Mar 2011

World Water Day: Secretary Clinton on Water

Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton On World Water Day
March 22, 2011
The World Bank
Washington, D.C.
 
SECRETARY CLINTON:  Thank you.  Good afternoon in this absolutely glorious fora with so many people who do the work every day that makes the World Bank such a respected institution.  It is my pleasure to commemorate World Water Day with you.   
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Personal transitions

I’ve changed positions and professional affiliations, revealed here in an interview. Read More...
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Tears in the rain: climate change, infrastructure, and sustainable development

Cross-posted with the Center for Strategic and International Studies

Water suffers from an awareness gap: many aspects of our food, energy, forestry, and health care securities intimately depend on freshwater, but these linkages are often ignored. When demand is low or water is plentiful, sloppy coordination usually has few consequences. But water resources are also among some of the most responsive aspects of the global climate system. I believe that one of the most difficult challenges for developing economies will be managing water resources in ways that do not make poor nations and communities poorer, generate international conflict, or trash freshwater and riparian ecosystems. In practice, this will mean that policymakers will have to build and operate water infrastructure to function under a much larger range of conditions than we can accurately predict today. And that also means that climate-sustainable water policy will need to be incorporated beyond the water ministry and merge into agriculture, energy, urban planning, health, and even foreign policy.
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UN must act soon to address threats on water in Africa, globally

As water in Africa is under grave pressure from climate change, and these threats will become more severe and complex in coming decades, the United Nations climate change body (UNFCCC) must formally address the need to integrate water issues with development aid, adjustment to climate change impacts, and reduction of greenhouse gas emissions. This was the joint message from African ministers and water experts attending a three-day UN-Habitat World Water Day conference in Cape Town.
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