President Áder: Water Panel commits to doubling investments by 2021

Budapest (MTI) – The development banks party to the High Level Panel on Water (HLPW) have made a pledge to double the amount to be spent on water-related investments in the next five years, Hungary’s President János Áder said.

“We have taken a step forward, thank God,” Áder said after the meeting, held on the sidelines of the Budapest Water Summit 2016.

The participants were also in agreement that if nothing changes in the next 15-20 years, a water crisis may emerge in the world, which must be prevented, Ader told a press conference after a meeting of the Panel on Tuesday. He said assets worth some 15 trillion US dollars are endangered and if no action is taken the value of wealth at risk could triple by 2050.

Participants also agreed that the pace of financing and investments must be accelerated and new innovative financial solutions found to help water developments, and that banks must support new technologies in the water industry.

Further it was agreed that experimental programmes must be launched worldwide to be able to prevent the water crisis, which would affect billions of people.

The HLPW was set up by UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and World Bank Group President Jim Yong Kim with the aim of accelerating progress on meeting Sustainable Development Goals.

Photo: MTI

Source: MTI