Author :
Jean Lapègue and Marie Sara Bouloumou — Issue 118
11/04/2026
The third United Nations Water Conference, following the 2023 conference co-hosted by the Netherlands and Tajikistan and the 1977 Mar del Plata Conference in Argentina, will take place from 8 to 10 December 2026 in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. Co-hosted by the United Arab Emirates and Senegal, it aims to be a major global milestone focused on accelerating action toward Sustainable Development Goal 6 (SDG 6):“Ensure availability and sustainable management of water and sanitation for all.”
Although many civil society organizations and sector stakeholders are expected to participate in side events outside the official UN area, the conference remains first and foremost an intergovernmental political forum for dialogue and negotiation among states. Its official objective is to accelerate progress toward global goals. The only formal outcome expected is a summary of discussions, similar to that produced in 2023. The resolution establishing the conference explicitly excludes the adoption of a political declaration. In practice, however, the event will provide an opportunity to build coalitions among states around advances that could later be translated into decisions by the UN General Assembly.
The conference programme is structured around six thematic pillars, known as the Interactive Dialogues, initiated during the preparatory conference held in Dakar in January 2026 :
Alongside the official governmental conference (the Blue Zone), a non-UN programme will take place in the Green Zone, known as the Oasis. Managed by the United Arab Emirates, this space will host dynamic events, exhibitions and immersive pavilions. Its themes will mirror those of the official conference :
Among the many planned workshops, a major event dedicated to the Stakeholders and Rights Holders Declaration, facilitated by the German WASH Network, is scheduled. Through this initiative, the co-hosting countries aim to promote knowledge-sharing, partnerships, investments and technical solutions that improve livelihoods, restore ecosystems, and expand access to water and sanitation.
As highlighted in the 2025 Joint Monitoring Programme report, progress toward SDG 6, particularly targets 6.1 (safe drinking water) and 6.2 (sanitation and hygiene), remains deeply concerning. An estimated 2.1 billion people still lack safely managed drinking water services, representing 25% of the global population, while 3.4 billion people lack safely managed sanitation, equivalent to 41% of humanity. These deficits are most acute in sub-Saharan Africa for water access and across parts of Central and Southeast Asia and South America for sanitation access.
The burden of these deprivations is not shared equally. In seven out of ten households without water on premises, women and girls bear the responsibility of collecting water, exposing them to gender-based violence, school dropout and physical injury. Climate change is exacerbating these inequalities. Today, approximately 380 million women and girls live in areas experiencing high or critical water stress, a number projected to rise to 674 million by 2050.
Within the broader population lacking access to water and sanitation lies a particularly vulnerable group: people in need of humanitarian assistance, for whom access to water, sanitation and hygiene is literally a matter of survival. Present across 31 countries, this population was estimated by the Global WASH Cluster at 161 million people in 2025. Of these, only 75.8 million (47%) were targeted for assistance, and just 33.84 million (21%) ultimately received life-saving aid. For 2026, the Global WASH Cluster estimates humanitarian WASH needs at 137.5 million people.
More broadly, the global population requiring humanitarian assistance across all sectors has nearly quintupled over the last decade, rising from 50 million in 2015 to 239 million in 2026. This increase is driven primarily by conflict, forced displacement and, increasingly, climate-related shocks. In 2026, 60% of humanitarian needs are concentrated in Africa and Western Asia. Strikingly, more than half of all people requiring humanitarian assistance also have WASH-related needs: 173.5 million out of 239 million people.
Achieving SDG 6 by 2030 is increasingly jeopardized by a range of factors. Estimates suggest that approximately US$114 billion per year is required to meet water and sanitation targets alone, implying that current state investments in the sector would need to triple.
Beyond financing, progress will also require stronger absorption capacities in recipient countries, responses to demographic pressures, improved local governance and greater political leadership to make water, sanitation and hygiene a national strategic priority. Transparency in the use of funds remains essential to maintain donor confidence.
Of the more than US$100 billion needed annually for universal minimum access to water and sanitation, humanitarian WASH accounts for just US$3 to 4 billion per year (US$3.2 billion in 2026), less than 3% of total sector financing needs. Yet reductions to this relatively small funding envelope have immediate consequences for the world’s most vulnerable populations. Globally, the World Health Organization attributes 1.4 million deaths annually to inadequate water, sanitation and hygiene. In conflict zones, children under 15 are almost three times more likely to die from water- and sanitation-related diseases than from direct violence.
Despite its life-saving role, humanitarian WASH remains chronically underfunded, with a 70.6% funding gap in 2026. Overall humanitarian funding fell sharply after 2022, declining from US$43.3 billion to US$20.5 billion in 2025, below 2016 levels. This was driven largely by significant cuts in U.S. and European aid, resulting in a 44.6% reduction between 2024 and 2025. Official Development Assistance (ODA) also declined by 23% in 2025.
Humanitarian WASH funding followed a similar pattern. After growing until 2023, annual funding appears to have stabilized at around US$1.1 billion, representing only about 5% of total humanitarian funding, despite being a critical life-saving service.
UN water conferences reflect the rapid maturation of a relatively young sector. The human right to water and sanitation was recognized only in 2010, SDG 6 was adopted in 2015, and the first UN Special Envoy for Water was appointed in 2024. Growing awareness of climate risks and the strategic importance of water has significantly increased government attention to the sector.
The impact of the 2023 UN Water Conference was mixed. It led to the creation of the Water Action Agenda, containing more than 830 voluntary commitments aimed at transforming global water governance, and helped pave the way for the appointment of the UN Special Envoy for Water. However, apart from a handful of commitments addressing vulnerable populations, humanitarian concerns received limited attention.
The Abu Dhabi Conference could mark a turning point.
For the first time in the history of these conferences, an official Interactive Dialogue concept note includes a dedicated section on crisis settings. Within the concept note for Dialogue A: Water for People, co-chaired by Switzerland and Ghana, an entire section addresses fragility, conflict and violence (FCV) contexts. It highlights humanitarian needs, condemns deliberate attacks on WASH infrastructure, and emphasizes the need to bridge humanitarian response with long-term development efforts through a humanitarian-development-peace nexus. It also recalls that in conflict settings, children are more likely to die from unsafe water than from weapons.
Indeed, for the first time in the brief history of these conferences, an official Interactive Dialogue Concept Note dedicates an entire section to crisis contexts. In the Concept Note for Interactive Dialogue A, Water for People, co-chaired by Switzerland and Ghana, an entire section (III.C, paragraphs 38–42) addresses contexts of fragility, conflict and violence (FCV). This section reiterates the humanitarian needs mentioned above, condemns the deliberate targeting of water and sanitation infrastructure during conflicts, and highlights the lack of integration between short-term solutions and long-term plans to reduce the impact of crises. This includes, for example, the lack of WASH infrastructure in healthcare facilities and in communities repeatedly affected by epidemic outbreaks, such as in the Democratic Republic of the Congo in connection with the current Ebola outbreak. It thus underscores the need for a humanitarian-development-peace nexus. The section also recalls that, in conflict zones, children are more likely to die from unsafe water than from weapons (§41).
National Adaptation Plans, Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs), and Disaster Risk Reduction strategies (§49), prioritizing the WASH needs of affected populations in humanitarian response plans and funding appeals (§51), and directing financial resources towards humanitarian contexts and vulnerable populations (§57.d).
It further recommends piloting risk indicators such as the WASH Insecurity Analysis framework to better understand WASH needs and risks across the humanitarian-development continuum (§69). The document concludes with several recommendations that directly affect humanitarian WASH. These include Recommendation 75.c, which calls for collective outcomes shared by humanitarian, development and peace actors; Recommendation 75.d (and Indicator 75.h), which focuses on refugees and internally displaced persons; Recommendation 75.e, which advocates ensuring that WASH clusters are provided with adequate staffing and capacity to respond effectively to crises; and Recommendation 75.f, which calls for compliance with International Humanitarian Law and the protection of civilian water infrastructure, supported by independent monitoring of violations.
Recommendation 75.a, relating to preparedness and multi-hazard early warning systems, also creates opportunities for anticipatory action in response to climate-related shocks.
ased on current concept notes and discussions at the Dakar preparatory meeting, Switzerland and Ghana, co-chairs of Dialogue A, appear among the strongest advocates for humanitarian WASH concerns. Senegal, which co-hosts the conference, has also consistently supported International Humanitarian Law since the 9th World Water Forum and the Dakar Declaration in 2022.
France, co-chairing Dialogue F: Investments for Water alongside South Africa, is particularly expected to champion humanitarian concerns. France formally recognized the importance of humanitarian WASH challenges when it endorsed the WASH Roadmap Call to Action alongside the 2023 conference.
However, the current concept note for Dialogue F does not explicitly address humanitarian financing needs. The word humanitarian does not appear once, and the proposed solutions for fragile states focus primarily on developing viable markets and institutions, an approach often ill-suited to crisis settings.
Other key humanitarian WASH donors expected to play an important role include the European Commission, the United States, the United Kingdom and Switzerland, all among the largest contributors to humanitarian WASH financing in 2026.
The humanitarian WASH sector’s priorities are reflected in the five messages of the revised 2025 Call to Action, promoted by the WASH Roadmap and the Global WASH Cluster:
More specifically, states attending Abu Dhabi could be encouraged to:
Humanitarian WASH issues will be highlighted through several official side events in both the Blue Zone and the Oasis.
Closing the Financing Gap: Pathways to Water Security in Fragile and Conflict-Affected Settings
Proposed by the International Rescue Committee, with the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC), Action Against Hunger (ACF), Oxfam and the French Water Partnership (PFE).
This discussion will explore how fragile and conflict-affected contexts can be better incorporated into sector investment planning and how bankable project portfolios can be developed to bridge humanitarian and development financing.
Advancing One Health through WASH in Crisis and Fragile Settings: From Humanitarian Response to Resilient Systems
Organized by the Veolia Foundation and Oxfam, with the support of the French Water Partnership and Action Against Hunger.
The event will showcase WASH as a frontline infrastructure for disease prevention, infection control, environmental health and combating antimicrobial resistance in crisis settings.
Water for People in Crisis: Accelerating SDG 6 through Survival and Resilient WASH(to be confirmed)
Coordinated by the Global WASH Cluster with support from several organizations including Action Against Hunger and the French Water Partnership, this event aims to connect humanitarian WASH with broader water policy, finance and innovation communities.
Launch of the Stakeholders and Rights Holders Declaration (to be confirmed)
Coordinated by the German WASH Network and the African Civil Society Network on Water and Sanitation (ANEW), with support from Germany’s Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ), this declaration will call for water and sanitation issues to remain firmly anchored at the highest levels of the United Nations and among Member States.
By Jean Lapègue and Marie Sara Bouloumou.
Dr Jean Lapegue, ACF, jlapegue@actioncontrelafaim.org
Julien Eyrard, ACF, jeyrard@actioncontrelafaim.org
Marie Sara Bouloumou, PFE, marie-sara.bouloumou@partenariat-francais-eau.fr
Marie Laure Vercambre, PFE, marie-laure.vercambre@partenariat-francais-eau.fr
Jean Lapègue
Head of the Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) Department at Action Against Hunger
Jean Lapegue has been Head of the Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) Department at Action Against Hunger UK and then France since 2003. He has 26 years of experience in the field of humanitarian WASH, primarily with the NGO Action Against Hunger. He also has four years of experience as Head of the Hydrology Unit at the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry of the Territorial Collectivity of Mayotte (1992-1996).
His field experience, spanning more than ten years, mainly covers conflict and post-conflict contexts, where he was exposed to supporting displaced populations: Sri Lanka (1999-2001) and Afghanistan (2001-2003).
Jean Lapegue is a member of various decision-making bodies and humanitarian coordination groups, such as the Global WASH Cluster and the Global Taskforce for Cholera Control. He served as Governor of the World Water Council (2015-2022) and was a member of the Global WASH Cluster’s Strategic Group. He represents Action Against Hunger in various coordination bodies, including the French Water Partnership, the WASH Roadmap, and the Water Coalition.
His training is a doctoral thesis in environmental hydrology (1999) and he is involved in several research projects, has co-supervised several doctoral theses and is the author or co-author of numerous books and publications and about fifty articles on the Water sector in crisis context.
He teaches humanitarian strategy and coordination architecture within the framework of the Humanitarian WASH Master’s program run by the 2iE Regional University (Burkina Faso).
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