Understanding the Role of United Nations-Water (UN-Water) in Promoting Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 6

Abstract

Clean drinking water is indispensable to the survival of living beings. It is the basic requirement in day-to-day lives of the people. Besides, it is vital for sanitation. However, 2.2 billion people are lacking access to safe and clean drinking water and 4.2 billion people are lacking sanitation in recent times. This has been referred to as a situation of water crisis or water scarcity. Water crisis has become a serious global issue with the growing number of world’s population, In 2015, ‘water crisis’ has occupied the first position among the top global risks in terms of impact to the world (The Global Risks Report 2019). In this context, Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 6 was adopted to ‘ensure availability and sustainable management of water and sanitation for all’. The UN-Water has played a critical role in the process of this goal. It has also been working for further promotion of this goal since its adoption. The achievement of this goal has been even more challenging since the outbreak of Coronavirus. The paper is an endeavour to understand the role of UN-Water in promoting the SDG 6 during COVID-19 crisis.

Keywords:  UN-Water, SDG 6, potable water, sanitation, hygiene, water scarcity, COVID-19