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Add to Preferred SourcesThe first UN Water Conference in almost half a century was held at the UN Headquarters on 22-24 March. The event brought together over 10,000 participants who addressed the crucial need for safe water, sanitation, and hygiene as fundamental human rights for health and well-being. The participants, both in person and online, agreed on and generated over 700 commitments towards a water-secure world.
Why does it matter?
The UN 2023 Water Conference marks a significant milestone in the global effort to ensure water resilience and security. At present, approximately 2 billion people globally still have no access to safe drinking water and 3.6 billion people lack access to safely managed sanitation. Moreover, water demand continues to grow, with fresh water projected to come under pressure by over 40% by 2050.
A day before the conference, the UN Education, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) published a report warning that without decisive actions the water crisis could escalate on a global scale. It pointed out that the global urban population facing water scarcity would double from 930 million people in 2016 to about 2.4 billion people by 2050 unless specific actions are taken.
“There is an urgent need to establish strong international mechanisms to prevent the global water crisis from spiraling out of control,” said UNESCO Director-General, Audrey Azoulay.
What of the commitments?
The participants at the UN 2023 Water Conference, including world leaders, civil society representatives, business leaders, young people, and scientists, tackled the water crisis looming at the global level and its impact on forced migration, climate change, and conflicts. Financing requirements were estimated to range from US$182 to over US$600 billion annually, highlighting the importance of new investments and innovations at scale in the water economy.
During the conference, over 50 prominent global companies agreed to come together and commit to achieving SDG 6, among other objectives. Private sector leaders such as Ecolab, Gap Inc., Reckitt, DuPont, and Starbucks joined hands with the U.S. government to invest approximately US$140 million in the Water Access Fund. Their collective aim is to provide access to water, sanitation, and hygiene to at least 5 million people.
Member states also made pledges to accelerate investments. For instance, the U.S. pledged to allocate up to US$49 billion towards investments in climate-resilient water and sanitation infrastructure and services. Japan pledged to provide financial assistance of about 500 billion yen (US$3.65 billion) in the next five years to help to tackle water-related social issues in the Asia-Pacific region.
As for multilaterals, during the conference, the Asian Development Bank pledged to invest US$100 billion globally towards the water sector by the year 2030 and US$11 billion specifically in the water sector in the Asia-Pacific Region.
Any room for optimism?
Addressing the participants at the conference, QU Dongyu, Director-General of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, called on all actors to “work together in an efficient, effective and coherent manner to co-create, co-design and co-advocate solutions, and to accelerate action on data and information, innovation, finance, capacity development, and governance to implement the Water Action Decade.”
UN Secretary-General António Guterres emphasized the importance of integrating approaches to water, ecosystems, and climate to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and strengthen communities. Guterres specifically highlighted the need for resilient infrastructure, water pipelines, and wastewater treatment plans, as well as early warning systems for natural disasters to protect everyone by 2027. He expressed his optimism for a water-secure future as he spoke at the closing ceremony of the UN 2023 Water Conference:
“The commitments at this Conference will propel humanity towards the water-secure future every person on the planet needs.”
The UN Water Conference was inaugurated in 1977 when the participants adopted an action plan which highlighted among other goals that “all peoples, whatever their stage of development and social and economic conditions, have the right to have access to drinking water in quantities and of a quality equal to their basic needs.” The 2023 Water Conference, the first since then, was co-hosted by the Kingdom of the Netherlands and the government of Tajikistan.