HWP Represented at the Seventh Meeting of the Parties to the Protocol on Water and Health
Dr. Károly Kovács represented the Hungarian Water Partnership at the Seventh Meeting of the Parties to the Protocol on Water and Health, held in Budapest.
The international event, jointly organised under the framework of the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE) and the World Health Organization (WHO), brought together government representatives, water-sector experts and international stakeholders to advance the implementation of the Protocol on Water and Health. The Protocol aims to improve access to safe drinking water, sanitation and hygiene across the pan-European region.
Dr. Kovács participated in the meeting in several professional capacities, including as President of the Hungarian Water Partnership (HWP) and the Hungarian Water Association (MaSzeSz), as well as through his long-standing involvement with the European Water Association (EWA) and the African Water and Sanitation Association (AfWASA). His participation reflected HWP’s commitment to strengthening international cooperation and promoting practical, sustainable responses to global water challenges.
Financing water infrastructure must remain a global priority
A key part of the meeting focused on the 2026 United Nations Water Conference, which is scheduled to take place from 2-4 December 2026 in the United Arab Emirates. During this session, Dr. Kovács highlighted the persistent gap between the scale of global water infrastructure needs and the financing currently available to address them.
Drawing on experience from the 2023 UN Water Conference in New York, he raised the importance of moving beyond general funding commitments toward financing mechanisms that can support implementable, scalable and financially sustainable water projects.
For HWP, this question is central to the international water agenda. Technologies may be available, but without adequate financing structures and clear investment pathways, many urgently needed drinking water and sanitation projects cannot progress from concept to implementation.
Supporting solutions that accelerate SDG 6
Dr. Kovács also proposed that future international funding commitments should place greater emphasis on technologies and solutions already recognised for their contribution to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, particularly SDG 6 - Clean Water and Sanitation.
This includes solutions capable of expanding access to safe drinking water and affordable wastewater treatment, particularly in communities where conventional infrastructure may be too costly or too slow to implement.
Such an approach closely reflects HWP’s international activities, which promote decentralised, affordable and bankable water and sanitation technologies alongside stronger cooperation between technology providers, professional organisations, governments and financing institutions.
Building toward the UN Water Conference 2026
Following the session, Dr. Kovács continued discussions with panellists and organisers concerning the role that HWP and the other professional organisations he represented could play in shaping the water-financing agenda ahead of the 2026 UN Water Conference. The exchanges opened further opportunities for professional contribution and cooperation around one of the most important questions facing the global water sector: how to translate international commitments into concrete, financeable and scalable water projects.
For the Hungarian Water Partnership, participation in these discussions is part of a wider mission to connect Hungarian water expertise and technologies with global needs, while contributing to international professional dialogue on sustainable infrastructure, financing and the achievement of SDG 6.
