Each September, world leaders gather at the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) to set the tone for global priorities. This year’s 80th UNGA saw Heads of State and Government highlight conflicts, climate, and economic instability. Encouragingly, a growing number also spoke about water and sanitation — though still far fewer than the urgency demands.
From Central Asia, Presidents Shavkat Mirziyoyev (Uzbekistan), Emomali Rahmon (Tajikistan) and Kassym-Jomart Tokayev (Kazakhstan) underscored that climate change is destabilizing water security. Tajikistan warned that more than 1,300 glaciers have already melted, threatening safe drinking water for millions. Uzbekistan proposed a World Forum on Water Saving and called water scarcity “a serious threat to sustainable development.” Kazakhstan linked regional cooperation and finance to the Caspian Sea’s health and water security, announcing a UN-backed ecological summit in 2026.
Beyond Central Asia, Panama tied the reliability of the Panama Canal to new water reservoirs. Botswana called for adaptation finance to build resilient water infrastructure in the face of drought. Small Island States — from Barbados to Palau, Micronesia, and Saint Kitts & Nevis — raised the alarm about seawater intrusion, fragile freshwater sources, public health threats including cholera and the right to water as a national priority. Pakistan connected catastrophic floods and transboundary water tensions to the urgent need for better water governance.
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These are important signals. Water and sanitation — so often treated as background issues — are appearing in the speeches of presidents and prime ministers. Yet the list is still short compared to the billions who lack safely managed drinking water (2.2 billion) and sanitation (3.4 billion), or the growing climate-driven threats to water systems everywhere.
Why This Matters
At Sanitation and Water for All (SWA), we have been working with partners to move water and sanitation from technical sidelines to the highest political level. The Heads of State Initiatives (HoSI) do just that: they invite Presidents and Prime Ministers to make clear, measurable commitments on universal access to water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) — and to back those commitments with financing, mutual accountability, and climate resilience.
The momentum we saw at UNGA 80 is an open door. Leaders are already voicing concern about water scarcity, infrastructure resilience, and the right to water. HoSI can help them go further:
• Turning awareness into actionable national compacts on water, sanitation and hygiene.
• Linking climate adaptation, mitigation and finance to resilient water and sanitation systems.
• Embedding human rights to water and sanitation in national development strategies.
• Providing a platform for mutual accountability among countries, donors, and civil society.
Next month, ministers and senior leaders from across the world will gather in Madrid for the 2025 Sector Ministers’ Meeting (SMM). It’s a pivotal moment:
• The SMM provides a space to connect high-level political vision with sector planning, financing, and accountability.
• It’s where HoSI commitments can be shaped, strengthened, and accelerated — ensuring presidential pledges are backed by ministerial action.
• The SMM’s outcome – the High-level Leaders Compact on Water Security and Resilience will mobilize the voice of ministers as a strong force for adaptation, mitigation and integration of water resources and services, sanitation and climate.
For those of us working in the sector, the SMM is more than a meeting; it’s where technical leaders and political decision-makers meet in the same room to close the gap for the billions without safely managed drinking water and sanitation.
More than good intentions
If we want the speeches at UNGA to lead to real change, we need to move from high-level rhetoric to measurable commitments. HoSI offers a framework for this. It enables countries to set targets, mobilize resources, and track progress, while keeping the issue visible at the highest political level.
Water and sanitation are no longer silent crises. But they still risk being underprioritized amid competing global challenges. The leaders who raised their voices at UNGA 80 showed that change is possible. Now is the time to build on that momentum — and HoSI offers a vehicle to get us there.
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Muyatwa Sitali is a development policy specialist who has worked for UNICEF, World Bank, Oxfam and the Jubilee-Zambia. He draws his experience from multiple sectors and countries including Liberia, Senegal, Sierra Leone, United States, Switzerland, and Zambia. Currently he is heading the Secretariat of the Sanitation and Water for All on an acting basis. Working in the SWA Secretariat for over 10 years has allowed Sitali to be involved in mobilizing political, policy and programmatic support for water, sanitation and hygiene across several countries in Africa, Asia, Europe and the Americas. Sitali has more than 15 years of experience in development policy, multi-stakeholder partnerships, peace and development, and the connections between humanitarian and development programming.
