NEW YORK, MARCH 22 – “Water is a cross-cutting issue that touches every aspect of sustainable development – social, economic and environmental, and that requires partnerships and new models of partnership and cooperation at the local, national, basin area and global levels”, said the Minister for the Environment and Energy Security, Gilberto Pichetto Fratin, opening an event in New York dedicated to Partnerships and Cooperation for Water, organized by Italy alongside the UNESCO’s World Water Assessment Programme, which Italy hosts in Perugia and supports since 2006.
“Italy – said the minister in view of his intervention at the plenary session of the second UN Conference on Water – has always been committed to working towards achieving the goals set out in the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, especially to providing financial support to the UNESCO-Perugia Programme, which coordinates the publication of the annual UN World Water Development Report”. The event was also attended by UNESCO Deputy Director General Xing Qu and the Director of the UNESCO World Water Assessment Program (WWAP) Michela Miletto.
The United Nations World Water Development Report – continued Pichetto Fratin – is the flagship report on water of the whole UN system and has become a benchmark since its first edition in 2003. This authoritative report provides Member States with specialized guidance in understanding the critical role of science-based knowledge to shape sustainable, water policies”.
Pichetto said he was stroked by the “vision” of the Report and convinced that it “will be inspiring for all the Water Conference participants. As I am sure that the concrete examples of partnerships and cooperation at the local, regional and national levels from Italy and other Countries that we will share in the second half of this side event, will contribute to strengthening our efforts to address the global challenges on water within the Water Action Agenda”. (@OnuItalia)
