UN-Habitat Arena - UN 2026 Water Conference: Urban housing roadmap (WUF13)

Ladies and gentlemen, I hope you can all hear me even at the back.
If you can't, please raise your hand and I'll try to raise my voice.
My name is Rose Christine Kaag.
I come from Uganda and here at this 13, I come in as the chair of the Global Water Operator Partnership Alliance, pa.
I'm the chair of the Assembly, but I also work as a Senior Director for National Water and Sewage Cooperation in Uganda.
I will also mention that I'm the Senior Vice President for the International Water Association, and I'm happy to be here.
Excellencies, distinguished ladies and gentlemen, good afternoon.
There's a lot of noise in the background, so I need to know whether you are with me.
It's my pleasure to welcome you to this important and timely session on the UN 2026 Water Conference Urban Housing roadmap and on our keynote theme, the transversal and transformative capacity of the economies and beyond of Water and cities.
This session is strategically very important as a flagship contribution from the UN Habitat Arena to the 2026 United Nations Water Conference to help bridge the critical connection between urban housing policy, water security, and sustainable urban development within the framework of the Wolf 13.
The discussions that we've been having emerging from this woof and feeding into the Bakk for action remind us that housing cannot be discussed separately from water sanitation, energy, climate resilience, urban productivity, ICT, and many other important subjects.
Cities cannot be sustainable if utilities are treated as an afterthought in housing and urban development.
Today, cities across the global South and the global North are facing immense pressures from rapid urbanization, climate change, economic uncertainty, pandemics, conflict, and inequality.
At the center of these pressures is always the critical issue of water.
Water is more than a utility service.
It's an economic infrastructure, health infrastructure, climate, and social infrastructure.
If we do not integrate water and sanitation into housing and urban planning, we risk deepening inequality, vulnerability, and exclusion.
Another strong message is that our solutions must be people centered and context specific.
This session, therefore, seeks to advance a practical housing and urban services roadmap towards the UN Water Conference 2026, with a strong focus on implementation, financing, partnerships, and empowered local leadership.
We call for a new mindset to move beyond being only seen as service providers and becoming strategic partners in shaping resilient, inclusive, and economically vibrant cities.
If we get water right, we get cities right.
This afternoon, to take this conversation forward, I'm really delighted to introduce an outstanding panel of renowned speakers and thought leaders who will challenge our thinking, inspire new ideas, and help propel us towards renewed momentum, and give us practical action in advancing the growing urban housing cities and shaping a more inclusive, resilient, and sustainable urban future.
As is common to many ladies, I'm going to improvise.
Our executive director will join us later, and when she does, I'll give the floor to her.
But I would like to start by welcoming our keynote speaker, Henry Avik, the Executive Director Commissioner, Global Commission on the Water Economies of Water, to come and give his keynote address.
Thank you, you're very welcome.
I just heard in the corridors that he arrived at 5:00 A.M.
Gave him a very big round of applause.
He has won very many hats.
He has served presidents across the globe, and his CV is packed with a lot of experience.
I just picked that you've been part of the cabinet, I have picked that you are leading the mobilization of resources for finances to support water and sanitation.
You are a great person to know, to hear, and to get to listen to.
Hank, you're most welcome.
Thank you.
Thank you, Rose.
And it's great to be here at the World Urban Forum.
I just arrived this morning, so a little bit shaking for my two hour flight.
I prepared some slides to go through.
We have 7 minutes to get you up to speed to why water and urban are amazing match, especially this year and what needs to happen and come out of this urban form into the context of what's already happening multilaterally.
A I don't need to explain why water is important, I guess, for health, for the economy, for food, for climate, for biodiversity, for energy, and all the transitions that we're up for.
But water is taken for granted.
It's undervalued, uh, misunderstood, mismanaged, and it presents us now with massive dangers of water insecurity.
With the global commission that was launched in the lead up to the UN 2023 Water Conference, a conference I then led as ambassador to the UN for the Netherlands, we tried to create a safe space to explore the importance of water across the economy, a commission that looked at the economy through a water lens.
These were not water freaks and geeks, but people from around the world, presidents, scientists, community leaders, youth activists.
Two thirds of them never worked on water, and that's exactly why to understand the true value of water.
A and that value of water is better explained by the water cycle.
I present you with a picture, and I want to make sure that you understand.
When we talk when you hear water people talk about water, they talk about this side of the slide.
They talk about how water is in our rivers, in our soil, how we use it in our households, in our industry.
That is what we call bluewa and we mismanagement.
We abuse that water, we pollute it, and we overabstract our aquifers.
So there's a big challenge here.
But The bigger challenge, perhaps for water is on the left side of the slide.
It is where water comes from nature.
This is where water is not evaporating, but transpiring, transpiring from plants, from soil into the air.
And that transpiration of water is good for more than half of the rain on land.
Also, that rain that you had on, was it Sunday or Monday? Sunday.
Those rain events are becoming stronger and more and more impactful in the context of climate change.
So And these water flows not only connect regions, they connect us across the world.
So the amazing thing of water is not only that we need it for everything that we aspire for, it's also connecting us across cultures, across borders, across continents.
And that blue and green water you find in every SDG, of course, in 11, but also in every of the other ones.
So if we don't fix the stability of the hydrological cycle, we will never be able to deliver on those SDGs.
Now, why cities? Well, cities are plants.
This is where our economies, this is where our people live.
And that planning of lands, equity, justice at the heart is exactly how we plan to manage water.
So a clear and clean and stable hydrological cycle is about managing both water and managing lands.
And that is exactly part of that urban agenda.
Now, I Cities are at the core.
I already said, you know this more than anybody else.
At the Water Conference in 2023, we said we have to position water better in this multilateral process and the World Urban Forum kicks off a year with a forum here in Baku and then three Rio Cops decertification biodiversity, climate, and then we end in December in Abu Dhabi, and the dates just changed.
It's eight to ten December was no way to update date website yet, eight to ten December in Abu Dhabi in the UAE.
A conference co hosted by Senegal in the UE, and the question out of this forum is, what is the urban agenda that has to land in Abu Dhabi? That's the question for the panel.
That is the question, how do we make sure that we match that urban agenda with that water agenda in such a way that we can drive progress for health? Yeah.
Water, sanitation, and hygiene are driving equity, health, and opportunity for every family, every citizen and every community.
But it's also about water and prosperity, how water is linked and underpinning economic opportunities, jobs, but also energy transition, food security, industrialization, and yes, city.
And yes, of course, how water is related to nature, to biodiversity, and to climate change.
Last, contrary to water, cities have a forum, the World Urban Forum, the Urban agenda.
You come together.
You have U habitat, you have an agreed upon cycle of governance and accountability multilaterally.
Water has none of that.
There is no home for water at the UN, there is no agreed upon process, and there is no agreed upon framework how water moves across the multilateral system.
Water can learn from the urban part, can learn from the urban family, you could say, but also from the urban agenda.
And For the 26th Conference, 16 teams were defined.
I just plotted the World Urban Forum in them.
You find it everywhere.
It is not hard to identify cities in the water agenda, but to elevate that and bring that to Abu Dhabi is definitely a next exercise.
Next week, I'll travel tomorrow night to Du Chamber.
Tajikistan is the co host with the Netherlands of the 23 UNUN Conference, is one of the key leaders of water in the multilateral system and hosting again the Duchamba Water Forum as the preparatory moment towards the UN Water Conference in Abu Dhabi in December and the UN Water Conference in 2026 in Tajikistan again.
How can we team up is my question to you.
What is that water urban agenda that you want to see elevated in Abu Dhabi leading to Tajikistan in 2028, and how in this critical moment of time, next year, the SDD Summit, we're in the midst of UN reform, can we ensure that water is not left behind, that we institutionalize it in the right way, that we agree upon a framework that we can rally behind, and that there is a unified process that water can really drive transversely, like cities, the development agenda of the future.
Water and cities, an amazing pair.
Let's join forces towards 2026, 2030, and beyond.
Of course, not for me.
It's for all of you around the world, your families, friends that are in the midst of those cities that face the challenges you faced on Sunday of too much, too little and too polluted water.
Thank you.
Another round, please, for Hank.
A very inspiring presentation just to inspire us to think on how we move forward, how we take the message to the UN conference and beyond.
I would like now to move to the panel discussion.
I'd like to invite Mr.
Sebastian Harold, the Senior Policy Officer Energy Urban Development, Mobility Division, Federal Ministry of Economic Operation and Development, BM from Germany.
Sebastian has won very many hats across the world and in Germany, What is unique about him is a trained journalist and systemic coach, correct? That's correct.
That's correct.
I thought you would give a very big hand because to have a journalist in our midst is really important.
I'd like to also invite Norio Seattle, Senior Director, Water and Urban Development, Sector Office Age and Development Bank, and he has been in that position since 2023 and leads overseas operations and support in many cities.
And I'm just told has just signed an MOU, together with you and Habitat.
We're happy to have you here.
I would like to invite miss Rose Molohane, coordinator of the South African co founder Slum Dwellers International.
She is doing a lot on the globe with regard to the Slum dwellers.
I asked her as we were preparing for this, how is South Africa? And she said South Africa is on drip.
As far as the slum dwellers are concerned, we shall learn and hear more about that.
Please, another hand of applause for my namesake here.
I'd also like to call to the stage, Roso Amba Gonzalez, the General coordinator for international affairs for the government of Mexico City.
We're happy to have you here with us.
She has played several roles in Mexico and I We would like to know more about what you have to tell us regarding this very important question.
How do we take the message forward? I'd just like to start with a few thoughts from each one of you.
Just a few seconds thoughts on the presentation that Hank has made and on our topic today, starting with Rose.
Thank you very much, Rose, for allowing me to be part of the speakers.
But before I can make a comment on that, I will also want to make my own comment.
We are here talking about water, but there's no water on this table where we can drink and get more energy to talk.
But what Hank he said is very important that water is life and water should be there for everyone, and then who should take care of water.
It's a very important aspect of our discussion.
The cities are there to allow communities to have clean water.
SDG six talks about clean water and sanitation.
I think we have to dwell much on that and say, how can we make it happen, especially for the vulnerable and then the underprivileged communities.
Thank you very much.
Moving over.
Hello.
Yes.
Good afternoon, everyone.
Yes, I represent Asian Development Banks, Water and the Urban Development Sector Office.
So our sectors focus is really on SDG six and SDG 11.
So it's my immense pleasure to be here because it's from Baku to Ab Dhabi is super relevant to what we do in ADB.
So what I want to stress here is that we need to think urban issues as an ecosystem, as a system.
Not just looking at housing, water, sanitation, waste, transport as individual pieces.
By looking at these elements as an entire system, I think we can come up with a better solutions for integrated urban development, urban resilience, and the better services for the citizens.
Thank you.
Thank you, Mario.
Sebastian.
Yeah, thanks and good morning afternoon, everybody.
From the German Development Cooperation side, I can only agree with what the ADB colleagues said.
I think part of the work we are doing and I'm elaborating a little bit more on that later on is connecting the dots.
I think that's what Hank asked for to learn from the SDG 11 agenda.
I think there's a lot of things that could be explored together.
Thanks.
Thank you.
Moving on to Rocio.
Buenos Dias.
Good morning, everyone.
I come from a city.
That is not the building process doesn't finish.
We have a very important water related challenge in the contemporary world.
We live in a city that is in a metropolis of 24 million inhabitants and we have a record of water, which is also a story of inequalities and debt with the poorest ones.
The city of Mexico was built over the water, as you know, in the pavilion of the city of Mexico.
That was the beginning of the city and today we are desperately seeking for water.
As we are suffering from flooding related to the climate changes that affects all the cities.
What happens to us speaks about the present and the future of many cities around the world.
Thank you very much.
I was trying to get the translation, but I believe I believe you are concurring with what Henk had said and we will ask the team to bring us the translation sets for the team up here.
I would like to take this opportunity to welcome Excellency, the executive director, to come forward.
I would say she does not need introduction from us.
Please give her a big hand clap.
Okay.
Thank you.
She joins us at a time when we were just about to start the panel, but we would pass on to you.
In French, I know they refer to you as Mammy, the grandmother of your inhabitat and we know you've been very active this week with lots of things and supporting the Baco call to action and to ensure that were able to take a message across to the UN Water conference and beyond.
I'd like to invite you to give your keynote address and welcome to us.
Thank you.
Thank you so much.
Is it afternoon already? Yeah.
Good afternoon, everyone.
No, I think this is an excel on the conversation that took place here.
I was not able to follow, but it is an example of how we are connecting the dots with this World Urban forum.
The whole structure of the Word Urban forum around our new strategic plan in, of course, fully in line with the new urban agenda that we are reviewing this year.
And of course, our action on the ground and the key conferences and spaces that we have.
And the UN Water Conference is a key important UN event conference this year.
It will bring the member states.
It will bring also stakeholders together to discuss the main challenge that we have.
And then to be pragmatic, I believe we have discussed many issues during this forum.
We are discussing that we can bring to the conference.
Of course, our alliance of water operators is an important relevant mechanism that it's a public good that we are bringing to the other conference as as a way to make sure that water gets to the ones that are in need and that we have water to make this bridge.
It is also very interesting, very aligned with the spirit of the Wan Forum because it's about sharing knowledge.
It's about sharing expertise from all angles.
The other critical aspect is housing, which is the theme of this forum, and the priority of our strategic plan, housing and informal settlements, access to basic services.
So these are priorities for us.
The messages that we are going to bring to the UN Water Conference are related to that.
How is it that we can make sure that these 2 billion people that have no access to adequate water.
How can we make sure that 1 billion people living in slums have access to water? Of course, we need to have the water to provide and we are suffering with that because also another theme that we have discussed a lot during this forum, urbanization and urban planning is not occurring to date in synchrony with the nature.
Because we are sprawling.
We sprawl more in territory than in population, and this is generating a lot of pressure in our natural resources, including water.
So if we work around urbanization right, which means work housing right, because housing is the key driver of urbanization, we are going to automatically preserve this critical natural resource that is water.
And then finally, of course, if we build houses and if we are able to move people from camps, from informal settlements to proper housing, from the streets, right? If we are able to upgrade and improve the housing in the informal settlements, we will automatically bring this connection.
There are many bottlenecks for us to get there, and we are discussing all these bottlenecks throughout this conference.
They are not directly connected many times with the water sector or the themes that have been traditionally discussed in the water sector.
But this is where human habitat can contribute to the water sector, how we design land policies that are more sustainable from the environmental and social point of view, how we plan urbanization, how we plan our cities.
We had a full session around the Caspian Sea and how urbanization here affected the source of water, the Caspian Sea.
So having plans that are aligned, metropolitan growth, looking now at how secondary cities are growing because this is the moment to look at them.
They are accelerating their growth.
This is where the migration dynamics is happening where the migration flows are landing.
So we have to take care at the secondary cities.
We have been speaking a lot and it's on our strategic plan about the role of local governments, local and regional governments, role, the importance of having multi level governance.
So when we think about the whole governance of water, it doesn't respect or the the supply of water and the water resources that we have, they don't respect necessarily boundaries.
So we need to have governance systems that go beyond the boundaries from top down, horizontally, bottom up from all levels because the water courses, they go much beyond, but we need to have solid governance systems to make sure that water is there, it is equally distributed and gets to the ones who are now not assessing.
In a sustainable manner.
Working with local governments, working with communities, establishing participatory governance mechanisms to manage the territory and to look at water as a key source.
These are all aspects that we have been discussing that UNHAPT has been working throughout the years, that we are going to bring from our strategic plan, from our work, through this World Aban Forum to the UN Water Conference and towards, since I'm seeing Mexico here, the next World Aan forum in two years in Mexico.
But the key message here is we cannot dissociate the water discussion from the urbanization discussion and considering that housing is a key driver and that people living in cities are suffering for the absence and lack of water, we cannot dissociate water, urbanization, housing informal settlements.
And the role of the local actors participatory governance.
Perhaps this is the main message that I would like to share with you today.
And thank you so much for the speakers for this panel and for walking with us this road together.
Thank you very much, Your Excellency, for really putting into context what we need to think about and the direction we need to take and for very passionately reinforcing the fact that we cannot delink water and sanitation from the discussion of housing.
I'd like to ask that we stand up and take a group photo before Her Excellency leaves.
Please give her another round of applause.
I have to say.
Thank you very much, Excellency.
Thank you.
We'll continue with our discussion and moving to the panelists.
Again, I want you to give a hand to our distinguished panelists who are here to take on the discussion.
I'd like to start with Madame Rocio Rombera as the director from the City of Mexico, and knowing that that's where the next wolf is going, we would like to start with you with a simple question on the city water management in Mexico City.
I met someone from Mexico, I haven't been to Mexico and they were assuring me that it's a very diverse city with lots to see and lots to learn.
You have taught us in the city about linking housing, land and water security, especially to the informal settlements, and we want to look ahead from Baku to Abu Dhabi.
What key messages should cities bring to the 2026 UN Water Conference on integrating water, land housing and slum transformation to deliver inclusive and resilient urban development.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Comments.
Thank you.
I first and foremost, would like to share that we think it's essential to say that water is not only a common good, it's also a human right.
Water in our city creates a lot of inequality, and we can't disconnect the right to water, the right to living in a place that has proper and adequate services in a land that's not sinking under our feet.
The communities that are the most affected from the climate change are usually the ones with less resources, the ones that have less access to water, and the ones that in general suffer the most in cities like mine, the service is not a spread equally and this creates a lot of vulnerability.
This is not by accident, this is due to an inadequate policy that has been taking place for decades and this is just to the benefit of a few people and not for the majority of the population.
In Mexico City, the dependency on sources of water is not sustainable or efficient.
We bring the water from sources that are very far away from the city and it belongs to our own water bodies around river basins.
However, these are not protected and currently we have this vision to protect the river basin and metropolitan planning, working with the national and local authorities and with the national government as well so that we can tackle these issues and really protect our sources of water.
We really have a big project in this front so that we can really supply our river basins with more water.
However, and our infrastructure is very old, already at its 73% of lifestyle coal completed, we really need to work on renovating this infrastructure so that we can really count on new, more sustainable ways to supply the water to the city because we lose almost 40% of the supply just on the way to the city from such faraway sources.
In terms of informal settlements, we have to look at different points of view because these settlements are self built in land that has illegal tenancy and they present different characteristics.
Some of them are within territories that can totally be supplied with infrastructure, but others are in high risk areas or in protected areas.
This means we need to relocate these populations, which, of course, presents new challenges.
In this case, the water will always reach us because our city considers water as a right.
But nowadays, we are supplying all these settlements with trucks, with big pipes, and this represents an extra cost.
But in general, we know we need to meet this need from the population.
We also hope to relocate this population to safer places, which also implies other costs.
Also, of course, building new housing informal land with the services needed is another big plan.
Also providing them with schools, with roads and all of these implies extra costs when we really want to supply water to the people who are in these high risk areas or protected areas.
I also want to mention that the way we guarantee this right to water with such a broken and scarce infrastructure is that we're trying to understand under the rule of Clara Brugata our governor of the city, this principle that the right to water is completely essential.
This implies changing the decision making.
It means designing policy with the vulnerable territories in mind and not from the center outwards, more from outwards to the center and As our governor did mention in the past, is that we haven't been able to properly close the gap in this inequality, and this is the first priority that we have when we are present in forums like this.
This is an urgent existential need.
Reigns are becoming shorter, however, stronger as we saw here in Baku on the first day of the event.
The infrastructure we have in our city was designed for a climate that no longer exists.
So we need planning, transformation at a very deep level in the way we understand and collect and distribute water.
So we are trying to create a change of paradigm in our city considering all of this.
I want to share the constitutional proposal we are creating at the moment.
We created a Secretariat designed specifically to tackle the topic of water because the water is a full time job.
And they will allocate budget and create reports.
We have a water plan for seven years with seven axis security in front of extreme events, operational efficiency, universal access, repurposing of water, and a new legal framework.
What we really want to share with you is the program not as a product, but the process as methodology because we believe that this is something that can be recreated in other places.
We created this program through the citizenship participation.
We created monitoring systems in different parts of the city and the community made proposals.
The questions were simple but guided and we had very important answers through the population.
And then collect all this information as public knowledge, and then understand that we can have the power to create the biggest and most important innovation for the benefit of the people.
Of course, a lot going on in Mexico, very hard to cram it in just a few minutes, a lot to share with us.
But I think you pick on some of the words of policy, the need not to just think about new infrastructure at rehabilitation and to look at different approaches to deal with the issue of informal settlements.
I liked the word that you brought to the table that has resonated this week also the need for transformation.
I'd like to move over to Germany.
Hank Sebastian.
Because Rosie also mentioned the issue of policy, we know that Can you hear now? Okay.
I was saying that because Germany has championed a lot to do with urban development, climate resilience, and issues of policy, what decisive shifts in financing or policy reform and partnerships are now needed to embed water and sanitation at the core of housing and local governments informal settlement upgrading and how can we scale this to ABW? Thank you, Chair.
Indeed, Germany is strongly committed to integrated urban development.
This is what we see how we could connect SDG 11 and SDG six.
But we need certainly to recognize that the greater integration of urban projects across sectors is needed to achieve the SDGs as we know, how important SDGs 11 and SDG six are.
And For addressing rapid urbanization, being said, the ministry I'm working for within Germany development cooperation advocates for a cross sectoral integrated approach to foster sustainable and livable cities and at the same time strengthen economic development.
Moving to the water topic that is the core of this discussion, we are certain that adequate housing and decent living conditions in cities cannot be achieved without reliable basic services like water and sanitations.
To create development corporation, we are there to create favorable framework conditions together with our partners for those basic services like good governance, decentralization, integrated planning, financial independency, local authorities, and general on capacity building for policymakers and urban practitioners.
This is basically what our work is based on this Um, key urban sectors like housing and construction, mobility, water, and waste management and public spaces need to be more closely aligned.
And to come to your question, Chair, I think that's the first answer is that we need to have this silos between the sectors being taken apart and work more closely aligned.
We see that urban master plans could be something to bring this up from the beginning to just connect the dots when you start the planning.
This is very much related to the example you had from the Mexican side, um, Secondly, and most important, we need to mobilize more finance.
We know about the big finance gap that's all over a topic at this world Urban Forum.
And what we would like to present from the German side is a new initiative addressing both finance and alignment.
That's the Urban Water Catalyst Initiative, as a new global initiative that targets reform oriented public utilities to become economically viable and credit worthy.
Only then utilities can mobilize additional private capital to invest into access and quality service for all.
In this effort, and it's been mentioned beforehand as well, Germany supports and is working closely with the UN habitat and the Global Water Operators Partnership Alliance, Japa had the assembly on Sunday Java, for all those who don't know, supports utilities worldwide on peer to peer knowledge and skills exchanged through water operators partnerships.
These are steps towards this necessary shifts that you ask for.
Lastly, we need to highlight this nexus on water and cities at the United Nations Water Conference, end of this year, that's been presented by Hank.
And therefore, we are glad to see that utilities and public sector providers have recently been recognized as independent stakeholder group by U inhabited, which is great.
The Word Forum and the UN Water Conference are crucial for advancing cooperation and coordination for tackling major global challenges.
This is our understanding of this panel here as well.
Lastly, Germany plays an important role in the 26 UN Water Conference and its preparatory processes.
Germany is co chairing the interactive dialogue on water and multilateral processes during this conference.
We will bring the nexus between water and cities into the thematic discussions during the conference.
Germany is advocating for a regular intergovernmental process for water on this highest political level.
We are also supporting an inclusive preparatory process and conference and where all voices can be heard in a meaningful manner.
Thanks, Chair.
Thank you very much.
Thank you.
I thought, are you still with us? You would give a clap at least at the end of each person's intervention.
Let's move to Norio Asian Development Bank has a lot of experience with financing models.
Which ones are the most effective in integrating water and sanitation into the components of adequate housing, slum upgrade and urban development, and what is the key message going forward to Abu Dhabi? Yes.
Thank you for this important question.
The first, I would say there's no one model that works in all cases.
But the key point is, as I just said at the beginning, is to look at urban as an ecosystem or space.
So in that sense, like more upstream diagnostics or as Sebastian mentioned, master planning or spatial planning, that's a really a critical step to look at the urban as a space.
As a system.
So when it comes to the specific interventions, of course, we cannot include everything in a single project, but we need to look at the interlinkage between different sub sectors.
For example, if you want to support water supply systems, you need to think about what's going to happen to the wastewater.
If you want to have better urban drainage system, you need to look at solid waste management system because often solid waste clogs the drainage systems.
If you want to have a decent housing affordable housing, it's not affordable housing if it does not come with basic amenities, water, sanitation, energy, road, to any system.
So that linkage, I think is really important.
I want to comment on this affordability issue.
So affordability for low income households, this is a critical point, and it's often a challenge because, you know, local governments, water utilities need to strike a balance between affordability and financial sustainability.
But in many countries where ADB operates in Asia and the Pacific, it is often the case that bigger issue is on the financial sustainability.
So like water tariffs are often very subsidized, does not deflect the actual cost.
As a result, everyone is subsidized.
Actually, non poor are subsidized more than the poor because non poor tend to use more water.
So those aspects I think needs to be looked into more carefully.
And, I want to share one example of Dhaka, Bangladesh capital.
ADV supported communities standposts in informal settlements through our financing.
So I visited the town I visited the informal settlements and met the woman who recently started to receive these water supply services.
And then he came back she went back to her home and showed me the water bill.
And she was very proud to tell me that now she's paying the water bill.
And actually, she used to pay ten times or 20 times more to the water vendors before these water supply systems came.
So I think this is a really clear indication that if the good service is coming, then people including the poor are really willing to pay.
So we need to really see the importance of providing good, reliable services to the poor and the vulnerable our communities.
On the second point, I think I want to share the key messages of ADB's flagship publication called the Asian Water Development Outlook 2025, which we launched in December last year.
So there are four key messages coming out of it.
One is that we need to fill the large financing shortfall in water infrastructure, but we need to think about smarter financing, not just a bigger volume.
So we need to support a better enabling environment to attract more private capital to the infrastructure.
The second point is, The policy reforms are essential paying due attention to inclusivity, efficiency, and sustainability.
The panelists from Mexico mentioned about aging infrastructure, high non revenue water.
So those are really issues that are suffering many cities in Asia and the Pacific.
So we need to advance the policies to really address those critical bottlenecks.
The third point is governance.
Governance deserves much greater attention, and we need to support stronger local institutions, local authorities, local water utilities and governments with clear authorities and accountability.
And social inclusion is an essential part of supporting water security.
Last point is that ecosystems such as wetland, groundwater system, those are the foundation for all water services.
Hank mentioned the importance of not looking at the blue water but green water.
So we need to look at the water as our entire system to really advance the water agenda.
Thank you very much.
Thank you very much.
Thank you.
Now you're catching on.
Thank you.
Rose, as we try to draw the discussion to an end, you've heard from the keynote, the executive director, These big people up here, the story of Mexico and the challenges, how do we move from Baku to Abid derby? What key priorities and community driven messages should slum dwellers international bring to the conference later this year.
And briefly, please.
Thank you again very much, Rose.
We can talk about policies.
We can talk about systems.
We can talk about processes, but people don't have vote.
The discussion can happen in every gathering that poor people don't have water.
How does the policy going to give us water in a rural area? How does the system going to give me water when climate change has polluted the water that I'm supposed to drink? I can't build a house if I don't have water.
So how do you connect the supply of water to an informal settlement, whereby if you want me to change the way I'm building my house whilst I don't have water, how am I going to do it? So what I'm trying to say is that the talk that we talk should be in action on the ground.
Right now, we are faced with climate change.
And the rain that has come has polluted the water that I used to use at a rural area because I don't have a tap.
Technology doesn't give me any chance to get a better way of getting water.
I have to drink water from the river and now the river that I'm using is totally polluted.
And then when you come to the conferences, they said, Don't drink the water from the tap.
Drink the water from the bottle.
At my community, there's no bottled water.
How am I going to make it better for myself? What is it that governments that are talking about basic services? What is it that they are going to do for me and my community to get clean and safe water and sanitation? This is high time that when we move from Baku to Mexico, we come up with the solutions that will really meet the needs of the ordinary people at the community level.
Yes, you are talking about the finance.
When you go to the urban areas where we stay, our municipalities want us to pay for water whilst unemployment rate is rocket skying.
Where do I get finance to pay for the water? Right now, water has occupied more space than the Earth.
But still, we don't have water, especially the vulnerable and the people from the rural community.
Yes, I agree with the systems that we are talking about.
I agree with the policies that you are drafting.
But now my question is, when do we engage each other to feel the pains that the people from rural areas, from urban and informal settlements are feeling.
Why don't we allow the engagement like this to continue at the national level, the regional level, and the local level, whereby ordinary people can be listened to so that they can raise their voice and be understood so that they can raise their challenges when it comes to housing, land, basic services, water and sanitation.
For now, we are still continuing to use peat toilets.
We are still continuing to use the bush where we can relieve ourselves because there's no sanitation.
Our governments are talking nice talks, but the implementation of the nice talks is barely done on the ground.
So my message to Mexico is that We want to be the people that are put at the center of the decision making because most of the people who are facing the challenges are the ones that are there on the ground.
We need to see systems that are creating relevant partnerships, the partnership that includes the people themselves.
It should be the partnership that is practical, not the partnership that is written on paper.
You are talking about the green water, the blue water, all of that, we wanted both the elite, both the educated, both the governments, and ordinary people.
Let's come up with a system that is relevant, that will be embraced by all of us.
Water is important for everyone.
Maintenance of infrastructure, it's another important thing.
La.
The last thing.
Yeah.
Maintenance of infrastructure in the urban areas is very important.
It's not happening in my community.
I'm giving an example.
Sewer is running on the street, but I'm having a flush toilet.
And my municipality, when I invite them, they always give promises.
Local government, national government, they are all Mr.
And misses promises because they are not meeting the promise that they are giving to us.
So let the policies not become promises, but it should be actionable process that meet the needs of the poor.
Thank you very much, Rose.
And as you can see, she went past Abu Dhabi right through to Mexico.
And that means a lot that we need to do.
She's also elaborated very strongly the need to put people at the center.
I'd like to invite Simon Edward Springer to come forward and give us his reflections.
He is the UN Secretary-General appointed as the UN Secretary-General, UN resident coordinator for Barbados and the Eastern Caribbean in 2024 with a distinguished career.
So please join us at the end and give us your reflections.
Thank you very much, Rose.
Thank you to all the panelists.
I know that we're running a little bit late, so my job is to be as brief as possible.
You know, I think hearing from our other rows, you know, we do have the lived experience, which I hope is really, really driving our ambition.
So let me close by carrying forward a single, I hope, clear message from Baku to take us to Abu Dhabi in 2026.
Housing, water, sanitation, land, and slum transformations are completely inseparable and must be delivered through integrated citywide approaches if we are to achieve SDG six and indeed all SDGs.
Further highlighting water as a human right and a precondition for human dignity.
This will only be possible if we place the city's water nexus at the center of all of our planning, empowering our local governments and utilities and backing them with coherent national systems to drive water security and urban resilience in line with the ambitions of the UN Water Conference.
So let's leave here and walk slowly towards Abu Dhabi, not letting go of that ambition and working hard to leave no one behind.
Thank you.
Thank you very much for that wrap up.
Ladies and gentlemen, the conversation will continue throughout the remaining days and beyond.
I believe we have contacts of people we have met.
The urban housing challenge is not simply about buildings, it's about people dignity, resilience, and opportunity.
We've also seen that it's very important to put people at the heart of everything.
When we get water right, we get and create cities that are more inclusive, resilient, and livable for all.
I'm reminded about Monday morning.
How many people remember Monday morning? I hope that how many people remember Monday morning? Sunday morning, Monday morning.
When did it rain? Say Sunday.
Rain does not fall on one roof alone.
That's the message I want us to take.
Rain does not fall on one roof alone.
Our urban and water challenges are shared and so must be the solutions.
I want to thank our keynote speaker, the executive director, our panelists.
Please give them a very big round of applause and I'll ask that we take the last photograph and also ask our mamaga to join us onstage, and please let's continue the conversation.
Thank you for joining us, and we wish to see you again next time on the same topic in another part of the world.
Thank you.