The UN secretary-general’s first special envoy on water, Retno Marsudi, wants member states to put this vital resource at the top of their political agenda. She is calling for greater cooperation between governments, organisations and the private sector. Swissinfo met her in Jakarta. “Shortages, floods, pollution – the list of challenges is long,” says Retno Marsudi, the UN secretary-general’s special envoy on water. Speaking on the sidelines of a forum held at a hotel in central Jakarta, she warned that water risks are escalating faster than political responses. Appointed by Antonio Guterres in September 2024, the former Indonesian foreign minister is the first to hold this new position, which was created in the wake of the UN Water Conference in March 2023 in New York. “When the secretary-general offered me this role, it was of course something new for me. I am a diplomat, not a water expert. But then I thought, water is essential for every living being, for nature, for the ...
