STOCKHOLM
waterfront
w o r l d w a t e r w e e k d a i l y|FRIDAY SEPTEMBER 2 | 2016
Water
cannot be
treated as
an isolated
issue
H.R.H. Crown Princess Victoria of Sweden
TEXT |görrel espelund PHOTO | thomas henrikson
ALL STAKEHOLDERS MUST COME TOGETHER TO
REALIZE THE 2030 AGENDA. THERE IS ALSO A
NEED TO CONNECT THE SDGS WITH THE PARIS
AGREEMENT, BOTH PROCESSES STRIVING
TOWARDS THE SAME GOAL. THIS WAS THE
MESSAGE FROM THE BUILDING A RESILIENT
FUTURE THROUGH WATER EVENT.
Several high-profile speakers gathered
yesterday to highlight the importance
of making water a central element in
bringing the Sustainable Development
Goals and the Paris Agreement forward.
H.R.H. Crown Princess Victoria, an
SDG Advocate, pointed out that water is
not an isolated development issue, and
cannot be treated as such.
“Disease, poverty, inequality. This is
what we really talk about when we discuss water, so let’s change the perspective. Let’s talk about health, economic
development and equal opportunities
for boys and girls. This is what we can
achieve if we make the right decisions
about water today,” she said.
H.R.H. Crown Princess Victoria also
mentioned the United Nation’s World
Water Development report and the connection between water and jobs, as well
as the positive correlation between water investments and economic growth.
“Investing in safe drinking water and
sanitation is, in fact, investing in health.
And it’s also investing in access to education, jobs and sustainable economic
growth,” she said.
Touching on the same theme, UN
Deputy Secretary General Jan Eliasson,
pointed out that the three pillars of the
United Nations: peace, development
and human rights, can also be applied
to water.
“Peace, because water is central to the
security of communities and nations. Life,
because water is indispensable to development. Dignity, because water is a human
right fundamental to justice and the rule of
law,” he said.
It might seem that we live in a time of
deep uncertainties and great risk, but we
also live in a world of hope, Eliasson added.
published by stockholm international water institute
“The 2030 Agenda and the Climate
Agreement are ground-breaking, ambitious and transformational. They are to
be seen together, reflecting the interdependent relationship between peace,
development and human rights.”
The upcoming COP22 will be hosted
by Morocco, a country that knows the
importance of each drop of water, as
Hakima El Haité, Delegate Minister in
Charge of Environment, Morocco and
COP22 host, remarked. She reminded
the delegates that a special day has been
set aside to highlight water issues at
COP22.
Rounding off yesterday morning’s
event, Manuel Pulgar-Vidal, Special
Advisor to the High Level Panel on
Water and President of COP20, said he
had high hopes that Stockholm would
continue to be an important arena for
water issues.
“In the future I think we will see this
meeting as the water-COP. The most
important place to meet and discuss
water,” he said.
FRIDAY: WORLD WATER WEEK DAILY
WANTED: BOLD CORPORATES “There is
TO HELP INTRODUCE
nothing
UNIVERSAL WASH
like a good
Simi Kamal
FOCUS ON WATER SHORTAGES
IN BIG CITIES
Water scarcity is not only a problem for
arid rural areas, it is also very much a
reality in large cities around the world. In
the three-part seminar yesterday, Water
for sustainable and inclusive cities: how
to induce change?, a series of case studies
and panel discussions shed light on water
issues in an urban context.
During the closing session, Simi Kamal
from the Karachi Water Partnership painted
a very clear picture of the problem when she
said that in some parts of her hometown in
Pakistan, with a population of 24 million,
a litre of water costs more than a litre of oil,
due to poor supply.
In terms of solutions, much of the closing discussion centred upon the need for
proper leadership and inclusive partnerships including all stakeholders.
“Then again, the only really important
stakeholders here are in fact future generations,” Célia Blauel, deputy mayor of Paris, said.
Corporates were called on to apply their
“political clout and marketing expertise” to
support the introduction of universal
WASH during the Scaling up WASH action
in company supply chains: promoting sustainable growth session yesterday.
“There’s an opportunity for progressive
corporates to align themselves with many other
actors that are arguing for system-wide change
through proper investment in WASH at national, regional, and international levels,” Nick
Hepworth of Water Witness International said.
While praising progress made by some
companies, he reminded participants that basic
WASH standards had been in place under an international ILO agreement for the past 54 years.
“WASH issues are systemic, they’re about
a lack of government investment […] so
fiddling about at the edges with corporates
and supply chains might not be the most
productive response.”
The system-wide focus was picked up by Lisa
Hook, from clothing group Gap who, although
warning of “issue fatigue” – with companies
and other actors often struggling to prioritize
water over other issues – said: “Governance is
important. WASH is a systems-wide issue, and
will need systems-wide solutions.”
INTERACTIVE POSTERS PROVIDE SNAPSHOT OF THE WEEK
NUMBER OF THE DAY
Throughout World Water Week, an interactive poster exhibition has provided visitors with selected content from the Week’s
programme. This was the scene yesterday,
as delegates learnt about a variety of programmes, including water planning in the
US, a ‘sponge city’ in Kenya, and wastewater reuse in Sri Lanka.
10
10 LITRES OF WATER ARE REQUIRED TO PRODUCE ONE
SHEET OF PAPER.
SOURCE: UNITED NATIONS INDUSTRIAL DEVELOPMENT ORGANIZATION
crisis to
bring about
change”
Neil Macleod,
private water consultant
SALTWATER THREAT
TO COASTAL
GROUNDWATER
Saltwater intrusion into
groundwater is becoming an
increasingly urgent problem
in many parts of the world,
something which was covered
in depth during a seminar
yesterday morning.
The problem in coastal
areas is often that the natural
boundary between seawater
and the freshwater that sits
under land is compromised
by the inland pumping of
freshwater.
Since a large – and growing
– proportion of the world’s
population lives in coastal
areas, relying heavily on
groundwater as a source of
freshwater, the issue of saltwater intrusion needs urgent
attention, the speakers at the
seminar argued.
They called for better,
and preferably dedicated
groundwater management,
where rainfall and salt levels
are carefully monitored, so
that pumping can be adjusted
accordingly. In some places
horizontal wells, where water
is only drawn from the top
level of the groundwater, has
proven efficient, but to compensate during dry periods,
systems for rainwater harvesting and recycled waste water
also have to be explored, the
panellists concluded.
GUEST COLUMN
THE OLYMPICS OF WATER
Jan Eliasson
mobilized by water
TEXT | görrel espelund PHOTO |thomas henrikson
THE RIGHT TO WATER IS A HUMAN
RIGHT AND SANITATION IS AN
INTEGRAL PART OF OVERALL
DEVELOPMENT. THAT IS THE
MESSAGE FROM UN DEPUTY
SECRETARY GENERAL JAN
ELIASSON.
Eliasson is the man who
introduced the words “toilet” and “open defection” to
diplomatic discussions. And
when he did so, the translators at the UN headquarters
in New York weren’t sure
what he’d really said.
“Some of them couldn’t
even translate ‘open defecation’,” he says.
“Bringing these words
and challenges to the diplomatic discourse is to me
essential. They bring the
stark reality into our meeting rooms.”
Ever since his appointment as the emergency
coordinator of the UN in Somalia in 1992, Eliasson has
been a strong advocate for
water-related issues.
“I saw children dying of
dehydration, dysentery and
diarrhoea. And I decided
then and there to never stop
fighting for the fundamental right to clean water and
sanitation for all.”
Today, 24 years later, he’d
like to stress that water is
more than a development issue: it’s a vital area to peace
and human rights.
“A child missing school
to collect water, is deprived
of an essential right. Just
like a thirteen-year old
girl missing her education
because the school lacks
toilets for girls. If you look at
water from that perspective
it becomes a much broader
concept that will gather a
broader coalition of partners
and a larger network.”
The SDG-system is a good
start to bringing water up
the world agenda. But to
make it happen in reality all
actors are needed, not only
governments and international organizations.
“We need the private
sector, scientific community,
civil society, the philanthropic world, and of course
we need to mobilize social
media and use all the modern communications that
are at hand.”
Concrete action, he adds,
is always the most difficult
challenge, but on this
Eliasson is hopeful.
“The structure of the
SDGs is very good and the
interrelationship between
goals is realized by everybody. It’s caught on. We feel
there’s a lot of energy and
I think people are realizing
this is really serious. This is
about our future.”
“Water is such a beautiful
subject, it’s mobilizing by
nature.”
Hundreds of sessions, thousands of people, tens of
thousands of ideas, and - unlike in most international
gatherings - complete agreement that water is integral
to climate, the SDGs and everyday health and quality
of life.
Needless to say, I missed nearly everything. World
Water Week is the Olympics of water and there’s no
way to catch it all. Enabling investment in irrigation
in sub-Saharan Africa was, I am told, a humdinger of
a session. I wish I had been to the water and mining
meet. Was Sigmund Freud really the missing link in
water and sanitation? Don’t ask me.
Instead, in the three days I was here, I met remarkable people. Joan B. Rose, the Stockholm Water Prize
laurate, trebled my understanding of pollution. Her
message about how the world is under attack from
new and old pathogens was urgent, eloquent and
scary. But she remained optimistic. I felt for her husband, who she drags from one water treatment plant
to another.
Between interviewing Ashok Swain and Anders
Jägerskog, authors of a brilliant new book on Middle
East water threats, and hearing of Asia’s water stress,
the Guardian ran a session on valuing water. Anton
Earle, SIWI’s man in Africa, and Andrew Fourie of SAB
Miller, both argued well that we need to be talking to
farmers as well as governments.
My faith in power was restored by Isabella Lövin,
Sweden’s deputy prime minister, who explained the
reality of power-sharing and competing demands for
money. To its credit, Sweden’s spending on climate
change and water and sanitation has vastly increased.
Another Green, deputy mayor of Paris, Célia
Blauel, was also inspirational. She not only helped
drive through the UN climate deal last December, but
convened the meeting of world mayors who shamed
national politicians by committing to far stronger targets. Blauel was evidence that progress on water could
be made more at city level.
Hats off, too, to the World Bank, for once not on the
rack for big dams or water privatization. Jennifer Sara,
director of its water practice division, backed strongly
President Modi of India’s massive investment in sanitation. The money spent, she said, would repay itself
over and over again. Why can’t other governments get
this?
But the last word goes to Catarina De Albuquerque,
the chair of Sanitation and Water for All. Not only did
she passionately speak up for the disadvantaged, she
reminded everyone why they were there at Stockholm. The human right to water.
John Vidal
John Vidal is the Guardian’s environment editor
COMPLEX LINK BETWEEN DROUGHT AND MIGRATION
TEXT | andreas karlsson PHOTO |thomas henrikson
DROUGHT AND FORCED MIGRATION ARE OFTEN
LINKED, SUGGESTING THAT THE FORMER IS A
COMMON CAUSE FOR THE LATTER.
During a well-attended seminar yesterday, Robert McLeman from Wilfrid
Laurier University in Canada, a
world-renowned authority on the
matter, delivered the keynote speech.
“Migration due to drought is not
something that happens suddenly,
although we sometimes get that feeling
from media reports. It is in fact a long
process with several steps of adaptation
to a changing situation before we reach
a tipping point,” McLeman said.
Before that happens, he added, there
is often an array of reasons, such as
political unrest, violence and food
insecurity, contributing to a situation
where people eventually find themselves
in a position where they have no option
but to leave their homes. Drought alone
is therefore not a sufficient explanation
to forced migration.
Speaking about migratory patterns he
reminded attendees that a vast majority
of migration is internal. China alone
is estimated to have about 200 million
internal migrants, compared with some
250 million people worldwide living
outside their home country.
“Currently, 54 per cent of international refugees come from only
three countries: Somalia, Syria and
Robert McLeman
Afghanistan – countries that also experience severe problems with drought. So
there is indeed a connection here, but it
is much more complex that one might
think,” he said.
world water week voices
WHAT did you like MOST ABOUT WORLD WATER WEEK?
“Meeting people
from all around the
world, also on a
very high level,
can really make an
impact on how we
treat water.”
Stephanie Motz,
Grundfos, Germany
“The Junior Water
Prize because those
young people, all of
them, did so much
over two, three years:
they were really devoted
– that’s our future.”
“I’m here raising the
visibility of Pacific
issues; and what I value
is the ability to connect
with different people
and look at future
collaborations.”
Tui Shortland, Te
Kapehu Whetu,
New Zealand
Mthokozisi Pius Duze,
Mhlathuze Water, South
Africa
Danka Thalmeinerova,
GWP, Sweden
Zerihun Abebe Yigsaw,
Ministry of Foreign
Affairs, Ethiopia
“The way that
World Water Week
helps us to further
our understanding
of the issues, create
awareness of the
issues, and to
mobilize finance.”
“I value the experiences
that were shared by
different countries
on how they use
and conserve water
– making sure that
water remains for
generations to come.”
“I have really valued
the amount of
knowledge sharing,
and enjoyed meeting
friends from around
the world – it’s been
great!”
Rochi Khemka, Water
Resources
Lin Cheng,Group,
WWF,India
China
Digital updates
Don’t forget to check in with us for
digital updates throughout the day,
and engage with us on social media.
The online programme is available
on programme.worldwaterweek.
org and in the World Water Week
mobile phone app.
Download on
App store &
Google Play
World Water Week @siwi_water
in Stockholm
Stockholm International
Water Institute (SIWI)
@siwi_water
Stockholm
International
Water Institute
World
WaterWeek
World
WaterWeek
STOCKHOLM INTERNATIONAL WATER INSTITUTE | Box 101 87 | Visiting Address: Linnégatan 87A | SE-100 55 | Stockholm, Sweden
Tel: +46 8 121 360 00 | www.siwi.org | Publisher: Torgny Holmgren | SIWI Editorial Staff | Editor: Victoria Engstrand-Neacsu
Graphic Designer: Elin Ingblom | World Water Week Daily Editorial Staff | Görrel Espelund, Andeas Karlsson and Nick
Chipperfield | Photography: Thomas Henrikson and Nayereh Rajabi
stockholm waterfront daily • 28 AUGUST - 2 SEPTEMBER, 2016 • CIRCULATION: 700