FT Water Summit: Global water security essential for growth
On October 12, the World Water Council, as a founding partner, participated in the second edition of the Financial Times Water Summit in London. Over 150 participants from the business, financial, and water communities
gathered
to share recent developments and solutions and to exchange perspectives on the ways they are contributing to reducing water risks.
Chaired by FT Environment Correspondent, Pilita Clark, this year’s summit was the occasion for the World Water Council to put the focus on the critical importance of investing in multi-purpose water infrastructure to ensure long term water security for all. In the opening keynote, the Council highlighted that “
water security, business security and the well-being of planet depends on working together to mobilise investment in new and existing infrastructure
”. In his opening remarks, the President of Hungary János Áder stated “we are seriously falling behind in building and modernizing water infrastructure”.
Recent estimates indicate that annual investments in the order of 500 billion to 1 trillion US dollars will be necessary from now to 2030 to solve the problem of access to safe drinking water and sanitation. This means that properly managing water risks—across all sectors—will be vital to securing the future of water. Difficult political trade-offs will have to be made by decision makers globally to be able to deliver on the ambitious Sustainable Development Goals and in particular Goal 6 dedicated to water. That is the ambition of the Heads of State High Level Panel on Water, created jointly by the United Nations and the World Bank, which was presented by Csaba Kőrösi, Director of the Environmental Sustainability Directorate, Office of the President of the Republic of Hungary.
The World Water Council is working closely with the High Level Panel on Water on three key objectives regarding financing and infrastructure:
- Raise water high on the political agenda and help people understand that water is a driver of social and economic development
- To motivate action
- To advocate for financing and implementation