The World Water Day is an annual United Nations Conference – held on 22 March 2024 – focused on inspiring action to tackle the global water crisis.
The World Water Day is led by UN-Water and the 2024 Task Force is co-coordinated by the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE) and the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO).
This year’s theme was “Leveraging water for peace”. The global public campaign promoted water as a tool for peace, raising awareness of the ways the world can unite around the sustainable management of water to prevent disputes and collaborate on shared challenges.
To celebrate the day, the pivot event was held at the UNESCO headquarters in Paris, France, which featured high-level speakers and experts, and cultural activities to express the concept of ‘water and peace’.
At the event was also launched the 2024 edition of the United Nations World Water Development Report, entitled: “Water for Prosperity and Peace”. The report gives policy recommendations to decision-makers and was published by UNESCO on behalf of UN-Water and its production is coordinated by the UNESCO World Water Assessment Programme.
The WFEO Committee on Water (CW) wrote a chapter in the report.
This committee composed of experts is a strong platform to coordinate #engineering water work around the world and reach SDG #6. CW contributed to the report, as it is mentioned in chapter 7 “Transboundary waters” (page 100) and in the acknowledgements section (page 16).
This is the first time that WFEO has participated in documents of this relevance in the water sector.
Among the World Water Day 2024 celebration events that were held on 22 March, Dr. K.N. Gunalan, Chair of WFEO-UN Relations Committee, participated on the “Celebrating World Water Day 2024: Converging Efforts, Keeping the Momentum of Progress” held at UN headquarters in New York.
The conference was hosted by Indonesia, Tajikistan, and the Kingdom of the Netherlands. Opening session moderated by Asa with UN DESA, keynote by President of General Assembly, Permanent Representative of Indonesia Ms. Dwikorita Karnawati, Minister of Environment from Tajikistan Mr. Sirojidin Muhriddin and Minister for Infrastructure from Denmark Mr. Jaap Slootmaker.
Dr. Gunalan was able to meet the President of the General Assembly Mr. Dennis Francis; he introduced himself and WFEO to the organizers staff of the Permanent Representative of Indonesia, the Permanent Representative of Senegal and others.
The general comments were that 2.2 Billion people are still without clean water. Water is key to many things such as agriculture, alleviation of poverty and hunger. Only 24 of the 154 countries have cross boundary water agreements, water is also essential to generate electricity and that over 700 million people do not have electricity. There is a need for a Global Commission for water, Global South specifically. Africa is challenged and we need an integrated policy.
The next world conferences on water are scheduled for 2026 and 2028.
For more information:
The United Nations World Water Development Report 2024: water for prosperity and peace In English | En français | In Italiano
WFEO-UN Relations Committee (WURC) website
APR
2024