Speech by His Royal Highness The Prince of Orange at the African Pre-conference on Water for Food and Ecosystems, Addis Ababa - Ethiopia, 6 November 2004
Your Excellencies, honourable delegates, ladies and gentlemen,
It is a great pleasure for me to join you at the closure of your deliberations on balancing water for daily life linked to the importance of food and ecosystems. Four years ago the countries of the United Nations committed themselves to achieve the Millennium Development Goals.
One of these goals includes the target to halve the proportion of the world's people who suffer from poverty and hunger and to ensure that current trends in the loss of natural resources are effectively reversed at both global and national levels by 2015.
Another Millennium Goal targets to halve the people who have no access to safe and reliable drinking water. To produce food and to sustain agricultural production it needs to be understood that solutions have to be found for water provision, not only for drinking water but also for use in agriculture to ensure self-sufficiency in food production.
Changes are needed in the use of water in the agricultural sector. More effective and efficient use of water, more diversification in crops and better environmental adaptation are possible. In that way one of the goals of the second World Water Forum: " More crop per drop" can be reached.
Farmers have an obligation to manage the water they need as carefully as possible. Not only the quantity they use but also the quality of the water they depose of after use is important.
Sometimes, simple solutions can generate substantial results. One should make better use of existing knowledge, expertise and infrastructure. Local communities have to be in charge of development. They possess the know-how for action that truly leads to implementation.
Moreover, the efforts to eradicate poverty must increase. In this context the challenge of food production has local and global implications. Produced food can be used locally or be traded; environmental services benefit local people while protecting the global environment. Let us not forget that agriculture is in most of the developing countries the cornerstone for economic and social development and therefore in poverty alleviation. Recent research shows that growth in agriculture is most beneficial for the poor: a one percent increase in yields results in a decrease of 0.6 to 1.2 percent of people living on less than $ 1 per day.
Economically healthy rural areas provide the best guarantee for sustainable development. Trade can be one of the driving forces of prosperity and therefore the private sector and other stakeholders should be involved in this, taking into account the recent WTO agreement.
At this conference you focused on the inter linkages between these priority needs and you took the challenge to discuss the implementation of actions with impact on the ground.
Sustainable development is only feasible if all stakeholders are involved. This will ensure an integrated approach between all relevant sectors being agriculture, fisheries, sustainable use of biodiversity and natural resources and sustainable water management.
Key for ensuring full involvement of all stakeholders in all relevant sectors is the concept of integrated water resource management. Within this concept lies the challenge of stabilising the use of water at the level of the year 2000, while increasing food production to cope with growing demand.
In the context of the MDG's it was agreed to have in place in 2005 an integrated water resource management plan in all countries. On this occasion I like to compliment the government of Ethiopia as you launched your first Water resources management policy in July 2000. Followed by a Water Sector Development Programme for the period 2002 - 2016.
At the 12th session of the Commission on Sustainable Development the importance of ensuring integrated planning in each country was again underlined as a challenge, which needs to be overcome without delay.
As agreed in Johannesburg this conference has reaffirmed the need to overcome the following:
The first of them is 'Meeting Basic Needs'. It recognises that access to safe and sufficient water and sanitation are basic human needs, essential to health and well being, and urges us to empower people through a participatory approach towards water management.
The second is 'Securing the Food Supply'. It supports the belief that enhancing food security, particularly of the poor and vulnerable, is to be done through a more efficient mobilisation and use of water for food production.
The third is "Protecting Ecosystems', and refers to the need to ensure the integrity of ecosystems through sustainable water resources management practices and the role of ecosystems for the water cycle.
A balance has to be found between water for people, food production and water for healthy ecosystems. One way to achieve this balance is through enhancing water storage, which is essential to mitigate the effects of unpredictable rainfall.
I am impressed by the practical results you presented today. Especially, I would like to highlight the involvement of local communities in the implementation process, building on local knowledge, resources and experiences. Implementation can be more successful if we could value ecological and environmental services in an economic way, applying broad accepted principles like the "Polluter pays" and the " Precautionary Approach". It is evident that the implementation will benefit from stronger cooperation and coordination between national and local levels, building on more coherent policies.
I would like to pay tribute to the Ethiopian government who has taken such an active role in the preparation and leading of this conference. I also would like to thank the African Union and the FAO for their strong contribution.
Now the next step needs to be made to translate this success into action to be agreed at the Ministerial Conference in The Hague, which will take place in February 2005. From The Hague the next steps will be to New York for the 13th session of the Commission for Sustainable Development and the 4th World Water Forum in Mexico City in 2006 to reach further consensus on implementation of policy measures which accelerates the agenda of alleviating poverty, providing food for all and ensures the provision of safe drinking water.
I hope to welcome you all in The Hague next year and would like to add one small suggestion to you all. Before you travel to The Hague, please contact your colleagues in charge of water resources, now convened in Entebbe, Uganda as African Ministers Council on Water (or AMCOW), who are discussing exactly those concerns you brought up this morning.
Thank you for your attention!