Cover artwork by Davide Bonazzi

Abstract

Cooperation is critical to achieving all water-related goals and targets. At current rates, progress towards SDG 6 is off-track. The 2023 edition of the United Nations World Water Development Report (WWDR) describes how building partnerships and enhancing cooperation across all dimensions of sustainable development are essential to accelerating progress towards all the targets of SDG 6 and realizing the human rights to water and sanitation.

Partnerships and cooperation take place in almost any water-related endeavour and water resources management has a long history of experience with partnerships, both good and bad. This report reviews this experience, highlighting how enhancing positive and meaningful cooperation amongst the water, sanitation and broader ‘development’ communities is required to accelerate progress.

This report also addresses how the water and sanitation community can internally collaborate more effectively by maximizing complementarity, as well as reach out to other sectors and realms of decision-making where water plays a critical (but often times misunderstood or ignored) role in meeting their own objectives and amplifying co-benefits.

Safeguarding water, food and energy security through sustainable water management, providing water supply and sanitation services to all, supporting human health and livelihoods, mitigating the impacts of climate change and extreme events, and sustaining and restoring ecosystems and the valuable services they provide, are all pieces of a great and complex puzzle.

Only through partnerships and cooperation can the pieces come together. And everyone has a role to play.