African leaders push water, climate resilience agenda

African leaders and ministers have pledged renewed action to strengthen water security and climate resilience across the continent as droughts, floods, and water crises intensify.

The commitment was made at the 2025 Sector Ministers’ Meeting, held last week in Madrid, Spain.

According to a statement, the gathering, described as a continental mobilisation in the face of a growing hydro-climate emergency, marked a major step toward securing Africa’s water future.

Organised by the Government of Spain, UNICEF, and the Sanitation and Water for All partnership, the meeting brought together representatives from over 60 countries under the theme ‘Breaking Silos: Uniting Political Leadership to Integrate Water, Sanitation and Climate Action’.

According to the statement, figures from the WHO/UNICEF Joint Monitoring Programme underscored the challenge facing the continent, showing that nearly 400 million people in sub-Saharan Africa still lack access to safe drinking water, while more than 700 million remain without safely managed sanitation.

These deficits, it was said, are worsened by the impacts of climate change, from recurring droughts in the Horn of Africa to devastating floods across the Sahel.

The summit produced three strategic outcomes, chief among which was the High-Level Pact on Water Security and Resilience, designed to translate national ambitions into measurable commitments.