This week, governments, businesses, and civil society from around the world will come together during the UN 2023 Water Conference convened by the UN General Assembly. A call has been made for commitments, pledges, and actions that support the water actions outlined in the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development – actions that prioritise innovative and transformative ideas and reject “business as usual”. This is our response.
Launched at COP26 by the UK and Malawi, the Glasgow Declaration for Fair Water Footprints is a game changing initiative for shared water security. Our 28 founding Signatories, representing 185M people and $5 trillion GDP, commit to ensuring zero pollution, sustainable withdrawal, universal WASH, protection of nature, and resilience to climate shocks in their supply chains by 2030.
The Declaration brings together governments from the north and south (UK, Malawi, Finland, Madagascar, Netherlands, Austria, Panama, Peru) as well as banks, corporations, researchers and civil society to trigger systemic change on water through trade, finance, markets, media and governance. We will make water a political priority, establish water stewardship as the international business norm, and put water justice and climate resilience at the heart of the global economy.
To realise the ambition of the UN Water Action Agenda, we will deliver on our far-reaching leadership commitments, recruit new Signatories, and share lessons to transform the way water is used in global supply chains. We will work with the UN to use all available levers (e.g. standards, trade policies, and business practice) to harness the power of enterprise, investment and communities to deliver sustainable water and sanitation for all by 2030.
