Preface

The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development sets a series of ambitious challenges for the global community. These Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) include targets for access to safe drinking water and sanitation and better water management, as well as goals for addressing inequality and discrimination, including the overarching aims of ‘leaving no one behind’ and ‘reaching the furthest behind first’. These are challenges that, to date, have proven difficult to meet, partly because they are complex, but also due to political inertia. The global context for this agenda may be characterized as ‘crisis is the new normal’, with political insecurity, social, economic and environmental challenges on a daunting scale. This calls for redoubled efforts and carefully selected approaches towards achieving transformative change.

Sustainable Development Goals:

Clean Water and Sanitation