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The United Nations 2023 Water Conference, a major event which took place from 22 to 24 March 2023, in New York, was the occasion to bring the voice of the basins on the international scene.

INBO, through the speech of the African Network of Basin Organizations (ANBO), promoted the Dakar Action Plan at the United Nations, during Dialogue 4 "Water for Cooperation".

In its statement, ANBO submitted the following key messages, which all African Lake and Basin Organisations have agreed on in various regional meetings:

1. Support ANBO member organisations, the African Ministers' Council on Water (AMCOW) and the Regional Economic Commissions (RECs) in their efforts to help African countries meet their commitments to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), in particular to SDG 6, target 6.5 (implement Integrated Water Resources Management (IWRM) at all levels, including in transboundary basins) ;

2. ANBO, in collaboration with RECs, AMCOW and the African Union Commission (AUC), should develop a comprehensive investment strategy to achieve the SDGs by 2030 and develop a post-2030 roadmap to effectively contribute to Africa's infrastructure plan.

3. Recognise ANBO as a knowledge hub that contributes to raising awareness of new areas of interest and facilitates the sharing of experiences while building the capacity of members and partners through training support and improved access to decision support tools.

4. Enable transboundary basin/lake organisations to join the Water Convention in order to improve governance and cooperation at national, regional and continental levels and to provide African basin/lake organisations with relevant institutional capacities.

5. Engage African basin/lake organisations in the Blue Deal and the Dakar Action Plan.

6. Include water in the agenda of all UN meetings and conferences related to economic forums, as water is a driver and catalyst for human development.

The Dakar Action Plan for Lakes, Rivers and Aquifers was launched in 2022 to put into practice the Dakar Declaration "A Blue Deal for Water Security for Peace and Development", signed by the leaders of states, governments and international institutions. The objective of this plan is to bring together the main actors involved in basin management (basin organisations and committees, ministries, donors, water users' associations, etc.) and to have a significant impact on the international scene by accelerating the achievement of targets 6.5.1 and 6.5.2 (integrated resource management) of SDG 6, which is dedicated to clean water and sanitation, "by the basins and for basins".

Keywords
International
Africa