No. 082/04
Berlin, 29.03.2004

Margareta Wolf calls for more to be done to ensure a safe supply of drinking water

Margareta Wolf, Parliamentary State Secretary in the Federal Environment Ministry, has issued a renewed plea for greater international efforts to provide more people with access to clean drinking water. Speaking at the opening of the Global Ministerial Environment Forum of the UN Environment Programme (UNEP) in the South Korean city of Jeju, Margareta Wolf also called for the further development and upgrading of the UNEP.

The Parliamentary State Secretary gave the following statement: "In Germany, we take it for granted that we have a secure and affordable supply of water and an effective basic sanitary infrastructure. Yet these are things that over a billion people worldwide live without. This is why Germany and its EU partners are pressing for action to be taken in order to actually achieve the ambitious goal set by the international community". The aim is to halve the percentage of the global population living without access to safe drinking water and effective sanitation by 2015.

Another subject for the ministerial conference in Jeju is the strengthening and further development of the UN Environment Programme, headed by Klaus Toepfer. Ms. Wolf emphasised that the decisions of the UNEP must enjoy a broad legitimacy. At present, only 58 UN Member States are involved in taking decisions. "The German government believes," said Wolf, "that all UN Member States should have a seat and a vote in the United Nations’ environmental body. It is completely unacceptable that questions of survival for this planet are given second-class status at the United Nations. The UNEP must therefore be upgraded to a UN Environment Organisation and placed on an equal footing with the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), the International Labour Organisation (ILO) and the World Trade Organisation (WTO)".

Almost 100 environment ministers and state secretaries from 120 nations are taking part in this year’s Global Ministerial Environment Forum, organised by the UN Environment Programme. The conference will conclude this Wednesday.