About the UN 2023 Water Conference
Coinciding with World Water Day, the UN is holding the their first freshwater-focussed event in almost 50 years. This landmark event will be co-hosted by the Governments of Tajikistan and the Netherlands at the UN Headquarters in New York City from 22-24 March 2023. In addition to the core plenary meetings and multi-stakeholder dialogues, there will be a number of high-level special events and side events within and around the UN Headquarters. There will also be a number of key water events happening around New York City as part of the New York Water Week.
Learn more at sdgs.un.org/conferences/water2023
Joint Statement from the Water Stewardship Community
The Alliance for Water Stewardship has joined the water stewardship community to sign a Joint Statement calling on governments to incentivise private sector action on water. It outlines 6 key solution areas where business action can have the biggest impact, when supported by government advocacy and partnership. To learn more about this work, visit wateractionnow.org
AWS at the 2023 UN Water Conference
AWS will be sending a high-level delegation to New York, where we will be hosting two side events, located at the Nature Hub and at the UN headquarters. We will also be participating in more than 15 other side events and gatherings.
Enhancing water resiliency in food systems
Hear from agricultural and food & beverage companies, development financiers and supporting consultants on how adoption of water stewardship is helping build resilience in global food systems.
Thursday, 23 March 2023 | 9:30 – 10:45 EDT | The Nature Hub | Room 200, 450 East 29th Street, 2nd Floor, New York City
Event summary
Our global food systems are reliant upon access to freshwater resources, with agriculture accounting for over 70% of global freshwater use. However, our food systems face ongoing threats from climate change, growing populations and changing patterns of production and consumption, all of which are intrinsically linked to water. Progressive businesses are understanding that resilience is a shared endeavour rather than something individual actors do to protect themselves, leading to an increased interest in water stewardship. This approach goes beyond water management by bringing different groups together to address shared water challenges and support water security around the world.
This session will highlight the leadership of major companies in the agriculture and food and beverage sector to build water-resilient value chains through the adoption of good water stewardship practices. Case studies presented in this session will exemplify how water stewardship programs have contributed to building resilience in business operations and supply chains, contributing to building resilience in global food systems.
Key messages
- By 2030, there will be a 40% gap between water demand and availability (UN Water)
- Water stewardship is an opportunity to build resilience in agriculture and food production
- The AWS Standard provides a systematic approach to implementing water stewardship
- Certification against the AWS Standard ensures actions that are verified and credible
- Engaging with AWS will help producers begin their water stewardship journey
Livestream & registration
Registration for this event is now closed. However, livestream of the Main Session Room at the Nature Hub will be available on 23 March at youtube.com/watch?v=zEuD_OBIiws.
Co-conveners
This session is co-convened with: Deutsche Investitions- und Entwicklungsgesellschaft (DEG) | Netherlands Entrepreneurial Development Bank (FMO) | Dole | Mars, Inc. | Nestlé S.A. | Nutrien | PepsiCo | South Pole
Common good outcomes through water stewardship:
The power of a multi-stakeholder standard to drive effective, verifiable collaboration between business, civil society and government
Hear from corporations, governments and iNGOs on how a sustainability standard system for water, the Alliance for Water Stewardship Standard, helps them achieve and verify progress against common water goals.
Thursday, 23 March 2023 | 17:00 – 18:15 EDT | UN Headquarters, Conference Room 9
Event summary
The Alliance for Water Stewardship’s Standard System emerged from dialogues between public, private and civil society organisations. Their aim was to create a mechanism for businesses who are major users of water to systematically act on the diverse water-related challenges encompassed within the sub-targets in SDG 6. The result is a water-focused sustainability standard (AWS Standard), widely recognised as best practice for businesses to manage their own water use and to engage with wider catchment dynamics, bolstered by a verification and certification system which ensures credibility of actions, outcomes and claims.
This session introduces the key elements of the standard, and its implementation in various sectors to drive verifiable progress at the site level and to promote impactful collaborations with basins/watersheds. Members of the alliance with will share their perspective on how government, business and civil society can each further incentivise partnerships that create positive water outcomes for all stakeholder groups.
Key messages
- Water stewardship is an opportunity for the private sector to take action to address shared water challenges and achieve common good outcomes
- The AWS Standard provides a systematic approach to implementing water stewardship
- Certification against the AWS Standard ensures actions that are verified and credible
- Engaging with AWS to better understand stewardship may provide strategic benefits to:
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- National Governments
- Multi-lateral agencies
- Businesses
- NGOs
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Co-conveners
This session is co-convened with: Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC) | Global Water Partnership (GWP) | International Water Management Institute (IWMI) | WaterAid | World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) | Apple | Diageo | Dole | H&M Group
AWS delegation attending the UN Water Conference
- Elaine Mead, Chair of AWS Board
- Adrian Sym, AWS CEO
- Scott McCready, AWS Chief Strategy Officer
- Sarah Wade, AWS Sector Lead
For speaker availability and media enquiries, please contact Brenda McIlwraith, Communications Lead at brenda@a4ws.org
> Download the AWS Itinerary for the UN 2023 Water Conference
Other side events and gatherings
During the week, AWS will be participating in a number of Side Events and other gatherings in New York. These include:
Tuesday, 21 March
Starbucks water action event | Convened by Starbucks | Starbucks Empire State Building Reserve Store | 08:30 – 11:00 EDT
Bursting the water bubble – Multi-stakeholder action for water through an ‘Earth system’ approach | Convened by Global Commons, The Science-Based Target Network & Water Environment Federation (WEF) | 09:00 to 17:00 (all day) EDT
Aligning and accelerating collective action for water stewardship | Convened by World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF), AB InBev, Alliance for Water Stewardship, Good Stuff International & others | AB InBev Commercial Strategy Building | 12:00 to 14:00 EDT
WASH4Work Drinks Reception | Convened by WASH4Work, WaterAid & Diageo | Zuma | 17:45 to 19:00 EDT
CDP Evening of recognition for progress on water security | Convened by CDP | 19:00 to 21:00 EDT
Wednesday 22 March
Redefining leadership on water security | Convened by CDP & Norges Bank Investment Management | 09:00 to 12:00 EDT
Full day of nature-based solutions events involving key water stewardship organisations and companies | The Nature Hub | 09:30 – 17:00 EDT
High level launch: Business Leaders’ Open Call for Accelerating Action on Water | Convened by CEO Water Mandate, Alliance for Water Stewardship, UN Global Compact & others | UN Headquarters, Conference Room 6 | 09:30 to 10:45 EDT
The business case for better water management | Convened by Ceres & Reuters Breakview | Norwegian General Consulate | 011:00 – 12:00 EDT
Partnerships and cooperation for water | Convened by Agha Khan Foundation for Habitat, EUDEL, UN Food and Agriculture Organization & others | UN Headquarters, Conference Room 5 | 11:00 – 12:15 EDT
Fashion industry innovations leading transformative action for SDG6 | Convened by UN Office for Partnerships & Fashion Impact Fund | UN Headquarters, Conference Room 4 | 14:00 – 15:15 EDT
Special event: Radical collaboration for water resilience: Action with our greatest allies in the climate crisis | Convened by CEO Water Mandate & World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) | UN Headquarters, Conference Room 2 | 15:00 to 18:00 EDT
Private sector investment commitment to water innovation | Convened by Xylem, Consulate Genera of the Kingdom of the Netherlands & others | UN Headquarters, Conference Room B | 15:30 – 16:45 EDT
Turning the tide on water in the UN: Working together for water – the source of life | Convened by Argentina, Austria, Brazil & others | UN Headquarters, Conference Room 4 | 18:30 – 19:45 EDT
National water roadmaps towards the 2030 agenda | Convened by UN Food and Agriculture Organization & UN Water | UN Headquarters, Conference Room 8 | 18:30 – 19:45 EDT
Thursday, 23 March
Water is everyone’s business | Convened by Bayer & Bloomberg New Economy | Bloomberg Headquarters | 08:00 – 09:30 EDT
Transformative futures for water security: Breakfast meeting | Convened by International Water Management Institute | Consulate General of South Africa | 08:00 – 09:30
Raising our ambitions for water resilience in 100 basins by 2030 | Convened by CEO Water Mandate | Yale Club | 09:00 to 17:15 EDT, followed by reception until 19:30
Corporate action as a catalyst for raising the ambition of SDG 6.3 | Convened by World Business Council for Sustainable Development & others | 09:00 to 10:30 EDT
Business leaders open call to action, the high-level launch | Convened by CEO Water Mandate | The Yale Club | 09:30 to 10:45 EDT
Enhancing water resiliency in food systems | Convened by Alliance for Water Stewardship,| The Nature Hub | 09:30 to 10:45 EDT
Mission critical: Transforming future water security | Convened by International Water Management Institute (IWMI) | The Nature Hub | 11:00 – 12:15 EDT
Strengthening climate resilience through expansion of investment in the water sector | Convened by Asia Development Bank, Asia Water Council, Green Climate Fund & others | UN Headquarters, Conference Room 9 | 11:00 – 12:15 EDT
Water as a connector: Private sector and civil society support for Water Action Agenda | Convened by Worldwide Fund for Nature (WWF) | The Nature Hub | 11:00 to 12:15 EDT
Sustainable agriculture water use offer solutions: Multi-stakeholder collaboration to advance shared SDGs | Convened by ADMC, Cargill, CIMMYT & others | The Nature Hub | 12:30 – 13:45 EDT
Accelerating corporate accountability, ambition and action for water | Convened by WBCSD | UN Headquarters, Conference Room 7 | 14:00 – 15:15 EDT
Water’ we doing: Private sector engagement to end the water crisis | Convened by Bayer, Kingdom of the Netherlands & World Meteorological Organization (WMO) | UN Headquarters, Conference Room 9 | 14:00 – 15:15 EDT
Interactive dialogue – Water for cooperation: Transboundary and international water cooperation, cross-sectoral cooperation, including scientific cooperation and water across the 2030 agenda | Convened by Switzerland | UN Headquarters, Conference Room 4
Setting water targets: A roadmap for companies | Convened by Science Based Targets Network | The Nature Hub |15:30 to 16:45 EDT
Common good outcomes through water stewardship: The power of a multi-stakeholder standard to drive effective, verifiable collaboration between business, civil society and government | Convened by Alliance for Water Stewardship | UN Headquarters, Conference Room 9 | 17:00 to 18:15 EDT
Big Earth data: A game changer to promote implementation of SDG 6 | Convened by UN Food & Agriculture Organization, International Research Center of Bug Data for Sustainable Development Goals & others | UN Headquarters, Conference Room 9 | 18:30- 19:45 EDT
10 years of the OECD water governance initiative | Convened by Organisation for Economic Development and Co-operation (OECD) | Austrian Cultural Forum | 18:30 EDT
Friday, 24 March
Promoting private-public partnerships – A vehicle towards fulfilling SDG 6 and climate actions | Convened by Danish Water Forum, Finnish Water Forum, French Water Partnership & others | UN Headquarters, Conference Room C | 08:00 – 09:15 EDT
Source of innovation: Accelerating SDG 6 | Convened by FEMSA Foundación, Inter-American Development Bank & others | UN Headquarters, Conference Room 6 | 08:00 – 09:15 EDT
China-Europe Water Platform – How cooperation between regions can improve global SDG 6 implementation and contribute to the UN Water Decade? | Ministry of Water Resources, China, European CEWP Co-Secretariat & others | UN Headquarters, ECOSOC Chamber | 09:30 – 10:45 EDT
WASH benefit accounting | Convened by WASH4Work | UN Global Compact Office |09:30 to 10:30 EDT
Economic Resilience through water resilience: Managing economies for uncertainty and change | Convened by AGWA, Asian Development Bank, Australian Water Partnership & others | UN Headquarters, Conference Room 9 | 12:30 – 13:45 EDT
Meeting of signatories of Joint Statement from the International Water Stewardship Community | Convened by CEO Water Mandate, Alliance for Water Stewardship, CDP & others | TBD | 13:00 – 14:00 EDT
Advancing water positive impact locally through collective action | Convened by Global Water Challenge | UN Headquarters, Conference Room 9 | 15:30 to 16:45 EDT
To see the full programme of events, please visit the UN 2023 Water Conference website