“Water is too often taken for granted, although there is a growing awareness of its scarcity and the importance of enjoying it freely to promote a lasting and sustainable economic growth, but also to prevent conflicts over the availability of resources,” said Deputy Foreign Minister Marina Sereni while attending the webinar presenting Earth Technology Expo 2022, which will also host the Summit entitled “Mediterranean Ecosystem: climate, water, agriculture, energy, emergency management.”
“In areas like the Euro-Mediterranean region, where temperatures rise faster than the global average, we have entered collaboration agreements with partner countries and highlighted the urgency for more effective cooperation projects to incorporate environment and climate action in all sectoral policies. The Italian Development Cooperation is actively engaged in supporting partner countries to achieve efficient and inclusive management of water resources. That is why we finance many initiatives across the Mediterranean such as those in Libya to protect the human right to water and promote sustainable management of waste, as well as contributing to the Gaza desalination plant project. We are also involved in regional interventions like the project developed together with Bari CIHEAM to promote technological innovation for sustainable management of water and marine resources among the younger generations, ” explained the Deputy Foreign Minister.
“We also need to act promptly if we want to reduce the risk of natural disasters becoming all the more frequent thus causing the unprecedented rise in humanitarian needs we have seen happening in recent years. Prevention is the only way to link early warning to timely actions designed to protect families and their belongings before they are hit by an adverse climatic event. That would allow for lives and livelihoods to be protected, while the pressure on donors’ financial resources can be relieved. This is why preventive action is a priority of Italian humanitarian aid, even though it’s currently limited to Sub-Saharan Africa,” concluded Deputy Foreign Minister, Marina Sereni.
