Summary report, 5–6 December 2022

The springboard to the UN 2023 Water Conference, the 37th UN-Water Meeting was the last face-to-face gathering before the water community presents a clear roadmap to put Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 6 (clean water and sanitation) back on track so it can be achieved by 2030. The UN 2023 Water Conference, to convene at UN Headquarters in New York, US, in March 2023, was the main focus of the meeting.

Perceived by some as being adrift, SDG 6 underpins all the other SDGs, as “without water security, there cannot be any other kind of security.” Water and sanitation issues are also seen as being the next looming crisis on the horizon after the war in Ukraine and the energy and food predicaments. Delegates in Paris thus felt strongly that their efforts to prepare for the March Conference would be instrumental in placing the matter more prominently on the global political agenda.

Delegates heard from several inspiring speakers who provided insight into how to tap into financial resources, for instance, with one noting that “bridging the financial gap is not merely about more money,” as funding is available but often not used or it is used in detrimental manner.

Discussions largely took place in small group settings, referred to as “World Café,” that focused on the five broad themes for the UN 2023 Water Conference: Water for Health; Water for Sustainable Development; Water for Climate, Resilience and Environment; Water for Cooperation; and the Water Action Decade. Participants also discussed the “accelerators” towards SDG 6 (governance, financing, data and information, capacity development, and innovation), and formulated guiding questions that will inform the interactive dialogues to convene during the Conference and feed into plenary discussions.

The 37th UN-Water Meeting also: addressed the SDG 6 Synthesis Report 2023, the SDG 6 Capacity Development Initiative (CDI), and Global Campaigns; discussed how to operationalize the Water Action Agenda; and heard progress updates on global monitoring and other selected reports. Participants were invited to continue providing input and ideas electronically in the lead-up to the UN 2023 Water Conference, and to “clear their agendas” until then, as much works remains to be done.

At the close of the meeting on Tuesday afternoon, the spirit was upbeat. Delegates were hopeful that their collaborative efforts would garner the momentum needed to bring SDG 6 to the fore, as “the poorest and most vulnerable cannot wait any longer for water and sanitation to transform their lives,” in the words of UN-Water Chair Gilbert Houngbo.

The meeting was held in Paris, France on 5-6 December 2022 at the headquarters of the UN Education, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). The meeting included an open session on Monday and Tuesday, followed by a Tuesday afternoon session for UN-Water Members only. Around 100 UN-Water Members, Partners, and observers attended in person, and 30 joined the discussions online.

A Brief History of UN-Water

While over 30 UN organizations carry out water and sanitation programmes, no single UN entity is dedicated exclusively to these issues. In 1977, the UN’s Inter-Secretariat Group for Water Resources began coordinating UN activities on water. Subsequently, in 2003, the UN Administrative Coordination Committee’s Subcommittee on Water Resources was transformed into UN-Water and endorsed by the UN System Chief Executives Board for Coordination (CEB). UN-Water plays a coordinating role within the UN to ensure the UN family “delivers as one” in response to water-related challenges.

UN-Water Meetings bring together Members and Partners (see the full list of Members and Partners at the end of this report) twice a year to carry out the mandate of informing policies, monitoring and reporting, and inspiring action on water and sanitation issues. Participants include representatives of the UN Secretariat and UN agencies, funds, programmes and other entities, multilateral environmental agreements, civil society organizations, governments, and other organizations.

Initiatives: The overarching focus of UN-Water’s Members and Partners is to support UN Member States to sustainably manage water and sanitation.

Efforts to inform policies focus on placing water and sanitation issues on the agenda of key UN agreements, including the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and its SDGs. SDG 6 calls for the international community to strive to ensure the availability and sustainable management of water and sanitation for all by 2030.

Monitoring and reporting efforts seek to provide coherent and reliable data and information on key water trends and management issues. The Integrated Monitoring Initiative for SDG 6 (IMI-SDG 6) builds on and expands the experiences and lessons learned during implementation of the Millennium Development Goals. It aims to:

• develop methodologies and tools to monitor SDG 6 global indicators;
• raise awareness at the national and global levels regarding SDG 6 monitoring;
• enhance technical and institutional country capacity for monitoring; and
• compile country data and report on global progress on SDG 6.

Efforts to inspire action include coordination of the annual observance of World Water Day on 22 March, and World Toilet Day on 19 November. UN-Water releases the annual World Water Development Report (WWDR) on World Water Day.

Governance Structure: UN agencies, programmes, and funds with a water-related mandate are Members of UN-Water. Partners are international organizations, professional unions, associations, and other civil society groups that are actively involved in water-related issues and that have the capacity and willingness to contribute to the work of UN-Water and meet UN-Water’s partnership criteria.

UN-Water Senior Programme Managers (SPMs) represent UN-Water Members. They provide the overall governance and strategic direction and constitute the highest operational decision-making body of UN-Water.

The UN-Water Chair is chosen among the UN Executive Heads after consultations within the CEB. The current Chair is Gilbert Houngbo, President of the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD). The UN-Water Vice-Chair is elected among the UN-Water SPMs. The UN-Water Secretary is a senior staff member of the UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs (UN DESA).

UN-Water Report

UN-Water Vice-Chair Johannes Cullmann opened the 37th UN-Water Meeting on Monday, 5 December 2022, noting that compared to previous sessions, the current gathering would feature fewer decisions and more discussions in preparation for the UN 2023 Water Conference.

Gilbert Houngbo, UN-Water Chair, addressed the meeting in a video message. He called on delegates to accelerate their efforts, noting the poorest and most vulnerable cannot wait any longer for water and sanitation to transform their lives.

Abou Amani, UNESCO, welcomed participants and highlighted two water-related UNESCO programmes: the World Water Assessment Programme and the Intergovernmental Hydrological Programme. He also underscored efforts to raise the profile of science and groundwater, and mainstream gender in water management.

The meeting welcomed the UN Capital Development Fund (UNCDF) as UN-Water’s newest member. A representative from the UNCDF outlined the role of capital as an enabler of sustainable, equitable economic growth and development. He explained how the UNCDF aims to unlock public and private funds to advance the SDGs.

Participants adopted the agenda without amendment. They proceeded with preparations for the UN 2023 Water Conference, among other agenda items. This report summarizes the discussions during the open sessions of the 37th UN-Water Meeting. 

Update on the SDG 6 Synthesis Report 2023

Kelly Ann Naylor, consultant to the Secretariat, elaborated on the preparation of the SDG Synthesis Report 2023, noting that a concept note was produced in November 2022 and the final report will be published in May 2023. Participants suggested that the Synthesis Report: incorporate successful cases; focus on key outcomes of the UN 2023 Water Conference; connect global and local levels; illustrate the big picture; present actionable objectives; list clear actions that are feasible and understandable; use simplified language to unify outcomes of various thematic discussions; get high-level decision makers on board; be structured around SDG 6 targets and indicators; identify capacity-building needs in individual countries and institutions; and link with other SDGs.

Naylor invited additional input from participants in the coming months, asking for successful examples from other processes.

World Café: Interactive Dialogues Discussion

Madhushree Chatterjee, UN-Water Secretary, introduced the objective of the discussions, including distilling the key messages of the five Concept Papers on the themes of the interactive dialogues that will take place at the UN 2023 Water Conference. She invited participants to propose guiding questions for the panelists of the interactive dialogues.

Chatterjee explained the structure of the UN 2023 Water Conference, with its plenaries and five interactive dialogues, highlighted relevant deadlines and background documentation, and illustrated the work of the informal preparatory working groups (IPWGs). She addressed questions raised on the Concept Papers, such as on the role of the IPWGs in shaping the interactive dialogues.

Vice-Chair Cullmann stressed the importance of infographics and called for documents to be impactful, readable, and translatable. He then invited the co-convenors of the five themes to take the floor. This was followed by “World Café” discussions, which took up the better part of the first day of the 37th UN-Water Meeting. World Café is a method that replicates an informal café setting for participants to explore an issue by discussing it in small groups.  The co-convenors then reported back on the outcomes of these discussions in plenary.

Water for Health: Co-convenors for this theme were Ann Thomas, UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF), and Kate Medlicott, World Health Organization (WHO). Thomas outlined the scope of the theme’s Concept Paper and provided an overview of the challenges, current status of the Concept Paper, and interlinkages with the other themes. She also summarized the key messages, and actions related to them, for each of the following “accelerators”: governance, financing, data and information, capacity development, and innovation. She drew attention to an online voluntary consultation, which had provided feedback and noted some initial ideas for guiding questions. She mentioned possible areas of alignment with the other thematic Concept Papers.

Following the World Café, the co-convenors reported on their group’s discussions. They recommended: prioritizing actions, explaining how to implement them, and reframing them in terms of benefits rather than costs; taking a more comprehensive approach to health, beyond water, sanitation and health (WASH); using a One-Health approach, looking at animal, human, and planetary health in an integrated manner; promoting the role of local governance, including funding to the local level; and strengthening humanitarian linkages. Among guiding questions that would inform the UN 2023 Water Conference interactive dialogue, the group suggested: how to strengthen political leadership and will; how to foster climate resilience in WASH; and how to link to the humanitarian nexus.

Water for Sustainable Development: Mary Matthews, UN Development Programme (UNDP), and Virginie Gillet, Food and Agriculture Organization of the UN (FAO), were the co-convenors of this theme. Matthews called for focusing on cross-sectoral issues within the water-related SDGs and suggested water security as a lens through which to look at challenges. She highlighted: questions related to water valuation and pricing; costing water treatment and distribution; increasing efficiency; drawing more public spending; and mobilizing the private sector. Gillet presented data and information in relation to SDG 6, noting the challenges of data sharing and the inclusion of all sectors.

World Café recommendations on the topic included: adding a vision statement that reflects a more holistic approach; unifying statistics on water to allow for useful comparisons across themes; including different groups and sectors; and rephrasing or avoiding the phrase “water security” to make sure it goes beyond humanitarian contexts.

Water for Climate, Resilience and Environment: Co-convenors for this theme were: Kristin Meyer, UN Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNDRR); Lis Mullin Bernhardt, UN Environment Programme (UNEP); and Nicolas Franke, World Meteorological Organization (WMO). Meyer stressed the importance of making connections with the other themes. She outlined suggested “game changers” related to the accelerators, and introduced guiding questions to inform discussions at the UN 2023 Water Conference.

During World Café discussions, participants suggested stressing the cost of inaction, as well as best practices. They called for increased measurability around protecting and restoring ecosystems, and focusing on what needs to change rather than just focusing on the accelerators. They suggested moving beyond buzzwords, such as nature-based solutions, and strengthening the knowledge base, for instance on benefits for local livelihoods. Guiding questions identified for the UN 2023 Water Conference addressed involving the private sector and bringing knowledge to the local level.

Water for Cooperation: This theme’s co-convenors were: Sonja Koeppel, UN Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE); Alistair Rieu-Clarke, Northumbria University/UNECE; and Aurélien Dumont, UNESCO. Koeppel explained the focus on transboundary and international water cooperation, cross-sectoral cooperation and water across the 2030 Agenda, and called for aligning messages. As key messages, she explained that: water cooperation benefits all SDGs; benefits can only be maximized, equitably shared, and sustainable if inclusive, cross-sectoral, and action-oriented; and a lack of cooperation comes at a cost. Rieu-Clarke said the World Café discussions are expected to: find concrete transformative solutions across the five accelerators; focus on recommendations; and streamline the proposed guiding questions. Dumont described the next steps and related timeframes. Vice-Chair Cullmann drew attention to the importance of multilateral cooperation and asked participants to reflect on issues that drive the political agenda.

Recommendations from the World Café included: using cooperation as a catalyst towards SDG 6; linking with existing commitments; learning from other processes; and focusing on three concepts, namely basin-level cooperation, multi-level governance, and water for peace.

Water Action Decade: UN-Water Secretary Chatterjee introduced this theme, inviting participants to consider lessons learned, focus on SDG 6 accelerators, and draw on the outcomes of other meetings. She called for participants to define how meeting outcomes can really have an impact.

Recommendations from the World Café included seeking linkages between: UN-Water and other global initiatives; global and local governance; and the SDGs. Participants advocated for taking a multi-stakeholder approach, involving players from outside the water sector, including the private sector and local actors. Among guiding questions for discussion, they asked: How effective is the Decade? How do we tackle the remaining challenges in the second half of the Decade? And how do we see water post-2030?

Overall Summary of the Discussions: Wrapping up, Marianne Kjellén, UNDP, provided remarks on the “collective gap analysis” that participants contributed to through their discussions on each of the accelerators. She noted, inter alia: options to involve the private sector, tap into climate financing and better guide existing financial flows; data and information gaps such as on the burden of disease, groundwater, and pollution monitoring; capacity as “the foundation of everything”; the role of science as an important ingredient in innovation; and the weight of regulatory frameworks in guiding action. She drew attention to cross-cutting issues such as climate, and the role of Indigenous Peoples, women, and girls.

In the ensuing discussion, participants advocated bringing a smaller number of recommendations to the UN 2023 Water Conference, and seeking synergies between the five Concept Papers, to avoid duplication. Delegates asked for clarification on the sign-off procedure and the use of logos on the final Papers, noting they would not necessarily reflect consensus. They also discussed how the dialogues will inform the political discussions at the Conference, cautioning against having two parallel conferences.

One participant stressed that bridging the financing gap is not merely about more money. Noting that funding is often available, but not used efficiently, he said it is not about starting more projects labelled “water projects,” but setting up enabling conditions so other projects also contribute to water-related goals. Noting subsidies usually fail to target the right people, he suggested “putting justice at the core,” and reforming the global development finance architecture to make sure governments have increased access to cash.

Other participants recommended: promoting conversation beyond SDG 6; making sure novel recommendations are put forward, rather than repeating existing ones; avoiding generic messages, like “we need more participation”; avoiding preaching to the converted; prioritizing messages and recommendations; extending transboundary cooperation beyond basins to include groundwater and atmospheric water; and “moving beyond past paradigms in order to look forward.”

Vice-Chair Cullmann praised delegates for their efforts in the World Café sessions and for their abundance of ideas, stating that “if we keep this spirit, we can do great things.”

UN 2023 Water Conference

Update from the Co-Hosts: On Tuesday, 6 December, participants heard statements from the Netherlands and Tajikistan as the two co-hosts of the UN 2023 Water Conference. Henk Ovink, Special Envoy for International Water Affairs, the Netherlands, provided a global view of water and sanitation issues and actions to change course. He outlined how the Conference can contribute to modifying the economics, politics, and actions on water. He underscored that: water security underpins all other aspects of security; policies need to be reactive, not responsive, and forward-looking; and the Conference is a cornerstone to empower and inspire decision makers.

Sulton Rahimzoda, Special Envoy of the President of Tajikistan to the High-Level Panel on Water and Climate, called for making tangible political and technical commitments at the Conference. He noted that the attention of world leaders was on the war in Ukraine, and on the energy and food crises, yet the next crisis will be water-related unless the tables turn.

Vice-Chair Cullmann noted that Europe has reduced its gas consumption by 25% without causing major disruption and called for cultural changes.

Update from the Conference Secretariat: Madhushree Chatterjee, UN-Water Secretary, presented the process-oriented aspects of the UN 2023 Water Conference. She drew attention to the Conference website, the specificities of side events, and the High-level Political Forum on Sustainable Development (HLPF), which will be held in July 2023 and will address SDG 6.

Ovink expanded on opportunities within the city of New York during the Conference, calling for participants to open the doors of their networks to host events, prior to and during the Conference. Participants discussed questions pertaining to accreditation, interventions, and linking the interactive dialogues to the plenary, with Ovink explaining that the dialogues are positioned to drive the required change and feed into the HLPF and other processes.

Progress Update on the SDG 6 Capacity Development Initiative

Rahmah Elfithri, UNESCO, provided an overview and background of the CDI. She drew attention to: the rationale and relevance of capacity development; members of the initiative; the implementation process; and the progress update and recent communications products. She also outlined the way forward for the Initiative.

In the ensuing discussion, many participants noted their organization’s capacity-building efforts. Vice-Chair Cullmann presented the relevant draft decision, to which participants agreed.

Decision: In this decision, the SPMs: acknowledge the progress update on implementation of the CDI; request the Initiative to draw upon the capacity development chapters of the five UN 2023 Water Conference Interactive Dialogue Concept Papers in their activities; and request the Initiative to provide an update on its implementation at the 38th UN-Water Meeting.

Operationalizing the Water Action Agenda

Colin Herron, Global Water Partnership, led a panel discussion on this agenda item, noting the linkages between SDG 6 and other SDGs. He underlined the notion that “water is not a sector,” but rather a connector and a cross-cutting resource. Herron invited panelists and participants to reflect on three questions: Which solutions are being offered by the water community to other spaces and actors? How can actors beyond the water community be brought into the Water Action Agenda? And how can we ensure that commitments made in the Water Action Agenda are turned into transformative action?

Cate Lamb, CDP, formerly known as the Carbon Disclosure Project, delivered a keynote address. She said the UN 2023 Water Conference’s Concept Papers contain “real glimmers of hope and seeds of success.” She outlined how collaboration with other sectors is key to solving global water issues, noting that “where two worlds collide, magic can happen.” She cited examples relating to the energy, agriculture, and finance sectors, stressing that their viability depends on water availability.

Noting the need to change the ways in which finance leaders value water, Lamb called for ways to harness the trillions of dollars spent by investment banks, emphasizing that wise investments can be the key to change. Noting options for market-based incentives, Lamb felt that “once those institutions wake up, they are compelled to act,” and that this is already happening. Stressing that transformative change cannot be brought about by individual stakeholders alone, she said this calls for “radical cooperation.” Lamb invited participants to imagine celebrating the achievement of SDG 6 in 2030 and seeing “how different our world looks from today.”

Eva Mach, International Organization for Migration (IOM), outlined her organization’s work on community-level engagement. She noted that a billion people are already on the move as international or internal migrants, identified water as a driver of disaster displacement, and underlined the impact of large-scale migration on the environment, including water resources.

Farai Tunhuma, UNICEF, described her organization’s work towards SDG 6, and its commitment to use available funding in the WASH Programme to change the water landscape. Underlining community resilience and adaptation as key factors, she said water plays a leveraging role, and the WASH Programme has successfully influenced other sectors within and outside UNICEF.

Harumi Fuentes Furuya, Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), emphasized the importance of political will at the highest level. Recalling past human rights-related events and reports, including on the right to WASH under emergency situations, she highlighted OHCHR bodies mandated to monitor how countries meet their human rights obligations and stressed the need to link water commitments to existing obligations.

Lamb reaffirmed that transparency and accountability are key to tracking progress on government and non-State actor commitments. She highlighted CDP’s global annual reporting mechanism, which tracks companies’ actions to mitigate climate, water, and deforestation risks and opportunities. Lamb said this process helps “keep them on track,” noting companies that participate in this reporting process are less likely to fund fossil fuel-related activities.

In the ensuing discussion, one participant mentioned that many organizations are unfamiliar with using finance as a mechanism to bring about change, noting that basic education on the matter is urgently required. Another discussed the role of effective early warning systems, noting their high return on investment and their ability to trigger society to take action.

Participants highlighted: the FAO National Water Roadmaps towards the 2030 Agenda initiative that countries are developing to review and reaffirm national commitments and translate these into concrete actions; and “Water for all SDGs,” a tool launched by the French Water Partnership in 2022. They also underlined the need for: national drought policies; involving stakeholders from beyond UN-Water; and the holistic valuation of ecosystem services, which accounts for, among other things, avoided and replacement costs and hedonic value.

One participant recognized the need to look outside the box, but worried “there is so much to do within the box as well.” Vice-Chair Cullmann noted actions can only be real game changers if they are linked to earlier agreed upon commitments and principles. Lamb concluded the session by saying: “If you have not cleared your diaries between now and the Conference, do so now. We’ve got a lot of work to do. But I am sure we will be celebrating in March.”

Global Campaigns

Update on World Toilet Day 2022 and the UN-Water Summit on Groundwater 2022: Kate Medlicott, WHO, noted that the 2022 theme of World Toilet Day was “making the invisible visible” and that many events took place around the world. She said the focus was on a capacity package, with a countdown illustrating that efforts are lagging on sanitation.

Alice Aureli, UNESCO, presented on the UN-Water Summit on Groundwater, taking place immediately following the current UN-Water Meeting at UNESCO Headquarters. She said the Summit is the culmination of the water community’s shared focus on groundwater during 2022, and draws attention to the challenges and opportunities groundwater offers across all sectors, from industry and agriculture to ecosystem health and climate change.

Update on the Planning for World Water Day and World Toilet Day 2023 and the UN World Water Development Report 2023: Neil Dhot, AquaFed – The International Federation of Private Water Operators, discussed the campaign for World Water Day, which is based on inspiring knowledge about existing change and partnerships, and encouraging people to care, share, and take action by making commitments. He said the campaign theme is “be the change you want to see in the world.”

Michela Miletto, UNESCO, presented the UN World Water Development Report (WWDR) 2023. She highlighted that the report addresses how the water and sanitation community can overcome competing needs and expectations. She also drew attention to the 20th anniversary of the WWDR and Stockholm World Water Week.

Progress Update on the SDG 6 Global Monitoring and Selected Reports

Will Reidhead, UN-Water Global Monitoring Officer, presented an update on the Integrated Monitoring Initiative for SDG 6 (IMI-SDG6). He noted the first phase of data collection to get a baseline was followed by capacity building throughout 2019-2022. He said the next phase focuses on making global indicators useful for countries and getting the most out of them. He said heightened success was achieved with intensive engagement with countries, but this required funding. He noted an additional two data collection cycles which will be followed by reporting.

Participants discussed: interconnections between different monitoring efforts; areas where data is still lagging, such as groundwater; clarifying where data can be found; and the importance of working together.

Date and Venue of the 38th UN-Water Meeting

Delegates agreed that the 38th UN-Water Meeting will take place on 18-19 August 2023 in Stockholm, Sweden. The Stockholm International Water Institute (SIWI), as the host institution, invited all participants to attend both this meeting and World Water Week, which will be held in a hybrid on-site and online format in Stockholm immediately following the 38th UN-Water Meeting, under the theme “Seeds of Change: Innovative solutions for a water-wise world.”

Closing

Vice-Chair Cullmann thanked participants for their positive contributions and closed the open session of the 37th UN-Water Meeting at 3:30 pm. A closed session, open to UN-Members only, continued into the afternoon.

UN-Water Members (33 as of April 2022)

United Nations Secretariat

Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR)

United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs (DESA)

UN Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNDRR)

Programmes and Funds

United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF)

United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD)

United Nations Development Programme (UNDP)

United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women (UN Women)

United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP)

United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR)

United Nations Human Settlements Programme (UN-Habitat)

World Food Programme (WFP)

Regional Commissions

United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA)

United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE)

United Nations Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (UNECLAC)

United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (UNESCAP)

United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia (UNESCWA)

Specialized Agencies

Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO)

International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD)

International Labour Organization (ILO)

International Organization for Migration (IOM)

International Telecommunication Union (ITU)

United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO)

United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO)

United Nations Institute for Training and Research (UNITAR)

United Nations World Tourism Organization (UNWTO)

The World Bank Group (WB)

World Health Organization (WHO)

World Meteorological Organization (WMO)

Other Entities

United Nations University (UNU)

United Nations Related Organizations

International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA)

Conventions

Secretariat of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD)

Secretariat of the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD)

Secretariat of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC)

UN-Water Partners (43 as of April 2022) 

Aquafed

CDP

Center for Affordable Water and Sanitation Technology (CAWST)

Conservation International

Gender and Water Alliance (GWA)

Global Water Partnership (GWP)

Green Climate Fund*

Human Right 2 Water

IHE Delft

International Association for Hydro-Environment Engineering

and Research (IAHR)

International Association for Water Law (AIDA)

International Association of Hydrogeologists (IAH)

International Association of Hydrological Sciences (IAHS)

International Commission on Irrigation and Drainage (ICID)

International Groundwater Centre (IGRAC)

International Hydropower Association (IHA)

International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis (IIASA)

International Institute for Sustainable Development (IISD)

International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN)

International Water and Sanitation Centre (IRC)

International Water Association (IWA)

International Water Management Institute (IWMI)

International Water Resources Association (IWRA) 

Mandate of the United Nations Secretary-General’s Special 

Envoy for Disaster Risk Reduction and Water*

Mandate of the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the 

Human Right to Safe Drinking Water and Sanitation*

Public Services International (PSI)

Ramsar Convention

Sanitation and Water for All*

Stakeholder Forum for a Sustainable Future

Stockholm International Water Institute (SIWI)

United Nations Global Compact*

United Cities and Local Governments (UCLG)

Water Supply and Sanitation Collaborative Council (WSSCC)*

Water.org

WaterAid

WaterLex

Women for Water Partnership (WfWP)

World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD)

World Council of Civil Engineers (WCCE)

World Resources Institute (WRI)

World Water Council (WWC)

World Wildlife Fund (WWF) 

World Youth Parliament for Water (WYPW)

* Partner with Special Status