Finland's statement at the SDG 6 and interlinkages with other SDGs - Water and sanitation

Read Finland's statement at the SDG 6 and interlinkages with other SDGs - Water and sanitation, delivered by Mr. Antti Rautavaara, Special Envoy for Water, from the Ministry for Foreign Affairs of Finland, on 7 July 2026.

Mr. Chair, your Excellencies, 

Finland aligns itself with the statement by the European Union. I would like to add a few remarks in our national capacity. 

Excellencies,  

as we all know, SDG6 is a critical enabler of the other SDGs. Notably the SDG5, Gender Equality, simply cannot be achieved without universal and safe access to water and sanitation.  

Colleagues,  

Finland has been a committed supporter of the global water agenda for decades. Our engagement is guided by a simple idea: shared waters require shared rules, shared knowledge, and trust-based cooperation. 

At the 2026 UN Water Conference, Finland has the honor to co-chair, together with Zambia, the Interactive Dialogue “Water for Cooperation”. Our theme is covering transboundary and international cooperation, science cooperation, and inclusive governance. 

To address the question on how we can leverage the UN Water Conferences to accelerate SDG 6 progress: 

I believe this is best done through flagship initiatives that are concrete, highly visible and recognized by the leadership, so that also their follow-up is possible. 

For us, success in the Water for Cooperation dialogue means transforming water cooperation from a technical challenge — into structured, rules-based transboundary water cooperation, grounded in science and inclusive governance. 

This requires new accessions to the UN Water Conventions, as they provide the legal backbone for peaceful, equitable, and sustainable transboundary water cooperation. 

Colleagues, 

Strengthening the application of the Water–Energy–Food–Ecosystems Nexus approach is fundamental for sustainable development. Better understanding of interconnections across sectors is essential for acting on the trade-offs and synergies. 

It is also fundamental to hear diverse voices and to base decisions in science. 

Data must be treated as a global public good and open science principles must be advanced. Indigenous, and local knowledge must be heard and integrated with open-access scientific data, with Indigenous Peoples’ free, prior, and informed consent. All this is a precondition for sound decision-making. 

Few words on financing. When we prepared for the 2023 Conference, we knew that financing should have been multiplied to reach the SDGs. Now in 2026, we know that financing should be multiplied even more.  

Integrated cross-sectoral planning and investments is one means to share costs and benefits between water-using sectors, such as energy, industry and agriculture. Innovative means of financing are required. The private sector has an important role in providing effective solutions. 

It is unfortunately clear that we will not reach all the SDGs on time. 

This leads us back to a mantra that we have said for quite some time: “Leave no one behind”. And now we arrive to fundamentals: the emphasis should be placed on reaching at least the basic level everywhere.  

One concrete target for this is the Open Defecation Free World. There has been some good progress lately, but as long as there are areas where open defecation is reality, the rest of our hard work, for example in water supply, does not bring the full health impact that we are trying to reach. 

Colleagues, our task now is simply to do more, faster, and together.