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The United Arab Emirates and Senegal will co-host the 2026 United Nations Water Conference in Abu Dhabi from December 8 to 10, according to details released on the official event website. The gathering, relocated by a United Nations General Assembly decision adopted in May from an initial early December window, will take place at the ADNEC Exhibition Centre and consist of a UN-led Blue Zone for accredited proceedings alongside a UAE-directed Oasis zone open to the public. Registration for The Oasis opened in August, the organizers said in a statement distributed via Zawya, inviting a broad spectrum of attendees ranging from policymakers and investors to innovators and youth to engage in three days of exhibitions, pavilions and collaborative sessions.
The conference will feature the inaugural Abu Dhabi Water and Power Week as its marquee program, hosted by the Department of Energy with a focus on advancing water sector solutions, technologies and policies, according to the announcement. This element forms part of The Oasis programming, which aims to connect ideas with actionable outcomes across water management challenges, the UAE-led initiative stated. The overall event builds directly on the outcomes of the 2023 UN Water Conference in New York while marking the first time two Global South nations have led such a gathering, conference background materials noted.
A United Nations SDG 6 Synthesis Report published in June 2026 found that 961 million people gained access to safely managed drinking water services from 2015 to 2024, increasing global coverage from 68 percent to 74 percent. The same document reported that 1.2 billion people obtained access to safely managed sanitation in the period, raising coverage from 48 percent to 58 percent, while 1.6 billion gained basic hygiene services with coverage climbing from 66 percent to 80 percent. Yet the United Nations assessment determined that current rates of progress would require an eightfold acceleration for drinking water and a sixfold increase for sanitation to reach universal targets by 2030.
Conference materials highlight the need to close an estimated $6 trillion global financing gap for water infrastructure as part of efforts to strengthen implementation of Sustainable Development Goal 6, according to the official UAE-hosted platform. Six interactive dialogues will run in parallel with plenaries in the Blue Zone to address specific themes tied to water security, governance and cross-sectoral cooperation, UN documentation on the event shows. The United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs has coordinated inputs from a global stakeholder consultation that drew 368 submissions from 82 countries to shape these sessions.
Khalifa University of Science and Technology launched the Global Water Hackathon 2026 on August 27 in partnership with UNESCO, with its culminating awards and showcase scheduled for the Abu Dhabi conference, university officials said. The competition organizes student innovators around six themes aligned with UN-Water priorities, including water security, reuse, digital systems, quality, the energy-water nexus and integrated governance. Winners will receive recognition through a Khalifa University-UN Water Innovation Award along with category-specific honors.
UAE President Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan sent formal invitations to regional counterparts including Saudi Arabia’s King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud ahead of the December gathering, Gulf News reported on August 25. The event represents the third major UN conference on water since 1977 and will emphasize practical outcomes in a year when the international community enters the final stretch toward the 2030 Agenda deadline, according to statements from UN-Water. Organizers anticipate participation from governments, UN agencies, private sector representatives and civil society groups focused on turning policy commitments into measurable water and sanitation advances.
