The UN’s 2023 Water Conference this week marks the first global freshwater conference held by the international organization in nearly 50 years. The event’s main output will be an international Water Action Agenda, made up of voluntary water management commitments from dozens of governments, businesses, NGOs and others. Done well, the Water Action Agenda will inspire the collective political will needed to finally tackle the pollution, scarcity, flooding and other water challenges facing humanity. Done wrong, it’ll be yet another empty promise in the face of mounting water risks.
As of March 18, 2023, the UN had received 400 water action plans, with more expected during and after the conference. But while the volume and diversity of commitments is commendable, WRI found that most are not strong enough to lead to substantial change in the world.
While dozens of commitments deserve praise for their scope, rigor and ambition, many lacked the proper finance, quantifiable targets and cross-border action needed to truly overcome water challenges. Still others failed to consider climate change or address industry and agriculture, some of the biggest water consumers.
Countries, multilateral organizations and others should look to the game-changing commitments submitted so far and step up with similarly ambitious pledges. Without more bold and innovative water management plans, the Water Action Agenda will fall short in its goal of “giving the world’s lifeblood the commitment it deserves.”
This Is the Moment for Water Action
While water is one of the most vital resources — essential for energy, food, security and human survival — water systems around the world are under stress.
The World Health Organization estimates that as of 2021, 2.2 billion people lack access to safe drinking water, while 4.2 billion don’t have adequate sanitation. One-quarter of the world’s population lives in countries facing extremely high water stress, where demand regularly outpaces available supply. Floods and droughts are becoming more frequent and severe due to climate change, exacerbating existing water risks.
Water also acts as a threat multiplier, precipitating or escalating political conflicts. For example, lack of access to water has exacerbated political tensions in many countries throughout the world, including Mali, Sudan, Kenya, Iraq and Iran.
What Does Ambitious Water Action Look Like?
Overcoming these complex, interconnected challenges won’t be easy. It’ll take bold commitments with innovative solutions, clear and measurable targets (and accountability for reaching them!), dedicated finance, and collaboration across national boundaries.
Most pledges submitted to the UN’s Water Action Agenda aren’t game-changers. But the ones that are offer major inspiration.
One standout is a joint commitment from the Niger River Basin Authority and the German Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation, Nuclear Safety and Consumer Protection (BMUV).
The commitment includes strong financial backing and an ambitious timeline — $21.2 million through 2029 — to strengthen climate change adaptation and mitigation throughout all nine countries the Niger River runs through. The plan includes climate-smart agriculture, wetland restoration and other nature-based solutions to overcome the region’s increasingly erratic rainfall and desertification.
Transboundary commitments for water management are rare due to conflicting geopolitical, economic and social values of countries across affected watersheds. But they’re essential: Water is inherently a cross-boundary, cross-sectoral issue given its many users. Including all nine countries in the Niger River Basin offers an opportunity for considerable progress, as well as immense knowledge- and data-sharing.
On the private sector side, CDP has included 1,800 companies in one of its Water Action Agenda commitments. These companies pledged to invest in 2,719 water-smart products and services by 2028, at a combined value of $436 billion. This commitment is a game-changer because it leverages societal demands for corporate social responsibility and investor demands for corporate disclosure of water and climate risks and risk mitigation. WRI’s Corporate Water Stewardship and Natural Infrastructure initiatives are working with dozens of these companies in setting voluntary plans related to water quantity and quality, implementing innovative nature-based solutions and prioritizing watershed health.
How to Improve Commitments to the World’s Water Action Agenda?
While some commitments offer inspiration, more of them miss the mark. Small-scale, siloed, underfunded projects — even hundreds of them — are not enough to deliver the changes the world’s water systems need.
We identified several common shortcomings in existing pledges that countries, companies, NGOs and others should address, including:
Dedicated Finance
More than 290 commitments submitted to the Water Action Agenda — 74% of the total, as of March 18, 2023 — lacked clear funding targets. Commitments are meaningless without the finance to put them into action.
Luckily, solving water challenges is not as expensive as you might think, and water investments can yield significant economic benefits. A WRI report estimates that securing water for all communities by 2030 could cost just over 1% of global GDP — about 29 cents per person, per day from 2015-2030. Every dollar invested in water access and sanitation yields $6.80 in return, while failing to implement better water management policies could lead to regional GDP losses of 2-10% by 2050.
Quantified Targets
Only 25% of the 400 water action commitments submitted as of March 18th included quantitative targets for outcomes. This makes it difficult to evaluate projects’ success, both for those implementing them and those evaluating from the outside.
Commitments should include quantitative targets such as: additional quantities of water made available, improved water quality, increased amount of protected/restored landscapes, or increased percentage of the population with access to water, sanitation and hygiene services. It is important to have clear metrics of success, as well as ways to monitor progress and adjust strategies as needed. Targets should align with what the best available science says is necessary for achieving sustainable freshwater systems and curbing climate change.
The Science-Based Target Network’s emerging corporate freshwater science-based targets, part of the network’s first science-based targets for nature, will allow companies to prioritize watersheds and set measurable, actionable, time-bound and quantitative targets for water.
A Bigger Emphasis on Climate Change
From deadly floods in Pakistan to drought-fueled food shortages in the Horn of Africa, it’s clear that water is one of the most acute ways people experience the impacts of climate change. Yet as of March 18th, only 24% of commitments address climate change.
Governments and others have treated water and climate change as siloed issues for too long. It’s time decision-makers realize that reducing emissions and undertaking adaptation projects is water management. Likewise, fixing leaky pipes, restoring mangroves and expanding access to sanitation and other water services is building climate resilience. These two agendas need to come together to create a water- and climate-resilient future.
Cooperation Across Borders and Sectors
As with climate, only 16% of commitments (as of March 18th) include cooperation, either across national borders or across economic sectors.
That’s a problem, since water is inherently a cross-boundary, cross-sectoral issue. Transboundary waters comprise 60% of the world’s freshwater flows. When an upstream country uses water to irrigate crops, for example, that water is no longer available to downstream countries. It is therefore important that countries agree in advance on the quantity and timing of flows, what happens during low rainfall years, and myriad other decisions affecting the transboundary water supply.
The EU’s Water Framework Directive, which aims to improve water resources management across the entire region, is a great example of collaborative water management. The directive requires EU member states to work together on river basin management planning and implementation, involving local communities, businesses, conservation organizations, wastewater treatment facilities and other various water stakeholders. According to the European Commission, the number of hazardous substances found in surface water decreased by 40% from 2007 to 2018 and the number of wastewater treatment plants complying with EU standards increased from 70% in 2007 to 98% in 2017.
More Commitments from Governments and Multilateral Institutions
Half of Water Action Agenda commitments came from NGOs. As of March 18th, only 64 commitments are from governments, and 44 from multilateral institutions like the UN and development banks.
This level of effort from national governments and multilateral organizations is insufficient for addressing the world’s water challenges. Governments control so much of how water is managed and allocated through their water policies and regulations. They also have access to sizable funds, either of their own or through international grant or lending programs.
Multilateral organizations also have the power to shape policies and control large pools of money that can be dedicated to improve the provision of water services and water resource management.
Plans Targeting Agricultural and Industrial Water Users
Few of the plans submitted so far target agricultural or industrial water users. This is a major oversight, since farms and industries are some of the biggest water consumers.
Agriculture is responsible for 70% of the world’s freshwater withdrawals. Industry — which relies heavily on water for cooling, washing, manufacturing and other processes — and energy consume 19% of freshwater withdrawals globally. The world can’t transform its water systems without focusing on its biggest water users.
Seizing the Moment to Create a Better Water Future
With water, we know the problems and we know the solutions. What’s missing is the political will to take action.
The UN Water Conference brings together decision-makers, policy implementers and funders — all of the stakeholders necessary for transformative change. Now is not the time to keep letting water solutions slip through the cracks. Now is the time for governments, businesses, organizations and others to come forward with robust commitments that can ensure a water-secure future for generations to come.
