UN WATER CONFERENCE - INTERNATIONAL
News: Explained | What was the U.N. water conference and what happened there?
What's in the news?
● The United Nations 2023 Water Conference held in New York on March 22-24 was the first such meeting on water after 46 years.
● The conference coincided with the mid-term comprehensive review of the International Decade for Action.
Key takeaways:
● In a report entitled ‘Water for Sustainable Development 2018–2028’, the U.N. recognized the urgent need for action given that we are not on track to meet the 2030 Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) no. 6 for water: “Ensure availability and sustainable management of water and sanitation for all”.
● UNEP has launched its report Measuring Progress: Water-related ecosystems and the SDGs shortly before the conference.
UN Water Conference 2023:
● The UN 2023 Water Conference is formally known as the 2023 Conference for the Midterm Comprehensive Review of Implementation of the UN Decade for Action on Water and Sanitation (2018-2028).
● The conference could be a ‘Paris moment’ for water, as described by the special envoys for water from the co-hosting countries, Tajikistan and the Netherlands.
Conducted by - UN Water
Aim - “Our watershed moment: uniting the world for water”, aims to support the achievement of internationally agreed water-related goals and targets, including those contained in the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.
Location:
● It took place at UN Headquarters in New York.
● It was co-hosted by Tajikistan and the Netherlands.
● It took 46 long years for the UN to organize this Water Conference in 2023, the first being held in 1977 in Mar del Plata, Argentina.
Objectives of the conference:
● To identify game-changing ideas.
● To make recommendations to policymakers on how to speed and scale-up change through capacity development, data and information, innovation, financing, and governance.
● To place water at the centre of the climate agenda in activities building up to the High Level Political Forum (HLPF) in New York in July and the COP28 climate talks to be held in Dubai later this year.
What is the water conference?
● Such international conferences serve to better align activities by governments, companies, NGOs, and funders around a few grand challenges.
● They also help countries learn from the experiences of others, transfer technology, and invest.
Takeaways from 1977 UN Water Conference:
● The last U.N. Water Conference was held in 1977, and it was groundbreaking in achieving just this.
● In particular, it resulted in the first global ‘Action Plan’ recognizing that “all peoples, whatever their stage of development and social and economic conditions, have the right to have access to drinking water in quantities and of a quality equal to their basic needs.”
● This declaration led to several decades of global funding and concerted effort to provide drinking water and sanitation for all. These actions substantially reduced the population without access to safe drinking water in much of the developing world, in fact.
How will the 2023 conference be effective?
● Unlike 50 years ago, today’s problems are more complex.
● As such, the water problem is no longer about access to water and sanitation; these represent only two of the eight water-related SDGs.
● The remaining SDG 6 targets address the need to sustain agriculture, industry, and natural ecosystems. They have metrics that track better governance, improve efficiency of irrigation water use, restore the water quality in lakes and rivers, and improve wastewater management.
● These problems are inherently harder because they can’t be fixed by better infrastructure. They require tough political choices, empowering agencies, and strengthening democratic processes.
Outcomes of the conference:
● In the end, the complexity of today’s water problems was reflected in the conference’s proceedings - a lot of talk, fragmented discussions, and no binding commitments.
● Instead, there were 713 diverse voluntary commitments - Water Action Agenda by philanthropic donors, governments, corporations, and NGOs; 120 of these were relevant to India.
● They included a $50-billion commitment from the Indian government to improve rural drinking water services under its Jal Jeevan Mission.
Some important commitments made in the conference:
1. Technology:
● There were specific innovations in wastewater treatment or solar treatment of water in remote areas, and a number of proposals for incubation platforms, including the IBM Sustainability Accelerator, focused on water management.
2. Data and models:
● Before every large investment, we must anticipate potential impact. Simulations are often important to do this, and they need large amounts of input data.
● Cost-effective approaches to data-generation included sensors and satellite data. Other efforts, like the World Meteorological Organization’s Hydrological Status and Outlook System, offered data analysis tools.
3. Knowledge sharing:
● Solutions to most of these problems already exist, but each region and country often reinvents the wheel.
● We need to accelerate cross-learning. One useful tool here was the W12+ Blueprint, a UNESCO platform that hosts city profiles and case studies of programs, technologies, policies that addresses common water security challenges.
4. Capacity building:
● Many people lack access to basic services because they are unable to advocate for themselves and because infrastructure projects are designed for and by powerful actors in society.
● Efforts like the Making Rights Real initiative offered to help marginalized communities and women understand how to exercise their rights.
● Similarly, the ‘Water for Women Fund’ offered support mechanisms for more effective and sustainable water, sanitation, and hygiene outcomes for women.
5. Civil society:
● There were several platforms for collective action by civil society groups lobbying for changes in regulations, e.g. creating transnational networks to advocate for national and international bodies to criminalise the use of certain pesticides harmful to aquatic life.
6. Environmental, social, and corporate governance:
● The conference concluded that a big barrier to farmers and industries using water more efficiently is that they have no incentive.
● Specifically, farmers aren’t becoming more efficient or going pesticide-free unless consumers are willing to pay a premium for more sustainably produced goods.
Initiatives taken:
1. Water Action Agenda:
● The 700 voluntary commitments will form the Water Action Agenda.
2. Climate resilient water and sanitation infrastructure:
● The USA announced a commitment of up to $49 billion in investments to support climate resilient water and sanitation infrastructure and services.
3. Quality infrastructure:
● Japan announced that it will contribute 500 billion yen to the solution of water-related social issues faced by the Asia-Pacific region by developing quality Infrastructure.
4. River basins management and clean running water:
● Vietnam pledged to develop policies for major river basins management by 2025 and clean running water by 2030.
5. Africa’s water investments gap:
● The African Union Commission and Continental Africa Investment Programme (AIP) aims to close Africa’s water investments gap by mobilizing at least $30 billion per year by 2030.
6. European Union (EU):
● The EU aims to support 70 million individuals to an improved drinking water source and sanitation facility by 2030.
7. Water Convention and transboundary cooperation:
● Switzerland submitted 5 commitments in the areas of Water Convention and transboundary cooperation.
8. India:
● India has committed investments of over $240 billion in the water sector and is implementing the largest dam rehabilitation programme in the world as well as efforts to restore groundwater level.
Concerns:
● The commitments are non-binding in nature.
● The water action agenda should include diverse experiences and did not include the necessary communities of water management.
● The conference failed to address the violence and threats faced by communities trying to protect dwindling water sources.
● The water sector is prone to fragmentation because water problems tend to be local. If a particular lake is polluted or a particular area is often flooded, it needs local solutions.
● Extending services to underserved populations is relatively inaccessible as it comes down to ending the money to pay for it.
● Improving access to water and sanitation no longer translates directly to sustained access to water and sanitation. For example, many drinking water projects have failed because they drew too much groundwater or the water.
Go back to basics:
UN Water:
● UN-Water is the United Nations inter-agency coordination mechanism for all freshwater-related issues.
● It was established in 2003 with the aim of strengthening coordination and cooperation among UN agencies and other international organizations working on water and sanitation issues
● UN-Water has 32 UN agency members and 41 international partners.
● It is chaired by the Executive Director of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and has a secretariat based in Geneva, Switzerland.