Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵ

Csaba?K?r?si, President of the 77^th session of the General Assembly

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High-Level Political Forum on Sustainable Development Special Event on SDG6 and the Water Action Agenda

17 July 2023

(As delivered)

Excellencies, Ladies and Gentlemen, Dear Friends,

Thank you very much indeed, my good friend, Chairman Gilbert Houngbo and Under-Secretary-General Li Junhua.

We made a big mistake with the allocation of this room.

And it¡¯s a shame on us because some of those people who are standing in that corner, they were the heroes of the preparation and conduct of the Water Conference.

I hope it is the only mistake we are committing today, and in the years to come, to make the outcomes of the Water Conference happening.

Please accept my apologies, on behalf of all of us.

Ladies and gentlemen,

I am not here today to reiterate that we are off track with SDG6 or that we are facing a water crisis.

You know it without me.

We have collected the data. We have delivered enough speeches.

And we all have agreed on the urgent need to accelerate implementation, most recently during the ominous Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵ Water Conference in March.

I am here today to call for a radical transformation.

Of words into deed. Of promises into measurable, visible action.

A cooperative water-secure future for all starts with us.

Here in this room.

It starts with clear-eyed political will to move the dial towards economic intelligence and cultural inclusion.

It starts with recognition of what led us to the water crisis ¨C and understanding that we will need integrated solutions to sustainably manage our world¡¯s precious water resources.

As our master of ceremonies, Ms. Guli has seen first-hand, people on the frontlines of this water crisis are imploring us to solve it.

Shared by all of us, the water cycle is a global common good ¨C a fact we must acknowledge.

This is what we should place at the core of our efforts to adapt policy, legislation and financing, accordingly.

We know we cannot fulfil our 2030 promise of economic stability and global well-being by only accelerating conventional solutions.

We need to hear brave ideas, and unconventional ones, too.

We have to learn from the innovative case studies underway across the world, and

We should build partnerships which are more inclusive and rep of the needs to be met

And we must build on our steps on scientific evidence.

At the Water Conference, as you may recall, world leaders pledged to move towards an ¡°inspiring, cooperative, transboundary and transformative¡± Water Action Agenda for sustainable development and resilience.

Over those three days, we laid the foundations for future generations to value water and to benefit from its bounty.

We re-committed to uphold the human right to water and sanitation for all ¨C and to reach the millions of people who are suffering the adverse effects of the water crisis.

The Water Conference outcomes were mandated to inform the High-Level Political Forum for Sustainable Development ¨C the critical work we are undertaking now in this room.

Imagine what we can accomplish today.

Imagine the difference we can make for tomorrow.

This special event is our single best chance to turn what is discussed at the Conference into a toolbox of multilateral solutions ¨C and to position water as a centrepiece for action at the SDG Summit in September.

The Netherlands, Tajikistan and Senegal have led efforts on a Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵ resolution to follow up on the Water Conference outcomes and I commend their determined pursuit of this opportunity.

Thank you very much, indeed, to all of you.

It is critical that we have a dedicated policy development platform for water at the United Nations.

A mechanism that allows us to produce mandated guidance and decisions.

And let use the game-changers that emerged from the Water Conference as the basis to transform water cooperation in these last five years of the Water Action Decade.

We have the means to deliver fast and effective results at increased scale.

The SDG6 Global Acceleration Framework is a best-in-class blueprint for synchronising our work.

It needs one implementation plan based on the awareness that a water-secure future is one global challenge with many regional and local characteristics.

As you may have noticed, today¡¯s panels are organised around its five building blocks, namely:

Governance. This means strengthened collaboration, within countries and across boundaries and sectors, between Member States and stakeholders.

We aspire to solve the world¡¯s water challenges.

We can do so through a systemic, whole-of society approach that addresses challenges in relation to cross-sectoral benefits, the positive externalities that we can research and leverage.

This translates to more support for water, climate, food and related policy integration at national and regional levels.

Second, innovation. It is vital to empower stakeholders to participate in water-sector innovation.

By creating space, policy, a regulatory environment and a market for innovation, we can make financing and sustainable water systems accessible for all.

And we can do this while developing a business case for sustainable development.

Third, data and information. Data generation, validation, standardization and open information exchange build trust.

They help leaders to arrive at informed decisions, increase accountability and ensure that financing is directed to the most vulnerable.

The Global Water Information System will integrate data relevant to SDG6 ¨C making such information freely accessible, consistent and interoperable.

This system directly supports the Early Warnings for All initiative to protect people from the impacts of disasters.

Fourth, capacity development. Inclusive human and institutional capacities will improve services, technology and job creation at all levels.

In addition, a global science-based assessment ¨C similar to the IPCC model ¨C can help decision makers address water challenges which span sectors, systems and disciplines in a truly integrative manner.

A global network of water training centres will foster the creation of a diverse and educated work force, equipped with the latest skills to handle myriad water challenges.

Finally, financing. Optimised financing is essential.

We can improve service delivery by better targeting existing resources and mobilizing additional funding from domestic and international sources.

For this, we need an all-hands-on deck approach, linking finance across all sectors related to climate, food security and biodiversity.

And we need to reframe the economic costs of pushing our water cycle out of balance in terms that everyone understands.

We should also support a water-secure future by augmenting water storage and attempting to decelerate the hydrological cycle.

Dear colleagues, Dear friends,

As you will see from our discussions today, we have the bold ideas.

We also know that the costs of inaction far outweigh the price of proactive investments we make to bring our global water cycle back into balance.

We must now move from reactive water management to proactive, science-based solutions.

I look forward to hearing your ideas and I hope that today¡¯s discussions will yield actionable results.

I thank you.