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STORY: UN / WATER 2030 AGENDA
TRT: 02:51
SOURCE: UNIFEED
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH / ARABIC / NATS
DATELINE: 18 MARCH 2021, NEW YORK CITY / FILE
RECENT – NEW YORK CITY
1. Wide shot, exterior, United Nations Headquarters
18 MARCH 2021, NEW YORK CITY
2. Wide shot, General Assembly President Volkan Bozkir walks up to podium
3. Pan right GA delegates
4. SOUNDBITE (English) Volkan Bozkir, President, General Assembly:
“The fact that billions of people have had to face this pandemic without basic handwashing facilities and that health providers in some of the Least Developed Countries do not have running water is impossible to reconcile, especially when we live in a world of such abundance and of such profound innovation. This stark example of global inequality can and must spur us to action.”
5. Wide shot, Deputy Secretary-General Amina Mohamed walks up to podium
6. SOUNDBITE (English) Amina Mohamed, Deputy Secretary-General, United Nations:
“By 2040, one in four of the world’s children under 18 – some 600 million– will be living in areas of extremely high-water stress. The COVID-19 pandemic has starkly reminded us that water and sanitation are among the keys to fighting infectious diseases. Yet 3 billion people, especially in rural areas and least developed countries, lack basic handwashing facilities at home.”
7. Med shot, Mohamed at the podium
8. SOUNDBITE (English) Amina Jane Mohamed, Deputy Secretary-General, United Nations:
“The COVID-19 pandemic is a human tragedy. But it has also created an opportunity to build a more inclusive and sustainable world and make peace with nature. The Sustainable Development Goals, with water and sanitation as a key enabler, provide clear guidance for transformation we need.”
9. Wide shot, GA with Egypt Prime Minister on screen
10. SOUNDBITE (Arabic) Mostafa Madbouly, Prime Minister, Egypt:
“It is my duty to convey to you the concern of the Government and people of Egypt concerning recent developments in the Ethiopia Renaissance Dam. This project is the largest hydroelectric dam in Africa, and we have spent a decade of painstaking negotiations with our brothers in Sudan and Ethiopia to reach a balanced and just agreement allowing the one hand Ethiopia to achieve its development goal, and on the other hand allowing us to limit the environmental, social and economic damage inflicted upon Sudan and Egypt. Unfortunately, these negotiations - which took place in various bodies, over long years, with the participation of mediators, international partners, and under the sponsorship of our African brothers - these negotiations did not lead to the desired agreement. Quite to the contrary, in recent years, we have seen an approach from Ethiopia aiming to impose a policy of fait accompli, and to take unilateral actions without taking into consideration the rights and interests of the two downstream countries.”
11. Wide shot, GA podium
General Assembly President Volkan Bozkir today (18 Mar) said billions of are facing the COVID-19 pandemic without basic handwashing facilities, a “stark example of global inequality can and must spur us to action.”
Addressing a one-day high-level meeting to promote the implementation of the water-related goals and targets of the 2030 Agenda in support of the implementation of the Decade on Water and Sustainable Development (2018-2028) and the high-level political forum on sustainable development (HLPF), Bozkir said this, and the fact that health providers in some of the Least Developed Countries do not have running water “is impossible to reconcile, especially when we live in a world of such abundance and of such profound innovation.”
Deputy Secretary-General Amina Mohamed told the meeting that “by 2040, one in four of the world’s children under 18 – some 600 million– will be living in areas of extremely high-water stress.”
She said the COVID-19 pandemic “has starkly reminded us that water and sanitation are among the keys to fighting infectious diseases. Yet 3 billion people, especially in rural areas and least developed countries, lack basic handwashing facilities at home.”
Mohamed said, “the COVID-19 pandemic is a human tragedy. But it has also created an opportunity to build a more inclusive and sustainable world and make peace with nature.”
She stressed that the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), “with water and sanitation as a key enabler, provide clear guidance for transformation we need.”
In his address to the meeting, Egypt’s Prime Minister, Mostafa Madbouly, spoke of the dispute over Ethiopia’s Renaissance Dam project.
Madbouly said “this project is the largest hydroelectric dam in Africa, and we have spent a decade of painstaking negotiations with our brothers in Sudan and Ethiopia to reach a balanced and just agreement allowing the one hand Ethiopia to achieve its development goal, and on the other hand allowing us to limit the environmental, social and economic damage inflicted upon Sudan and Egypt. Unfortunately, these negotiations - which took place in various bodies, over long years, with the participation of mediators, international partners, and under the sponsorship of our African brothers - these negotiations did not lead to the desired agreement. Quite to the contrary, in recent years, we have seen an approach from Ethiopia aiming to impose a policy of fait accompli, and to take unilateral actions without taking into consideration the rights and interests of the two downstream countries.”
Today’s meeting showcased solutions in various contexts, and identified lessons learnt and best practices in implementing the water related targets and goals.
