Excellencies,
Distinguished Participants,
Ladies and Gentlemen,
I am pleased to participate in the UN-Water Summit on Groundwater 2022.
I would like to congratulate UNESCO and the International Groundwater Resources Assessment Centre for their initiative and leadership in organizing this Summit.
Today, we are celebrating “Groundwater” to bring this critical yet invisible resource to light.
Almost all of the liquid freshwater in the world is groundwater, supporting drinking water supplies, sanitation systems, agriculture, industry, ecosystems, and climate change adaptation.
Groundwater is critical to achieving the sustainable development goals.
However, our current relationship to groundwater is problematic.
In many areas, aquifers are close to the surface, making them particularly vulnerable to human-made pollution from the soil and surface water above.
In densely populated urban settlements where there is a lack of safely managed sanitation, groundwater is at risk of contamination, which can spread diseases and damage ecosystems.
In many areas, more groundwater is being over-used than is recharged by rain and snow.
Continuous over-use leads eventually to depletion of the essential resource, which not only reduces water supply but can also cause catastrophic land subsidence.
One of the major problems we face in relation to groundwater around the world is that we very often do not know how much groundwater lies beneath our feet.
In dry, remote regions, this poverty of knowledge means we could be failing to harness a potentially transformative water resource for protecting and securing lives and livelihoods.
Exploring, protecting and sustainably using groundwater will be central to surviving and adapting to climate change and meeting the needs of a growing population.
Groundwater connects to every part of the hydrological cycle, reinforcing water cooperation, climate resilience, and sustainable development. It a critical resource for realizing sustainable development.
Groundwater’s vital role in water and sanitation systems, agriculture, industry, ecosystems and climate change adaptation must be reflected in our action plans to achieve the 2030 Agenda and safeguard society from an uncertain future.
We have always known that groundwater is critically important, but this fact has not been fully recognized in policy and practice.
This Summit should be an inflection point charting a new course of action.
Distinguished Participants,
In March 2023, we will gather in New York for the most important water conference in almost half a century: the UN 2023 Water Conference.
The Conference will be the first UN conference dedicated to water issues, since the first UN Water Conference held in Mar del Plata, Argentina in 1977.
It is incumbent on all of us to ensure this moment is a turning point in the water story – to accelerate progress on all the interconnected water and sanitation challenges we face.
Groundwater must play a central role in building resilience and delivering success in relation to all of the other SDGs, especially on climate change, environment, gender, health, education, social justice and livelihoods.
The United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs (DESA) serves as the Secretariat of the UN 2023 Water Conference, with support of UN-Water, to realize sustainable use of water resources, especially groundwater.
A major outcome of the Conference is the Water Action Agenda, a set of voluntary commitments for water actions announced by governments, international organizations, the private sector, NGOs and other stakeholders.
The Conference will galvanize commitments around the Water Action Agenda. I encourage the participants to learn more about this opportunity to join a global movement for positive water action.
As the Secretary-General of the Conference, I welcome the UN-Water Joint Statement on Groundwater, as an outcome of the Summit, to contribute to the UN 2023 Water Conference.
Finally, looking ahead to July, we will have another opportunity to look at SDG 6 closely at the High-Level Political Forum, when the water goal will go through an in-depth review for the second time. I invite you to participate actively at the HLPF as well.
I wish you a fruitful discussion at the UN-Water Summit on Groundwater.
Thank you.