FAO calls for reducing gaps and accelerating actions to achieve access to water and sanitation.
Experts and authorities highlighted the urgency of strengthening water governance, closing access gaps, and accelerating the implementation of sustainable solutions to achieve SDG 6.
During the ninth meeting of the Forum of the Countries of Latin America and the Caribbean on Sustainable Development, organized by the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC), a session on Sustainable Development Goal 6 (clean water and sanitation) was held. The session shared good practices and lessons learned to accelerate the sustainable, efficient, and inclusive management of water resources in agriculture, food systems, and sustainable development.
Rene Orellana Halkyer, Assistant Director-General and FAO Regional Representative for Latin America and the Caribbean, moderated the session and emphasized that water management requires moving beyond sectoral approaches toward governance based on the interdependence between water, agrifood systems, energy, ecosystems, and territorial cohesion.
“Regarding SDG 6, while progress has been observed in the region, it remains insufficient to meet the 2030 targets and reflects persistent inequalities. The lowest-income 20 percent of the population spends proportionally 1.6 times more of their resources on water and sanitation than the highest-income 20 percent, with more pronounced gaps in vulnerable households, Indigenous and Afro-descendant communities, women, and rural and peripheral territories,” the FAO Regional Representative stated.
“At the current pace, only 19 percent of SDG 6 targets will be achieved, while 42 percent are progressing slowly and 39 percent remain stagnant or in regression,” Orellana Halkyer stressed, noting that agriculture accounts for approximately 72 percent of global freshwater withdrawals, making it impossible to achieve SDG 6 without transforming agrifood systems.
Orellana Halkyer outlined several strategic directions, including optimizing water use in agrifood systems; placing water at the center of development, food security, and territorial resilience strategies; strengthening investment in concrete solutions to address water stress and build resilience; consolidating inclusive, territorial, and basin-based water governance; strengthening information systems, monitoring, and public capacities for water management; and mobilizing financing at scale to bridge the gap between commitments and implementation.
The panel included Ruth Quevedo, Vice Minister of Water and Basic Sanitation of Colombia’s Ministry of Housing, City and Territory; David Fariña, Director General of Water Resources Protection and Conservation at Paraguay’s Ministry of Environment and Sustainable Development; Hernán Chiriboga, IICA Representative in Chile; and James McPhee, Professor at the Department of Civil Engineering of the University of Chile.
Ruth Quevedo presented reforms in Colombia’s water and sanitation sector policy, focused on universal access and sustainable wastewater management. She also highlighted that 80 percent of conflicts in the region are associated with water management and noted that, particularly in agriculture, the water transition calls for productive reconversion to improve efficiency, as the region’s problem is not scarcity but management amid inequalities.
David Fariña emphasized that demand for water in Paraguay is constantly increasing, placing pressure particularly on groundwater resources. The government is advancing a real-time monitoring network for the Guaraní Aquifer, which requires transboundary governance frameworks beyond national capacities. In this context, Paraguay is developing its National Water Resources Plan, aiming to strengthen information exchange, and promote updated, internalized, and coordinated water governance.
Hernán Chiriboga presented the work carried out by IICA at its Innovation Center in Chile, where soil and water conservation infrastructure allows the capture of between 50,000 and 60,000 liters of water. He highlighted collaboration with INIA on rice cultivation, where the use of irrigation pulses instead of flooding fields has reduced water use by nearly 50 percent and methane emissions by 35 percent. He also showcased an example of mobile gardens using porous clay vessels buried in pots to grow 4 to 6 vegetables, reducing water use and even allowing the use of greywater due to natural filtration.
Finally, James McPhee stated that academia has the responsibility to strengthen science and ensure it is relevant for those implementing public policies, as well as to improve precision in understanding meteorological phenomena to determine timelines and the magnitude of climate-related impacts. He highlighted advances in Earth observation from space to monitor changes in the surface and volume of water bodies, as well as the revolution in communication and knowledge that enables greater access to information for decision-making.
The panel concluded by recognizing that Latin America and the Caribbean have the knowledge, experience, and solutions to accelerate progress toward SDG 6, and that the challenge is not technical, but one of scale, speed, and institutional integration.
