According to Federal Environment Minister Steffi Lemke, the first purely world water conference of the United Nations in almost 50 years will bring great progress in the protection of global water supplies. The Greens politician expressly praised the global action agenda for water adopted in New York.

In it, member states and other actors had made hundreds of ambitious self-commitments. This is a milestone and the foundation for a turnaround in global water policy.

Water gets lobby

Germany also made five far-reaching commitments at the two-day meeting, Lemke said yesterday. "One thing is clear: We have to act faster than before to protect our water supplies worldwide and to ensure the supply in the long term." She feels obligated to do so. Sufficient water and healthy bodies of water are key to solving the existential crises, the climate crisis, species extinction and the pollution crisis, she warned.

Lemke praised the fact that 150 states supported the call for a UN special envoy for water to be appointed. "It is therefore foreseeable that water as a resource will have a voice and a stronger lobby in the UN," she said.

By the end of the World Water Conference, the Agenda for Action on Water already listed some 700 commitments, and more are likely to be added.

water in danger

At the end of the conference in New York, UN Secretary-General António Guterres called on countries to fight against drinking water shortages. All hope for mankind rested on charting a new course.

The United Nations had sounded the alarm in the face of a global water crisis: the water cycle had been broken, ecosystems destroyed and groundwater contaminated. Two billion people, one in four, do not have adequate access to clean water.