Access to Water and Water Security

The UN 2023 Water Conference is due to be held from the 22-24 March 2023 in New York, hosted by Tajikistan and the Netherlands after almost five decades.

The last UN Water conference took place on March, 1977 in Argentina, where the first action plan was created. It recognises that ‘all people, whatever their stage of development and social economic conditions, have the right to have access to drinking water in quantities and of quality equal to their basic needs’ (Cuq, 2011).

In 1992, the International Conference on Water and Sustainable Development addressed water security and key principles were agreed on by attending the nations. Principle 4 of the Dublin Conference stated, ‘it is vital to recognise the basic right of all human beings to have access to clean water and sanitation at an affordable price’ (UN, 2022).

In November 2002, it was confirmed the right to water in international law.

July 2010 at the UN General Assembly Resolution, the UN formally recognised the right to water and sanitation and acknowledged they are essential for human rights.

This demonstrates that it’s been a while since the world gathered to discuss the topic of water therefore the 2023 conference comes at a pivotal time. A time where there are sustainable systems in place that will ensure the countries affected by climate change are safeguarded and waters sustainability and scarcity can be readdressed.

Currently water systems are under tremendous pressure. Billions of people already live in areas that experience water scarcity. The UN estimates that governments must quadruple their current rates of progress to get on track to achieve the goals for SDG6 (Water and Sanitation for all). The pandemic has demonstrated the critical importance of sanitation, hygiene and adequate access to clean water for preventing and containing diseases, yet billions of people still lack safe water sanitation and funding is inadequate (Samel, 2022). The conference has most definitely come at a time when it is crucial and extremely important to solve how to sustainably manage the earths water supply.

There is hope as a report by the UNESCO on world water development revealed that groundwater accounts for approximately 99% of all liquid freshwater on earth but only 25% is being used. This highlights the mismanagement of this natural resource at this important time. However, it also shows ‘opportunities for optimising its use in order to ensure the long-term sustainability of this largely available yet fragile resource’. Ultimately, this topic and specific research ‘would be imperative to discuss at the conference due to take place next year’ (UNESCO, n.d.).

Iroshi K. Jaythylek

Reference List

Cuq, M. (2011). Water: Human Right or Commodity? Reflections on the Effectiveness of a Human

Right to Water. [online] papers.ssrn.com. Available at:

https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2363538.

UN, C. (2022b). The Dublin Statement on Water and Sustainable Development - UN Documents:

Gathering a body of global agreements. [online] Un-documents.net. Available at: Https://www.un-

documents.net/h2o-dub.htm [Accessed 29 Sep. 2022].

Samel, M. (2022). Global water agenda: What to expect in 2022. [online] impact.economist.com.

Available at: https://impact.economist.com/sustainability/ecosystems-resources/global-water-

agenda-what-to-expect-in-2022.

UNESCO (n.d.). Home | UN World Water Development Report 2022. [online] www.unesco.org.

Available at: https://www.unesco.org/reports/wwdr/2022/en.