The Call to Action
The Core Message
90% of the impacts of climate change are water-related.
The communities bearing the greatest consequences, overwhelmingly in the Global South, overwhelmingly women, contributed least to creating this crisis. They are also the least represented in the rooms where decisions are made.
Flow exists to change this reality. Not through data alone, but through music, storytelling, and the lived experience of women on the frontlines of the water crisis. If you have experienced this project through its many formats, you have been inside those stories.
Now we are asking you to carry them forward.
The world we're calling for
A world where:
Clean and safe water is accessible to all
Communities are resilient and are able to adapt to climate-driven water shocks
Health systems are protected from water-related risks
Water is protected as a living entity, not a commodity
The Flow Water Pledge
I pledge to hold my government accountable for three things:
1. Legal enforcement of water rights and recognition of the rights of rivers
Uphold the human right to safe drinking water and sanitation, recognised by the UN General Assembly in 2010, and ensure this right is legally protected and enforceable.
Recognise rivers as rights-bearing entities, building on the growing body of law recognising the rights of nature, from Ecuador to New Zealand, Spain and Peru, and ensure Indigenous peoples and local communities have the legal authority to represent, protect and defend those rights.
Read more about the legal history behind this ask, from the 2010 human right to water to the rivers now winning rights of their own.
2. Place health at the heart of climate action
Declare water security as a climate and health emergency: Recognise that climate change is a public health crisis and embed health outcomes in all climate policy.
Put water at the heart of climate action. Move beyond a carbon-centred approach to climate policy by recognising water security as a core climate priority, protecting watersheds, restoring ecosystems and strengthening communities' resilience to drought, flooding, water scarcity and extreme heat.
Endorse and implement the Belém Health Action Plan (BHAP) across its three pillars: surveillance and monitoring; evidence-based policy and capacity building; and innovation and production. Ensure that climate and health policies account for the full impacts of the water crisis - from waterborne disease and maternal mortality to heat stress, displacement and mental health.
3. Put women and frontline communities in charge of the decisions that affect their lives.
The tiger widows of Bangladesh did not cause the rising seas that took their husbands. The women of the Amazon did not cause the droughts that are shrinking their rivers. Yet they are rarely in the rooms where solutions are designed. Those most affected must have meaningful decision-making power over the policies and solutions that shape their futures, and strengthen communities' resilience to drought, flooding, water scarcity and extreme heat.
The Flow Water Pledge
I pledge to hold my government accountable for three things:
1. Legal enforcement of water rights and recognition of the rights of rivers
Uphold the human right to safe drinking water and sanitation, recognised by the UN General Assembly in 2010, and ensure this right is legally protected and enforceable.
Recognise rivers as rights-bearing entities, building on the growing body of law recognising the rights of nature, from Ecuador to New Zealand, Spain and Peru, and ensure Indigenous peoples and local communities have the legal authority to represent, protect and defend those rights.
Read more about the legal history behind this ask, from the 2010 human right to water to the rivers now winning rights of their own.
2. Place health at the heart of climate action
Declare water security as a climate and health emergency: Recognise that climate change is a public health crisis and embed health outcomes in all climate policy.
Put water at the heart of climate action. Move beyond a carbon-centred approach to climate policy by recognising water security as a core climate priority, protecting watersheds, restoring ecosystems and strengthening communities' resilience to drought, flooding, water scarcity and extreme heat.
Endorse and implement the Belém Health Action Plan (BHAP) across its three pillars: surveillance and monitoring; evidence-based policy and capacity building; and innovation and production. Ensure that climate and health policies account for the full impacts of the water crisis - from waterborne disease and maternal mortality to heat stress, displacement and mental health.
3. Put women and frontline communities in charge of the decisions that affect their lives.
The tiger widows of Bangladesh did not cause the rising seas that took their husbands. The women of the Amazon did not cause the droughts that are shrinking their rivers. Yet they are rarely in the rooms where solutions are designed. Those most affected must have meaningful decision-making power over the policies and solutions that shape their futures, and strengthen communities' resilience to drought, flooding, water scarcity and extreme heat.
Turn the Call to Action into political action.
Write to your elected representative and ask them to champion policies that protect the human right to water, recognise the rights of rivers, put health at the heart of climate action, and give frontline communities a meaningful voice.
To make this easier, we have created three letter templates for different political and geographical contexts. Choose the template that best fits where you live, personalise it with your own words and send it to your representative.Act 3: Spread the word
Act 1: Sign the pledge
Join the Flow community, stay connected and receive updates on the project, upcoming actions and ways to get involved.Act 2: Write to your representative
Help amplify the stories of Flow by sharing the pledge, the film teaser and a track from the album. And, if you choose, share your own water story too.Flow Album (coming soon)