Overview of Water Policy Developments: Pre- and Post-2015 Development Agenda

Abstract

The year 2015 marked the end of some important universal decisions regarding water developments. The International Decade for Action ‘Water for Life’ (2005–2015) was concluded so that a “Post-2015 Development Agenda” is now defined. 2015 was also the year when UN Millenium Goals (MDGs) came to an end to convert into the new Agenda, which is a process led by the United Nations (UN) to define the future global development framework. The proposed goal is now referred to as SDG’s or Sustainable Development Goals, that extend existing commitments such as the MDGs and the priorities of Rio + 20. SDG’s will balance the economic, social and environmental dimensions of sustainable development with a strong linkage between environment and socio-economic goals. They converge with the post-2015 development agenda, now called Agenda 30 as these goals will be valid until 2030. One of the major concepts of SDG’s is water security, which is the basic element of the Global Goal on Water. Water security is the capacity of a population to safeguard sustainable access to adequate quantities of acceptable quality of water for sustaining livelihoods, human well-being, and socioeconomic development, for ensuring protection against pollution and waterrelated disasters, and for preserving ecosystems in a climate of peace and political stability. This paper discusses the developments in water management within the last 30 years, which eventually led to the above concepts. A summary is provided on key events and documents of these past years to point out how the international community has reacted towards present and emerging needs of the society.