The UN 2023 Water Conference – formally known as the United Nations Conference on the Midterm Comprehensive Review of the Implementation of the Objectives of the International Decade for Action, “Water for Sustainable Development”, 2018-2028 – took place at UN Headquarters in New York, from 22 to 24 March 2023, co-hosted by Tajikistan and the Netherlands.
The UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs ([email protected]) lead the preparation of the Conference. UNECE has been strongly engaged and contributing both to the conference preparatory process and to several side events.
Involvement of UNECE in the preparation of the conference:
UNECE has been actively contributing to the preparatory process in the framework of UN-Water and with other Regional Commissions. UNECE organized the Pan-European Regional Preparatory Meeting for the UN 2023 Water Conference (12-13 April 2022) and contributed to many other preparatory events, including the Dushanbe Conference (6-9 June 2022), the African Regional Consultations (13-14 June 2022) and the UN-Water Summit on Groundwater (7-8 December 2022).
Together with UNESCO, it has been co-leading the development of the concept paper for the Interactive Dialogue 4 on "Water for Cooperation".
UNECE is hosting the secretariats for the Convention on the Protection and Use of Transboundary Watercourses and International Lakes (Water Convention) and the Protocol on Water and Health (jointly serviced by UNECE and WHO-Europe). Both instruments have contributed to the preparatory process (see Decisions of Convention’s 9th Meeting of the Parties and Key messages from the Protocol’s 6th Meeting of the Parties) and were featured prominently at the Conference.
UNECE is an active member of the Transboundary Water Cooperation Coalition launched ahead of the Conference to highlight the critical importance of transboundary cooperating and inspire commitments in this area. The coalition delivered a Joint Statement at the Conference.
The UN 2023 Water Conference resulted in a summary of proceedings from the UNGA President that will feed into the 2023 session of the UN High-level Political Forum on Sustainable Development (HLPF).
Conference outcomes included the Water Action Agenda – a collection of commitments, pledges and actions that help deliver on the water actions in the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.
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Indicative commitments on transboundary water cooperation and WASH |
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Title |
English |
French | Russian | Spanish |
| Indicative commitments on WASH under the Protocol on Water and Health | ||||
UNECE, as secretariat of the Water Convention and co-secretariat of the Protocol on Water and Health, submitted two commitments for the Water Action Agenda : one commitment aimed at accelerating transboundary water cooperation through increased accession to and strengthened implementation of the Water Convention - available here; and one commitment aimed at driving action on water, sanitation, hygiene and health in the pan-European region through the Protocol on Water and Health - available here.
Side events on the Water Convention and the Protocol on Water and Health
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Title of the side event |
Date and time |
Lead organizer |
Flyer |
Programme |
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Speeding-up transboundary water cooperation: the value of the Water Convention |
22 March, 9:30 - 10:45, ECOSOC Room |
Estonia |
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New momentum to make safe water and sanitation a reality for all: How to scale up globally practical tools and know-how gained under the Protocol on Water and Health? |
22 March, 14:00 - 15:15, Conference Room 9 |
Hungary |
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Good Practices on Integrated and Transboundary Water Cooperation: Stakeholder engagement in transboundary and international cooperation on rivers basins as key for achieving SDGs (2030 agenda |
22 March,11:00-12:15, Side Event Room |
Republic of Moldova |
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Too much and too little – Accelerating IWRM for climate-resilient water management and ecosystem conservation |
22 March 2023, 1:15-2:30, Special Event Room CR2 |
Germany |
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International and transboundary cooperation of integrated water management: from data collection to implementation |
22 March 2023, 18:30-19:45, Side event Room 7 |
Paraguay |
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Invest in Sustainable Development and Peace through Water: Unlocking Public and Private Capital for Water and Transboundary Water Cooperation through Innovative and Sustainable Financing |
23 March, 12:30-13:45 Conference Room 7 |
UNCDF |
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23 March, 12:30-13:45 Side event Room 5 |
Sustainable Water and Energy Solutions network |
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Regional Dialogue on Accelerating Implementation of the Water Agenda |
24 March, 8:00 - 9:15, Conference Room 2 |
Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia (ESCWA) on behalf of regional commissions |
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24 March, 12:00-14:00 Hilton Millenium |
World Bank |
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List of side-events relevant for transboundary water cooperation and peace |
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Side event of the Transboundary Water Cooperation Coalition
The side event Committing to advance transboundary water cooperation worldwide for sustainable development, climate action, stability and peace organized by Slovenia on behalf of the Transboundary Water Cooperation Coalition, took place on 23 March from 18.30 to 19.45 in the ECOSOC Room. More information available here.
More information about the UN 2023 Water Conference is available here.