Toespraak van minister Harbers bij Water as Leverage
Toespraak van minister Harbers (IenW) op 22 maart 2023 bij de sessie Water as Leverage. Deze sessie was onderdeel van de UN Water Conference 2023 van de United Nations (UN). De conferentie vond plaats van 22 tot en met 24 maart 2023 in New York. De toespraak is alleen in het Engels beschikbaar.
Ladies and gentlemen,
I’m very pleased to be here, with so many of you, celebrating the experiences with Water as Leverage from around the world. But we’re not only looking back. Today we’re also celebrating the next phase of Water as Leverage.
Water as Leverage bridges the gap between infrastructure project origination and project implementation. By investing millions in the first phases of project development, we unlock billions for financing implementation.
Water as Leverage is celebrating its 5th anniversary this year. It has a proven track record in various cities in Asia, including Semarang, Indonesia; Khulna, Bangladesh; and Chennai, India. The inclusive trajectories in these cities have progressed to the feasibility phase, which will soon lead to actual project implementation.
We’ve also completed a Water Balance pilot at the Little Flower School for the Blind and the Deaf in Chennai. It can be replicated across the city and the entire Indian sub-continent.
Earlier this month we launched Water as Leverage Cartagena – the first programme in Latin America – with a well-attended, local design workshop. Another great milestone! I’d like to thank all the partners involved as well as the speakers at this event.
Water as Leverage is uniting a growing global community of governments, cities, communities, designers, engineers, NGOs, researchers and more. All joining forces to scale up and replicate Water as Leverage projects.
The programme embodies principles that we hope will also shape the Water Action Agenda: substantial, innovative, transformative, scalable and replicable. Our experiences so far and our plans for the years to 2030 offer important input for the Water Action Agenda.
The commitment ‘Scaling up Water as Leverage for worldwide urban climate resilience, through water’ reflects my ambition to scale up Water as Leverage globally. And I know for sure that ‘We can do it together’.
In the Netherlands International Water Ambition, signed by four ministers 4 years ago, the Netherlands pledged to achieve improved water security for more than 15 million people in 8 delta cities. Upscaling Water as Leverage will contribute significantly to that goal. In fact, together with our key partners – here with me today – we can double that goal by 2030.
I also call on other potential partners, besides those present, to join us in these efforts.
Friends,
The Water as Leverage partners want to tell you more about how they will help upscale Water as Leverage between now and 2030. But before I give the floor to them, I’d like to invite you all to join me and continue the conversation at this unique moment during the UN 2023 Water Conference and New York Water Week.
Thank you.