As part of the 2026 High-Level Political Forum on Sustainable Development, the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) and the United Nations University (UNU) co-organized the side event "From Global Water Bankruptcy to Implementation: Regional Solutions and Opportunities to Accelerate SDG 6, Leaving No One Behind," aimed at examining how to move from the global alert over water bankruptcy toward concrete regional solutions to accelerate progress on SDG 6.

Ambassador Héctor Vasconcelos, Permanent Representative of Mexico to the United Nations, delivered the opening address, followed by a presentation by Kaveh Madani, Director of the United Nations University Institute for Water, Environment and Health (UNU-INWEH), on the flagship report Global Water Bankruptcy: Living Beyond Our Hydrological Means in the Post-Crisis Era. The report warns that the world has entered a stage of water bankruptcy, marked by water use beyond renewable limits, the overexploitation of groundwater, deterioration in the quality of the resource, the reduction of environmental flows, and the loss of natural storage.

In his remarks, the Executive Secretary of ECLAC, José Manuel Salazar-Xirinachs, stressed that water bankruptcy is not only a hydrological warning but also a warning about the limits of the current development model. He added that the debate on water is inseparable from the discussion of how to move from diagnosis to implementation, from commitments to results, and from isolated projects to structural transformations.

Salazar-Xirinachs highlighted the paradox of Latin America and the Caribbean: a region that holds more than 30% of the world's water resources yet continues to face profound water insecurity. He noted that 2.5 out of every 10 people in the region lack access to safely managed drinking water; 5 out of every 10 do not have safely managed sanitation; only 46% of wastewater is treated; and 43% of water bodies are in poor environmental condition.

The Executive Secretary further stated that water offers a concrete lens on the structural traps the region faces: a limited capacity to grow and transform; high inequality, low mobility, and weak social cohesion; and weak institutional capacities and ineffective governance. In this light, he argued that water should not be treated as an isolated technical, environmental, or sectoral matter, but as a central issue on the development agenda.

He likewise maintained that water must be understood as a strategic asset and a superconnector of sustainable development, linking health, human rights, productivity, food and energy security, biodiversity, climate resilience, financing, cooperation, and governance. This perspective makes it possible to identify its multiplier effects: a wastewater treatment plant can also be a source of energy, of circular economy, of emissions reductions, and of employment; a tariff reform can support fiscal sustainability with equity; and nature-based solutions can reduce risks and protect the region's natural infrastructure.

Finally, he emphasized that Latin America and the Caribbean faces not only a financing gap but also an implementation gap. To meet this challenge, he highlighted three regional levers for action: democratic and effective governance, adequate valuation of water, and sustainable financing to move from isolated projects to water security portfolios.

ECLAC thus reaffirmed its commitment to supporting the countries of Latin America and the Caribbean in the transition from water bankruptcy toward an agenda of implementation, cooperation, and measurable results for people, economies, and ecosystems, with a view to the 2026 United Nations Water Conference and the path toward 2030.

The event also underscored the role of regional organizations in fostering multilateralism amid the global water crisis, and shared comparative perspectives on the lessons, challenges, and opportunities across different countries, including Brazil, Uruguay, Senegal, Tajikistan, and Trinidad and Tobago. It closed with a reflection on how to drive progress toward the 2026 United Nations Water Conference.