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JOINT STATEMENT FOR THE UN HIGH-LEVEL MEETING ON WATER

NEW  YORK, 18 MARCH 2021

Letter from the Core Group of the Joint Statement
to the UN Secretary-General, President of the General Assembly and
President of ECOSOC 

Excellency,

Please find attached the Joint Statement for the High Level Meeting on Water together with the full list of the 156 countries who have subscribed to it until now. In light of the extraordinary growing wide support to the statement, it remains open for the rest of the General Membership to join.

The High-Level Meeting on Water on the 18th of March 2021 is the first time in several years that the UN General Assembly meets to discuss water. It is a milestone on the “Water Decade” track towards the UN Midterm Review Conference in 2023. The meeting is a much anticipated opportunity to galvanize action on water issues, especially since over 2 billion people still lack access to safe drinking water and climate change impacts freshwater systems all over the world at an unprecedented scale and speed. Sustainable Development Goal 6 and its targets are not on track of being achieved by 2030. All of these challenges are even further exacerbated by COVID-19 pandemic. To secure the source of life and address the urgent need for decisive global water action a large number of countries came together to convey the attached joint statement highlighting key priorities that should be addressed at the High-Level Meeting and in the preparatory process for the Mid-Term Review of the Water Decade in 2023, as well as in the Review Conference itself. We are united in our commitment to ensure that water issues are put at the forefront of the agenda of the UN, and that accelerated action is taken on SDG 6 to ensure its achievement by 2030.

The joint statement, together with the full list of countries who have subscribed to it, is submitted by the cross regional core group formed to draft the statement, consisting of Argentina, Austria, Brazil, Costa Rica, Egypt, Finland, France, Germany, Hungary, Lebanon, Malaysia, Pakistan, Peru, Portugal, Senegal, Slovenia, and South Africa.

Please accept, Excellency, the assurances of our highest considerations.

March 17, 2021 New York

H.E. Ms. María del Carmen Squeff

Ambassador

Permanent Representative of Argentina to the United Nations

H.E. Mr. Alexander Marschik

Ambassador

Permanent Representative of Austria to the United Nations

H.E. Mr. Ronaldo Costa

Ambassador

Permanent Representative of Brazil to the United Nations

H.E Mr Rodrigo Alberto Carazo Zeledón

Ambassador

Permanent Representative of Costa Rica to the United Nations

H.E. Mr. Mohamed Fathi Ahmed Edrees

Ambassador

Permanent Representative of Egypt to the United Nations

H.E. Mr. Jukka Salovaara

Ambassador

Permanent Representative of Finland to the United Nations

H.E. Mr. Nicolas de Rivière

Ambassador

Permanent Representative of France to the United Nations

H.E. Mr. Christoph Heusgen

Ambassador

Permanent Representative of Germany to the United Nations

H.E. Dr. Zsuzsanna Horváth

Ambassador

Permanent Representative of Hungary to the United Nations

H.E. Ms. Amal Mudallali

Ambassador

Permanent Representative of Lebanon to the United Nations

H.E. Mr. Syed Mohamad Hasrin Aidid

Ambassador

Permanent Representative of Malaysia to the United Nations

H.E. Mr. Munir Akram

Ambassador

Permanent Representative of Pakistan to the United Nations

H.E. Mr. Néstor Popolizio

Ambassador

Permanent Representative of Peru to the United Nations

H.E. Mr. Francisco Duarte Lopes

Ambassador

Permanent Representative of Portugal to the United Nations

H.E. Mr. Cheikh Niang

Ambassador

Permanent Representative of Senegal to the United Nations

H.E. Ms. Darja Bavdaž Kuret

Ambassador

Permanent Representative of Slovenia to the United Nations

H.E. Ms. Mathu Joyini

Ambassador

Permanent Representative of the Republic of South Africa to the United Nations

---------------------------------------------------

Joint Statement for the UN High-Level Meeting on Water, 18 March 2021,
co-signed by 156 countries

• On the occasion of the High-Level Meeting on the “Implementation of the Water-related Goals and Targets of the 2030 Agenda” on 18 March 2021, which is one of the landmark meetings feeding into the “Midterm comprehensive review of the implementation of the International Decade for Action, Water for Sustainable Development, 2018–2028”, we have joined efforts to issue this Cross Regional Statement on Water.

• Water is a matter of life and source of existence for all living. The critical importance of water has been highlighted by the COVID 19 pandemic, as access to safe drinking water, adequate sanitation and hygiene are amongst the first lines of defense in the absence of a vaccine, in particular in many developing countries. The human rights to water and sanitation must be promoted, protected and fulfilled at all times.

• Water is inextricably linked to the three pillars of sustainable development. We share a strong commitment to advancing SDG6, as well as all water related aspects of the 2030 Agenda, as appropriate, and supporting the implementation of the objectives of the Water Action Decade, including its Midterm Review conference in 2023. Achievement of the water-related goals and targets is essential to the successful implementation of relevant development agreements, including the New Urban Agenda, the Paris Agreement, the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction, the SIDS Accelerated Modalities of Action (SAMOA) Pathway, the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) the Convention on Biological Diversity and the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification in Those Countries Experiencing Serious Drought and/or Desertification, Particularly in Africa. We value the recommendations of the 2018 High Level Panel on Water Report “Making Every Drop Count”, the 2018 UN Water SDG 6 Synthesis Report on Water and the SDG6 Global Acceleration Framework as well as welcome the Water and Climate Coalition.

• While SDG 6 is an essential enabler of the 2030 Agenda, water issues suffer from lack of visibility in international processes. The advancement of water issues is long overdue. Effective, coordinated and consistent international cooperation is needed to strengthen the complementarity of actions and programs dedicated to the water and sanitation sector. Deepening our understanding of the interconnections and potential synergies between SDG 6 and the other Goals of the 2030 Agenda would help in taking important steps towards accelerating its implementation, including exploring synergies and complementarities between SDG 6 and SDG 14.

• About 2.5 billion people (36% of the world’s population) live in water-scarce regions. By 2050, more than half of the world’s population will be at risk due to water stress, and desertification alone will threaten the livelihoods of nearly one billion people in about 100 countries. Intense water scarcity may displace as many as 700 million people by 2030. Growing populations and increasing demand for food and energy, as well as climate change, will exacerbate scarcity problems. We share a collective commtiment to support the unserved and underserved to ensure the equal enjoyment of the human rights to water and sanitation. Thus, the international community is required to take stock of the efforts already made and take urgent action to avoid leaving the vulnerable countries behind.

• Climate change affects water availability and demand as well as the frequency and intensity of floods and drought. Its impact on the hydrological cycle not only leads to biodiversity loss, but also adversely affect the provision of water-related ecosystem services, such as water purification, as well as the provision of water for drinking, agriculture, and fisheries. Water pollution has clear health and socioeconomic impacts and is associated with biodiversity loss and reduced ecosystem functioning.

• Integrated Water Resources Management acknowledges that water needs to be managed as a system – usually as a basin, sub-basin, or aquifer - and water system boundaries often do not correlate with political or administrative boundaries. To achieve good governance and increase water use efficiency and sustainability, technical, financial, and institutional solutions must be in place, followed by effective and coordinated cross- sectoral implementation.

• Current levels of financing remain substantially inadequate to reach the international community’s goal of universal availability and sustainable management of water and sanitation. We support international financing and public and private investments as important tools, also , governments are encouraged to improve the enabling environment and explore new approaches for investment in environmentally sustainable water and sanitation related infrastructure and services, while ensuring the human rights to safe drinking water and sanitation.

• Multi stakeholder and multi-disciplinary approaches, are critical to achieve integrated water resource management, which does not only involve the different levels of government, but also includes civil society, academia, local communities, women and girls, youth and private sector. The absence of safe drinking water and sanitation negatively impacts the realization of gender equality and the empowerment of women and girls and places a disproportionate burden on them. Political leadership is a must to ensure the availability and sustainable management of water and sanitation for all.

• Information about water quantity, quality, distribution, access, risks, and use is essential for effective decision-making. Yet major gaps in water data and decision-making systems exist, and science-based climate change informed water data is required. We need to enable policymakers to employ quality, accessible, timely and reliable disaggregated, fit- for-purpose data, smart technologies and strong and robust monitoring mechanisms to develop effective cross-sectoral policies, in order to leave no one behind.