Participation of the PABSEC International Secretariat to the OECD Water Days events, 22-23 March 2021
Mr. Miltiadis Makrygiannis, PABSEC Deputy Secretary General, attended the Water Days events, organized virtually by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), on 22-23 March 2021.
On the first day of the event, the OECD Secretary General Mr. Angel Gurría, who kicked off OECD Water Days 2021, presented the overarching policy guidance developed by the OECD for governments to strengthen their water policies, especially as part of country recovery strategies – notably the Council Recommendation on Water.
The OECD Council Recommendation on Water adopted on December 2016 and provides a unique source of policy guidance that help address the pressing issues that central and subnational authorities need to respond to, covering a wide range of issues including, water quantity and quality management, the management of water-related risks, governance, and pricing and financing water services and infrastructure.
Policy makers from countries that have adhered to the Recommendation shared their vision on pressing issues on the global water agenda and their experience on how to accelerate action, and underlined the importance of the OECD Toolkit for Water Policies and Governance, which includes a compendium of good practices, compiles policies, governance arrangements and related tools that facilitate the design and implementation of water management practices in line with the OECD Council Recommendation on Water.
On the second day, the session took place under the title “A more transparent water governance for a stronger recovery”. The panelists, among them, experts and parliamentarians, pointed that the COVID-19 pandemic has demonstrated the critical importance of sanitation, hygiene and adequate access to clean water to contain the spread of the virus, especially for the 3 billion people lacking basic handwashing facilities and those living in precarious living conditions.
Taking stock of the ongoing recovery packages and countries’ efforts to build back better, it was underlined and discussed in details the crucial importance of integrity and transparency to catalyse needed finance and achieve United Nations Sustainable Development Goal 6 (SDG 6), on "clean water and sanitation for all".