Speech by His Royal Highness the Prince of Orange, at the Opening Session of the Second World Water Forum. The Hague, March 17, 2000
" During the Second World Water Forum all individuals can vent their opinions on water related issues, but in a civilized manner", said Chairman to the event His Royal Highness the Prince of Orange in response to activists disturbing the opening event of the Second World Water Forum on 17 March 2000. The Prince got an ovation from the vast majority of the crowd attending the festive opening-ceremony for his improvised speech facing an activist group using the Forum to demonstrate against the Itoiz Dam in Spain. (Fragment of the press release of the Second World Water Forum March 17, 2000)
Speech of the Prince as he was about to deliver at the moment of the demonstration:
Let me start by saying what a great pleasure it is to welcome you to the Second World Water Forum, and how honoured I am to have been invited to act as its chair. But I extend this welcome not only in my capacity as Chair, or as an honorary member of the World Commission on Water in the 21st Century and Patron of the Global Water Partnership. More importantly, it is as a stakeholder in the Netherlands' water resources that I welcome you - stakeholders in the world's water - to this Forum. For we share a mission, and that is to make water everyone's business.
Critics of conferences like this say that we should not be spending millions just bringing people together to talk. The money could have been better spent bringing water to people who desperately need it. Are they right?
By the end of the Forum, I want to be able to look these critics in the eye and tell them they were wrong. This is a challenge to all of you. As your Chair I ask you - participants in the second World Water Forum - to prove your critics wrong. Show them that The Hague was a watershed. That here, water was put firmly on the political agenda. That millions of ordinary men and women were made aware of the issues that face us all - and will face our children if we do not act now.
At the end of the day, we will all have to make a commitment if we are to solve the water crisis. Our pledge is to achieve our Vision, to set a sea-change in motion. Let us make a difference. Let us make water everyone's business.