 Thank you once again for attending stronger through water the U.S. government hosted event to showcase domestic and international action on water security. It is now my great honor to welcome Ambassador Linda Thomas Greenfield representative of the United States to the United Nations to deliver welcome remarks. Good evening. Wow this is a good evening everybody. You guys are tired? Did we keep you too busy today? Let me start by welcoming all of you to the New York Public Library and this is such a special venue for this important event. Mayor I've been planning to come to the library since I got here to New York and I didn't do it so I look forward to coming back for a real visit but before I get my remarks started I just want to extend sympathy to one of the co-hosts of the UN water conference to Jikistan where a horrible earthquake took place and to express our our deep sadness our hearts are with you and with your people. Tonight we're fortunate to be joined by local, state, federal and international leaders in particular Mr. Mayor thank you so much for co-hosting this event with me and for being such a strong partner for all of our UN initiatives and Assistant Secretary Medina thank you for making the trip to New York and for bringing a special guest with you and for all you do to advance clean water. I see you over there in the corner clean water initiatives and let me tell you it's been it's been a while since I felt this kind of buzz in at the UN. This morning I saw lines of people waiting to get into the conference stretched around the block I hope none of you were in those lines because I think most of the people who were there are still in line because they were long. I think there's so much pent-up demand because we haven't had a UN water conference since 1977 that's right 1977 it's hard to believe in this long overdue and I'm sure that many of you who are in the room weren't even around in 1977 I was. For most of us privileged to live in New York we don't have to worry about whether our water will turn on in the morning or whether we'll have access to sanitation services but not everyone around the world including too many people here in the United States enjoy such certainty or confidence as we speak billions of people across the globe lack access to safe drinking water and sanitation or regularly face water scarcity billions that's with a B and then and here's the most troubling part we're headed in the wrong direction a 2022 study by the University of California Los Angeles estimated that almost half of the world's population will suffer severe water stress by 2030 for me this isn't an abstract problem over the course of my life I've seen the impacts of water issues with my own eyes my home state of Louisiana is facing the devastating consequences of rising sea levels and as a refugee coordinator stationed in Africa when I was a bit younger I met with countless refugees who didn't have enough water to meet their basic drinking cooking and sanitation needs in my current role I have traveled to so many countries where conflict and climate change have ravaged water supplies and exacerbated food security the water crisis is a humanitarian crisis it is a security crisis it's a moral crisis and it's a global crisis one that demands global cooperation and the UN water conference is a perfect venue for such cooperation it's an opportunity to come together around shared goals and to turn our shared goals into concrete actions because it's not enough to simply talk about what needs to be done as president Biden likes to say don't tell me what you value show me what you budget and I'll tell you what you value for our part the United States is committed to action to making major investments in water security at home and around the world and we're excited to show you our budget just yesterday I was proud to announce that the United States is committing 49 billion dollars toward equitable climate resistant water climate resilient water and sanitation investments that's 49 billion this announcement builds on the first ever White House action plan on global water security the action plan laid laid out an innovative and unified approach that brings together us diplomatic and development twos as well as science and technology to respond to rising global water insecurity and this plan engages civil society and the private sector to support a more water secure world for all since the launch of the action plan our targeted investments have helped to provide more than five million people with water and more than six million people with sanitation eighty percent of those reached with sanitation services had never had access to sanitation here's what these numbers tell us it's within our power to stamp out water insecurity to ensure farmers have enough water to grow their crops and feed their communities to ensure that children can wash their hands and fend off disease to ensure the water that comes out of people sinks is safe and reliable these are basic needs they are fundamental to health to peace and to life and it's on us all of us the government civil society and NGOs to build a future where water flows freely for all so let me in by thanking all of you for being here thanking you for your commitment to that brighter future and with that I want to welcome the mayor mayor Adams the stage is yours please welcome mayor Eric Adams 110th mayor of the city of New York and I want to thank the ambassador for her powerful words and real signal of how the Biden Harris administration understands the imperativeness of the moment in their financial contributions and allocations of funds to our pursuit to ensure we have the proper protection of our water here and the ambassador is right of here in New York City and in America the issue of turning on their tap one's tap the issue of having water ever presence it's not an immediate threat to us but it is a real concern in New York City we have allocated $1.6 billion to retain a tanks in the Gwana section of our city where flooding is taking place we contributed almost $2 billion just to the infrastructure causes that we have here in the city but I want to take you a little further I take you a little further then that is the known when we talk about water think about the fact that 60% of our body is made up of water think about how you feel after a very difficult and stressful day and you're able to just soak in a hot tub or that morning shower that starts your day think about the real relationship that we have with water not any obvious but go deeper than thought to see the significance of water it is a liquid flu fluid that carries us in our mother's womb and always say we have two mothers one that gave birth to us and one that sustained us and as we leave the birth canal of our mother that physically gave birth to us we enter the reality of that fluid of mother earth and we have to ask ourselves have we been abusive to her have we loved her have we nurtured her have we created an environment where we shared the water supply and all of the natural resources that this wonderful planet has to offer and the question could be turned into an exclamation point if we all are united together and say yes there's a reason that United Nations sits on our East River and the Statue of Liberty is on the west side of Manhattan because we believe that we have to be united together on this issue this week is significant issue 50 years has have gone by before we stop pause and reflect it on what are we doing with our water what are we doing with our planet I really commend the United Nations leadership and so proud to have the ambassador here and she's bringing the imperativeness of this moment in highlighting it with a clear focus on our water and on our planet it's time for us to engage in real conversations with our young people to engage in real conversations on how we properly use water we have since the 80s reduced a third of our water's water usage in this city and there's a direct correlation between those countries that are struggling across the globe and the lack of water is tied to impoverished areas of the globe and many of us that are part of countries with in abundance we need to now reflect on our brothers and sisters and other parts of the region I strongly believe in the quantum physics theory that we're all connected to each other and I cannot do you harm without doing me harm it's the yin and yang but it's not only the two symbols that are connected to each other is the black dot is inside the white dot and white dot is inside the black dot so we are part of each other we need each other and it's time for us to recognize how much we need each other I know that and there's a universal call I believe right now across the globe that if you close your eyes and get away from the philosophical and political aspect of our existence and start tapping into our inner being we will see that 60 percent of water is connected to the water that are in our oceans connected to the water that we drink connected to the water that unites us connected to the water that held us in the wombs of our parents now it's time for us to be gentle and kind and nurturing to the mother that say stained us I'm willing to do that and today your presence is telling me that you are willing to do that let's do it together thank you