UN General Assembly
2018

The global water crisis affects us all, in the form of increasing droughts, floods or pollution. As a member of the former High-level Panel on Water, I hope that the agenda for water action we presented earlier this year will inspire others to scale up their action on water. We need to give the value of water greater weight in the economic, social, environmental and other choices we make. For the Kingdom of the Netherlands, that is self- evident. Amsterdam airport is the only airport in the world that lies below sea level — over four metres below sea level, in fact. So those present can imagine that rising sea levels and the increase in extreme weather are of serious concern to us, as they are for the Caribbean parts of our Kingdom, which are especially vulnerable during the hurricane season.