MESSAGE FROM THE PRESIDENT

Dear members,

I am pleased to share this Spring Issue of IDA Global Connections, stressing that rarely have we witnessed such a special and ideal moment to press forward with sustainable development, enhance the value of water and transform the sector from the side of the citizens. This message applies to almost all countries, which have failed to do their homework to achieve the water challenges. According to the United Nations, countries are not moving fast enough to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals by 2030, and of course, we will not achieve SDG 6 with respect to water and sanitation.

The European Union says that we are not progressing fast enough to achieve the environmental objectives of the framework directive and we need sustainable water management to guarantee a balance between the demand for water resources, on which our growth model depends, and respect for the environment. The fundamental idea is balance. Globally, we are now in a situation that presents opportunities to accelerate progress and achieve this balance between water security and environmental protection.

In 2015 the water sector received with jubilation, the news of the 2030 agenda and the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. For the first time, water was included as an independent, autonomous objective, with its own substantivity and separate from the general objective of the environment. And this is precisely due to its cross-cutting nature,

because if progress is not made on SDG 6, the goal on water, it is impossible to make progress on practically all of the other SDGs, from poverty eradication to food security, education and environmental protection.

If progress is not made on SDG 6, the rest of the 2030 Agenda will suffer, because water has now taken a prominent position in the multilateral political agenda, that it did not have before and it has begun to be included in the agendas not only of environment ministers, but also of economy and finance ministers, as was previously the case with the climate change agenda, as our minister is well aware.

In parallel, climate change was advancing, and we saw water, its sustainable use, regeneration and care positioned at the center of the climate fight, taking on more and more weight and attracting more and more attention, because climate change exacerbates scarcity (with more droughts and less rainfall) and the risk of floods. I firmly believe that only with political will and public awareness will we be able to give water the value it deserves and make progress. Preserving our resources and finding new ways to generate them should be high on the social and political agendas of every country on the planet. It is time to act, and to move from words to action. And I would like to end with two points that I feel are crucial to complement the development of the sector, and that you have already heard me mention on several occasions: training and education of citizens in the use of water, and investment in technology and innovation.

All those topics, together with new technologies in desalination and water reuse and recycling, will be discuss in our biennial IDA 2021 International Water Reuse and Recycling Conference in Rome, Italy, and in the IDA 2022 World Congress in Sydney, Australia. In this new issue, you will find all updates of both conferences. I encourage you to join us in developing new ideas and partnerships around new water resources.

Access to safe drinking water and sanitation are human rights recognized by the United Nations. We cannot downplay their importance, because guaranteeing these rights is a matter of survival and dignity.

I hope you enjoy reading this special issue of IDA Global Connections.

Best regards and see you soon.

Carlos Cosin IDA President