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| Accueil :| Actualités > A l'Elysée > 2003 > Mars

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Your Imperial Highness,
Your Royal Highnesses,
Mr Prime Minister,
Heads of State and Government,
Ladies and Gentlemen,

The international situation keeps me in Paris, even though I was looking forward to opening the proceedings of the Third World Water Forum with you. I would like to send you my sincere apologies for not being with you today to express my attachment for Japan, a great friend of France, and to talk with you about the issue of water, which is so vital for humanity.

The figures paint a terrible picture. More than one billion people have no access to safe drinking water. Two and a half billion people do not have access to basic sanitation. Millions of men, women and children suffer from water-related diseases. Of the eight billion inhabitants living on earth in twenty years’ time, two thirds may face water shortages.

France rejects fatalism in this regard. As the host of the June G8 Summit, France has made sustainable development and the future of the African continent the priorities for the meeting. Water is a key issue in this respect.

Six years ago, the First World Water Forum in Marrakech signalled growing awareness of water issues. Last summer in Johannesburg, we set ourselves the goal of halving the number of people without access to safe drinking water and sanitation by 2015. Our task is simple now: we must attain this goal.

To reach it, France proposes that access to water should be recognised as a fundamental right. That each country should adopt an aggressive action plan. That we should promote partnerships with greater involvement of manufacturers and investors. That an international monitoring centre should be established to track attainment of the goals set in Johannesburg.

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Your Forum will address six issues that are critical for sound ecological and social management of water.

The issue of agriculture, which is the leading water user around the world. How can farming be made more economical, without affecting yields, through appropriate irrigation methods and the selection of suitable crops?

Then, there is the dismaying issue of waste. It is not unusual for up to 60% of water to be lost from distribution networks, even though modern procedures make it possible to reduce such losses to 20%.

The issue of rural populations’ access to water. We must be careful not to overlook these people. We should rely on techniques that local economic players can manage on their own, on financing that is suited to small-scale operations and on local community action.

The issue of quality. We must stop using rivers as open sewers and oceans as the world’s cess pit. We must enact and comply with waste standards throughout the world in order to limit the refuse produced by human activity.

There is also the issue of the fair price to be paid, which is a delicate political and social matter. By its very nature, water is a public good. Nobody can claim ownership of it. It is up to the community to define rules for ensuring adequate supply and proper sanitation along with rules to limit waste in the spirit of social justice, sound economics and respect for the environment.

Finally, there is the issue of cross-border resource management in the case of rivers and ground water. In view of the risk of disputes, I would like the Kyoto Forum to make progress towards identifying international principles.

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Effective water policies require considerable funds. These funds will come from official development assistance, when projects strengthen international solidarity, promote decentralised cooperation and provide support for NGOs. But funds will primarily come from the private sector. France encourages investors to increase their involvement. Let us look to the future. We need to come up with innovative and attractive ways to protect investments. I would like the Evian G8 meeting to be inspired by the remarkable recommendations made by the panel chaired by Governor Michel Camdessus, which are based on two key words: confidence and responsibility.

Confidence stems from a sound legal and financial framework. France proposes drawing up a Charter of general principles of good governance for water resources that sets out the rights and duties of each party.

Responsibility. We need to decentralise water management, mobilise local capital and rely on the people directly concerned. We will win the water battle with them, while according full respect to their needs, their traditions and their culture.

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These are, Ladies and Gentlemen, France’s ambitions as you start your work here. Will the twenty-first century be a time of tension and water wars? Or will it be a time of international solidarity and greater justice? The answer depends on our wisdom and our commitment.

Thank you.