The Charter of the Geneva Actions on Human Water Security last month committed its founding signatories to global action on water. They pledged to provide access to safely managed drinking water and basic sanitation services for billions of people worldwide, in line with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals of 2015.
The signatories comprise 55 water experts and practitioners from 23 countries, including 12 UNESCO chairs in water-related topics (https://genevaactions.org). They have signed up to three global actions: to secure the delivery of safe water to meet people's basic needs; to improve the condition of watersheds, streams, rivers and aquifers; and to organize better water planning, management and governance.
Inspired by the Green Climate Fund (www.greenclimate.fund/home), the signatories highlight the urgent need for a Global Human Water Security Fund to invest in these water actions. The fund would invest the equivalent of one cent per person per day worldwide, or US$27 billion per year. This represents about one-quarter of the total annual investments required to meet the 2030 Sustainable Development Goal on water (see go.nature.com/2hnrz1v).
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Grafton, Q., Biswas, A. & Tortajada, C. Signing up to safe water for billions. Nature 548, 393 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1038/548393d
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/548393d