When someone mentions water, what springs to mind? Perhaps clean lakes, rivers and seas to swim in, or an abundance of fresh drinking water. Whilst this is currently the reality for many Europeans, thanks in part to EU laws, I however also think of the devastating droughts and floods we experienced during the last summers, and the billions of people around the world lacking access to safe drinking water and sanitation. Unless we act, this will get worse in the years to come. 

The reality is we either have too much water, or too little, while our demands for water are increasing. The water crisis is already here. This is why President von der Leyen announced an initiative for water resilience next year. 

We need to become a water resilient and strategically autonomous continent, or we will face unaffordable economic, environmental losses and social imbalances. We need to prepare, adapt and keep freshwater ecosystems healthy, moving away from managing crises towards proactively managing risks. 

Water resilience is also at the heart of preventing and addressing current and future health, food and energy crises. Lastly, water resilience promotes transboundary water cooperation, as a catalyst for peace and security. Countries are connected through rivers and groundwaters. Water should be a source of cooperation and not conflict. 

So let’s appreciate the true value of water. Let’s enable and mobilise our soils, our forests, our wetlands and our oceans to fix the global water cycle. Let’s invest, innovate and utilise new technologies. And let’s cooperate to safeguard this precious common good.

 Director-General of DG Environment, Florika Fink-Hooijer