Access to clean water and sanitation is a fundamental human right and an essential driver of economic development. It is imperative that development actors collaborate effectively to achieve the water-related goals set forth in the 2030 Agenda.
This was the conclusion of a meeting this week between Retno Marsudi, the UN Secretary-General’s Special Envoy on Water, and Mathias Cormann, Secretary-General of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD).
“Aligning efforts by the UN, the OECD, and other partners, as well as working together in complementary ways in support of developing countries, will accelerate the progress towards tangible improvement in people’s lives,” Marsudi said after meeting in Jakarta. “The Sustainable Development Goals are interconnected, and water is a lynchpin that binds the goals together. Therefore, success in water and sanitation is a prerequisite for success in the other Sustainable Development Goals.”
Cormann told the Special Envoy that improving water governance, financing water infrastructure, and unlocking the potential of well-managed water for overall economic growth are at the heart of the OECD’s multidisciplinary work in this area.
“The OECD stands ready to further strengthen its co-operation with the UN, and we are pleased to work closely with the newly appointed Special Envoy to achieve stronger alignment,” Cormann said.
Retno Marsudi, a former Minister of Foreign Affairs of Indonesia, took office as the UN Secretary-General’s Special Envoy on Water on 1 November 2024. She is working to enhance international cooperation and synergies among various international water processes to achieve all water-related goals and targets, including SDG 6 (Clean Water and Sanitation). Mrs. Marsudi works along what she calls her Triple A Priorities: advocate for water and sanitation, align goals and work plans, and accelerate progress to full access.
The OECD collects data on official development assistance flows from provider countries and multilateral organisations. These data show that water- and sanitation-related ODA rose by 11 per cent to USD 8.5 billion in 2022, representing 3.1 per cent of total ODA.
Progress on SDG 6 is lagging compared to other SDGs. Despite some improvements in access to clean water and sanitation, around 2 billion people globally still lack safely managed drinking water services, and over 4 billion people do not have safely managed sanitation services. SDG 6 is among the goals requiring the most urgent action due to its fundamental role in health, well-being, and sustainable development.
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