Today, 25 September, the UN summit for the adoption of the post-2015 development agenda will start. In 3 days, countries will decide if they want to adopt the proposal of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and the 169 proposed targets.
For the water sector, this will be a big step. There will be a specific goal on water (detailed below) and water links to many other targets. By accepting the goals, countries commit to reaching the goals. The effect is that a lot of attention and funding will be directed to reaching the goals.
The SDGs and the Pressing Needs seem to be a good love story indeed. They connect and strengthen each other. But the SDGs are supporting work of your VIAWater project as well. More attention for water means more funding for projects, and possibly also for a upscaling of your project. Also, more projects means more knowledge generated which we can share to improve our projects.
How the Pressing Needs contribute to the SDGs:
- Pressing Need 'Sustainable access to drinking water services' contributes to SDG 6.1 by 2030, achieve universal and equitable access to safe and affordable drinking water for all
- Pressing Need 'Sustainable access to sanitation services and clean cities' contributes to SDG 6.2 by 2030, achieve access to adequate and equitable sanitation and hygiene for all, and end open defecation, paying special attention to the needs of women and girls and those in vulnerable situations
- Pressing Need 'Improved quality of water resources and distributed water' contributes to SDG 6.3 by 2030, improve water quality by reducing pollution, eliminating dumping and minimizing release of hazardous chemicals and materials, halving the proportion of untreated wastewater, and increasing recycling and safe reuse by x% globally
- Pressing Need 'Equitable and efficient water use in urban and peri-urban agriculture' contributes to SDG 6.4 by 2030, substantially increase water-use efficiency across all sectors and ensure sustainable withdrawals and supply of freshwater to address water scarcity, and substantially reduce the number of people suffering from water scarcity
- Pressing Needs 'Institutional strengthening, Sustainable and equitable water allocation', and ' Viable financial arrangements and partnerships' contribute to SDG 6.5 by 2030 implement integrated water resources management at all levels, including through transboundary cooperation as appropriate
- Pressing Needs 'Sustainable use of groundwater resources' and 'Improved quality of water resources and distributed water' contribute to SDG 6.6 by 2020 protect and restore water-related ecosystems, including mountains, forests, wetlands, rivers, aquifers and lakes\
The way VIAWater works is supporting the targets 6.a and 6.b: 6.a by 2030, expand international cooperation and capacity-building support to developing countries in water and sanitation related activities and programmes, including water harvesting, desalination, water efficiency, wastewater treatment, recycling and reuse technologies, 6.b support and strengthen the participation of local communities for improving water and sanitation management
