Welcome to the public meeting for revision of the Global Water Strategy for 2022-2027. We are grateful for your time and feedback.
Thus far, we’ve received written comments from over 30 organizations in the nonprofit, academic, and business sectors. Over 230 people have registered for today’s meeting, and more than 45 of you will make a comment today.
This overwhelming response demonstrates the critical importance of water security, sanitation, and hygiene to our world. Today, we seek your input on how we can best implement our strategy to address these challenges.
Your feedback today, as well as the written comments submitted during the last two months, will help USAID, State, and our interagency colleagues develop a Global Water Strategy for the 2022-2027 period.
Joining us on this virtual stage, Maura and I are pleased to welcome several representatives from other U.S. agencies. We will all be listening to your comments carefully.
The 2022 GWS will be delivered to Congress in October of next year. At that time, it will also be made publicly available.
As we plan the next five years of U.S. government efforts to increase global water security, we face a changing climate, increasing floods, and longer droughts. It is imperative that we get it right, and we can only do so with your input.
At the State Department, we remain committed to bringing the Global Water Strategy to life through diplomacy. Our efforts take many shapes, such as the Ambassador’s Water Experts Program, which sends U.S. water experts to address pressing water issues around the world. OES also works closely with regional bureaus and embassies on bilateral and multilateral initiatives that increase governments’ capacity to jointly manage transboundary river systems.
Looking to the future, State seeks to improve our own implementation of the GWS. Our goal is to closely involve our partners abroad to achieve GWS and national security objectives. I welcome your feedback on how State can do this most effectively.
We also seek to prioritize diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) in all aspects of our design and implementation of the 2022 GWS.
I look forward to listening to your ideas and input today. Thank you for your commitment to this important work.
I’d like to turn now to my colleague, the Senior Deputy Assistant Administrator for the Bureau for Resilience and Food Security, and Interim USAID Global Water Coordinator, Maura Barry.