Policy

Climate change is exacerbating both water scarcity and water-related hazards, as rising temperatures disrupt precipitation patterns and the entire water cycle. It is estimated that 80% of the impacts of climate change are felt through water and the crisis will only intensify in the future.

At the United Nations Climate Change Conference, COP26, the Water and Climate Coalition Leaders issued an urgent and united call for integrated water and climate action to replace the existing fragmented and crisis-driven approach.

The session will try to highlight the needs for the academia and WASH operational bodies to get closer together and engage cooperation for a better development of the WASH sector in Africa and show why one needs the other, even for its own development. The session will give the opportunity to assess what was done these past years to really link research & development to operational needs of the Africa WASH sector.

The world is alarmingly off-track to deliver universal access to safe sanitation by 2030. Rates of progress need to quadruple to achieve the SDG target and claim the myriad health, environmental and socio-economic benefits that come from safely managed sanitation.
This thematic session with explore the five dimensions of the SDG6 global acceleration framework (GAF) with evidence, actions and successful cases set out in the State of the World Sanitation report.

Action Idea #3 has been divided into three projects: (1) Strengthening the enabling policy environment for safely managed sanitation; (2) Promote wide adoption of sanitation as a utility service and (3) Demonstration of emerging commercial to advance sanitation. Achieving sustainable sanitation requires combined efforts from multiple partners. Sessions under this action idea shall convene government stakeholders, regulators, private sector, and civil society actors.