UN-Water Releases New Technical Report to Help Operationalize the Belém Adaptation Indicators on Water and Sanitation

September 28, 2026 — A new technical report has been released to support the operationalization of the Belém Adaptation Indicators on water and sanitation, providing a common framework for monitoring climate adaptation progress following their adoption at COP30 in Belém, Brazil, in November 2025.

Background

At COP30, Parties adopted 59 voluntary, country-driven, non-prescriptive global indicators to measure progress toward the Global Goal on Adaptation (GGA), commonly known as the Belém Adaptation Indicators (BAI). These indicators mark a significant milestone in the global adaptation landscape, representing a shift from a primary focus on planning toward implementation, measurable results, and tracked progress.

Of the indicators proposed by technical experts under the UAE-Belém work programme, nine out of ten water-related indicators were retained in the final decision — making water the thematic target with the highest number of adopted indicators under the GGA. These nine indicators cover: the level of water stress; the level of water use efficiency; the proportion of critical water and sanitation infrastructure resilient to climate-related hazards; access to safe and affordable potable water services that are climate-resilient; the proportion of the population using safely managed, climate-resilient sanitation services; the extent of measures taken to improve and extend water, sanitation and hygiene services to populations disproportionately affected by climate change; the proportion of bodies of water with good ambient water quality for drinking supply; and the number of people supported in planned relocation processes in response to water-related hazards.

The adoption of these indicators followed a rigorous technical process: the original expert group proposal included 100 candidate indicators, narrowed down from a master list of 5,339 potential metrics, before being further refined to the final adopted list of 59 — reflecting what observers have described as a significant shift from technical idealism to political realism during negotiations.

Why Operationalization Matters

Despite this progress, significant practical challenges remain. Many countries are still navigating how to translate these global targets into national contexts, select and tailor relevant indicators, establish baselines, and integrate GGA-related metrics into existing planning, monitoring and reporting systems. Follow-up technical processes are now underway through 2026 to further operationalize the indicators, primarily through the launch of the Belém–Addis work programme.

This gap between adoption and practical implementation is precisely what the new technical report aims to address for the water and sanitation sector — providing a common framework that governments and institutions can use to monitor progress on climate adaptation commitments related to water-resilient supply, sanitation and access to safe, affordable drinking water for all.

Broader Context: COP30’s Adaptation Finance Commitments

The Belém Adaptation Indicators were adopted alongside a broader adaptation package at COP30, including a commitment to triple adaptation finance by 2035 — often discussed alongside a target of roughly USD 120 billion per year in adaptation finance, intended to expand resources for resilience across systems including water, health, food and infrastructure. Co-organized sessions at COP30 itself, including one specifically on “Indicators for Water and Sanitation under the Global Goal on Adaptation,” brought together WaterAid, Sanitation and Water for All (SWA), the Alliance for Global Water Adaptation (AGWA), IWMI, the Stockholm International Water Institute (SIWI), UNICEF, the French Water Partnership, Water for People and UNDRR to examine what was at stake for the water sector in these negotiations.

Conclusion

As the water sector works to translate the Belém Adaptation Indicators from a negotiated political outcome into practical national monitoring systems, this new technical report represents a concrete step toward ensuring the sector’s strong representation among the adopted indicators — nine of 59 overall — translates into real-world accountability. With follow-up technical work continuing through 2026 and the 2026 UN Water Conference approaching this December in Abu Dhabi, the coming months will test whether this framework can move governments beyond reporting and toward measurable, climate-resilient water and sanitation outcomes for the communities most exposed to climate-related water hazards.