Water in 2026: Moments That Will Shape the Agenda

By Elena Kosolapova and Lynn Wagner, IISD

2026 is shaping up as a convergence year for water across global agendas. The world has already entered the final five-year stretch before the deadline for the delivery of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and its 17 SDGs, including SDG 6 (clean water and sanitation). Choices made in 2026 could have lasting implications for the final years of the 2030 Agenda – and for sustainable development beyond 2030.

This policy brief maps key moments within the UN framework during which water is likely to feature in the coming ten months, what is at stake in each process, and how these discussions could influence priorities and outcomes beyond the water sector. It identifies opportunities for breaking the silos in which much of environmental governance still operates in, by embedding water in international efforts to tackle climate change, halt biodiversity loss, and reverse land degradation.

1. WEF-UAE Partnership for the 2026 UN Water Conference

Water was centerstage at the World Economic Forum (WEF) in January. Blue Davos 2026 – a new initiative bringing together the Forum’s work on freshwater, ocean, and the blue economy – sought to position integrated water management as an essential precondition for economic prosperity, healthy food systems, global stability, and climate resilience. Among the announcements and partnerships that emerged from Blue Davos was the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding between WEF and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) setting up a partnership “to support the preparatory process and delivery of the 2026 UN Water Conference,” to be co-hosted in December in Abu Dhabi by the UAE and Senegal. The partnership seeks to strengthen public-private engagement and foster cross-sectoral action for water.

2. High-Level Preparatory Meeting for the 2026 UN Water Conference in Dakar

In January, the Government of Senegal convened a high-level meeting in preparation for the 2026 UN Water Conference with the aim of “identifying key messages and ambitious pathways… [to] help shape the preparatory roadmap from Dakar to Abu Dhabi and beyond.” The meeting was organized around the six Interactive Dialogues to be held during the Conference. The UN-prepared Dakar Working Papers on the six interactive dialogue themes complemented the discussions, which took place under the following chairmanship arrangements:

Ghana and Switzerland: water for people – the human rights to water and sanitation, including for those in vulnerable situations, for healthy societies and economies;
China and Spain: water for prosperity – valuing water, water-energy-food nexus, advancing integrated and sustainable water resource management, wastewater and water-use efficiency across sectors, and economic and social development;
Egypt and Japan: water for planet – climate, biodiversity, desertification, environment, source to sea, resilience, and disaster risk reduction (DRR);
Finland and Zambia: water for cooperation – transboundary and international water cooperation, including scientific cooperation and inclusive governance;
Germany and Mexico: water in multilateral processes – SDG 6 (clean water and sanitation), the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and beyond, and global water initiatives; and
France and South Africa: investments for water – financing, technology and innovation, and capacity building.

The UN is supporting Member States through thought leadership in coordinating the preparation of the concept papers for the Interactive Dialogues.

The outcomes of the meeting will contribute to the in-depth review of SDG 6 by the UN High-level Political Forum on Sustainable Development (HLPF) in July, the meetings of the Conferences of the Parties to the three Rio Conventions – the UNFCCC, the UN Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD), and the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) – and high-level events held in preparation for the 2026 UN Water Conference.

3. 43rd UN-Water Meeting

UN-Water – the UN system’s inter-agency coordination mechanism on water and sanitation, bringing together UN entities and partners working on water-related issues – will convene its 43rd meeting in March. The meeting will serve as a strategic stocktaking moment under the first-ever UN System-wide Strategy for Water and Sanitation, and the Priority Collaborative Actions (PCAs) which aim to accelerate SDG 6 by: unifying and amplifying UN voices on water and sanitation (PCA 1.1); setting the course for water beyond 2030 (PCA 1.2); collaborating for joint country programming (PCA 2); mainstreaming water within the Rio Conventions (PCA 3); improving the availability and use of evidence and learning to accelerate progress (PCA 4); and mobilizing to elevate the ambition of the UN Water Conferences (PCA 5).

Discussions will assess where delivery stands, identify gaps, and align on next steps to strengthen system-wide coherence, joint country support, and integration of water across multilateral processes. The second day of the meeting will be dedicated to preparations for the 2026 UN Water Conference.

4. HLPF 2026

SDG 6 is one of the five Goals to undergo an in-depth review at the July 2026 HLPF session, which will assess progress, identify gaps, and highlight challenges in achieving clean water and sanitation for all. In the lead up to HLPF 2026, SDG 6 will be discussed in a variety of meetings and forums convened by the UN Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC), including the Regional Sustainable Development Forums, the Youth Forum, and the Multi-Stakeholder Forum on Science, Technology and Innovation for the SDGs (STI Forum), among others. During the HLPF, UN-Water and the UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs (DESA) will co-host the annual SDG 6 Water Action Agenda Special Event, which will take stock of SDG 6, update on the ongoing intergovernmental process on water, and build further momentum toward the 2026 UN Water Conference and beyond.

The UN SDG 6 Synthesis Report on Water and Sanitation 2026 – the UN system’s collective input to the HLPF – will be launched during the SDG 6 in-depth review. Developed under the Collaborative Implementation Plan 2025-2028 of the UN System-wide Strategy for Water and Sanitation, the report will: assess progress towards water and sanitation for all by 2030; explore how SDG 6 has driven national and global water action, improved policy coherence, and supported inclusive dialogue among sectors and stakeholders; and outline how the momentum behind SDG 6 can shape the water and sanitation agenda in the remaining years of the 2030 Agenda, and the vision for what comes afterward.

The outcome of the HLPF and the high-level segment of ECOSOC is a negotiated ministerial declaration. The 2026 ministerial declaration, which will reflect the review of SDG 6, will feed into the 2027 SDG Summit convened at the level of Heads of State and Government under the auspices of the UN General Assembly (UNGA).

5. Rio Convention COPs

In 2026, the Conferences of the Parties (COPs) to all three Rio Conventions will convene. They will offer critical opportunities to foster connections between the water agenda and other environmental goals.

While the Belém Climate Change Conference incorporated water considerations into the decision on the Global Goal on Adaptation, the formal negotiations are yet to acknowledge the central role of water in climate change mitigation. COP 31 in Antalya could move closer to mainstreaming the full range of dependencies between water and climate to support more coherent global action. Similarly, better integration of water in the CBD and UNCCD processes could foster coherence and alignment across processes.

6. 2026 UN Water Conference

In the absence of a standing international forum on water issues, the UN Water Conferences emerged in response to this architectural gap. The 2026 edition will address themes that link water to other objectives of the 2030 Agenda through its six Interactive Dialogues. In preparation for the Conference, more than 25 Member States have already made contributions to the Interactive Dialogue concept papers. A global consultation collected stakeholder inputs on the same. Other preparatory efforts are ongoing.

Nestled between the 2023 and 2028 UN Water Conferences, the 2026 UN Water Conference comes at a critical time. Multilateralism is under strain. Amid financial constraints, the UN is seeking to reinvent itself to become more efficient, coherent, and effective in improving people’s lives. In anticipation of the 2027 SDG Summit, conversations are starting around the future of sustainable development after 2030. The 2026 UN Water Conference provides an important opportunity for the water community to ensure water and sanitation remain an integral part of these discussions.

The key water-related moments of 2026 are reflected on the SDG 6 calendar of events run by IISD’s SDG Knowledge Hub in collaboration with UN-Water.

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This policy brief was developed as part of an ongoing collaboration with UN-Water on the UN-Water Dispatch.