Water and Engineering

Founded in 1968, under the auspices of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organizations (UNESCO) in Paris, the World Federation of Engineering Organizations (WFEO) is an international, non-governmental organization representing the engineering profession worldwide. WFEO brings together national engineering organizations from some 100 nations and represents more than 30 million engineers from around the world.
The Agenda 2030 SDGs are based on findings from the natural and social sciences and other fields regarding the implementation of necessary changes to ensure the survival and prosperity of all people and all forms of life on the planet.
Engineering is present in all the SDGs, in the work themes of the objectives of the Decade and in the topics of the five interactive dialogues of UN 2023 Water Conference. But the role of the diverse engineering disciplines has not been perceived as central to the achievement of the SDGs among other disciplines in the social sciences and humanities, even in SCG-6.
Engineering has been able to adapt knowledge (scientific, indigenous, local and community science) to the needs of society and the environment, with particular attention to sustainability, circularity, and resilience of water sources. Thus, contributing to a sustainable, intelligent, and inclusive development. It should not be forgotten that there is an important link between a country's engineering capacity and its economic development.
Also, engineering education has changed a lot in a short period. To address SDG-6 goals and targets, engineers have expanded their thinking beyond strictly technical solutions, focusing more on environmental and social aspects, such as, “Do No Significant Harm” principle, gender-sensitive planning, human-rights-based approach, and leaving-no-one-behind, among others. Facing present and future water-related challenges (population growth, climate change, sea level rise, droughts, floods, etc.), engineers’ capacity goes far beyond traditional solutions providing the best response (grey, green and/or blue) to each specific case.
However, with half the world living in poverty and millions of people without sufficient water and food or sanitation, engineering is needed to support the progress of sustainable development across the world.
The objective of this commitment is to disseminate the engineering perspective on water issues related to the achievement of SDG-6 goals and targets through the publication of documents on WFEO webpage, taking into consideration that this SDG is interrelated with all the goals of the 2030 Agenda.