HLPF Special Event: 'SDG 6 and Water Action Agenda’ - Intervention from the floor

Ladies and Gentlemen,

Agriculture, although not always represented enough in water conferences, is the largest sectoral water user globally. Food systems are highly impacted by water-related challenges, such as floods, pollution, scarcity and droughts, but their transformation also holds the solution to these challenges.

Water is now fully integrated into the FAO Strategic Framework. Last year, FAO chose water as the theme of UN World Food Day and of the 43rd Session of FAO Conference - the highest governing body of the Organization, and further decided water resources management as the FAO biennial theme 2024-25.

FAO actively participated in all high-level water conferences and submitted eight commitments to the Water Action Agenda, on which we have made significant progress already:

1. National Water Roadmaps towards the 2030 Agenda: this was officially launched at the 10th World Water Forum, together with 7 participating countries.
2. Global Dialogue on Water Tenure: two national water tenure assessments will start in the 2nd half of 2024 and a regional dialogue will be held in Asia in December.
3. A drought finance tracker was launched, workshops were held on drought planning for 35 countries and a series of technical reports on drought finance and planning has been published.
4. Irrigation needs & potential mapping: a multistakeholder consultation on the methodology was held in December 2023, followed by the pilots in 4 countries.
5. Global Water Data Portal: Partners have discussed a suitable geospatial platform and the mechanism for data sharing.
6. Global monitoring of actual evapotranspiration, biomass production and water productivity through Remote Sensing: the WaPOR platform globally expanded at a resolution of 300m,100m for Africa and the Near-East, while the Nile Delta fully available at 20m.
7. Addressing water scarcity in agriculture through partnerships and innovation: a technical preparatory meeting, in April 2024, prepared a draft Rome Declaration on Water Scarcity in Agriculture, to be adopted during the High Level Rome Water Dialogue on WASAG in October 2024.
8. AQUALEX: in addition to the up-to-date collection of laws, policies and international agreements related to water, AQUALEX now includes about 50 national and transboundary legal profiles.

Each of these initiatives will be added to and will add value to the Collaborative Implementation Plan of the UN system-wide Strategy on Water and Sanitation.