The world’s leading actors on water gathered in Tajikistan in June for the third International High-Level Conference of the Dushanbe Water Process, seeking to galvanize urgently needed international action on the world’s water crisis. In years to come, we may look back on this as a milestone in one of the most important processes in international environmental diplomacy.
Not a day goes by without another news headline on an unprecedented water-related disaster somewhere in the world. Too much, too little and polluted waters batter our environments, economies and societies, and climate change only makes this worse. We must better understand and address these interdependencies and value water as the lever for change, the catalyst for impact and the connector an convenor for collaboration. The Water Action Decade, which began in 2018, intends to propel the need for water action to the top of the world’s agenda. Last year’s UN 2023 Water Conference marked a turning point for the world’s awareness of the crisis. Now, with only four years left, concrete action is overdue.
