With billions of people lacking access to water, upcoming UN Conference to spur urgent action to address global water crisis
Safe water and adequate sanitation are central to building resilient, inclusive and sustainable societies
Media Accreditation Online Registration: Open until 10 March 2023
Over 100 countries are not on track to have sustainably managed water resources by 2030, a global threat to food security, health, economic growth and the environment. Accelerating international efforts to achieve a water secure world will be at the heart of deliberations at the UN 2023 Water Conference in New York from 22 to 24 March 2023.
Co-hosted by the Governments of the Kingdom of Netherlands and Tajikistan, the Conference is a unique opportunity to step up efforts to achieve Sustainable Development Goal 6: Ensure access to water and sanitation for All. According to the 2022 Sustainable Development Goals Report, the proportion of the global population using safely managed drinking water services increased from 70 per cent in 2015 to 74 per cent in 2020. However, approximately 2 billion people were without services that year, placing all other Sustainable Development Goals in jeopardy.
The main outcome of the Conference will be the Water Action Agenda – a series of bold commitments made by governments, businesses and communities to meet the global water and sanitation related goals and targets.
Briefing on the World Water Development Report (21 March)
There will be an embargoed UN HQ press briefing on the 2023 UN World Water Development Report (WWDR) on 21 March. The WWDR is UN-Water’s flagship report on water and sanitation issues and focuses on a different theme each year. The WWDR is published by UNESCO on behalf of UN-Water.
During the conference, in addition to six plenary sessions, there will be five interactive dialogues: 1) Water for Health; 2) Water for Sustainable Development; 3) Water for Climate, Resilience and Environment; 4) Water for Cooperation and 5) Water Action Decade. The official programme will be accompanied by four special events.
Four Special Events
Radical Collaboration for Water Resilience: Action with our greatest Allies in the Climate Crisis(Wednesday 22 March)
This event will explore how we need to rethink collaboration with our greatest allies in the climate crisis, if we’re going to achieve water resilience for all. Action is needed on the ground, and local communities and indigenous peoples hold the key to making that a reality.
Reducing Inequalities – implementing Human Rights (Thursday 23 March)
This event aims to put equality and human rights at the centre of the agenda addressing the global water crisis. Main contributors will be Indigenous Peoples as knowledge holders, peasant communities, people living in informal human settlements in the periphery of large cities, and people facing discrimination by descent, race, gender or age and those who are most impoverished and marginalized, with emphasis on the perspectives that women and youth offer.
The Economics of Water: transforming governance to secure a sustainable, just and prosperous future(Thursday 23 March)
This open dialogue is an opportunity to discuss the criticality of the Water Action Agenda; highlight the need for the global water cycle to be managed as a global common good and safeguarded through effective multilateralism; and illustrate the governance conditions that are needed for a more efficient, just and sustainable use of water from the local to the global level to achieve water security.
Water Leadership: Uniting for a sustainable world (Friday 24 March)
This event focuses on developing mechanisms and opportunities to ensure that the voices of youth, women, local authorities, Indigenous Peoples, and discriminated and marginalized communities, are appropriately reflected and integrated into all aspects of water leadership at the local, regional and global levels.
Key links
Press Kit: https://sdgs.un.org/conferences/water2023/media
Website for the Conference: https://sdgs.un.org/conferences/water2023
Follow live: UN WebTV
Programme: https://sdgs.un.org/conferences/water2023/programme
Water Action page: https://www.un.org/sustainabledevelopment/un-2023-water-conference-engagement-5-water-actions-you-can-take/
World Water Day campaign page: https://www.worldwaterday.org/
A List of Experts are available.
Media Accreditation
Registration for media accreditation is now open. Please note the following deadline:
Registration online: Open until 10 March 2023
For more information, please visit the UN Media Accreditation and Liaison Unit’s website or contact them at malu@un.org or +1 212 963 6934.
Social Media
Please follow us on the UN Water Conference and water-related issues, using the hashtag #WaterAction.
MEDIA CONTACT (Interviews with experts available upon request)
UN Department of Global Communications | Francyne Harrigan | harriganf@un.org
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