According to UN Water, a staggering 10,000 participants gathered at UN Headquarters and online for three days of discussions to urgently scale up action and contributed more than 700 commitments aimed at driving transformation towards a water-secure world. Signatories to the Declaration for Fair Water Footprints worked hard to raise the profile of the initiative during the week. Here’s a round up of some of our best moments:
Over 100 participants attended our official UN Water side event in person and over 200 people joined online to find out how our groundbreaking partnership with governments, business, investors and civil society is changing water use in global supply chains for good. Don’t worry if you missed it – you can catch up with this recording.
We welcomed three new Signatories: BankBio Loo – an award-winning enterprise engaged in developing innovative WASH infrastructure and services across India; WRAP – a climate action NGO working with governments, businesses and citizens around the globe to tackle the causes of the climate crisis and Earth Guardians – a youth organisation representing thousands of youth leaders, activists and artists driving action and an culture shift towards a more just future. Read more about their involvement.
The significance of the Declaration for Fair Water Footprints was raised by Sareen Malik of ANEW and Nick Hepworth of Water Witness International in their joint Op-Ed for Devex and mentioned in the closing summaries of three of the five interactive dialogues, including the wrap up by the UK’s Lord Goldsmith.
We marked World Water Day by supporting Water Witness International to launch new data that reveals the shocking reliance on water beyond their borders. Their research finds that Japan has the overall hightest rate of unsustainable use (61%), followed by Canada (56%), USA (48%), France (45%) and the UK (40%). Read the briefing.
100 experts from five continents – including Declaration Signatories, the African Civil Society Network on Water and Sanitation (ANEW), Water Witness International, WaterAid and the Water Integrity Network (WIN) – wrote an open letter to UN Secretary General, Antonio Guterres to raise deep concerns about progress at the conference and call for greater rigour and accountability from the UN process.
Commitments generated at the Conference are now part of the Water Action Agenda. Read more about our pledge to put water justice and climate resilience at the heart of the global economy.
Thank you to all our supporters and to those of you who took the time to listen. We look forward to working with you as we continue to work towards changing the way water is used for good.
