Water and Climate Coalition leaders have endorsed an action plan to achieve greater integration between the global water and climate agenda.
The plan was endorsed at the Second International High-Level Conference on the International Decade for Action “Water for Sustainable Development 2018 – 2028 which took place in Tajikistan from 6-9 June.
The Water and Climate Coalition was founded in 2020 at a high-level meeting of 10 UN agencies on water in collaboration with the Global Water Partnership (GWP). The Coalition is to lend support to efforts to accelerate the implementation of Sustainable Development Goal 6 on water and sanitation. In acknowledgment that information on water is essential to decision making, the coalition has been welcomed by 168 countries.
With the support of a panel of high level leaders, the Water and Climate Coalition issued a call for action at COP 26 in Glasgow to better address the water dimensions of climate change adaptation and mitigation.
The call for action has emphasised that water is the primary vehicle through which the impacts for climate change are being felt. Since November 2021, a four-point plan has been developed to integrate the water and climate agendae by recognising the role of water in climate mitigation and adaptation actions, by developing a global water information system to improve data and information for a climate-ready world, by expanding the coalition to bring solutions to the table, and by recognising the need to protect glaciers as a critical source of freshwater.
The process to support UN member states members in the implementation of information services is due to be presented at the upcoming UN Water Conference in New York in March 2023. By the end of 2023 the Coalition aims to have secured the financial pledges that will be needed to set up the integrated system.