41st UN-Water Meeting

UN-Water Chair and IFAD President Alvaro Lario opened proceedings, with the UN Secretary-General’s Special Envoy on Water, Retno Marsudi, in attendance.

The two-day meeting was primarily focused on the implementation of the UN System-wide Strategy for Water and Sanitation, and on preparations for the 2026 UN Water Conference.

Delegates from UN-Water’s 36 Members and 49 Partners approved the six ‘Priority Collaborative Actions’ (PCAs) to implement the Strategy, which form a four-year workplan of shared activities that aim to enhance coordination within the UN system to ensure consistency, impact, and alignment of communications on water and sanitation, as well as to elevate water and sanitation by strengthening leadership, engagement and messaging.

Representatives from Senegal and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) - the co-host countries of the 2026 UN Water Conference - briefed participants and led discussions focused on preparations for the event, including the selection of themes for the six interactive dialogues.

Additional agenda items included reports from a variety of UN-Water task forces and updates on World Water Day and World Toilet Day campaigns.

The 42nd UN-Water Meeting will be hosted by the UN Institute for Training and Research (UNITAR) in Geneva from 30 September to 1 October 2025.

• Read the full report of the meeting here.