May 2023
Responding to the varied but critical water challenges around the world — too much, too little, too polluted — the United Nations convened the first Water Conference in nearly half a century at its New York headquarters in March 2023. Beginning on World Water Day, 22 March, the three-day conference was designed to accelerate progress toward universal access to safe water and sanitation by 2030. This aim is identical to the UN’s internationally-agreed Sustainable Development Goal 6, and it was hoped that the conference would lead to a burst of action toward achieving that goal.
Although clean water is essential for human life, statistics indicate that we’re facing a global water crisis. A quarter of the world’s population lacks access to clean drinking water, and over 800,000 people die every year from diseases directly related to unsafe water or inadequate sanitation. Moreover, the impacts of climate change are exacerbating water problems everywhere. The World Meteorological Organization reports a 134 percent increase in floods since 2000 and a 29 per cent increase in drought duration.
As António Guterres, UN Secretary General, summarized it: “We are draining humanity’s lifeblood through vampiric overconsumption and unsustainable use, and evaporating it through global heating.” He called on governments to develop and implement plans to ensure all people have equitable water access while conserving this precious resource. …
The Conference ended in broad agreement that water should be treated as a global common good, inseparable from the climate crisis, food, energy and national security. A new UN envoy for water was created, along with plans for a new UN scientific panel on water; and almost 700 voluntary commitments to a new Water Action Agenda were made by local and national governments, nonprofits, and some businesses. …
Meanwhile, the UN’s latest Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change report presented its direst warning yet for humanity to quickly move away from fossil fuels or else suffer more intense heat waves, droughts, floods and other disasters. Key takeaways include a new focus on equity and justice — protecting the most vulnerable people — and the acknowledgement that water-related risks are growing and will accelerate with each degree of warming. An urgent call for action is the bottom line, emphasizing that every fraction of a degree of warming we can prevent matters, that we can prevent the worst climate effects by swiftly cutting emissions; and that nature can be tapped for solutions. …
