SIWI Reflections 2025: Building momentum by connecting water across agendas

What was the most meaningful thing you worked on in 2025?

2025 was an ambitious and fast-paced year, which reflects both the increasing impacts of climate change and the preparations underway for the UN Water Conference in 2026. Rather than one single activity, what stood out to me was how we worked to connect initiatives and use conferences as stepping stones rather than one-off events.

One moment that captured this well was the Swedish Water House seminar organized in Tokyo in connection with the World Expo, in collaboration with the Swedish Embassy in Japan and UNU. The seminar, Water as enabler for climate action and the future society of our lives, brought together governments, academia, the private sector, and the UN system. It highlighted how water connects climate action across sectors and economies — and how water solutions are already part of strategies for resilience.

This idea of water as both a symptom of climate change and an enabler of solutions is central to SIWI’s work, whether through the Water for Climate Pavilion, our work in landscapes, or stewardship initiatives.

Why did it matter — what difference did it make, or will it make?

The seminar mattered because it reflected how SIWI works across dialogues, conferences, and projects: by connecting processes and reinforcing messages over time. It showed that water is not a standalone issue, but a foundation for climate action, resilience, and societal development.

This approach has also gained recognition, for example through the Water for Climate Pavilion at COP, and through growing attention to water in processes such as NDCs, NAPs, and the Global Goal on Adaptation. At the same time, reporting on SDG 6 shows that we are still off track. The gap between recognition and implementation remains large, and that is where SIWI’s role is critical.

What are you excited to take forward into 2026?

Looking ahead, 2026 will be an intense year with several major milestones: COPs for all three Rio Conventions (UNFCCC, CBD, and UNCCD), the UN 2026 Water Conference and its interactive dialogues, and the review of SDG 6 at the High-Level Political Forum in New York.

What excites me is the opportunity to connect these processes more deliberately — to link adaptation and mitigation, biodiversity and land, and water across sectors and levels. If we look beyond water as a silo and instead connect it across conferences, policies, and projects, we have a real chance to make impact.

With the momentum building, we need to continue breaching borders — between sectors, governance levels, and geographies — to keep water on the agenda. For resilience, for climate action, and for the future society of our lives.