Achieving SDG 6 – the ‘Water Goal’ is the prerequisite for agenda 2030 for sustainable development

Overview

The UN 2030 Development Agenda and the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) recognises that water is embedded in all forms of development – food security, health, and poverty reduction, and in sustaining economic growth in agriculture, industry and energy generation, and in maintaining healthy ecosystems. Indeed, SDG 6 Ensure availability and sustainable management of water and sanitation and known as the ‘Water Goal’ reflects that future social development and economic prosperity depends on sustainable management of freshwater resources and ecosystems.

The UN 2030 Agenda is now in its third year and Professor Uhlenbrook is leading a major evidenced-based review to establish the global baseline status of SDG 6 and what more needs to be done to achieve this goal by 2030. This is still a ‘work in progress’ but he will present some of the findings of this review and the options for policy and decision-makers seeking ways of enabling and accelerating progress within the overall 2030 Agenda.