Initiative seeks wider water access and UN votes on new world map

Between 2015 and 2024, more than 960 million people gained access to safe drinking water and 1.2 billion to safe sanitation. This is undoubtedly a success. Nevertheless, according to the World Bank, 2.1 billion people still lack access to safe drinking water – a situation made even worse due to the water scarcity associated with climate change. 

During World Water Week in Stockholm at the end of August, one campaign attracted particular attention: Water Forward, a World Bank-led initiative that aims to improve access to water for 1 billion people by 2030. Described as the most promising initiative in decades for attracting financing and political attention to the WASH (water, sanitation and hygiene) sector, the programme was launched in April and frames water as an economic asset. 

Resolution for a new world map

The UN General Assembly has adopted a resolution calling for the introduction of a world map that more accurately reflects the actual proportions of the continents. The resolution, introduced by Togo and other member states of the African Union, is aimed in particular at depicting the size of the African continent more accurately. The widely used Mercator projection, developed in the 16th century for European navigators, distorts the proportions because of the way the curved surface of the Earth is transferred onto a flat map: regions near the poles consequently appear oversised, while regions close to the equator appear smaller than they actually are.

Now that Africa appears larger on the map, it might be easier for the US Department of State (or rather, the AI it uses) to correctly assign African territories to the right countries on presentation slides in future. At the AIDS 2026 Conference in Rio de Janeiro in July, it used a heavily distorted, AI-generated map of Africa on which all the highlighted countries were incorrectly labelled and positioned. That optimism is tempered, however, by the fact that the United States was the only nation to vote against the non-binding resolution.

We regularly update you on more positive developments in our Good News section.

The D+C editorial team
euz.editor@dandc.eu