2026 UN Water Conference

Since the UN 2023 Water Conference, which was the first such event in nearly half a century, the inaugural UN System-wide Strategy for Water and Sanitation has been launched and the first UN Secretary-General's Special Envoy on Water has been appointed.

Participation at the 2026 Conference will include governments, UN agencies, non-governmental organizations, academic institutions, Indigenous Peoples, the private sector, and international financial institutions.  

The preparatory process for the 2026 Conference includes:

• A one-day organizational session held in March 2025 in New York, co-chaired by the Permanent Representatives of Senegal and the UAE, with Member States, UN entities and other stakeholders, to discuss the themes for six interactive dialogues for the Conference.
• A one-day meeting, on 9 July 2025, convened by the President of the General Assembly, to agree on the themes of the interactive dialogues.
• Regional and global preparatory meetings, involving relevant UN bodies, to identify challenges, best practices, and opportunities ahead of the Conference.  
• A high-level international meeting in Dakar, hosted by Senegal, to support the preparation for the Conference, to assess progress on SDG 6, identify implementation gaps, and explore strategies for accelerating action.  
• The preparatory process will also incorporate inputs from other major water-related events.  

Find more information on the 2026 UN Water Conference here. 

Summary Report: 2026 UN Water Conference Global Online Stakeholder Consultation: Themes of the Interactive Dialogues  

The 2026 UN Water Conference will feature plenary sessions and six interactive dialogues, as outlined in General Assembly resolution A/RES/78/327. The Conference secretariat, UN-DESA, is preparing a background note on potential themes for these dialogues, informed by contributions from Member States, the UN system, and a broad range of stakeholders.

To support this process, a global online stakeholder consultation invited non-governmental organizations, civil society, academia, Indigenous Peoples, the private sector, persons with disabilities, and others to provide input. Participants were asked to assess the relevance of the 2023 Conference dialogue themes, suggest revisions or new themes, and share messages to world leaders.

The Summary Report reflects 495 inputs from 478 organizations across 87 countries.

• Access the Summary Report here.

These insights will feed into the final design of the Conference, helping ensure that global water dialogue remains inclusive, action-oriented, and grounded in real-world needs.