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Statement by Senior Vice Minister Motoo Hayashi
Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport, Japan
The twelfth session of the Commission on Sustainable Development
New York
29 April 2004
In March of last year, Japan hosted the 3rd World Water Forum. It drew 24,000
people from around the world and became the largest international event of its
kind in Japan?s history. This would not have been possible without your
cooperation and support, and I take this opportunity to thank all the parties
involved once again.
Last month Secretary-General Annan established the Advisory Board on Water and
Sanitation under the chairmanship of ex-Prime Minister Hashimoto. Also, in
January 2005, Japan will host the UN World Conference on Disaster Reduction.
Thus we are profoundly aware of the great responsibility Japan has within
international society regarding these issues. At the 3rd World Water Forum, the
Ministerial Conference produced a Ministerial Declaration consisting of 29
sections and created the Portfolio of Water Actions compiling approximately 500
voluntary programmes from around the world as specific outputs of the
conference. During the twelfth session of the Commission on Sustainable
Development we hosted side events on the Portfolio of Water Actions. In
cooperation with other countries and international organizations, we hope to make
significant progress in this vitally important area. We also welcome further
involvement by the UN in the Portfolio of Water Actions and other initiatives for
the effective solution of water and sanitation issues.
On a related subject, Japan will continue efforts to promote integrated water
resources management on a global scale. In addition to helping to develop water
supply and sanitation facilities, we regard initiatives for flood and debris flow
disaster measures as of great importance as we see more and more suffering and
damage being caused by such disasters in Asia and other regions around the world.
For this reason, since the 3rd World Water Forum, Japan has been actively engaged
in creating the ?International Flood Network? for the reduction of the damage
caused by flooding, the ?International Sabo Network? for the reduction of damage
caused by debris flows, and, in cooperation with other countries and international
organizations involved in this area, the ?Network of Asian River Basin
Organizations? for the purpose of enabling river basin ma nagement organizations
in Asia to share information.
We welcome the active contributions of other countries and international
organizations in this and other related efforts.
