Held in the runup to the UN 2023 Water Conference, where the water community is expected to present a clear roadmap to put SDG 6 (clean water and sanitation) “back on track,” the 37th UN-Water Meeting focused on the five themes for the Conference: Water for Health; Water for Sustainable Development; Water for Climate, Resilience and Environment; Water for Cooperation; and the Water Action Decade.

The UN-Water Briefing Note by the Earth Negotiations Bulletin (ENB) underscores that SDG 6 underpins all the other SDGs, as “without water security, there cannot be any other kind of security.” Water and sanitation issues, it notes, “are also seen as being the next looming crisis on the horizon after the war in Ukraine and the energy and food predicaments.”

Addressing the meeting in a video message, UN-Water Chair Gilbert Houngbo called on delegates to accelerate their efforts. He noted that “the poorest and most vulnerable cannot wait any longer for water and sanitation to transform their lives.”

Representatives from the Netherlands and Tajikistan – the two co-hosts of the UN 2023 Water Conference – outlined how the UN 2023 Water Conference can contribute to modifying the economics, politics, and actions on water, and called for making tangible political and technical commitments at the Conference.

Participants discussed the “accelerators” towards SDG 6 – governance, finance, data and information, capacity development, and innovation, and formulated guiding questions that will inform the interactive dialogues that will convene during the UN 2023 Water Conference and contribute to plenary discussions.

In addition, the ENB writes, the 37th UN-Water Meeting addressed the SDG 6 Synthesis Report 2023, the SDG 6 Capacity Development Initiative (CDI), and Global Campaigns. It also discussed how to operationalize the Water Action Agenda and heard progress updates on global monitoring and other selected reports. Delegates were urged to continue providing input and ideas electronically in the lead-up to the UN 2023 Water Conference.

The 37th UN-Water Meeting convened in Paris, France, from 5-6 December 2022, at the UN Education, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) headquarters. The meeting was held back-to-back with the UN-Water Summit on Groundwater that sought to raise the importance of groundwater in global water governance. [ENB Coverage of 37th UN-Water Meeting] [ENB Summary Report of the Meeting]