UN Deputy Secretary- General Jan Eliasson on Monday called for speeding up actions on water management, saying the world has to make real progress by the end of this year and beyond.
In a high-level interactive dialogue here, Eliasson made the appeal, while commending member states for including the goal of ensuring the "availability and sustainable management of water and sanitation for all" in the proposed Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
"This goal underpins progress in many areas and it can drive advances on sustainable water management," he added.
The high-level interactive dialogue was convened on the topic of the international decade for action "water for life": progress achieved and lessons learned for sustainable development.
The period 2005-2015 International Decade for Action "Water for Life" was proclaimed in a UN General Assembly resolution in December 2003. The decade officially started on World Water Day, March 22, 2005, and is wrapped up this year.
According to a UN report on Water for a Sustainable World, the planet is facing a 40 percent shortfall in water supply by 2030, unless the world dramatically improves the management of water resources.
In this regard, UN Water, the UN inter-agency mechanism for sanitation related matters, has recommended a SDG goal for water, which will include water governance and waste water management in the target areas, said the report.
The UN Millennium Development Goals are going to expire, and UN member states will agree on a post-2015 development agenda to replace them with an updated SDGs for the world's future development later this year.