News and Events
United Nations Water Conference 2026
The 2026 United Nations Water Conference will be co-hosted by the Republic of Senegal and the United Arab Emirates from 2-4 December 2026 in the United Arab Emirates. Consultations on possible themes for the 2026 UN Water Conference were held between May 2024 and April 2025.
Member States and stakeholders expressed strong support for a Conference that builds on the outcomes of the UN 2023 Water Conference while advancing new and emerging priorities and focusing on implementation. Many emphasized the urgency of taking action, as the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development enters its final five years.
Find more information about the Conference on this link 2026 UN Water Conference | Department of Economic and Social Affairs
UNESCO (IHP) 2025
The 50th Anniversary of the UNESCO Intergovernmental Hydrological Programme (IHP) took place at UNESCO Headquarters in Paris on 11 June 2025 with various side events on 10, 12 and 13 June 2025. It brought together leaders, policymakers, scientists, and civil society to highlight the interconnected challenges of water security, global change, and the critical role of water in sustaining life and peaceful human prosperity on Earth.
As you may know, the Intergovernmental Hydrological Programme was established in 1975 following the International Hydrological Decade (1965–1974) and is a Programme devoted to water science and capacity development.
Read about this previous event using the following link https://www.unesco.org/en/articles/50th-anniversary-unesco-intergovernmental-hydrological-programme
World Water Day 2025
World Water Day, held on 22 March every year since 1993, is an annual United Nations Observance focusing on the importance of freshwater.
World Water Day celebrates water and raises awareness of the 2.2 billion people living without access to safe water. It is about taking action to tackle the global water crisis. A core focus of World Water Day is to support the achievement of Sustainable Development Goal 6: water and sanitation for all by 2030.
Every year, UN-Water — the UN’s coordination mechanism on water and sanitation — sets the theme for World Water Day. In 2025, the theme will be Glacier Preservation.
World Toilet Day 2024
World Toilet Day, celebrated on 19 November every year, is about inspiring action to tackle the global sanitation crisis and reach the 3.5 billion people still living without safely managed sanitation.
Established by the World Toilet Organization in 2001, World Toilet Day was made an official United Nations Observance in 2013.
Every year, UN-Water — the UN’s coordination mechanism on water and sanitation — sets the theme for World Toilet Day. In 2024, the theme is ‘Sanitation for peace’.
Read the IAH Strategic Overview Series Paper on Sanitation and Groundwater here.
Tenth session of the Meeting of the Parties (MOP) to the Water Convention, UNECE
The meeting reaffirmed the fundamental role of transboundary water cooperation for peace and sustainable
development. It was noted that groundwater is often used to compensate for the lack of surface water without much planning. The meeting welcomed the progress made in raising awareness of the benefits of the conjunctive
management of surface waters and groundwaters, including in transboundary basins, through activities under the Convention and welcomed the outcomes of the workshop held in October 2023.
The MOP decided to include “Promoting conjunctive management of transboundary surface waters and groundwaters” in the work programme for 2025–2027.
