The UN Department for Economic and Social Affairs (DESA) published a report summarizing stakeholder inputs to the concept papers of the six interactive dialogues that will be held during the 2026 UN Water Conference in December. The report synthesizes key messages from 368 inputs across 82 countries.
Dated January 2026, the publication is titled, ‘Inputs to Interactive Dialogues’ Concept Papers: Summary Report.’
In July 2025, the UN General Assembly (UNGA) adopted by consensus the following themes for the six interactive dialogues, developed through an inclusive, transparent, and participatory process:
- Water for people: the human rights to water and sanitation, including for those in vulnerable situations, for healthy societies and economies;
- 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;
- Water for planet: climate, biodiversity, desertification, environment, source to sea, resilience, and disaster risk reduction (DRR);
- Water for cooperation: transboundary and international water cooperation, including scientific cooperation and inclusive governance;
- Water in multilateral processes: SDG 6 (clean water and sanitation), the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and beyond, and global water initiatives; and
- Investments for water: financing, technology and innovation, and capacity building.
The Secretariat is working with UN-Water to prepare concept papers for each of the interactive dialogues.
Non-governmental organizations (NGOs), civil society organizations (CSOs), academic institutions, the scientific community, Indigenous Peoples and local communities, persons with disabilities, the private sector, philanthropic organizations, and other actors were invited to contribute their views on and inputs to the concept papers of the interactive dialogues through a global online consultation. The consultation took place from 9 September to 17 October 2025.
For each dialogue, stakeholders:
- Identified the key challenges;
- Proposed crosscutting, action-oriented, innovative, and pragmatic solutions;
- Identified partnerships, innovative approaches, and new ways of working to support accelerated implementation of SDG 6 (clean water and sanitation);
- Highlighted transformative actions to accelerate progress and impact; and
- Proposed key words to capture their perspectives.
As an illustration, for the interactive dialogue on water in multilateral processes, stakeholders identified siloed governance, fragmented mandates, and overlapping workstreams among the challenges. As possible solutions, stakeholders recommended: joint data-sharing and open information platforms; inclusive and participatory governance frameworks; youth leadership training, gender mainstreaming, Indigenous-led initiatives, and participatory basin charters; capacity-building and institutional strengthening efforts; strengthening multi-stakeholder partnerships; utilizing data-sharing platforms and digital tools; and promoting climate-linked funds, standardized SDG 6 metrics, green bonds, and blended finance.
All the inputs received are available here. Six extracts reflecting key messages for each interactive dialogue are available here.
At a recent High-Level Preparatory Meeting for the 2026 UN Water Conference in Dakar, Senegal, countries sought to identify key messages and ambitious pathways to shape preparations for the Conference and to develop “a coherent and politically relevant narrative.” The six Co-Chair pairs highlighted commonalities, cross-cutting insights, and emerging priorities across the interactive dialogues.
The 2026 UN Water Conference will convene from 2-4 December 2026 in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). Senegal and the UAE will co-host the Conference. [Publication: Inputs to Interactive Dialogues’ Concept Papers: Summary Report] [Publication Landing Page]