Excellencies, Ladies and Gentlemen,
It gives me great pleasure to address you today on the theme of connecting people and goals, for no issue is more important, more central to our concerns during this International Year of Freshwater. So much has been achieved in recent years on raising awareness on the importance of water for poor people. The different organisations and agencies of the United Nations have played a prominent role in this process. The Millennium Declaration made poverty reduction the priority for the global community and defined clear targets that we must all work together on to achieve. The goal on drinking water, along with that for sanitation agreed in Johannesburg last year, define an agenda for us all. Helping the billions of poor people without sanitation is a real challenge, as we cannot carry on as we have been doing and hope to reach it. A special effort is needed on sanitation, for there is little prospect of achieving this goal if we carry on as we are.
Water management will also play a critical part in achieving the other goals, on health, the environment, education and gender equality and others. Case studies presented at the world water forum in Kyoto told of how better water supplies allowed young girls to go to school, and in some rural areas meant that teachers were willing to work in remote communities where before there had been no teacher. Connecting people to water will help connect people to all of these goals.
One goal that I have a particular interest in is that for reducing hunger. Malnourishment is the lot of hundreds of millions. The world has been incredibly successful in feeding its growing populations over the last 40 years, with new crops and agricultural technologies playing no small part in this. But we are reaching the limits of the green revolution: the most suitable land and the best sources of irrigation are already covered in many parts of the world. We need a new agricultural revolution, with new seeds and crops that need far less water to grow successfully. This will be a key to meeting the goal on hunger. We must act to improve water efficiency in agriculture, to find solutions for rain fed areas that irrigation cannot reach, to find crops that are more tolerant of unreliable rainfall, to improve the food security and livelihoods of the poorest of the poor.
We should also look to the coasts and oceans. This is the year of freshwater, but in this year we should also think about connecting fresh and salt water. Coastal areas, near shore fisheries and even the oceans themselves are resources of tremendous potentials that are too often being exploited and degraded in the most unsustainable ways. Preserving these resources and developing new, more sustainable forms of management will require new forms of co-operation between countries and peoples.
The United Nations, through its many agencies, can play a vital role in all of these issues. Already so much is being done. I was delighted to see the World Water Development Report that was released in Kyoto - a great achievement to bring together so much knowledge in such an accessible form. It provides us with a state-of-the-art reference point against which we can measure our progress in reaching the goals that we have set.
The work of UN agencies such as UNICEF, the World Food Programme, UNDP, UNEP and others are of great importance in working on the ground to help people meet their needs in the most practical ways. These agencies and sister organisations such as the FAO, WHO, WMO and others are a key repository of knowledge and experience and have a status second to none. I note with admiration that 23 UN agencies are involved in water issues in one form or another. These agencies have a very important role to play in the future. There are so many aspects of this that I could mention if there were time, but I must confine myself to just a few.
I am delighted to see that one of the institutions of which we Dutch are particularly proud, IHE in Delft, has finally achieved its UNESCO status. This association with the UN is one that all associated with IHE are proud of.
I see that the CGIAR organisations are re-structuring their programmes and working together to find new agricultural strategies for the future. These will help the world to find the technologies and management packages needed to provide for tomorrow's food needs without worsening the water crisis found in many parts of the world.
The leadership and focus that UNICEF provides on those most vulnerable of the vulnerable, the world's children, is tremendously important. It is right that water supply and sanitation should be a key programme for UNICEF, for better water and improved sanitation will give poor children better health, more time for study or playing and better nutrition.
The coordinating role that UNESCO plays for all of the UN organisations in the field of water is of key importance. Some commentators have suggested that coordination within the UN family could often be better. This is no longer true for water, thanks to the efforts of the World Water Assessment Programme, based in UNESCO, that brings together the efforts of the different agencies.
I am glad that the Secretary General of the United Nations has included a task force on water as one of the task forces set up to develop strategies to achieve the Millennium Development Goals. This task force has included the role of water in achieving all of the MDGs as its task: a position which I applaud.
Finally, let us not forget the work of the Commission for Sustainable Development. The work of the Commission has rightly emphasised the importance of water in the struggle for sustainable development. There is little prospect of sustainable development around the world unless we improve the way we manage water. Much has been done in recent years, but much remains to be done. I thank you for the opportunity to address you in this extremely important event. I am glad that the United Nations recognises the importance of water in realising the goals that they have set and urge you to continue to focus on water as a key to poverty reduction and sustainable development.
Thank you.