UN WATER CONFERENCE

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Context

• The United Nations 2023 Water Conference held in March was the first such meeting in 46 years.

Details

About ‘Water for Sustainable Development 2018 – 2028’ Report

• Under this report, UN recognised the urgent need for action given that we are not on track to meet the 2030 Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) for water — “Ensure availability and sustainable management of water and sanitation for all”.
• There is an inherent problem in mobilising globally for local problems.

Background of the water conference

• The last UN Water Conference, held in 1977, was ground-breaking as it resulted in the first global ‘Action Plan’ recognising 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 lower the population without access to safe drinking water.

Key commitments

• 713 voluntary commitments by philanthropic donors, governments, corporations, and NGOs.
• This included a $50-billion commitment from India to improve rural drinking water services under the Jal Jeevan Mission.
• There were several proposals for incubation platforms focusing on water management.
• W12+ Blueprint, a UNESCO platform hosting city profiles and case studies of programs, technologies, policies that addresses common water security challenges.
• An effort called ‘Making Rights Real’ offered to help marginalised communities and women understand how to exercise their rights.
• ‘Water for Women Fund’ offered mechanisms for more effective and sustainable water, sanitation, and hygiene outcomes for women.

Challenges

• The challenge is that improving access to water and sanitation no longer translates directly to sustained access to water and sanitation.
  • Many drinking water projects have failed because they drew too much groundwater or the water sources were contaminated, leaving communities again with no access to water.
• Groundwater over-abstraction is mostly driven by agricultural pumping. The only way to solve this problem in heavily irrigated places like Punjab is to pump less. This would need a policy change which requires many agencies and ministries to cooperate.

About UN-Water

• There is no single United Nations Agency, Fund or Programme dedicated exclusively to water issues.
• UN-Water is a ‘coordination mechanism’. It is comprised of United Nations entities (Members) and international organizations (Partners) working on water and sanitation issues.
• UN-Water’s role is to ensure that Members and Partners ‘deliver as one’ in response to water-related challenges.
• UN-Water has three lines of work:

1. 1. Informing policy processes and addressing emerging issues
   2. Supporting monitoring and reporting on water and sanitation
   3. Building knowledge and inspiring people to take action

Outcomes

• UN-Water’s Members and Partners have helped place water and sanitation at the heart of recent milestone agreements, such as the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, the 2015-2030 Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction, the 2015 Addis Ababa Action Agenda on Financing for Development, and the 2015 Paris Agreement within the United Nations Convention Framework on Climate Change.
• UN-Water’s consolidated technical advice from United Nations entities and external organizations helped shape Sustainable Development Goal 6 (SDG 6) to “Ensure availability and sustainable management of water and sanitation for all”.

Governance

• The UN-Water Senior Programme Managers (SPMs) are the representatives of the UN-Water Members at UN-Water.
• They provide the overall governance and strategic direction of UN-Water.
• UN-Water is supported by the UN-Water Management Team, which fosters increased collaboration and effective coordination.
• The Chair, Vice-Chair, and Secretary of UN-Water with selected SPMs form the Joint Steering Group.
• The Technical Advisory Unit provides substantive technical support, including accounting, budgeting, and administration.
• UN-Water’s Members are United Nations agencies, programmes and funds with a water-related mandate.
• UN-Water’s Partners are international organizations, professional unions, associations or other civil society groups that are actively involved in water.
• UN-Water’s donors are external support agencies that wish to support the implementation of our work.

Background

• 1977: The UN’s Inter-secretariat Group for Water Resources coordinates United Nations activities on water and has a three-person secretariat in the predecessor of the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs’ (UN DESA) in New York.
• 1992: The Group is subsumed into the UN Administrative Coordination Committee’s (ACC) Subcommittee on Water Resources.
• 1993: The United Nations General Assembly designates 22 March as World Water Day.
• 2003: UN-Water is established.
• 2005-2015: UN-Water coordinates the ‘Water for Life’ International Decade for Action, culminating in the Sanitation Drive to 2015, a campaign to meet the 2000-2015 Millennium Development Goals’ sanitation target and end open defecation.
• 2012: The Key Water Indicator Portal is launched.
• 2013: The United Nations General Assembly designates 19 November as World Toilet Day.
• 2014: UN-Water launches its 2014-2020 Strategy in support of the 2030 Agenda.
• 2015: The 2030 Agenda’s Sustainable Development Goals are launched.
• 2018: The United Nations General Assembly launched the Water Action Decade 2018-2028 to energize existing water related programmes towards achieving achieve the 2030 Agenda.
• 2018: UN-Water produces the first SDG 6 Synthesis Report on Water and Sanitation.
• 2020: UN-Water launches the SDG 6 Global Acceleration Framework and accompanying SDG 6 Action Space.
• 2021: UN-Water published the 2021 Summary Progress Update.
• 2023: UN 2023 Water Conference.

PRACTICE QUESTION Q) UN-Water is a coordination mechanism whose role is to ensure that Members ‘deliver as one’ in response to water-related challenges. Discuss. (250 words)

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