Toespraak van de Prins van Oranje, 25 oktober 2007

Toespraak | 25-10-2007

Water and Microfinance: exploring the engagement of two sectors

Excellencies, ladies and gentlemen,

On behalf of my mother and my wife, I would like to thank you for being here today. And I would like to thank the Embassy for organizing this extraordinary event, gathering practitioners and policy makers from two countries and two worlds. Because, yes, to many people water and microfinance seem to be two separate worlds. Not in my own marriage though, as you might have noticed from the respective UN positions my wife and I hold. Today feels like the engagement is celebrated between the two beautiful sectors we are so passionate about. And India is the perfect backdrop for this celebration.

You might be wondering, what exactly should this engagement between micro finance and water achieve? Aren't we all extremely busy achieving those Millennium Development Goals on water and sanitation? Isn't microfinance just the flavour of the day after a successful International Year on Microcredit and the Nobel Peace Prize won by Mohammad Yunus? We invite you to walk with us and find that we are on to something valuable here. For there are more synergies in these sectors than we might think at first sight.

Ladies and gentlemen,

The UNDP Human Development Report last year explicitly expressed that, when it comes to water, there is a growing recognition that the world faces a crisis that, left unchecked, will derail progress towards the Millennium Development Goals and hold back human development. World wide 1.2 billion people do not have access to safe drinking water and 2.6 billion people lack access to adequate sanitation. As a result every year some 1.8 million children die from diarrhoea and other diseases. That equals 5000 children per day, every day again. More people die from water related diseases than from HIV/AIDS, a staggering conclusion knowing that the solution is readily available in the form of sanitation and hygiene. The great and immediate impact of sanitation can no better be illustrated than by the British Medical Journal, that recently chose sanitation as the greatest medical advance since 1840. The technology is there, what we need now is the political will to end this misery.

I know that a lot of work is being done and, as chairman of the United Nations Secretary-general's Advisory Board on Water and Sanitation - UNSGAB - I am impressed to see that your country is "on track" for the MDG drinking water target and is working hard to bring the target for sanitation closer.

The UNSGAB Board and a number of UN-bodies are working on the MDG target for Water and Sanitation. In this context it is a pleasure to announce next month's official launch of the International Year of Sanitation, on the 21st of November in New York. This launch is the start of a global awareness campaign for sanitation, promoting the central themes of health, dignity and development and I hope India will participate actively in this important year.

But there are many more good reasons to put our efforts in sanitation. Investing in MDG-7's sanitation target yields multiple returns. Every dollar invested triggers 7 dollar productive activity, a multiplier that should appeal to the business and financial sector. And how can we realize the other Millennium Development Goals without adequate water and sanitation provisions? How can we achieve universal primary education - MDG-2 - if girls are required to provide their families with the daily supply of water and simply don't have the time to go to school? For the very same reason MDG 3, the empowerment of women and gender equality also will not be achieved without first solving the water supply and sanitation situation. The same applies for MDGs 4, 5 and 6: the reduction of child mortality, improvement of maternal health and combating major waterborne diseases like malaria and diarrhoea can only be achieved with hygiene and sanitation, the best form of preventive healthcare I think is available to mankind at this moment.

Although domestic water issues are often the first issues the general public can identify themselves with, as they touch their daily lives through health and dignity, a water manager will approach the precious and scarce resource water has become in a more holistic way. Good management is needed to deal with food production, industry, energy, biofuels, floods, droughts and ecosystems to name but a few. Population growth and climate change will have a tremendous effect on water allocation.

Last month Rajendra Pachauri, chairman of the Nobel Peace Prize Laureate IPCC, told us that climate change is likely to add to several stresses that already exist in the poorest regions of the world. Also here in India many people will be exposed to an increase in water stress due to climate change. Coupled with increased demand, this will adversely affect livelihoods and exacerbate water-related problems. Earlier this year the IPCC report for Asia already mentioned that in India, "gross per capita water availability" will decline from around 1,820 cubic metres a year to as low as around 1,140 cubic metres a year in 2050. If you consider 1700 cubic meter per capita to be the minimum not to be faced with water stress, this is an alarming statistic! At the global level, the UN Climate Change Conference in Bali next month should translate our growing awareness of the climate challenge in concrete action aimed at further reducing emissions of greenhouse gasses and the implementation of adaptation measures. The biggest critics of the climate debate should also take heed of these warnings; even if they were to be proven right and the current warming of our atmosphere is a recurring natural phenomena on which humanity has no influence - for discussion purposes let's call this the very very best case scenario - the last time this warming occurred mankind consisted of a few million with a very basic, nomadic lifestyle. Now we are approaching the 6.5 billion and are projected to grow to around 10 billion with trillions and trillions of dollars invested in all kinds of infrastructure to provide a minority with a lavish lifestyle. Is it too much to ask this minority to contribute to the future of our planet and see it as an insurance premium for a disaster that in the best-case scenario might never happen, but will have devastating effects on future generations if even the most conservative estimates of the IPCC do materialize?

The message should be more than clear: we are facing unprecedented challenges, also in managing our water resources. Of course, here in India, with its arid lands, its recurrent floodings, its depletion of ground water, pollution of surface - and ground water resources, and more than a billion people needing food and water every day, you are more than aware of the magnitude and diversity of this water challenge.

Working on solutions, it is necessary to tackle the problems at the right level and the right scale. Global problems need a global approach. Local problems have to be solved locally. We have to follow both lines, macro and micro, top down and bottom up.

Today we hope to explore with you, how micro solutions and microfinance could help achieve access to water and sanitation. Microfinance in India and the rest of the world is growing explosively. The Self Help Groups in India alone now reach about 30 million very poor people. By enabling these people to save in a secure way, make payments in cash and take loans, they can manage their resources more effectively. Microfinance can thus be a powerful enabler for achieving many of the MDGs, particularly on poverty, education, health and gender, for rural and urban people alike. In order to reach sustainable and efficient microfinance, it needs to be integrated into the mainstream financial sector and not be treated as a project or as aid.

So, looking at the global challenges of water, sanitation and climate change: where exactly do we see water and microfinance teaming up for the solutions? That is the question we put before you today. I will briefly share some ideas here.

As I said, lack of hygiene and absence of clean water puts a severe health and financial strain on the productivity of families, preventing them from investing their valuable time and money in, for instance, education, or starting a small business. Across the world we have seen approaches to address these problems by using microcredits for micro solutions like small scale rainwater harvesting, water purification, water reuse and storage. Microcredits and savings are also used in sanitation schemes, like credits for micro entrepreneurs that construct latrines or even sale of composted excrement. Mrs Nair will be able to tell you more about these experiences.

We know climate change increasingly puts small farmers in a very vulnerable position. Their crops are destroyed by too little or too much water. We also know that big irrigation schemes in arid places will not be the answer; they simply put too much stress on the scarce water resources. Microfinance can help to reduce the vulnerability of farmers. Small and environmentally sustainable irrigation schemes could be set up with microcredits and risks of severe flooding or drought could be mitigated by micro insurance.

These are just a few examples of how microfinance and water can actually work together. Call it social engineering, participatory approach, the Bottom of the Pyramid, Corporate Social Responsibility or triple bottom line, we are in this together, private sector, governments, NGO's and CBO's, donors: as long as we partner up for the same goal.

Our distinguished speakers today will share their thoughts on the scope for models and partnerships that can take these two sectors to the next level. A marriage in the making!?

With two partners - water and microfinance -fitting so well together there's all the reason to celebrate their engagement. And of course we all know a healthy marriage provides room for quarrels. But like the great Mahatma Gandhi said: honest disagreement is often a good sign of progress!

I wish you a pleasant and fruitful day at the seminar and at the market place.

Thank you very much.