Excellencies,
Distinguished Participants,
Ladies and Gentlemen,
It gives me great pleasure to present the first United Nations System-wide Strategy for Water and Sanitation, on behalf of the Deputy Secretary-General.
It represents an historic commitment by UN entities to align their efforts and I extend our gratitude to Mr. Lario, Chair of UN-Water. Your leadership has been instrumental in developing this strategy.
Today’s Special Event marks a significant milestone in the UN's efforts around water and sanitation.
The document we launch today is a strategic and operational response by the entire UN-Water family to support new levels of ambition from Member States, expressed at the UN 2023 Water Conference and in related processes.
It is also worth noting that this UN system strategy was elaborated through an inter-agency process and has benefited from extensive consultations with Member States.
This strategy builds upon UN-Water’s long experience as the UN inter-agency coordination mechanism on water and sanitation. It will act as a unifying force to strengthen UN support to Member States as they face dire water-related challenges.
The System-wide Strategy acknowledges that water and sanitation influence many interconnected areas across sectors and guides the UN system towards a comprehensive and strengthened integrated approach in its support to SDG 6.
Mainstreaming water and sanitation across intergovernmental processes – from climate change to food, from energy to biodiversity – is central to accelerating the implementation of the 2030 Agenda.
This system-wide strategy will ensure greater demand-driven support through the Resident Coordinator system and UN Country Teams, so that progress on water and sanitation can be accelerated, with governments in the driver’s seat.
To achieve universal coverage of safely managed drinking water and sanitation and basic hygiene services by 2030, the rates of progress must increase, on average, by three to six times.
Today, there are more than 840 voluntary commitments from governments, civil society, and the private sector under the Water Action Agenda.
DESA, as the custodian of the Water Action Agenda, recently published a mapping and progress report of the Water Action Agenda commitments. The key messages from the analysis are clear:
? There is broad engagement from many countries, indicating a global recognition of the importance of water- and sanitation-related issues.
? Financial constraints have been identified as a major hurdle, affecting the scale and speed of implementing commitments.
? Lack of expertise and technical knowledge are hindering progress in certain regions and areas of work.
To invigorate the Water Action Agenda, and action plans in general, the System-wide Strategy will offer more impactful support to countries, including through the five SDG 6 global accelerators, namely: financing; data and information; capacity development; innovation; and Governance.
Dear colleagues,
We have never been better equipped to meet the world’s water and sanitation challenges.
The United Nations System-wide Strategy for Water and Sanitation complements existing plans and provides momentum for harnessing synergies and redoubling efforts.
Let us work together to ensure the successful implementation of this strategy.
Thank you.