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Leading water cooperation worldwide
to ensure water security for future generations
Aurélien Dumont, Renée Gift, Marina Rubio, Alice Aureli, Abou Amani, Blanca Jiménez-Cisneros,
International Hydrological Programme (IHP), United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization
(UNESCO) – Division of Water Sciences
T
he Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) embody
a universal, ambitious, sustainable development
agenda: an agenda “of the people, by the people and
for the people,” crafted with UNESCO’s active involvement.
The new 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development repre-
sents a significant step forward in the recognition of the
contribution of science to sustainable development. Through
its natural sciences programmes, UNESCO is committed to
the implementation of the SDGs by improving scientific
knowledge, and providing policy assistance and support to
developing countries in strengthening their scientific and
technological capacities.
The recent recognition of the need to ensure availability
and sustainable management of water and sanitation for
all, at the level of a global goal, has prioritised interna-
tional action around the fundamental subject of freshwater.
Notwithstanding, UNESCO has advanced the international
agenda for peace and sustainable development for more than
70 years, and has focused strategic action on water for more
than 50 years through the establishment of its International
Hydrological Programme (IHP).
IHP today remains the only intergovernmental programme
of the United Nations (UN) system dedicated to science, knowl-
edge and capacity building centred around freshwater. Guided
since its inception by the simple message that water is indispen-
sable to human life in all its aspects, IHP has evolved from an
internationally coordinated hydrological research programme,
to one with a holistic focus. Today, its scope reaches beyond
the natural sciences to capture the social, economic, envi-
ronmental, and cultural dimensions of water access, use and
management. It achieves this through mobilizing international
cooperation to produce and disseminate scientific knowledge;
facilitating capacity building and education for strengthened
water resource management; and bridging the science policy
society interface to enhance water governance.
With the goal of achieving water security at its core, IHP
implements projects and initiatives centred on water-related
disasters and hydrological change, groundwater manage-
ment, water scarcity and quality, water within human
settlements, ecohydrology, and water education, through the
implementation of its Strategic Plan known as the Eighth
Phase (IHP-VIII: 2014–2021). Guided by its six thematic focal
areas, IHP contributes both directly and indirectly to every
target under SDG 6, emphasising the role of UNESCO with
a clear mandate to address SDG 6.
As freshwater concerns are cross-cutting, IHP also
concretely contributes to other goals. Its work on water-related
disasters and hydrological changes directly addresses SDG 13
on climate action through advancing scientific knowledge on
water sciences, reducing uncertainty, and improving planning
to strengthen countries’ resilience to the impacts of climate
change. These activities, coupled with IHP’s action to promote
the supply of clean water and sanitation in cities and enhance
urban water management, directly contribute to SDG 11 on
inclusive, safe and resilient cities and human settlements.
Image: charity:water / Jonna Davis
Groundwater: Filtering water in Cambodia