UN Chronicle - Volume 55, Issue 1, 2018

At the start of the seventy-second session of the General Assembly of the United Nations I emphasized our common goal: peace and a decent life for all people on a sustainable planet. Many leaders echoed this overarching priority at the general debate and beyond. One very important element of this is universal access to water and sanitation. At a most basic level, human beings cannot survive without water. Equally important is sanitation, a lack of which negatively affects our quality of life and claims the lives of millions each year.

Water plays a crucial role in the development of mankind. From time immemorial people have settled near water, which has always been a source of life and well-being. Humanity has praised and glorified it as a sacred resource for thousands of years.

Shifting our priorities from economic growth to sustainable development is the political imperative of our time. To do so, leaders must deliver on water security, ensuring that water becomes an enabler, rather than a major barrier to sustainable growth. What is it going to take?

In September 2015, the United Nations General Assembly adopted the resolution “Transforming our World: the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.”1 This new development agenda propagates an all-of-society engagement and partnership as a main driver for transformation. It is a collective action plan that unites State and non-State actors, whereby adequate opportunity and space is given to all major groups in society. While youth is considered as a vulnerable group that warrants specific attention (para. 23), young people are also viewed as important actors who should be educated and enabled to reach their full potential (para. 25; SDG 4, targets 4.4 and 4.6). Specific attention is given to the promotion of youth employment for inclusive and sustainable economic growth (para. 27; SDG 8, targets 8.6 and 8b) and to developing the capacity of youth to effectively contribute to climate changerelated planning and management (SDG 13, target 13.b).

Today, 2.1 billion people lack access to safely managed water services, and 4.5 billion live without safely managed sanitation services. This crisis costs the lives of around 340,000 children every year, with other impacts deeply affecting entire societies and economies. By 2050, the world’s population will have grown by around 2 billion people and demand for water will increase up to 30 per cent. Water is finite, so we must ask: how are we going to balance all of the competing demands on water resources while meeting our obligations to fulfil every person’s human right to water and sanitation?

Fresh water is a key resource for human health, prosperity and security. It is essential for poverty eradication, gender equality, food security and the preservation of ecosystems. Yet water resources are under increasingly severe pressure from global drivers such as population growth, climate variability and global change. Although constituting a finite resource, water is being stretched to serve more and more people and usages.

An ecosystem is normally defined as a complex of all living (plants, animals, microorganisms) and non-living (soil, climate) components interacting as a functional unit in a certain area. Each contributes to maintaining the overall ecosystem’s health and productivity. Ecosystems such as forests, wetlands and grasslands play an important role in the global water cycle. Recognizing this role and the interactions between the two is critical to managing water resources sustainably.

Water is life. The successful implementation of Sustainable Development Goal 6 (SDG 6) and its water- related targets is at the heart of the entire 2030 Agenda, and it will be crucial for its realization. Yet sustainable management of water and sanitation is currently under enormous pressure.

What can be done to introduce innovation and sustainability in the water and sanitation sectors in the Middle East? How can one give agency to younger, newer voices and visions in these sectors?

The World Water Council (WWC) considers the formulation of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to be an endeavour of the highest importance for the achievement of water security throughout the world, which is crucial for a prosperous and equitable future for humankind. Thus, SDG 6, aiming to “ensure availability and sustainable management of water and sanitation for all”, is central to the Council’s mission. The World Water Council is compelled to reiterate its message that sustainable development is not possible without water security.

In a landmark study published a decade ago, the International Water Management Institute (IWMI) suggested that under likely scenarios the world’s freshwater supplies should be adequate to meet future demands from agriculture, industry and other sectors. A lot has happened since then that makes it difficult today to frame this essentially accurate conclusion in such optimistic terms. It is clear now that, without significant improvement in water management, we can no longer assure sustainable development in the face of climate change and related pressures.

Water carries political, cultural, religious, social, economic and environmental significance in our lives. Access to safe drinking water and sanitation has farreaching consequences for achieving equality and creating an inclusive society. When government policies and programmes focus upon the well-being of the socially excluded and vulnerable—especially women and children—they become instrumental in bringing about necessary changes and addressing the most formidable challenges. Combined with thoughtfully designed regulatory and environmental frameworks, policies and programmes are the key drivers for engaging people, which allows them to understand problems and be part of the solution. People then become the force to holistically contribute to improving their own circumstances. Civil society organizations and the private sector—when keeping sight of the principles of participation, equity and transparency— become the most capable facilitators in the improved and sustainable management of water—a resource so vital to human life.