AGWA Policy Newsletter Intro Essay: April 2023

Within AGWA, the first three months of 2023 were dedicated to preparing for the first UN water conference in over 40 years, which took place from 22-24 March in New York. UN conferences are notoriously staid affairs. Prepared statements are carefully crafted down to the word and delivered primarily by senior officials seated uncomfortably in grand rooms with unflattering lighting. Sitting through 4+ hours of these statements often feels like a highly specialized form of torture.

If we were to only look at the formal statements made at the UN 2023 Conference, I'm not sure we can call it an unqualified success. Unlike at the 1977 Mar del Plata Conference, in New York there was no consensus about the way forward. It has now been over five weeks since the closing plenary and we still have not seen the conference outcome document, including next steps for operationalizing the Conference's "Water Action Agenda." This document is still being negotiated, stuck between parties pushing conflicting agendas.

Yet I would argue that this matters far less than some may think. In fact, the real progress was being made elsewhere, in conference rooms and cafes throughout the city, as thousands of partners from around the globe gathered to share, strategize, and discuss ways to accelerate and scale our work on the ground.

Over the course of four days, I attended meetings on national climate and water planning, corporate water resilience, city water management, beaver habitat restoration (!), nature-based solutions to freshwater uncertainty, macroeconomic planning, national water management in the Himalayas, COP28 strategizing, young professional development in the water sector, and climate-resilient WASH. I met colleagues from six continents and reconnected with old friends and mentors.

One venue that I found particularly energizing was the Nature Hub, co-sponsored by The Nature Conservancy, IUCN, WWF, and several others. Over two days, hundreds of participants joined in over 40 public sessions and dozens of meetings dedicated to finding common solutions to address the global freshwater crisis. Following our event on NbS for adaptation, a group of about 10 of us spent 90 minutes brainstorming tangible ways to connect and amplify our work on nature-based resilience and, to paraphrase one of my colleagues, make our infrastructure projects "suck less."

I left that meeting feeling grateful for colleagues like Miriam in Bolivia, Cate in Uganda, Adjoa in Zambia, Iñigo in Colombia, and Felicia in California. They are all doing such important work, in very different contexts and at multiple scales, and it is a honor to learn from them.

I say none of this to give the UN a pass for thus far failing to propose tangible outcomes or galvanize the political leadership urgently needed to tackle the serious challenges we face. I feel deep frustration at the failure of our leaders to take decisive action. I believe we are in a moment of great upheaval to the global order that has been with us since the end of WWII; we know that our institutions are no longer fit for purpose in a polycrisis world.

Brave countries like Barbados and development experts from across the Global South are calling out these failures, demanding fundamental change. Incremental reform is no longer sufficient. But moving institutions like the United Nations or the World Bank will not happen quickly, or without resistance, in particular from countries like my own, which has benefited so greatly from the prevailing order.

Nevertheless, while the politicians debate, we will continue to work city by city, basin by basin, to bring about the future we all deserve. I hope you will join us!  

Ingrid Timboe
Portland, Oregon, USA