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Virtual Event: Scaling-up Water Access in SIDS – Lessons learned from Vanuatu

June 30, 2021 – The Global Green Growth Institute (GGGI), the Government of Vanuatu, and the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg co-hosted a virtual event on June 30 to share lessons from the successful implementation of the water access project in Vanuatu, in view of significantly scaling up water access in Small Island Developing States (SIDS) and enhancing climate resilience. Participants of the event gained insight into the experiences, the lessons learned from the project’s implementation and explored further opportunities to scale-up water access in SIDS.

GGGI Director-General, Frank Rijsberman, delivered opening remarks at the event to celebrate the successful completion of the project. “I’d like to thank the Government of Vanuatu and our teams on the ground for their strong effort under very challenging circumstances to complete this first project. I think it is a good sign for the strong commitment of the Government of Vanuatu to green growth and of the strong partnerships on the ground,” shared Dr. Rijsberman.

Opening remarks were also delivered by Luxembourg’s Minister for Environment, H.E. Carole Dieschbourg, sharing “Communities and people of Vanuatu probably know best how climate change can affect everyone’s daily life and how the consequences of this climate crisis are threatening our basic human rights …. The time to rebuild better and be more resilient has come and we really need to scale-up our ambition to address those challenges”. During her remarks, she also congratulated GGGI and the Government of Vanuatu on successfully implementing the project in Vanuatu and reaffirmed Luxembourg’s support for the project into the next phases.

Following the opening ceremony, a video of the project was showcased to demonstrate how the installation of solar powered water systems helped to bring benefits for 9,500 beneficiaries in the rural areas of Vanuatu.