UN-Water Annual Report 2023

Foreword to the UN-Water Annual Report 2023 by Mr. Alvaro Lario, President of the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) and Chair of UN-Water:
 

"In a tumultuous year, the pivotal moment for the UN-Water family was the UN 2023 Water Conference in March – the first of its kind in a generation.
 

Shortly after, and in response to the high expectations set by Member States, UN-Water released the milestone Blueprint for Acceleration: SDG 6 Synthesis Report on Water and Sanitation 2023 in July. This report contains key policy recommendations on how to move forward and work better together to protect humanity’s most precious commodity.

The ‘blueprint’ identifies two crucial needs: for Member States to develop a UN political process for water and for the UN system to better unify its water-related efforts to support Member States.

On the first, in September 2023, Member States at the UN General Assembly adopted a resolution that, among other things, established two UN water conferences – one in 2026 and one in 2028. The second conference will also mark the end of the Water Action Decade and represents our last chance to push for achievement of SDG 6.
 

On the second, the resolution also requested the UN Secretary-General present a UN System-wide Strategy for Water and Sanitation in consultation with Member States before the end of the seventy-eighth session of the General Assembly. The Secretary-General looked to UN-Water, under my leadership, to deliver this and it will be presented in July 2024.

The Strategy is the first attempt to cohere all the UN system’s work on water. It aims to provide Member States with more integrated support so they can achieve faster progress on water and sanitation. This is a prerequisite to solving major global challenges including climate change, food insecurity, health crises and gender inequality.
 

Our progress will also depend on good data. Last year, UN-Water’s Integrated Monitoring Initiative for SDG 6 entered its third phase, successfully completing the 2023 ‘Data Drive’ to gather more and better data and set priorities for increased efforts and investments to ensure no one is left behind.

UN-Water also published the next three SDG 6 Country Acceleration Case Studies –this time from Brazil, Ghana and Singapore – sharing vital experiences and detailing best practice.

To inspire transformative change, we need to speak to people’s hearts as well as their minds. This is why the campaigns for World Water Day and World Toilet Day used the ancient story of the hummingbird who carries drops of water in her beak to help put out a great fire.

This lighter side of our work contained an important lesson: be the change you want to see in the world. The campaign had over 10 billion in reach on social media and inspired tens of thousands of children throughout the year to take action in their daily lives.

Let us all be guided by their example in the year ahead."