Human rights, Water and Commons planet and prosperity” aims at nothing less than “transforming our world”. It expands the MDG focus on poverty reduction to now cover all aspects of sustainable development in all countries of the world, calling for peace and partnership, and the need to leave no one behind. TOWARDS A WATER GOAL
DEDICATED
In 2013, to identify the future course of water, UN-Water undertook a consultation process on the Post-2015 agenda, resulting in the report “A Post-2015 Global Goal for Water – Synthesis of key findings and recommendations from UNWater”. The report promotes a holistic water and sanitation goal with targets on drinking water, sanitation and hygiene; water resources; water governance; water-related disasters; and wastewater pollution and water quality. Through the UN interagency Technical Support Team (TST), the report fed into the OWG process, to which UNWater also provided continuous support during 2014. Much of the UN-Water recommendations are captured in SDG 6 of the
2030 Agenda, aiming to ensure “availability and sustainable management of water and sanitation for all”. WATER IN THE 2030 AGENDA The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development includes a dedicated goal on water and sanitation (SDG 6) that sets out to “ensure availability and sustainable management of water and sanitation for all.” SDG 6 expands the MDG focus on drinking water and sanitation to now cover the entire water cycle, including the management of water, wastewater and ecosystem resources. With water at the very core of sustainable development, SDG 6 does not only have strong linkages to all of the other SDGs, it also underpins them; meeting SDG 6 would go a long way towards achieving much of the 2030 Agenda. SDG 6 contains six targets on outcomes across the entire water cycle, and two targets on the means of implementing the outcome targets. In addition, water-related issues are mentioned in many other
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goals across the 2030 Agenda, including target 11.5 on waterrelated disasters. Targets 6.1 and 6.2 build on the MDG targets on drinking water and basic sanitation, providing continuity while expanding their scope and refining definitions. Targets 6.3 to 6.6 address the broader water context that was not explicitly included in the MDG framework, but whose importance was acknowledged at the Rio+20 Conference, such as water quality and wastewater management, water scarcity and water-use efficiency, integrated water resources management, and the protection and restoration of water-related ecosystems. Targets 6.a and 6.b acknowledge the importance of an enabling environment, addressing the means of implementation and aiming for international cooperation, capacity-building and the participation of local communities in water and sanitation management. Sources: UN term; UN Global issues, UN Water, UNDP; WHO/UNICEF JMP; NY Times; Encyclopedia Britannica