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Leading economies pledge to form coalition to tackle global water crises

by Trevor Loveday

The world’s seven economic frontrunner nations have pledged to to establish a coalition to tackle global water crises as they warned:  “the world is still off track to deliver water-related goals and targets”. 


In recognition of “the importance of water for sustainable development, prosperity and peace and the need for concrete action” a meeting of climate, energy and environment ministers of the Group of Seven (G7) held in Torino, Italy at the end of April said they were committed  to forming a G7 Water Coalition to identify their “shared ambitions and priorities to tackle the global water crisis.”


The summit of ministers from Italy, Canada, France, Germany, Japan, the UK, and the US along with he European Union asserted that “Water and its sustainable management are fundamental to tackle the triple global crisis [of climate change, biodiversity loss and pollution].”


In a communique following the summit the G7 declared its intention to bring “water and its cross-sectoral relevance” into the mainstream “in an impactful and coherent way including  “raising the political focus on water at the global level and increasing the impact of the G7 and complementing other global initiatives.”


The summit pledged to “promote effective, efficient, inclusive, and just policies to achieve the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goal 6  to “achieve "clean water and sanitation for all” along with other international water-related goals and targets. 


It  said the coalition would “engage with the relevant experts and report back to the relevant G7 working groups”  in 2025. 


Other commitments included


  • strengthen policy cooperation and research on water to promote the importance of integrated water resource management and sustainable development in the context of climate change, biodiversity loss and pollution;

  • adopt coherent responses to the water crisis across sectors, regions and actors;

  • scale-up investment in “sustainable, disaster-proof and climate-resilient water and sanitation infrastructure and nature-based solutions to close the investment gap in water and sanitation”; and

  • align with, and complement existing work on water management and not duplicate past or ongoing discussions on global water priorities.


It highlighted specific issues as “crucial for sustainability" including:


  • access to water and sanitation, 

  • management of water resource quantity and quality, 

  • pollution, 

  • water reuse, 

  • international and transboundary water cooperation, extreme climate related events such as floods and droughts,

  • and the promotion of integrated water resource management at all levels of governance, including at the basin level.


The G7 reported that the coalition will “align with and complement existing work on water management and therefore, not duplicate past or ongoing discussions on global water priorities”.


Elsewhere in the communique the G7 committed to “facilitate the utilisation of advanced remote sensing technologies to bolster the sustainable management of natural resources such as land and water. 


The communique highlighted to “a significant shift on the global narrative around water and reset expectations regarding the extent of international collaboration necessary to overcome the global water crisis” having arisen form the  2023 UN Water Conference. 


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