The UN General Assembly (UNGA) adopted six themes for the UN 2026 Water Conference, following which UN Member States and stakeholders proceeded to share expectations for preparations for the December 2026 meeting and beyond.  

UNGA plenary meeting

UNGA President Philemon Yang opened the 84th plenary meeting of the 79th session of the UNGA on 9 July 2025, and invited UN Member States to consider for adoption draft decision A/79/L.101. The document, submitted by Senegal and the United Arab Emirates (UAE), identified the following themes for the six interactive dialogues for the UN 2026 Water Conference:

  • 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 high-level UN 2026 Water Conference to ‘Accelerate the Implementation of Sustainable Development Goal 6: Ensure availability and sustainable management of water and sanitation for all’ will take place in the UAE from 2-4 December 2026, and will be co-hosted by Senegal and the UAE.

Mohamed Abushahab, UAE Permanent Representative to the UN, introduced the draft decision on behalf of Senegal and the UAE and noted that the proposed themes were identified through an inclusive consultation process with Member States and stakeholders.

The US thanked the UAE and Senegal for their leadership in coordinating the selection of the themes, but said the US is not a party to agreements included in the themes, including the human right to water and sanitation, and disassociated from the first, third, fourth, and fifth themes. He suggested referring to “specific threats” in the theme on water for planet, calling for removing the reference to “climate” and saying the reference to “environment” is sufficient. On the water for cooperation theme, he said the reference to “inclusive” gives preference to specific groups and said the US prefers the term “fair.” On water in multilateral processes, he objected to references to the SDGs and 2030 Agenda, stating it is “soft global governance.” He concluded stating that, despite these objections, the US would not block consensus.

UN Member States then adopted the themes as contained in draft decision A/79/L.101, following which several countries offered interpretive statements. Argentina said it is not aligned with unagreed concepts such as water diplomacy and water governance. Türkiye said the theme on water for cooperation hasn’t been updated from UN 2023 Water Conference, underscored that water serves as a catalyst for cooperation rather than a source of conflict, and called for an objective, unbiased, and balanced outcome.

Informal preparatory meeting for the UN 2026 Water Conference

UNGA President Yang then invited Member States to consider the six themes and called for support for a smooth and inclusive preparatory process. Senegal’s Minister of Hydraulics and Sanitation, Cheikh Tidiane Dièye, emphasized the co-hosts’ efforts to conduct inclusive consultations to select the themes. He announced a high-level preparatory meeting would take place from 26-27 January 2026 in Dakar, Senegal. The UAE’s Assistant Minister of Foreign Affairs for Sustainable Development and Energy, Abdulla Balalaa, stressed that failure to deliver SDG 6 would undermine the entire SDG agenda. He called on all actors to join in co-creating ambitious, transformative, and inclusive solutions.

UN Special Envoy on Water Retno Marsudi called for leveraging the inclusive and transparent process used to develop the themes, giving attention to those most affected by water-related challenges and using the Conference as a platform for concrete action, innovation, and strengthened partnerships. Navid Hanif, Assistant Secretary-General for Economic Development, on behalf of Li Junhua, Secretary-General of the UN 2026 Water Conference, emphasized that the Conference will not be a finish line, but a launch pad, and said we must work harder to build bridges to ensure multilateralism prevails. He noted that the Conference builds on key processes including the Fourth International Conference on Financing for Development (FfD4), the Third UN Ocean Conference (UNOC3), the Fourth International Conference on Small Island Developing States (SIDS4), and the Second World Summit on Social Development. Renée Martin-Nagle, Secretary General of the International Water Resources Association (IWRA), emphasized the need for scientific innovation in all aspects of water as well as work to translate the science into policies. She noted IWRA’s World Water Congress would take place in Marrakesh, Morocco, from 1-5 December.

During the discussion of the themes of the interactive dialogues, Member States thanked the UAE and Senegal for leading an inclusive and collaborative process to identify the themes and looked forward to an inclusive and collaborative preparatory process. Egypt, on behalf of a cross-regional group of countries that span the globe, looked forward to a conference that would serve as a milestone for shaping water cooperation beyond 2026. This group called on the co-hosts to ensure the deliberations will be inclusive and action-oriented, and to expedite the process of selecting co-chairs and speakers for the six dialogues. The EU called for an ambitious preparatory process and suggested setting up multistakeholder groups for the dialogues.  

Several Member States expressed interest in co-chairing one of the six dialogues. Germany offered to co-chair the dialogue on water in multilateral processes. Finland offered to co-chair the dialogue on water for cooperation together with Zambia. China offered to co-chair a dialogue and share its experience with water governance. South Africa offered to co-chair the dialogue on investment. Switzerland expressed an interest in co-chairing the dialogue on water for populations. Azerbaijan expressed an interest in co-chairing the dialogue on water for planet. The Dominican Republic and Viet Nam also offered to co-chair a dialogue. The Republic of Korea looked forward to a transparent process for selecting the dialogue co-chairs.

Many speakers discussed the dialogue on cooperation, with Chile noting its role as a tool for peace and stability. Ethiopia said transboundary water issues are best addressed at the bilateral and regional levels. The Russian Federation objected to linking the water discussion to peace and security. Pakistan said an international law-based approach should be promoted on this issue. Australia said this dialogue is more important than ever, and promoting peace should be a key outcome of the conference.

Among the priority topics mentioned were the following:

  • Climate change and disasters and investment in DRR (Japan);
  • Blue water and green water (the Netherlands);
  • Investments in modern and resilient water infrastructure (Mexico);
  • Catalyzers of action including technology and artificial intelligence (AI) (Indonesia);
  • Water pollution, water scarcity, transboundary cooperation, and technical assistance (Russian Federation);
  • Perspectives of SIDS (Federated States of Micronesia (FSM));
  • Technological empowerment, including for using big data and AI and adopting smart and interconnected infrastructure (China);
  • Education for youth on water conservation (Israel);
  • Integrated water resources management (IWRM) and Nature-based Solutions (NbS) (Colombia);
  • Early warning systems (Kiribati and Cambodia);
  • The human right to safe drinking water and sanitation (Brazil);
  • The water-energy-food nexus (Saint Kitts and Nevis);
  • Fair water rates and increased private investment (UK);
  • Regional cooperation (Iraq);
  • Support to least developed countries (LDCs) to transform commitments into action (Timor-Leste); and
  • Water scarcity, combatting desertification, and addressing drought (Iran).

Speakers pointed to the need to connect the UN 2026 and 2028 Water Conferences and to feed into the discussions on the future of the 2030 Agenda. Saudi Arabia noted that the 2027 World Water Forum in Riyadh could bring continuity to the 2028 conference. Tajikistan said it will host a Dushanbe water conference in 2026 and the UN 2028 Water Conference. Spain reported it is hosting a ministerial meeting on water and sanitation for all. South Africa said it is hosting the Africa Water Investment Summit in August. Italy said it will host, in 2026, a first Euro-Mediterranean conference to discuss risk and disaster prevention as well as resilience. Azerbaijan highlighted that the Baku Dialogue on Water for Climate Action will foster continuity on water-related climate action between UN Climate Change Conferences.

Multi-stakeholder preparatory meeting for the UN 2026 Water Conference

During an afternoon session on 9 July, a multi-stakeholder event convened to share ideas and expectations for the UN 2026 Water Conference.

Mohamed Abushahab, UAE Permanent Representative to the UN, called for building on the momentum of the UN 2023 Water Conference, and said the co-hosts of the 2026 conference hope to pave the path for further progress in Dushanbe in 2028. He said the co-hosts have stressed the importance of inclusion and solidarity for the 2026 process.

Diamane Diome, Deputy Permanent Representative of Senegal to the UN, highlighted the need for a multisectoral approach based on strengthen partnerships and said the co-hosts will seek to deliver a transparent and collaborative approach.

UN Special Envoy on Water Retno Marsudi asked stakeholders for three actions: contribute your best knowledge, experience, and solutions; make the 2026 conference the best opportunity to accelerate action for SDG 6; and ensure robust implementation of commitments on the ground.

During a panel discussion on ‘Accelerating SDG 6 through Collective Action and Multistakeholder Partnerships,’ representatives from government, multilateral development banks (MDBs), philanthropies, civil society organizations (CSOs), the UN system, and the private sector identified priorities for the conference as well as actions they will be taking to support the conference’s objectives.

South Africa, as Group of 20 (G20) President, noted it is hosting the G20 investment program and would look to bring the private sector. The UN Special Rapporteur on the human rights to safe drinking water and sanitation stressed the need to assign the highest priority to the fulfillment of rights and called for prioritizing collaboration with rights holders.

The World Bank noted a gap in global collective action of MDBs on the water sector and stressed that there is not just a financing gap, but also a policy and regulatory gap. He called attention to a joint MDB report on water financing, noting that the system needs to know how “under-financed and under-governed” the sector is in order to build the political will to move forward. The World Economic Forum (WEF) noted the need to rethink blended finance to consider shared outcomes, and not just shared risk.

The Gates Foundation noted its work to provide AI advisory services for farmers, customized to their specific context and even hectare. He also noted work to build a body of evidence for what can be accomplished with water and food investments, to show why investments should be made. The International Water Management Institute (IWMI) said the process needs to be science-based and data-driven. Women for Water Partnership (WfWP) said it is working to establish an umbrella group to bring together the major groups in the preparatory process and the conference itself.

At the conclusion of the event, Shaima Gargash, Director of Energy and Sustainability Affairs, UAE Ministry of Foreign Affairs, highlighted that the conference must translate into action on the ground and harness investment, innovations, and partnerships. She noted that the conference’s priorities are to accelerate implementation of SDG 6 as well as identify water as a core issue on the global agenda. She said the co-chairs of the dialogues will lead multi-stakeholder preparatory processes for their themes.

Mohamed Diatta, Senegal’s Sherpa for the UN 2026 Water Conference, noted that the six themes ensure strong links with the 2030 Agenda and said the dialogues are designed to drive collective action and promote innovation and knowledge exchange. On milestones leading to the December 2026 conference, he highlighted the UN Climate Change Conference in November 2025, the high-level preparatory meeting in Dakar in January 2026, the Dushanbe meeting in 2026, and the 2026 UN High-level Political Forum on Sustainable Development (HLPF), as well as regional events. [UN 2026 Water Conference Website] [UNGA Meeting and Informal Preparatory Meeting] [Multi-stakeholder Preparatory Meeting] [SDG Knowledge Hub Sources]