What is the UN 2023 Water Conference and why is it so important? Two experts explain
Deep dive
The first UN Water Conference in almost five decades is taking place in New York on 22-24 March, co-hosted by the Netherlands and Tajikistan.
It could be a ‘Paris moment’ for water, writes the countries’ Special Envoys for Water.
Around 3.6 billion people struggle to get enough water to meet their needs for at least one month every year, according to the World Meteorological Organization.
The Global Commission on the Economics of Water, launched at the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting in 2022, will report on game-changing ways to value and manage water as a common good.
Our global water system is in crisis. Despite safe water and sanitation being a human right, billions of people lack access to these essentials for life, according to the United Nations.
This month’s UN 2023 Water Conference – the first in almost 50 years – could be a watershed moment for UN Sustainable Development Goal 6: ensuring the sustainable management of water and sanitation for all.
These are the critical foundations on which many of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) depend, especially health, food, gender equity, education, livelihoods, industry, climate and the environment.
We hope it could result in a “Paris moment” for water – with outcomes as critical for water as the Paris Agreement has been for climate action.
What is the UN Water Conference and what are its themes?
Since the first UN Water Conference was held in Argentina in 1977, the Earth’s population has doubled to 8 billion people and demand for water is skyrocketing. The UN 2023 Water Conference is, as the UN says, the most important water event in a generation.
It also marks the halfway point through the International Decade for Action “Water for Sustainable Development”, adopted by the UN General Assembly on World Water Day – 22 March 2018 – to help put a greater focus on water.
Officially titled the "The United Nations Conference on the Midterm Comprehensive Review of the Implementation of the Objectives of the International Decade for Action 'Water for Sustainable Development', (2018-2028)," the Conference aims to raise awareness of the global water crisis and decide on action to achieve internationally agreed water-related goals.
Co-hosted by the governments of the Netherlands and Tajikistan, it will be held in New York on 22-24 March and support game-changing solutions for the multifaceted crises of “too much water”, such as storms and floods; “too little water”, such as droughts and water scarcity; and “too dirty water”, such as polluted water.
https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2023/03/un-2023-water-conference-experts-explain/