Speech by the Prince of Orange, Chair of UNSGAB at the 8th Asia Pacific Roundtable for Sustainable Consumption & Production conference

Speech | 18-09-2008

President Ramos, your excellencies, Dr. la O'Castillo, Ladies and Gentlemen,

It is a great pleasure to be with you here at the eighth Asia Pacific Roundtable for Sustainable Consumption and Production. I am delighted to have this opportunity to share with you my thoughts on water and sanitation in relation to the theme of this conference, Sustainable Consumption and Production and Green Growth for Climate Action.

The subjects that will be discussed here this week need no introduction. They affect all our lives.

Severe floods in Bangladesh and India, and, of course the floods that are a constant threat here in the Philippines. Heavy rains, landslides and floods in Europe, the hurricanes Gustav, Hanna and Ike, melting polar ice caps - these are just a few of the topics that have been in the news in the past month.

These days, natural disasters are almost becoming normal events. The world can no longer deny the influence of mankind, both through behaviour and demographic development. At the same time, we have an ongoing food crisis to deal with. Its consequences are enormous, particularly for the world's poorest.

Ladies and gentlemen, these crises and disasters are having a very great impact and prospects are extremely bleak.

Our unsustainable production and consumption patterns are changing our climate, because they place too great a burden on our planet. The problems they cause are affecting quality of life in many parts of the world.

This week you will be discussing at length the issues I have just touched on. And you will be looking at them from many different perspectives. That is why I wanted to be here. To learn from you, to share knowledge with you and to introduce UNSGAB to you. Because I think the problems we are dealing with are linked in many ways. And we can and should work together to find solutions.

But let me first introduce myself.

I am here today in my capacity as Chair of the United Nations Secretary-General's Advisory Board on Water and Sanitation, UNSGAB for short. UNSGAB's mandate is to advise the Secretary-General, raise public awareness, and galvanise governments and international organisations into action to achieve MDG 7 target 10 on water and sanitation.

I am very proud to tell you that Dr Olivia la O'Castillo is a dedicated member of this board.

As Chair of UNSGAB, I have had the opportunity to promote action on the issues of water and sanitation, without which a healthy and dignified life is not possible .

Ladies and gentlemen, water is life. There is no substitute. To achieve sustainable development, water has to be at the forefront. Water has a pivotal role in socioeconomic development and food production. Sound and sustainable management of water resources may reduce the effects of climate change.

What is more, water and sanitation make the greatest contribution to improving health and comprehensively reducing poverty. A survey of medical practitioners worldwide that was published last year in the British Medical Journal revealed that in their opinion sanitation and the discovery of its impact on public health was the greatest medical advance in the last 160 years.

The undeniable fact that water is a prerequisite for sustainable development is also confirmed in economic figures: every dollar invested in water and sanitation results in at least nine dollars' worth of productive activity. But at the current rate of progress we will not achieve the MDG target - to reduce by half the number of people who do not have access to basic sanitation and clean drinking water by 2015 - before the year of 2026.
That is why UNSGAB recommended that the UN declare 2008 the International Year of Sanitation. As its Chair, I have spent this crucial year travelling around the world in order to call attention to the water and sanitation crisis and generate awareness and support.

Because, ladies and gentlemen, we have no time to lose: things can only get worse in the wake of population growth and urbanisation.
In a recent report, the WHO/UNICEF Joint Monitoring Programme for Water Supply and Sanitation (JMP) reached some alarming conclusions. Although remarkable progress has been made in big parts of Asia and Latin America in terms of access to improved sanitation. In Africa too, the number of people with access to improved sanitation is rising steadily. But the increase is not keeping pace with population growth.

At the current rate, the world will miss the MDG sanitation target by over 700 million people. To meet the target on sanitation at least 173 million people a year will need to be given access to improved sanitation facilities.

The report also came up with some other disturbing conclusions. Given the limited freshwater resources and the huge demand for water, water pollution is a major concern in Asia. Inadequately treated wastewater is dumped in water courses that are already stressed and polluted, because some 1.8 billion people in the region have poor access to sanitation.

In Southeast Asia alone, 13 million tons of faeces are released to inland water sources each year, along with 122 million cubic metres of urine and 11 billion cubic metres of grey water. As a result, diarrhoea from polluted water remains the main cause of child health problems in Asia. These figures truly upset me.

Ladies and gentlemen, the rapidly expanding economies in Asia - with urbanisation, industrialisation and intensified agriculture in their wake - are expected to boost demand for water, energy and raw materials in the decade ahead.

At the same time and as a result of climate change, the Asia Pacific Region faces some of the world's greatest and most difficult water management problems. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, the IPCC, recently published its sixth technical paper on Climate Change and Water.

These papers predict that freshwater availability will decrease, water security problems will intensify, extra pressure will be put on natural resources and the environment, agricultural and forestry production will decline and sea level rise will threaten coastal areas and Small Island States in particular.

Rajendra Pachauri, chairman of the IPCC, said that climate change is likely to add to existing problems in the poorest regions of the world. For example, in India many people will be exposed to an increase in water stress due to climate change. Coupled with increased demand, this will adversely affect livelihoods and exacerbate water-related problems.

The IPCC report for Asia mentioned that in India, gross per capita water availability will decline from around 1,820 cubic metres a year now to as little as around 1,140 cubic metres a year in 2050. If you consider that 1,700 cubic meter per capita is the minimum to avoid water stress, this is indeed an alarming prospect.

And there are estimates that water pollution stemming from poor sanitation costs Southeast Asia more than 2 billion US dollars a year.

So wastewater treatment should definitely be factored into the discussion. Good sanitation entails a range of actions. UNSGAB fully supports the idea that we have to approach the topic of sanitation in a broader context. It was for this reason that UNSGAB organised the seminar called New Frontiers of Sanitation during the last World Water Week in Stockholm.

The seminar concentrated on the 'used water' dimension of sanitation - wastewater as it is known today - and the new resource that it could represent tomorrow. But there are many obstacles to overcome. Traditionally trained engineers and sanitation departments need to become a lot more conversant with alternative wastewater treatment methods. What is more, there is still a psychological barrier to overcome to reusing treated wastewater.

From the production point of view, it was concluded that industry is often insufficiently aware that high-quality processing water will become scarce, and that it should be included in the equation when calculating the costs of production.

In other words, what is needed is widespread recognition that water is an increasingly scarce commodity, but that, with the assistance of the water sector's integrated approach, it can be managed. The future is at stake. A future in which a sustainable environment goes hand in hand with sustainable growth and development.

UNSGAB takes into account all these factors that influence water management and sanitation. We are highly aware that they are linked and that, for example, good sanitation reduces the pollution of fresh water resources.
That is why the Hashimoto Action Plan was developed. This is the flagship plan of UNSGAB. It identifies six areas most in need of focused, coordinated action: Financing, Water Operators Partnerships, Sanitation, Monitoring, Water and Disaster, and Integrated Water Resources Management.
I am pleased to see that the Asia Pacific region is taking implementation of the Hashimoto Action Plan very seriously and has already taken some major steps forwards towards achieving MDG 7 target 10 on water and sanitation.
UNSGAB has had several meetings in Asia, most recently in Shanghai and in Tokyo. In Shanghai we had a productive dialogue with delegates from almost all the countries in the Asia Pacific. We also signed a joint statement with the Asian Development Bank. But there is still a long way to go.
Ladies and gentlemen, the prime aim of UNSGAB is to put as many people as possible on the sanitation ladder. Our answer is technological, social and financial innovation. Today I would like to draw your attention to several technological innovations that have already been achieved. They include ecologically sound re-use options like urine diversion dehydration toilets, which enable the collection, hygienisation and reuse of human excreta.

The technological innovations that we need to encourage are cheaper small-bore sewer systems, pit-emptying facilities, low-cost septic tank sludge treatment methods and biogas technologies which may help provide many households with energy.

Another main challenge is to find ways to produce more food by using less water. More crop per drop is what Secretary-General Kofi Annan called for in his Millennium Declaration.

So we require nothing less than a new green revolution to make more water available. The need to produce more crop per drop is more vital than ever before. And I would like to stress that a few per cent is not nearly enough; we should be aiming at halving the amount of water that is now consumed for agriculture. Here too, we need technological innovation.

Only then can we afford to use this precious resource sustainably, to meet competing claims for the production of food and biofuels. And industrial development is also essential to overcome poverty and increase economic growth.

UNSGAB has received many positive responses to our call for action. Governments and organisations recognise water and sanitation issues and show their commitment to dealing with them by placing them high on the political agenda. This is one of UNSGAB's most important objectives.

An achievement I am truly proud of and want to mention here is that this summer member states of the African Union unanimously adopted the Sharm el Sheikh Declaration on water and sanitation, building on the promising Durban eThikwini and first African Water Week declarations.

The AU declaration shows that African heads of state and government are giving top priority to water and sanitation. It also provides a solid basis for developing the sector in Africa. I personally consider this result to be an enormous leap forward. This could and should be an example for cooperation between countries in other continents - Asia, for example. I am very glad to hear reports from the Philippines that the International Year of Sanitation has also led to initiatives all over the country.
Ladies and gentlemen, people all over the world are become more and more aware of the seriousness of the crises confronting our planet. More importantly, people are starting to realise that we can only manage the problems we face if we deal with them together.
Next week, at the MDG Summit in New York, the United Nations will review the world's progress on the MDGs. The summit's high-level segment will comprise three round-table discussions on poverty and hunger, education and health, and environmental sustainability. The challenge in these discussions will be to emphasise water and sanitation as a crosscutting sector and to create the right basis for further, sustainable measures.

I would like to conclude by wishing you all a very interesting and inspiring week. I hope it will result in effective actions and ideas for projects. And that you will set to work the minute you get home. Because that is the only way to make things happen. And, as Chair of UNSGAB, I am delighted to offer you my full support.

Thank you.