Predsednik Pahor je z video nagovorom nastopil na odprtju konference OZN o vodi

Pariz, 7. 12. 2022 | sporočila za javnost, govori

Predsednik Republike Slovenije Borut Pahor je z video nagovorom nastopil na odprtju konference Organizacije združenih narodov o vodi.

Besedilo nagovora predsednika Pahorja v angleščini:

Dear Secretary General Azoulay
Dear Undersecretary General Li
Ministers, Excellencies,
Ladies and Gentlemen

Water scarcity around the globe is increasing.

Climate change, population and economic growth, and unsustainable use are affecting the availability of water and its quality.

In my country, Slovenia, groundwater provides more than 95% of drinking water.

It is also the main source of supply for agriculture and industry.

I attended the COP27 in Sharm El Sheikh. Not everyone was satisfied with its outcomes.

However, there was a very important and progressive development: for the very first time water was put on the agenda of a COP.

We should make sure it stays on the agenda of all future COPs.

This will help to recognize the potential of groundwater for climate adaptation as a buffer and contingency supply.

Groundwater is our last resort. It is the source of our resilience.

If we fail to preserve it, our survival will be at stake.

This is why this summit is so important and I commend UNESCO for organizing it.

It raises the visibility of this invisible and often undervalued resource.

I expect that the summit will also provide recommendations and commitments for action to preserve and protect groundwater.

These recommendations and commitments should be brought to the UN Water Conference next year.

Let me point to one of the issues that needs action sooner rather than later.

More than 460 aquifers are shared between at least two countries.

Only twelve of them benefit from cooperative agreements.

We should make groundwater a vehicle for mutually beneficial regional cooperation, not competition or conflict.

Slovenia, for example, has an agreement on a shared aquifer with our neighbour Austria.

I am very happy with the fact that tomorrow a transboundary water coalition will be launched.

I expect it to play an important role in advancing the cross-border cooperation with the aim to achieve better water security and mitigate climate change more successfully.

Ladies and Gentlemen

Let us make groundwater visible - not just today, but also at the 2023 UN Water Conference in New York.

Let us make an impact by committing to action.

Time is running out. So is water.

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