In this Season of Creation, the Program Director for the Environment and Sustainable Development at the Anglican Communion Office in New York, the Revd Canon Dr Jeff Golliher, reflects on last month’s World Water Week conference.

For nearly 20 years, the Stockholm International Water Institute (SIWI) has hosted a yearly conference called “World Water Week.” SIWI has worked in partnership with high-level agencies and NGOs to shape how global organisations like the United Nations address water issues. This year (August, 2018), the overall theme was “Water, Ecosystems, and Human Development”, and a primary focus was putting the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) into practice, especially Goal six: “Ensure the availability and sustainable management of water and sanitation for all.”

At a time when one third of the global population is water stressed, 2.1 billion people lack safe drinking water, the climate emergency is worsening, and geopolitical relations are strained, it can be difficult to know where to begin. Annika Sode of Sweden’s Ministry for Foreign Affairs put it all in a nutshell, “water is life . . . water is the starting point.” Deputy Secretary General of the UN, Amina J Mohammed, outlined the way ahead: “water is the ‘docking station’ of all the SDGs . . . now is the time to take that leap of faith and start implementing, not for tomorrow, but for our future today.”

Peacemaking through trans-boundary cooperation was a frequent topic in numerous sessions that involved most regions of the world, including the Middle East where water has been a largely unacknowledged driver of armed conflict. The way ahead is both hopeful and daunting – as most everyone at World World Week understood. For that reason, the speaker that I liked best was Autumn Peltier, a 13-year-old indigenous activist from Ontario, Canada. Peltier raised good questions: “I will be an ancestor someday . . . why are 40 per cent of our people forced to use boiled and bottled water now?

“Water comes from heaven; it is sacred . . . Answers are in the land, but we’re not listening.” She wants some answers from organisations and governments. Speaking, in effect, for people across the earth, she deserves some answers – not just in words, but through actions.

Torgny Holmgren, Executive Director of SIWI, spoke in a similarly heart-felt way that made me think of us in the Anglican Communion: “over 300 rivers and lakes are shared by different countries.” Introducing a high-level session on water diplomacy, his message was that we must work together – globally and regionally. To accomplish this, we must rebuild confidence in the power of co-operation and collaboration. Otherwise, the possibility of conflict will increase, and the rivers and wells will run dry.

For the Anglican Communion, this points directly to 300 opportunities for our Provinces and dioceses to work together to preserve the water of life. Environmental stewardship, like peacemaking, requires us to form collaborative relationships and friendships across our political and ecclesiastical maps. This will require thoughtful discussion and an organised willingness to put the fifth Mark of Mission into practice. We’re talking about bold acts of faith.