Waterkeeper Alliance Reinforces Commitment to Global Water Protection and Collaboration
By: Waterkeeper Alliance
This week, the Trump administration announced its plans to withdraw the United States from 66 international organizations, including UN-Water and the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). In response, Marc Yaggi, CEO of Waterkeeper Alliance, issued the following statement:
“Global challenges like water pollution, climate change, and public health threats do not respect borders, and effective solutions require cooperation, shared standards, and accountability. Retreating from international leadership weakens our collective capacity to safeguard people, ecosystems, and economies at a moment when coordinated action is most urgently needed. Waterkeeper Alliance and our more than 300 Waterkeeper groups worldwide remain unwavering in our commitment to protect every community’s right to clean water guided by science and strengthened through global collaboration.”
Waterkeeper Alliance unites local Waterkeeper groups in 47 countries across six continents and has held official ECOSOC Special Consultative Status with the United Nations since 2014, as well as accreditation as a United Nations Environment Programme partner since 2022.
Regardless of political shifts, the organization will continue working with the U.N. and other international agencies, programs, and initiatives that advance its science-based mission to protect the right to clean water in communities around the world. Political decisions cannot change the realities of climate change, sea-level rise, watershed degradation, or the impacts of pollution on human health. Science remains the guiding force, and the exchange of knowledge, data, and strategies across borders is essential to solving water crises worldwide.