UN Briefing: Addressing Global Water Challenges and Accelerating Progress on SDG 6 (Water and Sanitation)

Date:                                    October 9, 2018

Rapporteur:                   Nermin Ahmad, IFBPW UN Rep., nerminkahmad@gmail.com

Attendees:                  Mission Representatives, NGOs, UN Agencies

Presenters :                  Paul D. Egerton, WMO Representative to the United Nations

Federico Properzi, Chief Technical Adviser, UN-Water Technical Advisory Unit

Juwang Zhu, UN-Water Secretary and Director of the Division of Sustainable Development Goals, DESA

Moderator:                   Leanne Burney, Programme Officer, UN-Water Technical Advisory Unit

Subject:                  Addressing Global Water Challenges and Accelerating Progress on SDG 6 (Water and Sanitation) at the Country Level – Technical Advice Concept note

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                         

Summary: Propose High-Level UN Conference on Water and Sanitation to focus global commitment and action, and address critical gaps and find synergies notably with respect to climate change, disasters, drought and financing. Most attendees in favor; concern to break silos, collaborate with other initiatives.

Action Items:

1. Activate women to press their governments to:
   1. Accelerate progress on SDG6 and related targets at country level
   2. Review, share and advance actionable solutions
   3. Break silos is panning, financing, decision making and foster partnerships with civil society, private companies, across sectors, within the country and across the region for true multi-stakeholder responsiveness and collaboration.
   4. Increase accountability and engagement – human-rights based and gender-responsive approach.
2. Press for cross-silo streamlining of decision-making to link global agendas and processes and mobilize resources to enable critical change to happen.

Synopsis :

• This is 2^nd year of Second UN Decade for water (the last was launched after the visionary Mar del Plata Conference in 1977)
• Currently only 3 hours are devoted to water issues every 4 years at the High Level Political Forum (HPLF) for Sustainable Development – the conference would enable a deep dive, and a correlation among the many disparate yet related initiatives and activities on-going globally.
• Lack of action has an impact on economic development; food security; health; peace and security; and gender equality. Demand for freshwater is estimated to grow by 40% through 2050; yet the world is off-track to solve the global water crisis. Today 2.1 billion people lack safely managed drinking water and 4.5 billion lack access to safely managed sanitation.
• Water governance structures remain weak and water related ecosystems continue to decline.
• A High-Level Conference would bring the issue to high scrutiny, and could be expected to have a similar benefit as the same initiative for Oceans – last one 41 years ago and this is critical issue.
• 32 UN Agencies and 42 Civil Partners already collaborating as the UN Water Secretariat which gives the process a head start – now need mandate, funding, and organization and can set it up within 18 – 24 months.

Background:  http://www.unwater.org/publications/un-water_technical_advice_concept_note_addressing_global_water_challenges_and_accelerating_progress_on_sdg-6_at_the_country_level/