The prime minister emphasized the urgency of international cooperation on water scarcity and against drought this Wednesday in a speech welcoming the position of Brazil’s president-elect in defense of the Amazon rainforest.
António Costa spoke at the UN Climate Change Conference in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt, during the launch of the International Alliance for Drought Resilience (IDRA).
IDRA is an initiative of the Prime Minister of Spain, Pedro Sánchez, and the President of Senegal, Macky Sall, and the launch session was also attended by the Presidents of the European Commission, Ursula Von der Leyen, and of the Council, Charles Michael.
“As Prime Minister of a country that has experienced one of the worst droughts on record this year, I would like to congratulate the promoters of the initiative for launching this alliance and express our support and willingness to contribute to its transformation into a valuable platform,” he said. António Costa, addressed to Pedro Sánchez and the Senegalese head of state.
António Costa argued that no one can afford to face droughts and water scarcity anymore as a phenomenon related to extreme weather events, because their regularity shows that we are already facing the effects of climate change.
“And there is an urgent need for us to adapt to this harsh reality. Putting water scarcity and drought at the top of the international political agenda is essential to help us bring more stakeholders together, share knowledge, technology and experience. Droughts are a major challenge for our societies,” he stressed.
In the final part of his speech, the Prime Minister took advantage of his speech on environmental issues to convey that “it was heard with renewed hope that Brazil’s President-elect, Lula da Silva, renewed his commitment to combating the deforestation of the Amazon rainforest” .
“It is equally urgent that we move away from practices that affect the quality of groundwater and its pollution from fertilizers and other chemicals. In a world where 40% of the world’s population is affected by water scarcity, where 80% of wastewater is still is discharged to the environment and more than 90% of disasters are related to water, as the United Nations Secretary-General reminds us [António Guterres]there is an urgent need to strengthen water management,” he stressed.
In this context, the leader of the Portuguese executive defended that one of the priorities should be to prevent the waste of drinking water, with every citizen “contributing with small gestures to achieve significant water savings”.
“But we also need to act collectively to adapt our agricultural policy 3 to be more efficient with water and ensure fair trade between all,” he stressed.
In developed countries, according to António Costa, it is necessary to invest in water distribution infrastructure to reduce water loss.
“In less developed countries, we need to install efficient water distribution systems to ensure everyone has access to clean drinking water. It is also imperative that we take care of existing water resources,” he added.
Source: DN
