Press release
World Summit* on Groundwater at UNESCO, 7-8 December
Four billion people live in water-scarce regions. This shortage is increasing with climate change. Groundwater is part of the solution if it is managed sustainably. To succeed, we need strong international cooperation. But today, only 1.2% of transboundary aquifers are managed by agreements and coordination mechanisms between the countries concerned. This Summit at UNESCO must multiply efforts
In recent years, surface water contained in rivers and lakes has become increasingly contaminated. It is also poorly managed. This combined with climate change impacts has led many countries to rely more heavily on groundwater, with a six-fold increase in abstraction recorded globally over the last 70 years.
Overexploited aquifers can result in loss of valuable ecosystems, land subsidence and sea-water intrusion into coastal aquifers. The deteriorating quantity or quality of the groundwater contained in aquifers is also hindering access to clean water and socio-economic development.
A Transboundary Water Cooperation Coalition
There is an urgent need to establish sustainable management of groundwater, which depends on international cooperation. But today, this cooperation doesn’t exist: out of 468 cross-border aquifers listed by UNESCO in the world, only 6 are managed by agreements and coordination mechanisms between the States concerned.
UNESCO, as the United Nations Organisation for Science, is committed to creating the conditions for this international cooperation. The 7-8 December Summit at the headquarters of the Organization will bring together 3,000 people from across the world to respond to this challenge: representatives of the 193 Member States of UNESCO, United Nations agencies, intergovernmental organizations, non-governmental organizations, etc.
A Transboundary Water Cooperation Coalition will be launched at the Summit with the objective of calling for concrete commitments to be presented at the United Nations Water Conference which will take place in New York in March 2023.
More information
The Full Press Kit for the Summit can be found here
A dedicated media space will be available for media during the Summit in the Miro space of UNESCO headquarters, 7, Place de Fontenoy, 75007 Paris.
*The Summit on Groundwater will be the culminating event of the 2022 campaign “Groundwater: making the invisible visible”, implemented by the dedicated UN – Water Task Force, coordinated by UNESCO. https://www.unwater.org/news/un-water-summit-groundwater-2022
Press contact
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