Norway
Norwegian Delegation
Statement ? Discussions on Water Tuesday 1 March 2005
Mr. Chairman;
Norway would like to focus on two important points in this
intervention; women and integrated water resources management ?
IWRM.
We need to focus on women, we need to empower and to actively
involve them in our work. Women and girls are key agents of
change and they are the primary victims of lack of access to water.
We would like to refer to the report of the Inter-Agency Task
Force on Gender and Water: A gender perspective on water
resources and sanitation. This report gives us some specific
proposals how to integrate the gender perspectives in water and
sanitation, for instances when it comes to regional and local level.
We would like to see these proposals be taken care of in the chair?s
text and in our future work at CSD-13.
Mr. Chairman, you reminded us earlier that we should focus on
how we can overcome obstacles to deliver on the targets. We
would like to focus on IWRM plans as a prerequisite to deliver on
the water and sanitation targets in a sustainable manner. For most
developing countries, the implementation of this target requires
acceleration.
IWRM can take many forms depending on factors such as social
and cultural backgrounds and the economic situation in each
country.
There is no universal standard, and there should not be either, for
what an IWRM plan should look like. What is of importance is
how each country plans to change their ways of developing and
managing water resources so they can take specific steps they
consider appropriate for their country. The plans should articulate
the first steps that the country intends to take to improve water
management.
The development, use, and management of water resources must
be harmonized in order to ensure that human activities and the
environment can effectively benefit from the valuable water
resources. Overall IWRM plans should be conceptualized around
the water basin, but adopted at the national level.
The responsibility of preparing such plans resides with the national
governments, the process should be open-ended and include all
stakeholders.
The 2005 plans should be considered as the first step towards
achieving full scale sustainable water resources development and
management, and should be reviewed and revised as
implementation proceed. This calls for strong political will. The
plan should be endorsed and adopted at the highest political level
and it should be reflected in and build on national development
plans, such as poverty reduction strategies.
Thank you!
Statement ? Discussions on Water Tuesday 1 March 2005
Mr. Chairman;
Norway would like to focus on two important points in this
intervention; women and integrated water resources management ?
IWRM.
We need to focus on women, we need to empower and to actively
involve them in our work. Women and girls are key agents of
change and they are the primary victims of lack of access to water.
We would like to refer to the report of the Inter-Agency Task
Force on Gender and Water: A gender perspective on water
resources and sanitation. This report gives us some specific
proposals how to integrate the gender perspectives in water and
sanitation, for instances when it comes to regional and local level.
We would like to see these proposals be taken care of in the chair?s
text and in our future work at CSD-13.
Mr. Chairman, you reminded us earlier that we should focus on
how we can overcome obstacles to deliver on the targets. We
would like to focus on IWRM plans as a prerequisite to deliver on
the water and sanitation targets in a sustainable manner. For most
developing countries, the implementation of this target requires
acceleration.
IWRM can take many forms depending on factors such as social
and cultural backgrounds and the economic situation in each
country.
There is no universal standard, and there should not be either, for
what an IWRM plan should look like. What is of importance is
how each country plans to change their ways of developing and
managing water resources so they can take specific steps they
consider appropriate for their country. The plans should articulate
the first steps that the country intends to take to improve water
management.
The development, use, and management of water resources must
be harmonized in order to ensure that human activities and the
environment can effectively benefit from the valuable water
resources. Overall IWRM plans should be conceptualized around
the water basin, but adopted at the national level.
The responsibility of preparing such plans resides with the national
governments, the process should be open-ended and include all
stakeholders.
The 2005 plans should be considered as the first step towards
achieving full scale sustainable water resources development and
management, and should be reviewed and revised as
implementation proceed. This calls for strong political will. The
plan should be endorsed and adopted at the highest political level
and it should be reflected in and build on national development
plans, such as poverty reduction strategies.
Thank you!
Stakeholders