Across West Africa, water insecurity is worsening due to climate change, pollution, extractive industries, poor governance, rapid urban growth, and conflicts over natural resources. Countless individuals, particularly those in rural areas, as well as women, youth, and residents of informal settlements, do not have fair access to safe and affordable water. Concurrently, rivers, wetlands, groundwater sources, and coastal ecosystems face increasing threats from privatization, pollution, and unsustainable use. 

A regional Manifesto on Water Sovereignty is essential to reclaim water as a shared ecological and social resource instead of a commodity. It can enhance youth leadership, bolster community-driven governance, foster climate resilience, and hold governments, corporations, and regional bodies accountable. Most crucially, it can bring together various movements across West Africa into a unified agenda focused on justice, dignity, peace, and ecological sustainability.

The 8 key demands of the Water Manifesto are:

1. Recognize Water as a Fundamental Human and Ecological Right

2. Protect Rivers, Wetlands, Aquifers, and Coastal Ecosystems

3. Reject Water Privatization and Commodification

4. Advance Climate-Resilient Water Governance

5. Center Indigenous and Community Knowledge Systems

6. Ensure Youth and Women’s Leadership in Water Governance

7. Promote Regional Solidarity and Transboundary Water Cooperation

8. Demand Accountability from Governments and Polluting Industries