The health and prosperity of people and the planet rely on the stability of the global water cycle.
Climate change, biodiversity loss, unsustainable management and pollution have an impact on water resources across the globe. According to the World Health Organisation (WHO) and the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), 1 of out 4 people in the world still lack access to safely managed drinking water. Almost half of the global population lack access to safely managed sanitation.
As water scarcity intensifies, increased competition for dwindling freshwater resources threatens stability among and within nations through conflicts, displacement, or migration. And water is also far too often used as a weapon of war.
There can be no peace without universal access to safe and clean drinking water and sanitation for all.
This year’s global theme for World Water Day focuses on leveraging “water for peace”. Water resource management and transboundary water cooperation are powerful tools for conflict prevention and peacekeeping. The European Union is working to improve access to water and/or a sanitation facility to 70 million individuals by 2030. It is also working to protect, conserve and restore water-related ecosystems.
Building on the outcome of the 2023 UN Water Conference, the EU encourages joint efforts towards effective multilateral governance. Water, including the water-security nexus, needs to be a priority topic across multilateral processes. Water resilience is essential to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and to fight climate change.
The EU invites partners and stakeholders to take these discussions further also during the 2024 EU Green Week on 29-30 May. Under the slogan “See Water Differently”, the EU invites everybody to change the way we see, use, and manage water, raising awareness about the many water solutions out there.
Universal access to water and sanitation are human rights. Securing water means securing peace and sustainability.
Background
In the 2024 Council Conclusions on Green Diplomacy, the Council recognised that the stability of the global water cycle is a global concern that underpins the achievement of all SDGs and reiterated the importance of a strategic EU approach to water resilience and security and underlines the need for enhanced diplomacy in this regard. The Council encouraged joint efforts towards an effective multilateral governance including through the appointment of a UN Special Envoy on Water, enhanced integration of water-related priorities in relevant multilateral processes and a regular intergovernmental dialogue on water.
The 2024 Communication on Managing climate risks – protecting people and prosperity sets out how the EU and its Member States can better anticipate, understand, and address growing climate risks. It further presents how they can prepare and implement policies that save lives, cut costs, and protect prosperity across the EU. Concrete suggestions for action in six main impact clusters, including water are put forward.
The Joint Communication on theClimate-Security Nexus, published in July 2023, addressed the impact of climate change and environmental degradation on peace, security and defence as well as presented a comprehensive approach that addresses both the root causes and the consequences of climate change on a global scale.
Factsheet on the Climate-Security Nexus
In 2023, at the UN 2023 Water Conference, the EU presented 33 commitments for concrete and transformative actions to address global water challenges which are currently being implemented.
In its 2021 Council Conclusions onWater in the EU’s External Action, the EU reiterated the strategic importance of water for human development, poverty reduction, environment, biodiversity as well as for humanitarian action, peace, and security. For this, the EU continue to invest in regional and multilateral cooperation to consolidate water governance at all levels as an essential constituent of peace, long-term stability, and resilience.
