Water

The EU has long supported cooperation in the water sector in Europe and across the world. Over several de- cades, the EU has developed progressive policies and was a signatory to major global commitments. With the Water Framework Directive in 2000, EU Member States, the Parliament and the Commission agreed on and introduced an integrated approach to managing water resources and promoting the acquisition of ‘good ecological status’ across entire river basins. Before that, in the 1970s, they jointly developed a regulatory framework for safe drinking water and to significantly reduce the manmade pollution of European surface and groundwaters. This makes the EU water sector a tried and tested source of know-how and expertise. Its longstanding experience provides valuable input for the EU’s external action with its partner countries in water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) and water management.

The EU recognises the ever-increasing importance of water in international partnerships. This is proportionate to the worldwide challenges arising out of poverty, rapid population growth, climate change and their interre- lated impacts. It is for this reason that the EU is committed to implementing multilateral agreements and de- velops policies with the aim of making it possible for the EU, in its external actions, to rise to global challenges. These are presented below in reverse chronological order.

• The EU Taxonomy and the Technical Screening Criteria of the Delegated Acts (on ‘Climate’, ‘Disclosure’ and ‘Complementary Climate’, 2020-2023).
• The Neighbourhood, Development and International Cooperation Instrument – Global Europe (NDICI-GE) (2021).
• The Global Europe Results Framework (GERF) (successor to the EU Results Framework, EURF).
• The European Fund for Sustainable Development (EFSD+) Results Measurement Framework (EFSD+ ReMF).
• The Council Conclusions on Water in the EU’s External Action (2021).
• The Council Conclusions on Climate Diplomacy (2020).
• The European Green Deal (2019).
• The Council Conclusions on EU Human Rights Guidelines on Safe Drinking Water and Sanitation (2019).
• The Council Conclusions on Water Diplomacy (2018).
• The European Consensus on Development (2017).
• The Paris Agreement (2016).
• The New Urban Agenda of the United Nations (2016).
• The Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction 2015-2030 (2015).
• Agenda 2030 – Sustainable Development Goals (2015).

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The EU and its Member States recognise the central role water and sanitation play in human societies and the natural environment, as well as their importance in the face of increasing global challenges. This central role is reflected in the Council Conclusions on Water in the EU’s External Action, where the EU Council ‘stresses the strategic importance of water, in particular for sustainable development, poverty reduction, food and nutrition security, human development, climate action, environmental protection, biodiversity and ecosystem preservation, humanitarian action, and peace and stability’ (Council of the European Union, 2021).

Priorities for external action in the water sector include the following four interrelated aspects, around which this Sector Indicator Guidance for intervention design is also structured.

• Governance and policy: to ensure that the regulatory and institutional framework is consistent with best practice in the sector; that it is suitable for the country and basin context in question; and that it takes into consideration the needs of stakeholders from the public and private sectors and from civil society organisations who have been involved in its development; that it is using water cooperation for peace, security, and stability.

• Capacity development: for the creation, sharing and retention of knowledge by water sector enti- ties and participants, for the purposes of long-term inclusion, equity, and empowerment.

• Sustainable finance: access to and use of innovative, inclusive, and sustainable public and private finance, and of international and domestic sources of sustainable finance to develop facilities and capacities.

Sustainable infrastructure: applying technologies (and operating costs) to match community af- fordability levels, reach climate and environmental goals, and achieve equal access, public health and safety and community resilience.