Water is vital to human and planetary health and the internationally agreed goals that back it, including the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework, the Sendai Framework and the Paris Agreement. Yet the triple planetary crisis – the crisis of climate change, nature and biodiversity loss and pollution and waste – is affecting the availability, distribution, quality and quantity of water.

These three mid-terms status reports for SDG 6 indicators: 6.3.2, 6.5.1, and 6.6.1 find that SDG 6 is alarmingly off-track and action needs to be accelerated. For most of the SDG 6 Indicators, the current rate of progress is not fast enough to close the gap before 2030. In some cases, progress is even relapsing. These priorities can be ensured if adequate investments are made towards institutions, infrastructure, information, and innovation, where concerted action and institutional coherence is required, and new ideas, tools, and solutions are developed that draw from existing knowledge and indigenous practices.

Working with partners within the framework of the UN-Water led Integrated Monitoring Initiative for SDG 6, UNEP officially launched reports, in August 2024, on the three SDG 6 indicators for which it is custodian. These indicator reports are:

• SDG 6.3.2 – Progress on Ambient Water Quality with a special focus on Health
• SDG 6.5.1 – Progress on the Implementation of Integrated Water Resources Management with special focus on Climate Change
• SDG 6.6.1 – Progress on Water-related Ecosystems with a special focus on Biodiversity

View the video summary of the progress reports.