Water in Multilateral Processes – Strengthening coordination to accelerate progress on benefit sharing.
By Dr. Miriam Haritz, German Water Director, Federal Ministry for the Environment, Climate Action, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety and Ms. Camila Zepeda, Head of the International Affairs Coordinating Unit, Mexican Ministry of Environment.
Water cuts across many multilateral processes – it is fundamental to all dimensions of sustainable development, and it is an enabler for energy, agriculture, ecosystem conservation, health, and urbanisation. And yet, the global water crisis is intensifying. Growing pressures linked to climate change, biodiversity loss, desertification, pollution and unsustainable consumption patterns are exacerbating water-related challenges across regions and sectors. Some say that we have already moved beyond a water crisis to water bankruptcy. Clearly, the global water cycle is out of balance, causing ecosystems to lose the ability to recover and jeopardizing the human rights to water, sanitation, and a clean, healthy, and sustainable environment.
