Message from the FIGO President on World Lake Day

World Lake Day reminds us that water is an elemental human resource – fundamental to life, health, and dignity – and must be urgently protected. Lakes sustain communities with drinking water, food, energy and livelihoods, yet they are increasingly imperiled by pollution, climate change and unsustainable exploitation. For women and girls, who bear the greatest responsibility for water collection and household care, degraded lakes mean heavier burdens, unsafe journeys and increased exposure to gender-based violence.

Pollutants, including heavy metals, industrial waste and endocrine disruptors, contaminate lake ecosystems, undermining reproductive health, causing infertility, pregnancy complications, cancers, and intergenerational harm. Climate change accelerates floods, droughts and toxic algal blooms, while spreading vector-borne diseases such as malaria and dengue and water-borne infections including cholera and diarrhoeal diseases – all disproportionately affecting women, newborns, and children.

The collapse of lake systems weakens the blue economy, eroding livelihoods and nutrition security. Together with FIGO’s Committee on Climate Change and Toxic Environmental Exposures, as FIGO President I call for urgent action: regulation of pollutants and toxins, investment in gender-sensitive climate adaptation, inclusion of sexual and reproductive health in emergency responses, and recognition of water as a protected global common good. Safeguarding lakes is safeguarding women’s health, community resilience, and our shared sustainable future.