Policy Updates

On May 21, 2024, at the occasion of the World Water Forum, French President Emmanuel Macron announced that France would be hosting the One Water Summit on September 23, 2024, in the margins of UNGA79.

The summit will be organized in close collaboration with Kazakhstan, the President of the World Bank, the UN, and many other partners. The objectives will be to build a major international alliance on water, bringing together governments, local authorities, industry, the private sector, associations, and NGOs to invest in the new water economy.

The summit aims to contribute to the ongoing UN discussions and process to enhance global water governance, accelerate action on UN SDG #6 on water and sanitation, and act as an incubator for solutions, in preparation for the next UN Water Conference in 2026. The French presidency also stated that it will place the issue of water at the heart of the agenda of the 4P, launched June 2023 in France, with the aim of reconciling the agendas of combating poverty and protecting the environment.

On May 14-15, 2024, the C7 summit was held at the UN FAO headquarters in Rome, Italy, organized by the Italian Civil Society Coalition that led, coordinated, and moderated the C7 2024 process.

Approximately 400 global representatives took part in the event, as well as international decision-makers, including FAO Director-General Qu Dongyu, Italian G7 sherpa Ambassador Elisabetta Belloni, Cardinal, President of the Italian Episcopal Conference, Pope’s envoy for the Russian-Ukrainian conflict Matteo Maria Zuppi, and Director of the UN SDG Action Campaign Marina Ponti.

The official C7 communiqué that listed the international civil society recommendation to the G7’s Leaders around seven key issues was released at the event, which included:

• Economic justice and transformation;
• Climate, energy transformation, and environmental justice;
• Global health;
• Principled humanitarian assistance;
• Peace, common security, and nuclear disarmament;
• Human mobility and migration; and
• Food justice and food systems transformation.

On March 28, 2024, France announced it will host the next edition of the Nutrition for Growth Summit in Paris on March 27 and 28, 2025.

The summit aims to mobilize the international community, including private actors and civil society, in favor of nutrition and to achieve the UN SDGs.The French Ministry of Foreign Affairs stated in the announcement that malnutrition problems are worsening worldwide, including undernutrition, food deficiencies and obesity.

France announced its continued commitment to nutrition through its international strategy for food security, nutrition, and sustainable agriculture from 2019-2024. It highlighted concrete actions to improve the nutrition of vulnerable populations, including food assistance, the Muskoka Initiative on Maternal and Child Health, and the actions of the AFD in the health, agriculture, and WASH sectors.