My thanks to the Republic of Kazakhstan for the invitation to speak at this important event on drying seas and lakes during the seventh session of the UN Environment Assembly (UNEA-7).
Humanity is united by the global hydrological cycle rain, rivers, groundwater, glaciers, forests and atmospheric moisture. This cycle is central to our lives. And yet we are neither managing nor respecting water.
Climate change is altering the hydrological cycle. The destruction of ecosystems, particularly forests and vegetated wetlands, is disrupting atmospheric moisture flows. Competition for water and pollution of water bodies are depleting vital resources.
Nowhere is this more visible than in drying seas and lakes.
Over 50 per cent of the worlds large lakes and reservoirs have shrunk since the 1990s. The impacts on people are massive. Roughly two billion people live in the basins of large lakes that are losing water. Lake Chad has shrunk around 90 per cent since the 1960s fuelling conflict and hunger. The Aral Sea collapse wiped out tens of thousands of fishing jobs and turned a vast area into toxic salt flats.
And worse is in store.
By the end of this century, water levels in the Caspian Sea, the largest enclosed body of water on Earth, could plummet by up to 18 metres. Without urgent action, up to 700 million people could be displaced by water scarcity by 2030. This is a destabilizing humanitarian crisis in the making.
But the drying of the worlds seas and lakes can be stopped and reversed. With urgent, unified action on cutting emissions, managing water wisely and investing in Nature-based Solutions, we can secure these lifelines for future generations.
Such action is growing.
The Baku Dialogue on Water for Climate Action has emerged as a vital collaboration platform to link climate COPs, with 73 countries and 25 non-state actors involved.
The UNEP-hosted Water for Climate Action Initiative in partnership with the COP Presidencies, the UN Economic Commission for Europe and the World Meteorological Organization places nature, the right to a healthy environment and access to water and sanitation at the heart of a collaborative approach. UNEP is also implementing the UNEA resolution on Integrated Water Resources Management.
And we see many specific efforts on restoration and monitoring.
The country-led Freshwater Challenge aims to restore 300,000 km of rivers and 350 million hectares of wetlands by 2030 an area of wetlands larger than India.
The Global Wetlands Watch and Freshwater Ecosystems Explorer data platforms monitor millions of lakes, rivers and wetlands in near real-time empowering countries and communities to pinpoint areas where action is required and protect and restore their water bodies. Such monitoring activities are crucial, as early warning of ecosystem change is key to preventing the next Lake Chad or Aral Sea catastrophe.
Friends,
We must now build on this progress, including at the 2026 UN Water Conference. We must elevate integrated action on water across the three Rio Conventions on climate, biodiversity and land. We must take an urgent economy-wide approach across the entire water cycle that involve all sectors and voices. Crucially, we must catalyze investments in water, particularly for solutions that lean on nature.
Regional and global cooperation is also critical, as many water bodies span national boundaries. The Tehran Convention on the protection of the Caspian Sea, hosted by UNEP, is a great example of such cooperation.
Success is possible. Irans Lake Urmia, once thought to be dying, has shown water level increases after targeted restoration efforts. Each restoration success gives hope that the global drying trend can be reversed. With political will and community engagement, we can bring water bodies back from the brink. But we must start now.
