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Water is Key to Attain Sustainable Development, Prosperity and Peace
New York, 4 November 2024, “Water is the door-key to unlock SDGs attainment, to enable peace and prosperity” expressed Retno Marsudi, the UN Secretary-General’s Special Envoy for Water at the 40th UN-Water Meeting in New York (4/11).
The Special Envoy calls on the UN-Water members and partners, to work together, harder, and closer – within and beyond the UN system. She emphasized that cooperation and collaboration are key to accelerate progress, in a world where water-related efforts are faced with two big limitations – resources and time.
Resources are very limited. She quoted the World Bank Report that “Until 2030, efforts to build water-related infrastructure will need US$ 6.7 trillion”.
Time is also limited, she reminded UN-Water members and partners that “with only 2 years until the next UN Water Conference in 2026; 4 years to the end of the Water Action Decade in 2028; and 6 years to achieve the 2030 Agenda, time is a luxury”.
“Therefore, we need to ensure strengthened means of implementation, including financing for water and sanitation” she further called the UN-Water members and partners to multiply efforts in achieving water and sanitation targets.
“Welcome to the UN family and we look forward to working closely with you” expressed Mr. Alvaro Lario, the Chair of UN-Water and President of International Fund for Agricultural Development. In line with the calls expressed by Mrs. Marsudi, Mr. Lario added that there is the need to bring water into all relevant UN processes, including in the Financing for Development agenda.
“I call it Triple A. Advocate, Align, and Accelerate” in meeting, Mrs. Marsudi laid out her three priorities to be the basis of her works as the Special Envoy for Water.
“Advocacy is strongly needed to ensure that water is on the high political agenda”, she conveyed. She expressed that advocacy would ensure that strong commitments are transformed into concrete actions.
Second, she highlighted that alignment is vital to pursue a common goal. She believed that alignment would enable water-actors to connect the dots to pursue a united purpose, that result in the implementation of the UN System-wide Strategy for Water and Sanitation.
Lastly, she emphasized that there is a pressing need for the UN system to accelerate their works on water and sanitation, and start moving away from ‘business as usual’.
The UN-Water Meeting is a biannual meeting organized by UN-Water, to ensure collaboration and coherence among its members and partners. It is organized in two days (4 and 5 November 2024), with attendance of more than 130 people, from all UN-Water’s members and partners. Mrs. Marsudi engagement in the meeting, marks the beginning of her work as the Secretary General’s Special Envoy for Water – since her effective appointment on 1st of November 2024.