2022-11-24
Prof. Shahbaz Khan
UNESCO Representative to the People’s Republic of China
Thank you very much for inviting UNESCO to this wonderful River Summit and focus on the Yellow River. Let me give you some ideas from UNESCO, about what we are doing in the areas related to water and culture.
I would like share you some of the ideas in China and around the world on the related programs. Certainly, Great Rivers Forum & Yellow River Summit are very important developments in terms of our links with the rivers, our understanding of the civilizations as we know, the prolificity of water experts, their excellences. China has more than 5,000 years of history which is linked with the two important Mother Rivers, the Yellow River and the Yangtze River. I have the honor of working with both of these rivers for more than 20 years, especially in the area related to water efficiency and water management, but also very importantly, with water and culture in areas. As you know, the Grand Canal links important rivers all over China, which is a UNESCO World Heritage. Many of UNESCO World Heritage Sites are linked with the rivers as well as the intangible cultural heritage.
In my 10 minutes, I will be giving you some of the related ideas, but let me first highlight UNESCO’s Intergovernmental Hydrological Program (IHP), which is going through the ninth phase. This particular program is a very long-term program of UNESCO since 1965. It started with the Decade On Water, then we have several phases of the IHP. The focus of IHP, now is “Science for a Water Secure World for a Changing Environment”.
Also, a very important aspect is integrated water resources management, especially under climate change, under global change, and also looking into Sustainable Development Goal Number 6. A very important area is looking into bridging the data and knowledge gaps. There are five priority areas: Scientific research and innovation; Water education (and I see water and culture as part of water education) — water education in the Fourth Industrial Revolution including Sustainability; And how can we bridge the knowledge and data gaps. That’s where we need exchanges between different river basins. And also very importantly, the work on ecological civilization, which is a very important development for integrated water resource management and governance. The river chief system here in China, is a very important development where we have seen wonderful ecological benefits which have been achieved by the restoration of rivers and lakes. Water governance, that’s where I see the River Chief system.
The areas related to water and culture are all very important. Your forum is very much linked with what UNESCO IHP is doing. We have a number of outputs of which water and culture is a very important part. I’m also very pleased to note to you that at the last Asia Pacific Water Summit in Japan, water and culture have become now the new thematic area for Asia Pacific. With the Asia Pacific Water forum, I’m leading that area for the Asia Pacific from UNESCO.
Let’s look into the values of water. There is the Nature’s water, the water as it comes through the hydrological cycle with the evaporation from the oceans and all the way coming to our watersheds. As the water falls on ground and travels through our landscapes, it links with our lives, links with our environment. So, we can say there are environmental values. There are economic values as societies have nourished with the availability of surface and groundwater. The rivers certainly have played a very important role in different parts of the world. As for social values they are linked with water, such as hygiene, food, special rituals and special sports. Then the cultural values. Culture is a very important part of the river systems. This is something people are recognizing more and more. Culture is linking with religion and beliefs, but also Tangible Cultural Heritage like the hydraulic structures as well as the dams along it. And intangible heritage, including some of food, the special rituals, music and the festivals, all of them are linked together. So, we need to think of the river culture as the tangible river culture with the structure and infrastructure overall and intangible cultural heritage with the special food, ritual festivals, and how do we link with that. Of course, also the governance, in my view, all of these things are intertwined together.
I would also like to highlight that there is a need for exchange between the Great Rivers linked with the climate change risks for peace and sustainable development. IPCC has been putting a major emphasis on water management if we have to manage the climate change. That’s where the role of the river is, the river organizations, and the summits and festivals, such as what we are holding, are very important in understanding our links with the major shocks, such as climate change. Climate changes link with water and water links with the culture, and then the international exchanges for them.
Ladies and gentlemen, it’s very important to understand water is a connector for peace, culture, and sustainable development. To understand SDG 6, from data and information to capacity building, to innovation, to good governance and financing. We need to think about culture linking all these aspects of river basin management together. Also, very importantly, UNESCO is organizing a number of events around the world, including the Water Summits on Groundwater, but also looking into climate risk, vulnerability and resilience. There would also be a 2023 UN Water Conference. The water and culture would be a very important area to be brought into these discussions. Local indigenous knowledge and the special tangible heritage and intangible heritage along the rivers, are very important part of the considerations for this Water Conference and Water for a Sustainable Development Decade from 2018 to 2028. We should carefully think about the water culture alliance from 2018 to 2028 bringing Great Rivers together.
UNESCO has been working on large rivers and river culture: How can we learn from the river to live with the river? What are the values in river ecosystems? How humans have adapted with the rhythm of the river? And how did we transform traditional cultural uses into modern management and ecosystem services? At river basin scale, how to link rivers with the political management of the river systems? There are a number of publications.
As I said before, in China, the Chinese civilization, more than 5,000 years old, between the Yellow River and Yangtze River, has really brought a lot of heritages. Many of the ideas are related to UNESCO water programs like Global Geoparks and Biosphere Reserves. We have 56 World Heritage Sites in China, one of the largest, only two less than that of Italy (58). And water played a very important role with most of these heritage sites with the special ecological systems. I gave you the example of the Grand Canal which is a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 2014. But you can also imagine the links with the other important sites as such as the South China Karst system with the Lijiang River — a very iconic river, which I recently visited in the Guangxi Province. And the links with the Yellow River and Ancient Capitals like Kaifeng and the amazing Heritage (Anyang Yin Ruins) there. That’s where UNESCO programs linking with UNESCO sites and with the tangible and intangible heritage, can be a very interesting way for us to map the values of rivers, especially the values of cultural aspects, at the same time, the progress over time.
Ladies and gentlemen, there is a need to develop water education linking with UNESCO’s programs and river culture, to develop international understanding for exchange between different River Basins. Water is a basic human right, the global citizenship, and the education for intercultural understanding between different river basins. So, we have education for sustainable development and global citizenship education linking with UNESCO programs, such as the World Heritage which I described to you, but also with intangible heritage with many advisory programs and with the UNESCO Creative Cities. There are 16 UNESCO Creative Cities in China and more than 40 Global Geoparks in China, which is a very large number.
We have organized the Great River Forum in partnership with Wuhan, in 2018, which brought together experts from all over the world. That was a wonderful exchange between Great River civilizations and the high-quality development for a sustainable future. We are continuing to follow up. There would be another Great Rivers Forum in near future.
River culture, is like life as a dance to the rhythm of the waters. We are now developing a very important book, which has links with the ecological systems, but also with the cultural diversity and the links between different human civilizations, for example, along the Silk Roads, the river civilizations such as the great civilizations of the Yellow River and the Indus River. And there are river civilizations all the way to Central Asia. So, that can be a very important theme for a shared prosperity and people-to-people exchanges. Some of the lessons from the studies which will be available very soon as a book. We will be very happy to share it with you. There are similar drivers in different social economic dynamics. Along the river cultures, there are tipping points which are approaching fast with the climate crisis, as you’ve heard, recent crises on water and floods in Pakistan, with the Indus River civilization. There has been similar challenges with the Yellow River and the Yangtze River here in China. The management of floods and droughts is a big area. We need to carefully continue to understand what is a sustainable use of water and how can we manage against disasters.
Also, inter-generational and cultural disruptions linking with the political and overlapped with economic systems are the key areas which have changed the destiny of many civilizations. A very important message is: There is NO return to “good old times”. Cultural use may have several forms which changes over a period of time. Like with the industrialization and the development in China, there is lesser use on the agriculture crops such as rice but the more use for the higher value end of the river water uses. The new civilization emerging from that similar phenomena can be seen in the younger civilizations, like Murray-Darling Basin, where we have seen the shift from the agriculture to more urban and more towards industrial uses.
Such things are happening. Nature-based Solutions are becoming more and more important learning from our path toward sustainable innovations. River awareness can help bend the curb. That’s where I emphasize. Again, we need to develop specialized curricula for education, for sustainable development and global citizenship education. We can be brought together at the level of the local governments. This can be an area where UNESCO can work with you. Climate change as a driver linking the different civilizations. I gave you the example of Pakistan and China and Australia, but there are other river basins like the Citarum’s river basin in Indonesia and the cleaning of that river, with some of the rivers and the lakes here in China. Good governance is needed for the entire river basin approach. That’s where I really congratulate the Chinese government for the wonderful work on ecological civilization with the river chief system which takes the whole river, whole lake approach.
With that, I thank you. I look forward to linking with you. I wish you a wonderful forum and great deliberations that can be synthesized, be shared with the river basins across the world. Thank you. Have a wonderful forum!