Global Civil Society & the UN Sustainable Development Goals

Goal 6: Ensure access to water and sanitation for all

Clean Water & Sanitation


Access to safe water, sanitation and hygiene is the most basic human need for health and well-being. Billions of people will lack access to these basic services in 2030 unless progress quadruples. Demand for water is rising owing to rapid population growth, urbanization and increasing water needs from agriculture, industry, and energy sectors.

The demand for water has outpaced population growth, and half the world’s population is already experiencing severe water scarcity at least one month a year. Water scarcity is projected to increase with the rise of global temperatures as a result of climate change.

Investments in infrastructure and sanitation facilities; protection and restoration of water- related ecosystems; and hygiene education are among the steps necessary to ensure universal access to safe and affordable drinking water for all by 2030, and improving water-use efficiency is one key to reducing water stress.

There has been positive progress. Between 2015 and 2022, the proportion of the world’s population with access to safely managed drinking water increased from 69 per cent to 73 per cent.

Name Acronym Founded City HQ Country/Territory HQ Type I Type II

Protocol to Prolong the International Sanitary Convention, 1944

1946 T g

Protocol to the 1979 Convention on Long Range Transboundary Air Pollution Concerning the Control of Emissions of Volatile Organic Compounds on Their Transboundary Fluxes

1991 VOC protocol 1991 T g

Protocol to the 1979 Convention on Long Range Transboundary Air Pollution Concerning the Control of Nitrogen Oxides Emissions or Their Transboundary Fluxes

1988 NOx protocol 1988 T g

Protocol to the 1979 Convention on Long Range Transboundary Air Pollution on Further Reduction of Sulphur Emissions

1994 T g

Protocol to the 1979 Convention on Long Range Transboundary Air Pollution on Long-term Financing of the Cooperative Programme for Monitoring and Evaluation of the Long-range Transmission of Air-pollutants in Europe

1984 EMEP protocol 1984 T g

Protocol to the 1979 Convention on Long Range Transboundary Air Pollution on the Reduction of Sulphur Emissions or Their Transboundary Fluxes by at Least 30 per Cent

1985 Sulphur protocol 1985 T g

Protocol to the Convention on Long Range Transboundary Air Pollution on Persistent Organic Pollutants

POP protocol 1998 T g

Protocol to the Convention on Long-range Transboundary Air Pollution on Heavy Metals

1998 T g

Protocol to the International Convention on Civil Liability for Oil Pollution Damage, 1976

1976 London UK T g

Protocol to the International Convention on Civil Liability for Oil Pollution Damage, 1992

1992 London UK T g

Prototype Carbon Fund

PCF 1999 Washington DC USA F fg

Public-Private Infrastructure Advisory Facility

PPIAF 1999 Washington DC USA F g

Pueblito Canada

1975 Toronto ON Canada G

Pure Earth

1999 New York NY USA F j

Pure Water for the World

PWW 1999 Rutland VT USA G

PV CYCLE Association

2007 Brussels Belgium J

Race for Water Foundation

2010 Lausanne Switzerland G f

Radiant Earth Foundation

Washington DC USA G f

Rainbow Warriors International

RWI 1995 Oranjestad Aruba E

Real Action for International Need

RAIN 2012 Alton Bay NH USA N

Red Centroamericana de Acción del Agua

San José Costa Rica D y

Red Interamericana de Vivienda Saludable

Red VIVSALUD 1995 Lima Peru F

Red Latinoamericana Contra Represas y por los Rios, sus Comunidades y el Agua

REDLAR 2002 F

Red Latinoamericana de Desarrollo de Capacidades para la Gestión Integrada del Agua

LA-WETnet Buenos Aires Argentina F

Red Vigilancia Interamericana para la Defensa y Derecho al Agua

Red VIDA 2003 Cochabamba Bolivia J

ReGeneration 2030

Mariehamn Finland F

Regional Activity Centre for Sustainable Consumption and Production

SCP/RAC 1995 Barcelona Spain E g

Regional Agreement on the Transboundary Movement of Hazardous Wastes

1992 T g

Regional Association of Energy Regulators for Eastern and Southern Africa

RAERESA 2009 Lusaka Zambia E g

Regional Centre for Mapping of Resources for Development

RCMRD 1975 Nairobi Kenya E g

Regional Centre for Training and Water Studies of Arid and Semiarid Zones, Cairo

RCTWS 2002 Cairo Egypt G g

Regional Centre on Urban Water Management

Cali Colombia G g

Regional Centre on Urban Water Management, Teheran

RCUWM 2002 Teheran Iran Islamic Rep E gy

Regional Clean Sea Organization

RECSO 1972 Dubai United Arab Emirates D

Regional Conference on Migration

RCM 1996 San José Costa Rica E g

Regional Electricity Regulators Association of Southern Africa

RERA 2002 Windhoek Namibia E

Regional Humid Tropics Hydrology and Water Resources Centre for South East Asia and the Pacific

HTC 1996 Cyberjaya Malaysia E g

Regional Marine Pollution Emergency Information and Training Centre - Wider Caribbean

REMPEITC-Carib 1994 Willemstad Curaçao E g

Regional Marine Pollution Emergency Response Centre for the Mediterranean Sea

REMPEC 1976 Floriana Malta E g

Regional Model Forest Network - Asia

RMFN-Asia 2010 F

Regional Network of Local Authorities for the Management of Human Settlements

CITYNET 1987 Seoul Korea Rep F y

Regional Network of Water-Basin - Organizations from Eastern Europe, Caucasus and Central Asia

NWO EECCA 2010 Tashkent Uzbekistan E

Regional Programme of Action for the Protection of the Arctic Marine Environment from Land-based Activities

RPA 1998 Oslo Norway E g

Regional School of Sanitary Engineering and Hydraulic Resources

1965 Guatemala Guatemala E

Regional Water Centre for Arid and Semi-Arid Regions of Latin America and the Caribbean

2003 La Serena Chile G g

Regions of Climate Action

R20 2010 Geneva Switzerland C

Regions4 Sustainable Development

Regions4 2002 Brussels Belgium F

Regulations for Maritime Hunting Operations in the Waters of the South Pacific

1952 T g

Regulatory Assistance Project

RAP 1992 Montpelier VT USA G

Rehydration Project

Kowloon Hong Kong G

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