Shanmugam Ias Academy

Context

The United Nations 2023 Water Conference was held between the 22nd and 24th of March. It was the first such meeting in about 46 years.

United Nations Water Conference

The UN 2023 Water Conference which is formally known as the “2023 Conference for the Midterm Comprehensive Review of Implementation of the UN Decade for Action on Water and Sanitation (2018-2028)” took place at the UN Headquarters in New York.
The 2023 Conference was co-hosted by the Government of Tajikistan and the Kingdom of the Netherlands.
The last UN Water Conference was held in 1977 in Mar del Plata, Argentina.
The 1977 Conference was groundbreaking as it led to the first global “Action Plan” that acknowledged that all people, irrespective of their stage of development and social and economic conditions, have the right to access drinking water in quantities and of a quality equal to their basic needs.
The 1977 declaration resulted in enhanced global funding and efforts to reduce the percentage of the population who lack access to safe drinking water.
The 2023 Conference was only the second UN Conference dedicated to water, following the 1977 Conference.
The 2023 Conference provided an opportunity to accelerate action towards achieving Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 6 and other internationally agreed water-related goals and targets.

Key commitments

The 2023 Conference witnessed close to about 713 voluntary commitments by various governments, corporations, philanthropic donors, and NGOs.
Commitments made during the Conference included a $50-billion commitment from India to improve rural drinking water services under the Jal Jeevan Mission.
With respect to the technological front, commitments were made on specific innovations in wastewater treatment and the development of incubation centres focusing on water management.
Deliberations were held on “W12+ Blueprint”, which is a UNESCO platform that consists of city profiles, case studies of programs, policies and technologies that address key water security challenges.
An initiative titled “Making Rights Real” which offers help to marginalised communities to understand how to exercise their rights was also discussed.
Likewise, the “Water for Women Fund” mechanism offers more effective and sustainable outcomes on issues such as water, sanitation, and hygiene for women.

Challenges and way forward

Extending services to underserved sections of society has been a complex task.
In India, there have been programmes such as the Swachh Bharat Mission and the Jal Jeevan Mission in this regard.
However, the major challenge with respect to extending access to water and sanitation is that it does not translate into sustained access to water and sanitation.
Various drinking water programmes have not yielded the intended results as they drew too much groundwater or because the water sources were contaminated which left the communities with no access to water again after initial success.
Over-exploitation of the groundwater which is mostly driven by agricultural pumping is another key challenge.
The key to addressing this problem would require policy change and cooperation between various agencies and ministries.
Further, encouraging or urging heavily irrigated places like Punjab to pump less would be another possible solution.
Other SDG goals pertaining to sustainable agriculture, industry, and natural ecosystems are also harder to achieve in the current context.
Achieving these intended goals or targets mandates political choices and a stronger democracy.

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