This ministerial roundtable on the Freshwater Challenge will announce new country signatories and their commitments to protecting, sustainably managing and restoring freshwater ecosystems, which are essential to protecting and restoring freshwater ecosystems, which are essential to mitigating and adapting to climate change, and currently the most degraded type of ecosystem worldwide. 

The Freshwater Challenge, launched at the UN 2023 Water Conference, is the world's most ambitious freshwater restoration initiative to date, aiming to restore over 300,000 km of rivers and 350 million hectares of wetlands by 2030. It is an integral part of the Action Plan of the UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration. Without massive efforts to protect and restore rivers, lakes and wetlands, global restoration, climate and development goals cannot be achieved.

The Challenge is a way to promote the inclusion of water-related targets in multilateral environmental agreements and development frameworks, such as the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction. The event will also consist on a multi-stakeholder-facilitated discussion on ways to implement and deliver on commitments. 

This event is organized by the COP28 Presidency, WWF, IUCN, and UNEP with the support of TNC, Wetlands International, Conservation International, and the Secretariat of the Convention on Wetlands.

Learn more about this event here. Explore the Freshwater Challenge, take action for lakes, and dive deeper into the UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration Action Plan.