2026
United
Nations
Water
Conference
Special
Accreditation for Non-Governmental Organizations and
Other
Relevant
Stakeholders
(First
Round)
The
high-level 2026
United Nations Water Conference
to Accelerate the Implementation of Sustainable Development Goal 6:
Ensure availability and sustainable management of water and
sanitation for all will be held in the United Arab Emirates from 2–4
December 2026, co-hosted by Senegal and the United Arab
Emirates.
The
Conference will consider challenges to achieving SDG 6 as well as
opportunities and innovative ways to support its implementation and
accelerate progress.
Participants will exchange views, develop initiatives, and
identify
actions to advance SDG 6, including cooperation at all relevant
levels to enhance means of implementation and partnerships. The
Conference will also highlight gender perspectives and empowerment
of women and girls in ensuring safe drinking water and sanitation
for all.
The
Conference will result in a summary of the proceedings of the
Conference, to be prepared by the Presidents of the Conference, as
its outcome document. The summary will also serve as an input to the
UN High-level Political Forum on Sustainable Development
(HLPF).
Additionally,
the Conference will offer an opportunity to share best practices in
accelerating SDG implementation—including those included in the
Water Action Agenda—and will invite Member States and
other stakeholders to announce voluntary commitments in support of
the Conference objectives.
Members States decided that the 2026 Conference should build on the
discussions held during the UN 2023 Water Conference.
The
2026 UN Water Conference will be comprised
of plenary sessions and six interactive dialogues (A/RES/78/327).
The Conference secretariat, UN-DESA, will prepare a background note
on potential themes of the interactive dialogues, based on the
inputs of Member States, the UN system, and a wide range of other
stakeholders. The themes of the interactive dialogues will be
adopted by the UN General Assembly at a one-day meeting to be
convened
by the President of the General Assembly on 9 July
2025.
Which
stakeholders
can participate
in the
2026
UN Water
Conference?
Participation
of representatives from non-governmental organizations, major groups
and other relevant stakeholders at the 2026 UN Water Conference is
guided by
A/RES/78/327.
Organizations
that fall under the following categories will be able to request
registration to attend the 2026 UN Water Conference and its
preparatory meeting.
1.
Non-governmental organizations and major groups identified
in Agenda 21 and other stakeholders
in
consultative
status with ECOSOC.
You can check if your organization has consultative status with
ECOSOC
here.
2.
Organizations
that were accredited
to previous
United Nations’ conferences as per A/RES/78/327.
Special
Accreditation Process
As
guided by resolution
A/RES/78/327other
relevant non-governmental organizations, including civil society
organizations, academic institutions, the scientific community, the
private sector and philanthropic organizations whose work is
relevant to the Conference and are
not
in consultative status with ECOSOC or accredited to the previous
United Nations Conferences mentioned above, must receive special
accreditation in order to participate in the Conference and the
preparatory meeting as observers.
Interested
organizations can apply by 21
March 2025
using this link:
bit.ly/4kjdUKP
This
round of special accreditation will be conducted on the
Civil
Society Platform,
one of the latest initiatives
from the UN
Department of Global Communications (DGC)
designed to streamline engagement processes for civil society
organizations.
If
your organization does not yet have an account, follow the user
guides below to get started:
Applications
will be reviewed on the basis of
their background and involvement in the implementation and follow up
of SDG 6.
The
President of the General Assembly will draw up the list of
recommended organizations and submit
it to Member States for their consideration on a non-objection
basis.
Approved
organizations will be notified by the Secretariat after Member
States review.
Once
an organization or entity receives special accreditation, it
will
be able to register
representatives
to participate
at the 2026 UN Water Conference and its preparatory
meeting.
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