This year’s Global Water Policy Report was published in June 2023 with the collaborations of three of our Board Members, Mercedes Castro, Dhesigen Naidoo, and Dr. Olcay Ünver. This is the second report made by the Water Policy Group members, which also includes: Pablo Bereciartua, Anne Castle, Dr. Jane Doolan, Felicia Marcus, Oyun Sanjaarsuren, Tony Slatyer, Tom Soo, and Professor Greg Leslie.

The report aims to inform through the collation of conversations with global leaders during key water-related events of 2023 and any follow-up processes. It gives an overview on the challenges that governments and stakeholders are facing plus recommendations on how to use international mechanisms to improve water outcomes and its integration with other sectors. Ministers and water leaders from 92 countries participated in the survey. The document was also presented at the 2023 UN Water Conference.

The first section of the book addresses the water management risks and challenges – by ‘risks” they refer to “matters that are generally outside the immediate control of governments and are risks that water management policies need to address” (Water Policy Report, 2023). These can be found in the graph (Fig. 2) ordered according to their importance to the countries. The challenges mentioned in the report include inadequate infrastructure, inadequate and inaccessible data and information, inadequate laws and regulation, among others.

The report goes on to refer to multilateral processes that have been useful to achieve good water outcomes in their countries.  International processes are found to be useful when providing scientific information, such as data collection and anlysis relevant to the region or country. This promotes the importance of sharing case studies and best practice for water management across sectors, to provide guidance on policy and practice.