This year’s World Water Day will be celebrated with a number of activities. In the days around 22 March, a series of videos from different Slovenian stakeholders about what water means to them will be launched on Twitter and Facebook.

State Secretary Stanislav Raščan has contributed the editorial for “EurActiv” entitled “Water is life: Why Slovenia intends to put water at the core of its EU presidency”, highlighting the importance of water for public health, sustainable development, climate change action, peace, and security, as well as water as a human right. Furthermore, as one of Slovenia’s key priorities during its EU Council Presidency, water is viewed in the perspective of the EU’s external relations. 

On World Water Day, the Members of the Green Group, comprising Slovenia, Iceland, Cape Verde, Costa Rica, Singapore, and the United Arab Emirates, signed a Joint Statement reaffirming their commitment to finding sustainable solutions to water-related challenges while safeguarding water resources for generations to come. In the joint statement, Slovenia provided information on water-related measures to adapt to climate change, such as introducing sustainable flood protection schemes and developing sophisticated methods for drought management. It also stressed the importance of transboundary cooperation in water management and the implementation of green-infrastructure based projects.

On 18 March, the President of the United Nations General Assembly, Volkan Bozkir, hosted a high-level meeting on the “Implementation of the water-related goals and targets of the 2030 Agenda”, also attended by President Borut Pahor. In his address, President Pahor emphasised the importance of water as a global asset that contributes to peace, equality and human development, which requires stronger international cooperation adopting an action-oriented integrated approach to water. 

Along with Switzerland, Costa Rica and Senegal, its co-chairs of the Group of Friends on Water and Peace in Geneva, Slovenia submitted a Joint Statement for this meeting, emphasising the importance of water as an instrument of cooperation and peace. Slovenia also signed the Joint Statement by a group of 21 countries from all over the world to call for, with the support of another 135 countries, the implementation of the water-related goals of the United Nations Agenda 2030 for Sustainable Development to be accelerated.