Speech by His Royal Highness the Prince of Orange, Chair of the United Nations Secretary General’s Advisory Board on Water and Sanitation (UNSGAB) on the occassion of the Dialogue on Water and Sanitation with African Leaders
Mr. Ping, Chairperson AU Commission
Mr. Itoua, President of AMCOW
Mrs. Tibaijuka, Executive Director UN Habitat
Excellencies,
Distinguished guests,
Ladies and gentlemen,
Our Board was convened by the Secretary-General to spur action towards meeting the Millennium Development Goals' water and sanitation targets. These demand our unflagging attention and effort if we are to reach the target figures envisaged by the UN in 2000. The Board therefore synthesized, distilled and focused the Hashimoto Action Plan. This is our mandate and it spells out actions that we believe will bring the benefits of development to the hundreds of millions who have to live on less than two dollars a day and have no proper sanitary facilities, or access to sustainable water resources.
Ladies and gentlemen,
World leaders undertook to halve the number of people lacking sustainable access to safe drinking water and sanitation. I am very pleased to be here with you, Africa's leaders. Thank you for coming to this meeting! It is you who set the agendas for your countries and your continent. I am looking forward to discussing your priorities candidly and to finding out from you how we can be most helpful. Most of all, I want to hear from you how we can help you to build on Africa's ample economic successes by bringing the boundless enthusiasm and energy of your people to bear on the stubborn problems of water and sanitation.
Africans possess an entrepreneurial drive and a keen desire to participate in the global economy. Many African countries are on the verge of taking off economically. In Sub-Saharan Africa, for example, 18 countries that are home to a third of the region's people, have economies that grew by an average of 5.5% between 1995 and 2005. Or take the huge growth of telecommunications and mobile phone technology in Africa. I use this example because I think we can agree that cell phones and Blackberries sound much sexier than hand pumps, taps and toilets.
However, I am sure we can do without cell phones and Blackberries ... indeed, for a long time we did. But it is sanitation and water that drive African development. Without clean water and safe sanitation, Africans and their economies cannot reach their full potential.
If people do not have safe sanitation and ingest small particles of faecal matter because of poor hygiene, wholesome food will not nourish them. Diarrhoea is the reason you find malnourished children in well-fed families. It's why millions of children drop out of school, and why the economy loses millions of dollars because workers are sick with dysentery.
Good sanitation can reduce diarrhoea by 40% and washing hands reduces it yet further. It comes to no surprise that readers of the British Medical Journal last year voted sanitation the greatest medical breakthrough ever, above penicillin and anaesthesia. Furthermore, health economists note that every dollar invested in sanitation can save $9 on health costs and lost productivity. Recent figures show that poor countries with access to improved water and sanitation services enjoyed annual average growth rates of 3.7% GDP; those without grew at just 0.1%.
Huge development opportunities also exist in the water sector. In my conversations with African friends, I've repeatedly heard about the need for infrastructure, regional integration of water management, development of local financial markets and the opportunity to compete in global markets. Right now, just a fraction of Africa's water resources - less than 4% - are used for water supply, irrigation and hydropower. This is a massive wasted opportunity. Harnessing water's productive potential to achieve more water security is critical as climate change and variability make countries more vulnerable.
Distinguished colleagues,
In a matter of weeks, the African Union will host a summit devoted to water and sanitation issues. It is a precious chance to raise the political profile of those issues, especially sanitation. Too often in polite and powerful circles that could do something about the terrible effects of disease resulting from poor hygiene, leaders shy away from tackling sanitation head on.
To achieve our goals and solve sanitation problems it is crucial that leaders and representatives take action and show full commitment at the highest government level. In this International Year of Sanitation, I implore you as African leaders to seize this chance to remove the stigma of sanitation.
Let us build on the positive momentum created by the superb eThekwini Declaration agreed at the AfricaSan conference on Sanitation and Hygiene in February. And by the promising Ministerial Declaration on Accelerating Water Security for Africa's Socioeconomic Development, made a month later by the Ministers of Water in Tunis at the First African Water Week.
You, our African friends, are here because of TICAD, which will hopefully show some positive results that will also be prominent on the Hokkaido G 8 agenda. The momentum must continue at the Zaragosa Expo, the Stockholm Water Week, the Asia Pacific Round Table in Cebu, the World Toilet Summit in Macau, throughout the rest of the International Year of Sanitation and at the 5th World Water Forum in Istanbul in March 2009. We must also exploit all other opportunities to achieve the Millennium Development Goals for water and sanitation by 2015 and - after that - to meet the needs of all those still left without proper facilities.
Strong agreements were made two weeks ago at the AU Summit PrepCom in Egypt on what needs to be done to bring Africa "back on track". I sincerely hope these agreements will lead to a Sharm-el-Sheikh declaration that will give the responsible ministers the opportunity to carry out the plans, which have been designed by consultants for decades.
Ladies and gentlemen,
African leaders have already shown commitment and agreements have been made, but UNSGAB's incentives and advice need to lead to much more concrete action on the ground, like sustained water and sanitation solutions which fit national sustainable development strategies. So the UNSGAB needs your full assistance and commitment to give all the world's people healthy, dignified lives with maximum scope for personal development.
Ladies and gentlemen,
We need to implement the eThekwini and Tunis Declarations and work together if we really want to reach the Millennium Development Goals in Africa. UNSGAB and international donor community will support you as much as possible, but it is up to you to push the button!
Together, you - as the leaders of Africa - can turn the tide!
Thank you.