This March 22 we celebrate World Water Day, an event proclaimed for the first time in 1992 by the United Nations (UN). This date aims to raise awareness among the population and promote actions to address the water and sanitation crisis, since, currently, 2,000 million people still live without access to drinking water. This means that 1 in 4 people lack safely managed drinking water , i.e. they do not have uncontaminated water, in a certain place, when it is needed. In 2023, under the slogan “Accelerate Change”, the UN underlines the need to take action and points out that we are currently a long way from meeting Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 6: water and sanitation for all by 2030, a global commitment that was agreed in 2015. Access to water and sanitation is a human right. That is why, according to the UN, a well-managed water cycle supports the objectives pursued by the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, not only in aspects such as food and people’s health, but also in terms of the sustainability of ecosystems. In addition, water is also at the heart of climate change adaptation since, without proper governance and management, its scarcity could affect a variety of sectors that depend on this resource.

According to the World Health Organization (2022), every year 1.4 million people die and 74 million have their lives shortened due to diseases caused by not having access to drinking water, sanitation and hygiene services. In addition, almost half of the world’s population lacks safe sanitation systems and a total of 1. 800 million people are served or work in health care facilities that lack basic water services.

Similarly, the water of wetlands, one of the most important ecosystems on the planet, is also threatened. The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) indicates that, due to the excessive consumption of this resource for agricultural purposes, almost 90% of the world’s wetlands have been lost since the eighteenth century. In Spain, in the last 200 years, at least 60% of the original wet surface has disappeared. And the current situation and future prospects of the wetlands that we still conserve are very worrying. Added to all of the above is the increase in the world’s population which, according to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), would mean an increasingly important consumption of resources, which makes it urgent and necessary for us to use and manage this finite good efficiently, sustainably and equitably.