Population growth, climate change and drinking water scarcity mean that sustainably managing global water resources is one of the biggest challenges of the 21st century. To help solve the conflicts developing around this “blue gold”, the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research has initiated the "Water as a global Resource (GRoW)“ funding measure on the basis of the UN’s 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.
It was a tremendous accomplishment for the international community to agree on the SDGs and it is essential for our joint future to continue on this path . Achieving the targets will require ongoing efforts, new approaches and the examination of challenges. In view of the forthcoming High-level Political Forum on Sustainable Development and this year’s SDG 6 in-depth review, partners of the research program Water as a global Resource (GRoW) formulated a positon paper to highlight important challenges for achieving the ambitious goal of SDG 6 from a science perspective.
In this position paper the GRoW projects emphasise the need to provide a better evidence-base for achieving and monitoring SDG 6. GRoW calls for a global platform which would bring together science, policy and practice to provide synthesis on key water topics, consolidate knowledge on implementing the SDGs and thereby strengthen evidence-based decision-making.
In April 2018 the GRoW-steering comittee discussed advances, challenges and steps ahead in the work of the 12 research projects during their second meeting in Berlin
GRoW attracts interest from international stakeholders and environmental organisations
A short summary of GRoW’s first year paints a positive picture. The research projects have started well and are also attracting a great deal of international attention. They have begun developing partnerships and networks with public and private international stakeholders, and are finding support among global environmental organisations. This keen interest shows that GRoW is doing relevant, topical work – primarily because it is successfully developing local and regional, globally transferrable solutions for protecting water resources.
