Excellencies,
Distinguished Delegates,
Ladies and Gentlemen,
It gives me great pleasure to welcome both the ocean community and water community to our side event today.
Freshwater ecosystems and marine ecosystems are often considered separately and managed in silos. Yet, they are fundamentally connected within the hydrological cycle.
It is a plain fact that many SDG 6 targets cannot be achieved without meeting the SDG 14 targets, and vice versa. The quantity and quality of available water is closely tied to ocean health. At the same time, the health of our ocean partly depends on effective coastal and inland management of water and sanitation.
Advancing efforts to achieve these SDGs requires integrated cross-sectoral and collaborative approaches to water action and ocean action.
As mentioned by Ambassador Zacarias, we brought water and ocean communities together at the High-level Symposium on Water which took place during the UN Ocean Conference in Lisbon. That meeting of minds highlighted the need to raise awareness of the fundamental interlinkages between land, freshwater and the ocean, and to invest in science, education, and concrete action for integrated management and decision-making.
Today the freshwater and saltwater communities meet again on the margins of the UN 2023 Water Conference. It is a strong testimony of your commitment to join hands in an integrated and synergized approach.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
All parts of our hydrological system are under siege as our freshwater and oceans face the brunt of climate change, biodiversity loss and pollution.
It is only by working together that we can address this triple threat and ensure our water and ocean resources are utilized in a way that promotes sustainability, equity and resilience.
UN DESA, as the Secretariat of the UN 2023 Water Conference and the UN Ocean Conferences, and as a member of UN-Oceans, will continue to work closely with all partners to design and deliver science-based solutions. We will continue to bring actors and stakeholders together for transformative and impactful actions to achieve the targets set out in SDG6 and 14, and the 2030 Agenda as a whole.
I am confident that the collaboration between the water and ocean communities will be stronger than ever when we meet again in Nice in 2025 for the UN Ocean Conference.
I thank you.