It is with great excitement, mild trepidation, and much hope for the future that I look forward to March 22 which doubles up this year as World Water Day and the kick off to the UN Water Conference.

The first of its kind in almost 50 years— it presents a golden opportunity to bring the world together to underscore the significant role of water for the Sustainable Development Goals and for the health and prosperity of people and the planet. We can tackle the plethora of issues threatening our freshwater supplies—a difficult but surmountable feat. 

While I’ll be unable to travel to the continent of the Laurentian Great Lakes to speak in person, I’ll be dialed in from the shores of Lake Victoria in Kenya to discuss the future of Africa’s very own suite of Great Lakes at one of the many official dialogues and events dotted around the Big Apple.

Undoubtedly, the conference would not be complete without a comprehensive exploration of all the world’s freshwater supplies.

Not forgetting North America’s Great Lakes basin (a critical resource of drinking water, sustenance and economic support for tens of millions across the continent), Africa’s own suite of Great Lakes spread across Eastern and Southern Africa—to whose protection I have passionately dedicated my professional life—should not be missing from any discussion about the future of freshwater. Holding more than a quarter of the world’s available surface water, those lakes underpin the well-being and livelihoods of over 50 million people.

As the conference’s theme of “accelerating change” so succinctly articulates, bodies of fresh water, from Michigan to Malawi, on which we all so vitally depend are threatened. From unsightly, sticky harmful algal blooms that uninvitedly camp out on the lakes in summer, biodiversity loss, plastic pollution, or new pharmaceutical drugs ending up in freshwater fish, our freshwater lakes aren’t exactly flourishing. 

Just last month, I co-chaired a pan-African summit on the African Great Lakes in Dar es Salaam, bringing together hundreds of scientific voices from across the continent all too familiar with the aforementioned threats.

The rallying call among the summit attendees and local communities, as crystalized in many of the commitments that came from it can be neatly summarized: “Less talk, more action”. 

What does this look like? And what does it mean for the upcoming UN Water Conference?

Without sustainable funding, Africa will struggle to keep pace with developed countries and attract and retain the next generation of scientists and researchers. For us, to develop a strong next generation of change-makers, we must invest and provide opportunities for early career scientists and remove barriers to entry for women. Even today, women in science are still under-represented at almost every level, particularly in decision-making positions.

In our highly interconnected world, science needs to translate into action and societal impact. When it comes to freshwater science, it means working together—across borders—to define and harmonize research priorities, set standard water sampling techniques and protocols, then digitizing and making available the data generated by those processes, so we can achieve shared goals much more easily.

The support of the international community remains critical, but assistance should not necessarily flow one way. A brighter future is now possible, but only if we are all willing to truly listen and collaborate across silos and continents to achieve internationally agreed-upon water-related goals and targets.

Within all the discussions, let’s not forget that conserving freshwater ecosystems starts with local communities as custodians of these resources and that these communities need support. This is a critical and urgent matter for all of us, and it is our collective future that we are seeking to improve and shape.

In this sense, Africa’s Great Lakes harbour valuable lessons for the world.