climate is bringing climate and water scientists together with water managers and other stakeholders to learn how to better manage today's climate variability.
The Dialogue on Water, Food and Environment works with stakeholders at the local level to determine how we can bridge the gaps in understanding between agriculturalists and environmentalists about water.
The debate on access to water often focuses only on domestic water use. The two Millennium Development Goals on water, for example, focus on access to drinking water and sanitation. But for many poor people, access to water for productive purposes is a basic need as well. It is a key factor in agriculture and other forms of economic activity vital to the livelihoods and opportunities of the poor. We also often forget that to sustain environmental quality and biodiversity we must leave twenty to fifty percent of natural river flows intact. I trust that the Millennium project's Water Task Force will indeed embrace this holistic approach to water resources management.
Water values that are widely shared across sectors and stakeholders in society are a first step towards broad support for investment decisions in water resources management and development. I am convinced that achieving shared water values in society has a direct and positive impact on the availability of investment funds for water projects.
This is supported by the recent report of the Panel on Financing Water Infrastructure, chaired by Michel Camdessus, former Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund. The report showed that lending and investments of all kinds have been falling since 1997 and the prospects of a reversal are currently poor. Investments will increase substantially only if measures are taken to reduce the risks involved. So more needs to be done to demonstrate the effectiveness of investments in the water sector in achieving development goals. Only then can we realistically expect the water share of ODA and non-ODA to go up.
National and international development plans and budgets must recognise that water resources management and development are critical to achieving all of the world's development goals. The Camdessus Panel has made a number of concrete recommendations on how the flow of financial resources can be improved when the demand is expressed. I can recommend them.
On a global scale, there is enough water to provide 'water security' for all, but only if we change the way we manage and develop it. In this International Year of Freshwater we should appreciate the efforts of water managers to resolve the world water crisis. At the same time, however, we must recognise that their efforts need to be redoubled and accelerated. This is the conclusion of World Water Actions, the report prepared by the World Water Council for this Forum.
You may have noticed that we held the second Forum during the International Year of the Oceans, focusing on saline water. This time the United Nations was kind enough to make 2003, the year of the third Forum, the International Year of Freshwater. I think we should ask that 2006, the year of the 4th Forum, be declared the International Year of Wetlands - with a focus on brackish water!
We call upon the ministers and senior officials in Kyoto to listen carefully and to take action. I know this is not a formal UN meeting, but the charm of this more informal process is that it allows us to be innovative and creative.
In The Hague our motto was "From Vision to Action" and we agreed to make water everybody's business. In Johannesburg many water-related commitments were made right under the roof of the WaterDome. Here, in Kyoto, I am fully confident we will be sharply focused on action at all levels. I wish you all a very, very successful third World Water Forum. Let this one be a giant step on the road towards water security!
Thank you.