Transforming Water Security through Women's Leadership
Publisher: FP Analytics
Date: 2024
Topics: Basic Services, Gender, Governance, Renewable Resources
Today, more than two billion people experience water scarcity in some form. Without intervention, that figure could increase to 3.2 billion people within two decades. Water insecurity is among the greatest challenges facing the global community, one that disproportionately impacts the health, education, and economic opportunities of women and girls, who are responsible for 80 percent of water collection in households without piped water. As of 2022, one-quarter of women globally lacked access to safely managed drinking water, and two-fifths of women lacked access to safely managed sanitation. United Nations Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 6 aims to “Ensure availability and sustainable management of water and sanitation for all,” yet none of its targets is on track globally to be met by 2030. These challenges are being exacerbated by climate change, driving both water scarcity and an increase in water-based and polluting hazards such as floods. Climate change is also challenging established methods of water management and conservation, necessitating the development and deployment of innovative and sustainable new approaches to water stewardship. To course-correct on the Sustainable Development Agenda and end water scarcity, while mitigating and adapting to the effects of climate change, stakeholders at all levels of society and across all sectors need to come together in a concerted effort. Centering women’s expertise in water stewardship is critical to meeting the 2030 SDG deadline and fulfilling the commitments of the 2015 Paris Agreement on climate change.