7 March 2012: The Global Water Partnership (GWP) has developed a policy brief containing key messages to policymakers attending the UN Conference on Sustainable Development (UNCSD, or Rio+20), highlighting that water is vital for poverty reduction, sustainable development and the transition to a green economy.

In the brief, GWP calls for Rio+20 to include a sustainable development goal for water security as part of an agreed green growth agenda. In the other key messages, the policy brief calls for: institutional effectiveness, including strengthening institutions and forming partnerships, such as regional cooperation between states on transboundary water resources, in order to achieve green growth; and integrated approaches, including adopting a target requiring countries to develop specific targets and timeframes relating to the implementation of integrated water resources management plans. It further highlights the need for: leadership, urging governments and other stakeholders to accept a set of sustainable development goals under a green growth framework; and future strategy, stating that Rio+20 should kick-start a process for setting a green growth agenda through to 2030.

The brief emphasizes that water security is vital for effective green growth and a sustainable future with sufficient water for social and economic development, and for ecosystems. It concludes by emphasizing the need for leadership, stressing, inter alia, that co-management of water resources across different institutions must be part of a green growth framework, and that leadership is needed on the management of transboundary rivers and aquifers. [Publication: Rio+20: Water Security for Growth and Sustainability]