Historic UN conference marks watershed moment to tackle global water crisis and ensure water-secure future.

The historic UN 2023 Water Conference in New York culminated last Friday with a breakthrough response to the global water crisis, with governments, businesses and civil society committing billions of dollars to advance the water agenda, a dealmaker for accelerating sustainable development overall.

Some 10,000 participants gathered at UN Headquarters and online from 22 to 24 March 2023, to urgently scale up action to address the water crisis and ensure equitable access to water for all.

Co-hosted by the Netherlands and Tajikistan, the Conference brought together world leaders, civil society, business leaders, young people, scientists, academics, the UN System and others from across sectors - agriculture, energy, environment and water - around a common goal: to urgently tackle the water crisis and set the world back on track to achieving Sustainable Development Goal 6 - On Clean Water and Sanitation.

'The commitments at this Conference will propel humanity towards the water-secure future every person on the planet needs,' noted UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres at the closing ceremony.

To achieve this, the Secretary-General highlighted key game-changers: from reinforcing water's place as a fundamental human right and reducing the pressures on the hydrological system, to developing new, alternative food systems to reduce the unsustainable use of water in food production and agriculture and designing and implementing a new global water information system to guide plans and priorities 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

Mr. Li Junhua

UN Under-Secretary-General for Economic and Social Affairs and Conference Secretary-General

The Secretary-General also advocated for integrating the approach on water, ecosystems and climate to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and strengthen communities - from resilient infrastructure, water pipelines and wastewater treatment plans, to ensuring every person in the world is protected with early warning systems against natural disasters by 2027; and continued to press for climate justice and global action to limit global warming to a 1.5-degree rise.

Lastly, he called for a dramatic acceleration in resources and investment into the ability of all countries to reach SDG 6.

A view of a Water Action sign at UN Headquarters during the UN 2023 Water Conference.

UN Photo/Mark Garten

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