Familiar discourse

The world met to discuss the burgeoning water crisis after nearly half a century; but commitments on action were largely a reiteration of ongoing work

- ZUMBISH

THE 1970s was arguably an epochal decade for the UN. The multilateral body held nine major global meetings during these years, each one focused on an emerging threat or opportunity that needed planetary response. It was as if the world was getting ready for a multi-front war on the crises. Nearly all countries participated in these conferences, marking them as global milestones.

The conferences were on the environment (the Stockholm Conference in 1971), on population and on food (both in 1974); on women (1975); on human settlement (1976); on water and on desertification (both in 1977); on science and technology for development (1979); and on new and renewable energy sources (1981). Over the next four decades, each of these conferences resulted in worldwide changes, often through landmark conventions and global treaties. Most of them were followed up by meetings that provided updates on action taken and reiterated commitments from countries.

But the UN Conference on Water, held in Mar del Plata, Argentina on March 14-25, 1977, stood out as more of an anomaly than a landmark. Unlike other conferences, it was not initiated by any government and no country took ownership of it, even though 105 governments ultimately participated in the meet. UN records show that three senior officials from the body’s now-defunct Centre for National Resources, Energy and Transport initiated the conference and pursued countries to propose it for approval by the UN General Assembly in 1975. Then, the world waited 46 years for a follow-up to this meet, which came as the UN’s “water conference” held in New York on March 22-24 this year.