As part of the United Nations Development Agenda beyond 2015 and following from the “Our future we want” the world adopted shared sustainable development goals (SDGs). Water has been recognized as being at the core of sustainable development as it is closely linked to a number of key global challenges. The importance of integrating water in sustainable development and underlining the critical importance of water and sanitation within all dimensions of sustainable development has been reiterated in Goal 6: ensure availability and sustainable management of water and sanitation for all.
A seminar was conducted to present about the SDGs in relation to water and discuss what does it mean for Brazil and what need to be done for better prepared at global and local levels.
Dr. Joakim Harlin, Senior Water Advisor, UNDP delivered a keynote speech on “Water in a Changing World – Preparedness to Meet the SDGs in Relation to Water”. Rio+ team, Cap-Net team, Mr. Julio Antunes from CEDAE and Dr. Anna Virginia from Federal University of Rio de Janeiro attended this event. Joakim discussed about the indicators to measure the targets of SDG 6 and their applicability which is yet in the discussions level. In his speech, he also emphasized UNDP leadership, UN partnership and working across local, national and regional networks through Cap-Net towards sustainable water management. Kees Leendertse of Cap-Net facilitated the discussion. Anna Virginia shared her experiences and thoughts on SDG indicators related to water, emphasizing that more reflection on equity would be required to understand the real progress. The discussion brought forward very important issues related to water capacity development like reaching the correct target groups, avoid replications, multiplication of impacts, understanding and addressing complex political context and bottlenecks at local level. Colleagues in the Rio+ team including Lyla Saad, Amath Pathe Sene, Leisa Perch, Laura Hildebrandt and Monica Villarindo contributed into a very inspiring discussion. ')}
