The world today is further away from the climate goals decided in Paris at the end of 2015 than at the moment of their adoption, János Áder warned in New York at the Tuesday meeting of the UN's highest level water forum.
The former president of the republic, member of the UN Water and Climate Leadership Council, chairman of the board of trustees of the Blue Planet Climate Protection Foundation, said that the countries of the world also adopted the 15 goals of sustainable development in 2015. This was at least as important a decision as the adoption of the Paris Agreement, and in terms of which the world is further away from the goals than almost 8 years ago. Within this, we are also further away from the realization of the objective on water and hygiene than in 2015, János Áder pointed out.
Referring to the current challenges, the former head of state drew attention to the fact that the increase in population and energy consumption exponentially increases the demand for water. If current trends continue, by 2050, about half of the world's then-expected population will live in water-scarce regions.The Hungarian politician urged the increase of investments in water infrastructure and also pointed out that there are currently 32 agencies dealing with water and its various aspects within the UN, while four years ago there were 28 such organizational units. He asked the question whether this is the most efficient way of working and whether responsibility, analysis and resources should be concentrated.
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At the UN meeting, János Áder reported on Hungary's water-related measures regarding the maintenance of the 4,000-kilometer river dam system, the HUF 41 billion spent on biodiversity and the development of national parks in the past 10 years, and the creation of the Danube-Dráva-Mura biosphere reserve, unique in the world, with the participation of five countries. Among Hungary's achievements, the former president also mentioned that 95 percent of wastewater is returned to the environment after treatment.
Among the tasks to be carried out, he listed the action related to stopping the desertification of Central Hungary, the development of the meteorological information system in order to make better use of solar and wind energy and its networks, and the acceleration of the modernization of the water utility network.János Áder also presented the textbook on sustainability, developed for high school students, published by the foundation he founded.
The event is the UN's highest-level global forum in the field of water, which, in addition to Hungary, is attended by Australia, Indonesia, Japan, the Netherlands, South Korea, Sweden and Tajikistan, as well as by the High-Level Experts and Leaders Board dealing with Water and Disasters Panel on Water and Disasters).
The World Water Conference begins today at the United Nations, where former President János Áder will speak on Thursday, and Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Péter Szijjártó will address the debate on Friday.
Source: Magyar Hírlap
Featured image: MTI
