March 2018: The ‘UN Chronicle’ magazine and ‘Water International’ journal have released special issues focusing on the role of water resources management in advancing sustainable development. The special issues coincide with the celebration of World Water Day on 22 March and the launch of the ‘International Decade for Action: Water for Sustainable Development 2018-2028.’ The publications feature articles on the implementation of water-related Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), especially SDG 6 on clean water and sanitation, as well as progress towards the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) Principles on Water Governance.

The ‘UN Chronicle’ is the digital magazine of the UN system. The special issue (Vol. LV, No. 1), titled ‘The Quest for Water,’ focuses on ensuring water availability and the sustainable management of water for all. In an article on ‘Water for Sustainable Development,’ Miroslav Lajcak, UN General Assembly President, states that “water runs through every single UN priority,” and notes that the launch of the International Decade will present an Action Plan and initiate a dialogue on advancing implementation of water-related goals and targets of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.

“Water runs through every single UN priority,” said UN General Assembly President Miroslav Lajcak.

Other articles in the Chronicle cover: the role of UN-Water as an inter-agency coordination mechanism; global partnerships to achieve SDG 6; entrepreneurship in addressing water, sanitation and resource management; youth and the integrated management of water resources; ecosystems in the global water cycle; water, sanitation and disasters in the context of the SDGs; water as a prerequisite for all development; gender and social inclusion in achieving internationally agreed water-related goals; water security in the face of climate change; reducing water footprints; and building the scientific knowledge base. The authors include UN leaders on water issues as well as well-known water researchers, including Claudia Sadoff and Arjen Hoekstra.

The ‘Water International’ issue (Vol. 43, 2018), titled ‘The OECD Principles on Water Governance: from policy standards to practice,’ introduces the 12 OECD Principles and features a range of articles that examine: the role of meso-institutions in addressing policy-implementation gaps; stakeholder engagement as social learning; existing water policy frameworks in Europe, the Asia-Pacific, Africa and South America; experiences of flood protection in the Netherlands; and long-term water policy evolution in France. Ministers from OECD countries adopted the Principles on Water Governance at the OECD Ministerial Council Meeting in June 2015, noting that water crises most often relate to crises of governance rather than to lack of water or technical knowledge.

The OECD Principles grew out of discussions at the Sixth World Water Forum in Marseille, France, in 2012. The OECD Water Governance Initiative was established in March 2013 as a multi-stakeholder platform that convenes twice a year. The Principles address issues relevant to implementation, for example: managing water at the appropriate scales; producing relevant data and information; and mobilizing financial resources. On Wednesday, 21 March, the OECD will launch the report, ‘Implementing the OECD Principles on Water Governance: Indicator framework and evolving practices,’ which will present two tools to be voluntarily used by governments and other stakeholders to promote water governance implementation.

SDG 6 on water includes governance-related aspects, including target 6.5 on implementing integrated water resources management (IWRM) at all levels, and target 6.B on supporting and strengthening the participation of local communities in improving water and sanitation management. Follow-up and review of SDG 6 on water will take place at the July 2018 meeting of the High-level Political Forum on Sustainable Development (HLPF) in New York, US. [UN Chronicle Web Page] [Water International Web Page] [OECD Principles on Water Governance Brochure] [SDG Knowledge Hub Guest Article on OECD Publication]