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Water in the Climate Crosshairs: Reflections on the COP29 Declaration

As the world inches closer to the 2030 deadline for achieving the Sustainable Development Goals, the COP29 Declaration on Water for Climate Action is a pivotal – albeit overdue – recognition that water is not just another environmental concern. It is the axis around which climate change rotates.

Signed by over 65 national governments and endorsed by a variety of non-state actors, the Declaration acknowledges what climate scientists, water engineers, and vulnerable communities have long known: that climate change is, fundamentally, a water crisis. The impacts—be they in the form of droughts, floods, glacier loss, degraded sanitation, or widespread water insecurity—are already here, and they are accelerating.

Water as the Universal Risk Multiplier

The Declaration’s language is forceful in placing water at the heart of both climate mitigation and adaptation. It emphasizes the need to protect, conserve, and restore water ecosystems – rivers, lakes, aquifers, glaciers – as foundational to any credible climate action. These systems are not only the source of life but also nature’s built-in resilience mechanisms.

Alarmingly, 3.5 billion people still lack access to safely managed sanitation. A fifth of the world’s river basins are undergoing dramatic changes due to climate impacts. The interconnectedness of water scarcity, ecological degradation, and global instability is no longer a hypothesis – it is an escalating reality.

From Declaration to Action: Ambitions and Mechanisms

To address these intertwined challenges, the COP29 Water Declaration proposes three central pillars:

  1. Multilevel Governance & Dialogue

    Through the launch of the Baku Dialogue on Water for Climate Action, COP29 establishes a COP-to-COP mechanism aimed at ensuring continuity and cross-conference cooperation. This dialogue will help align climate, biodiversity, and water frameworks.

  2. Scientific Cooperation & Data Sharing

    The declaration calls for more robust scientific networks, data-sharing platforms, and regional knowledge hubs. The focus is clear: we cannot manage what we do not measure. Better understanding of basin-wide climate risks will inform policy and enable more targeted investment.

  3. Policy Integration & Implementation

    It urges countries to embed water into their climate strategies—especially in Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs), adaptation plans, and disaster preparedness systems. Importantly, it promotes integrated water resource management (IWRM) and nature-based solutions (NbS), ensuring that policy is anchored in both science and equity.

The Missing Pieces: Private Sector and Global Inclusivity

Despite the breadth of the Declaration, its gaps are as telling as its contents.

First, the private sector is conspicuously absent.

While philanthropic and civil society organizations are listed as endorsers, almost no major corporations or industry coalitions appear among the signatories. This is a missed opportunity. Businesses, especially in water-intensive sectors like agriculture, energy, and manufacturing, are both major stakeholders and potential innovators in water resilience. Platforms like Hydalys exist precisely to bridge that gap – translating global goals into actionable insights for businesses to measure, improve, and report on their water efficiency.

Second, not all nations are on board.

While over 65 countries have signed, many water-stressed regions, including several in the Middle East, Sub-Saharan Africa, and South Asia – have yet to endorse the declaration. Without truly global consensus, the ambition of ensuring water for all by 2030 risks fragmentation and failure.

Where Do We Go From Here?

The COP29 Declaration is a necessary first step, but only that. For this vision to materialize, it must be backed by enforceable commitments, measurable targets, financing mechanisms, and, critically, a serious integration of the private sector into the solution ecosystem.

At Hydalys, we welcome the Declaration and echo its urgency. But we also call for a shift from rhetoric to results. It is time to redefine corporate water stewardship not as a philanthropic gesture, but as a strategic imperative. We invite companies, institutions, and innovators to step forward, measure their water impact, and lead the way in making climate-resilient water action more than a conference promise.

Let this not be another declaration that ends with applause in a plenary hall. Let it be the catalyst for transformative, multisectoral collaboration, because without water, there is no climate solution.

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