The SDG 6 Global Acceleration Framework, accessible at https://www.unwater.org/publications/the-sdg-6-global-acceleration-framework/
The United Nations (UN), through its interagency mechanism UN-Water, has launched a new framework to speed up progress on Sustainable Development Goal 6 (SDG6), focusing on ensuring the availability and sustainable management of water and sanitation for all.
The SDG 6 Global Acceleration Framework, which has been created in partnership with more than 30 UN entities and 40 international organisations, aims to provide better support for countries over the next ten years to meet targets for SDG6.
Under the framework, UN entities will commit to strengthening their collaboration and unify the support of the international community to countries. This will be achieved via:
- A sharpened focus on concrete support at the country level that, as part of the UN reform, will scale up the impact of the UN system’s contribution. Through a reinvigorated Resident Coordinators system and a new generation of UN Country Teams, UN‑Water will provide access to expertise, technical assistance and advocacy support.
- A clear commitment from heads of UN Agencies, Funds and Programmes to work better together to deliver SDG6. This represents a special opportunity in how the UN system and its partners deliver collectively.
- A multi-stakeholder, high-level, annual stock-taking moment, complemented by the SDG6 Action Space, that will enable stakeholders to keep up momentum on SDG6, as well as share lessons and best practices.
According to UN in a press release dated 9 July 2020, progress on SDG6 is “alarming off track,” citing from the Sustainable Development Goals Report 2020 that 2.2 billion people worldwide still lack safely managed drinking water, which include 785 million having no basic drinking water.
Additionally, despite the increase in the population who have access safely managed sanitation services (28 percent in 2000 to 45 percent in 2017), 4.2 billion people worldwide still lack these services, including 2 billion who do not have basic sanitation.
“The water and sanitation crisis is getting worse and lack of progress on SDG 6 undermines progress on all of the other SDGs, particularly on global health, education, food, gender equality, energy and climate change,” stated UN.
In launching the SDG 6 Global Acceleration Framework, UN Secretary-General António Guterres expressed his concerns on the lack of progress on SDG6 and how it has been compromising the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.
“Water globally is threatened by the twin threats of increasing demand and withdrawals and the degradation of water sources and associated ecosystems due to climate change, pollution and other threats. The water and sanitation crisis demands a holistic, systemic and multilateral response,” he
