Agriculture Minister Calle Schlettwein says Namibia supports the proposed financing scheme at the United Nations Water Conference Action, which seeks to increase the income contribution amount to US$2 billion per year with the aim of reaching US$30 billion per year by 2030.
“The proposal to step up domestic financial resources is pivotal, but by no means the silver bullet solving everything,” Schlettwein said while addressing delegates at the ongoing World Water Week in Stockholm, Sweden.
“We are facing a global crisis which requires global solutions, including the financial needs for the water agenda. The current international financial architecture shows its age and is no more able to deal with a globalised world.”
The event is focusing on accelerating the implementation of the UN 2023 Water Action Agenda in Africa through the International High-Level Panel on Water Investment Action Plan. The High-Level Panel has proposed that an additional US$2 billion per year can be mobilised from African government budgets through a 20% budget increase to water security and sanitation.
Schlettwein pointed to the debt crisis, exchange rate trends, and the weaponisation of financial rules as factors that are fuelling inequality and making it difficult for developing economies to prosper.
He also expressed concern about the climate change crisis, which he said is having a severe impact on the water cycle.
“All these climatic changes are having severe effects on the water cycle making secure water supply more difficult, more expensive and often out of reach for developing countries,” he said. “Shortfalls in the required funding to address climate change and related water cycle aspects remain significant.”
In addition to the climate change crisis, Schlettwein also raised concern about the political crisis and political instability on the rise. He blamed the multilateral system of the United Nations as seriously skewed and no longer fit for purpose, with the majority of the global citizens excluded from decision-making.
“Our own African Union lacks the decisiveness to address continental political instability,” he said. “Economic and other resource scarcities increase the possibility of conflict, and water scarcity is one of them. The ability to solve transboundary disputes becomes less likely when political instability is on the rise. After all, development is not possible without political stability.”
Schlettwein concluded by urging the High-Level Committee to factor these challenges into their agenda and the Africa Water Investment Programme (API).
“We must remain optimistic, face these troubled times and create opportunities which live up to our responsibility to leave behind for the youth a world, which has rid itself from the intense difficulties we have created,” he said.
“We must now seize the moment and convert this potential into reality. We must pave the way for environmental sustainability while we industrialise, for political stability, to more evenly distribute the benefits, wealth and economic opportunities. As a High-Level Committee, as responsible investors, we have to show a way out of these crises. Let us be the leaders who lead everyone out of trouble.”
