Water in the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)
In 2015, the United Nations adopted 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) for the period 2015-2030, establishing for the first time a universal vision of the Sustainable Development Agenda. Water is one of the 17 priorities selected, through a Goal 6 specifically dedicated to it, and 18 progress targets. The French Water Partnership is carrying out a number of activities in this area.
Objectives
Our working group on water in the SDGs
The main objectives of this working group are :
- Facilitate the understanding and popularization of the SDGs and their structuring impacts in France & internationally, at all levels: citizens, administrations, donors, local authorities, operators, companies, NGOs, general public, press … ;
- Support the French government and French stakeholders in the operational implementation of the water dimensions of the 2030 Agenda in France (metropolitan and overseas) and in France’s external action, particularly on monitoring issues;
- Promote French messages and know-how related to the water dimension of the 2030 Agenda – governance, technology, delegation of services, financing, infrastructure, capacity building, etc.
- Work with our French and international partners (INSEE, GWP, UN Water, IOF…) to ensure that the water dimensions of the 2030 Agenda are properly implemented worldwide, including with French-speaking partners; and in particular on aspects relating to monitoring and capacity building;
- Exchange with our partners in selected countries on the implementation of the 2030 Agenda in their countries.
OUR ADVOCACY FOR WATER IN THE SDGs
The FWP’s general Water and SDGs advocacy, co-constructed through its working group, is developed around 3 main priorities:
- Acknowledging the essential role of water in achieving all the SDGs;
- Establish international water governance: towards the creation of UN intergovernmental bodies;
- Giving everyone the means to successfully implement and monitor the SDGs.
OUR PRESENCE AT KEY EVENTS
The French Water Partnership is active at major SDGs events, notably the annual High-Level Political Forums (HLPFs) and the Concertation Workshops organized by the French government.
THE UN 2023 WATER CONFERENCE
The FWP will be present in New York for this historic conference, 46 years after the first United Nations meeting on water. With the vision to prepare the French participation and mobilize French stakeholders for this conference, the FWP organized a high-level event in partnership with the Ministry for an Ecological Transition and Territorial Cohesion and the Ministry of Europe and Foreign Affairs, which took place on February 6, 2023 at the Ministry for an Ecological Transition and Territorial Cohesion in Paris. Watch the replay below (in French):
The working group is chaired by Gérard Payen, an international expert and former advisor to the UN Secretary-General on water-related issues.
The group is coordinated by Sophie THOMASSET.
For more information or to collaborate with the group, please contact: sophie.thomasset@partenariat-francais-eau.fr
TOOL BOX
Water4allSDGs – a web app that enables non-specialists in the SDGs to accurately assess the impact of a project or strategy on the targets of the 17 SDGs.
Water4allSDGs can be used by any project, strategy or policy manager or stakeholder at local, national, public or private level.
The application is therefore an evaluation tool, helping to decide whether or not to keep, amend, improve or abandon a project or one of its components. It indirectly measures the concrete interactions between the SDGs and the importance of not operating in isolated technical silos.
It provides relatively objective elements for assessing a project in relation to all the SDGs. Even if part of the methodology relies on subjective estimates, it provides much more informed assessments than the claims often heard from people who talk about contributions to the SDGs without referring to the precise content of their targets, or omitting part of the 2030 Agenda.