The Fourth Asia-Pacific Water Summit (4th APWS), convening under the theme, “Water for Sustainable Development—Best Practices and the Next Generation,” opened in Kumamoto City, Japan, with in-person and virtual participation.
During the opening ceremony, Yoshiro Mori, President, Asia-Pacific Water Forum (APWF), welcomed participants to the 4th APWS. Fumio Kishida, Prime Minister, Japan, hailed the summit as an important opportunity to unite efforts for sustainable development in the Asia-Pacific region.
In a video message, António Guterres, UN Secretary-General, called for prioritizing financing to improve water management, better cooperation to enhance resilience, and accelerated action.
Kazufumi Onishi, Mayor of Kumamoto City, expressed pride in the city’s groundwater quality, which, due to historic lava flows, provides its people with “mineral water from the tap.”
In a keynote speech, Emperor Naruhito said the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) have rallied the global community to meet international development goals, but lamented that the water-related goals will not be met without considerably increasing efforts in this area.
Heads of State and Government Meeting
Japan’s Prime Minister Kishida presented the Kumamoto Declaration, pledging Japan’s support, including through sharing advanced technologies for improved water management in dams, sewage systems and agriculture, as well as financial assistance of ca. 500 billion yen over the next five years. He also called for the region to “speak with one voice” against Russia’s “outrageous invasion of Ukraine.”
Changhua Wu, APWF, read out the Kumamoto Declaration and called on the 4th APWS to address barriers, breakthroughs, opportunities, and ways forward for reform and improvement of the water sector in the three areas of governance, finance, and science and technology.
Heads of states and government adopted the Declaration, and presented country experiences in water resource management.
Parallel sessions were held on:
- Water and the environment: from source to sea, discussing the importance of the hydrological water cycle for nature and human societies.
- Water and disaster/climate change, which presented joint work of national and international organizations to address end-to-end efforts on water and climate change adaptation.
- Water supply, highlighting the need to improve governance and integrity, and the promotion of tariff models supporting sustainability and affordability of water.
- Innovation by youth, addressing how to meaningfully, intentionally, and purposefully engage youth to drive projects contributing to meeting the SDGs.
- Wastewater management, which discussed the need for well-organized governance, as well as investment through public-private partnerships, based on principles such as “polluter pays” and full cost recovery.
- Water, poverty and gender, which took up gender-inclusive and poverty reduction policies and initiatives related to governance, science and technology, and finance to address water security and risk resilience.
A special session showcasing model initiatives utilizing science and technology for governance and ways of promoting quality-oriented societies was also held.
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Heads of State and Government Meeting
Hun Sen, Prime Minister, Cambodia
Phankham Viphavanh, Prime Minister, Lao PDR
Sardor Umurzakov, Deputy Prime Minister, Uzbekistan
Kausea Natano, Prime Minister, Tuvalu
Emomali Rahmon, President, Tajikistan
Pham Minh Chinh, Prime Minister, Vietnam
Lotay Tshering, Prime Minister, Buthan
Joko Widodo, President, Indonesia
Rodrigo Duterte, President, the Philippines
Gotabaya Rajapaksa, President, Sri Lanka
Sadyr Japarov, President, Kyrgyzstan
Lionel Rouwen Aingimea, President, Nauru
Serdar Berdimuhamedow, President, Turkmenistan
Sheikh Hasina, Prime Minister, Bangladesh
Prayut Chan-o-cha, Prime Minister, Thailand
Dalton Emani Tagelagi, Premier, Niue
Jiba B. Kabua, President, Marshall Islands
High Level Statements
Amy Khor, Singapore Ministry of Sustainability and the Environment
Shri Gajendra Singh Shekhawat, Ministry of Jal Shakti, India
Paola Albrito, United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNDRR)
Water and Disaster/Climate Change
Daler Juma, Minister, Ministry of Energy and Water Resources, Tajikistan
Henk Ovink, Special Envoy for International Water Affairs, the Netherlands
Hiroshi Yamakawa, President, Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA)
Water Supply
Fuimaono Dominic Schwalger, Samoa
Simi Kamal, Chairperson, Hisaar Foundation
Atsushi Koresawa, Regional Representative for Asia and the Pacific, UN Human Settlements Programme
Water and the Environment from Source to Sea
Taizō Mikazuki, Governor of Shiga Prefecture, Japan
Ying Li, Southeast University, China
Elvira Apriana, Universitas Gadjah Mada, Indonesia
Water, Poverty and Gender
Panelists in the Water and Poverty / Gender thematic session, which shared initiatives addressing the link between gender equity and poverty reduction with water security and reduced risk.
Water & Sanitation / Wastewater Management
Panelists in the wastewater session shared experiences from Nepal, Vietnam, Bangladesh and other countries. They discussed institutional reforms to enable “right-sized” infrastructure and regulatory standards, and the need to increase investment for modern sanitation systems through public-private partnerships.
Youth Leadership & Innovation by Youth
Panelists in the session on Youth and Innovation addressed meaningful youth engagement in water resource management. They discussed case studies from the region and highlighted the importance of focal points and available resources to encourage greater youth engagement.
Special Session
Moderator Tetsuo Saito, Minister of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism, Japan
Han Seung-soo, Chair of the High-level Experts and Leaders Panel on Water and Disasters (HELP) and former Prime Minister of Korea
Yōko Kamikawa, Member of the House of Representatives, Former Minister of Justice, Japan