UN 2023 Water Conference Seeks Global Commitments to Tackle Water Challenges

Water guarantees the flow of life. Almost all life aspects depend on water, from health to food security to the economy. Unfortunately, for such a crucial part of life, water isn’t equally available for everyone worldwide. The United Nations 2023 Water Conference aims to address the challenges surrounding water and its role in supporting sustainable development.

Water: challenges and opportunities

Today, water accessibility is still one of the world’s biggest challenges. According to WHO and UNICEF, 2 billion people still drink from unsafe water sources, and 3.6 billion live without proper sanitation. At the same time, unmanaged wastewater, drought, and water-related natural disasters still persist.

Still, water offers many opportunities for our journey to sustainable development. Water can support the economy, climate resilience, and overall life improvement when managed, distributed, and used with sustainability in mind. Addressing the current water problems means recognizing the role and values of water in different life aspects and working towards holistic solutions where no one is left behind.

2023 Water Conference

On March 22-24, the United Nations held the 2023 Water Conference. The governments of Tajikistan and the Netherlands co-hosted the conference to take global-scale actions and solutions for water-related goals through multi-stakeholder participation.

There are five key themes to the conference that is also in line with the SDG 6 Global Acceleration Framework:

Water for Health: Access to safe drinking water, sanitation, and hygiene.
Water for Sustainable Development: Valuing Water, Water-Energy-Food Nexus and Sustainable Economic and Urban Development.
Water for Climate, Resilience, and Environment: Source to Sea, Biodiversity, Climate, Resilience, and Disaster Risk Reduction.
Water for Cooperation: Transboundary and International Water Cooperation, Cross-Sectoral Cooperation and Water Across the 2030 Agenda.
Water Action Decade: Accelerating the implementation of the objectives of the Decade, including through the UN Secretary-General’s Action Plan.

Water Action Agenda

The Water Action Agenda is one of the main outcomes of the UN 2023 Water Conference. Launched in 2022, the agenda covers more than 700 water-related voluntary commitments made to accelerate the Water Action Decade 2018-2028 and the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. The Water Action Agenda urges the UN Member States, governments, businesses, organizations, and all related stakeholders to make genuine commitments to tackle the global water challenges.

The UN 2023 Water Conference saw pledges and commitments being made by various stakeholders. Vietnam wants to develop major river basin management policies by 2025 and ensure access to clean running water for all households by 2030. Meanwhile, the Asian Development Bank commits to investing $11 billion in Asia-Pacific’s water sector and $100 billion in the global water sector by 2030.

“At the 2023 UN Water Conference, a determined global community came together to make a difference not only for the future of water but for the future of the world,” said Mr. Li Junhua, the UN Under-Secretary-General for Economic and Social Affairs and Conference Secretary-General.

Kresentia Madina

Reporter at Green Network Asia | Website | + posts

Madina is the Assistant Manager of Stakeholder Engagement at Green Network Asia. She holds a bachelor’s degree in English Studies from Universitas Indonesia. As part of the GNA In-House Team, she supports the organization's multi-stakeholder engagement across international organizations, governments, businesses, civil society, and grassroots communities through digital publications, events, capacity building, and research.