The programme aims to connect fresh and marine water as the axis of action to address natural resources management issues contributing to the implementation of the SDG 6 and SDG 14. The action to be undertaken will contribute to the implementation of the Action Platform for Source-to-Sea Management Strategy 2021-2025 and the New Ocean Action Agenda.
Programme Components and Expected Outcomes
Partners
Water: The connecting thread
All water is part of one system. The earth’s seas, surface waters, and groundwater form a system on which all forms of life depend. The water system provides the foundation for the economy: food, trade, energy, and industrial production, all depend on water. However, the health of the world’s rivers and oceans is critically threatened.
There is a systemic gap between the ocean and freshwater management communities. As a result, there is insufficient political and financial investment in safeguarding the critical services that the water system provides. The major disconnects in policy development and planning among basin, coastal, and marine areas lead to management failures, which result in issues such as pollution, water diversion, alterations in sediment flows, and habitat fragmentation with severe impacts on ecosystems. The lack of concerted action between the ocean and freshwater communities for the achievement of SDG 6 and SDG 14 leads to a missed opportunity for an integrated response.
The Healthy Rivers, Healthy Ocean (HRHO) programme is designed to assist in addressing the aforementioned disconnects and systemic gap, and enable accelerated source-to-sea action at regional, national, and sub-national levels.
Through three pillars of action, the programme will contribute to the strategic aims of the Action Platform for Source-to- Sea Management Strategy 2021-2025, hence enabling sustainable development across the land-freshwater-marine continuum through supporting the adoption and implementation of a source-to-sea approach to management at regional, national, and sub-national levels with the aim to contribute to the implementation of the New Ocean Action Agenda to “Reduce Ocean Pollution” as part of the transformation area on “Ocean Health”.
The HRHO Programme has been endorsed as Programme under the United Nations Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development (2021-2030). See more here.
What is a source-to-sea System?
A source-to-sea System comprises all or part of the following:
✔️ The basin (land area that is drained by a water body i.e. river/lake system and its tributaries)
✔️ Aquifers (which may be connected to the basin and the sea)
✔️ Downstream recipients, including deltas and estuaries, coastal zones and near-shore waters
✔️ The adjoining sea and continental shelf as well as the open sea/ocean (collectively called “marine bodies”)
A System can also be defined at a larger scale to include a marine body and its entire drainage area, which may include several basins. The connected ecosystems and socio-economic activities located in these basins are also included.
Programme Components and Expected Outcomes
The HRHO programme aims to address the challenges and gaps at the science-policy-management interface through three main components.
👉 Component 1, Brokering innovation to bridge the gaps at the science-policy-management interface, focuses on fostering partnerships and promoting innovation in the field of environmental monitoring. This includes the establishment of a Source-to-Sea AI/ML Partnership that brings together companies, academic and research institutions, international organizations, and funding agencies. Through public-private partnerships, tailor-made AI/ML environmental monitoring solutions will be developed and tested in source-to-sea systems. The ultimate goal is to improve environmental monitoring, which will lead to more informed decision-making in the management of these systems.
👉 Component 2, Enabling source-to-sea action, aims to create the necessary conditions for effective source-to-sea action at regional, national, and sub-national levels. This component will be implemented in the Global Water Partnership's 13 regions, each comprising countries with similar socio-economic realities. The actions under this component include knowledge management, awareness-raising, and strategic communication to increase awareness of the need for and benefits of implementing the source-to-sea approach. Capacity building activities will be conducted to empower public, private, and civil society actors to undertake coordinated management through the source-to-sea approach. Additionally, regional, national, and sub-national commitments will be sought to enable and support source-to-sea action.
👉 Component 3, Addressing pollution in source-to-sea systems, focuses on tackling pollution-related pressures and effects in selected source-to-sea systems. The systems will be chosen based on criteria such as the level of pollution, ecosystem vulnerability, and potential success of intervention. Activities under this component include awareness-raising and knowledge management on Integrated Water Resources Management (IWRM) and source-to-sea concepts, scientific analysis of the source-to-sea systems to foster science-based consensus among stakeholders, and the development of policies, legal frameworks, and institutional capacity to enable integrated action at the source-to-sea system scale. Demonstration activities will be carried out to test low-cost, high-efficiency solutions, such as nature-based solutions for wastewater treatment in settlements. The ultimate goal is to improve source-to-sea governance in the targeted systems.
HRHO aims to foster innovation, enable coordinated action, and address pollution in source-to-sea systems through a range of activities and partnerships. By bridging the gaps at the science-policy-management interface and implementing effective strategies, HRHO seeks to enhance environmental monitoring, improve governance, and promote sustainable management of these vital ecosystems.
Partners
Core partners responsible for the overall design and implementation of this programme are:
The Global Water Partnership (GWP) is a global action network with over 3,000 Partner organisations in 179 countries. The network has 68 accredited Country Water Partnerships and 13 Regional Water Partnerships. GWP’s vision is to achieve a water secure world and to advance governance and management of water resources for sustainable and equitable development. With its strong record of accomplishment in Integrated Water Resource Management, GWP has the capacity and experience to mobilise freshwater actors for integrated management of the fresh, coastal, and marine water within a source-sea-system. GWP is uniquely positioned to implement this programme by leveraging its global network at the basin, country, and regional levels, as well as its strong collaboration with key partners.
The Stockholm International Water Institute (SIWI) is a global water institute that generates knowledge, builds capacities, and supports decision-makers and practitioners to improve water governance for a just, prosperous, and sustainable future. SIWI has been a leader in developing the source-to-sea concept and advocating for its adoption at international, national, and local levels. SIWI also hosts the Secretariat of the Action Platform for Source-to-Sea Management (S2S Platform), which was launched in 2014 as a multistakeholder initiative to exchange and generate knowledge, and support joint action for improved management of land, freshwater, coastal, and marine linkages. SIWI is in an ideal position to support the implementation of the source-to-sea approach and disseminate these developments for uptake by the global community active in source-to-sea issues.
The UNESCO Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission (IOC) is the United Nations body responsible for supporting global ocean science and services. IOC’s vision is that strong scientific understanding and systematic observations of the changing world ocean climate and ecosystems shall underpin sustainable development and global governance for a healthy ocean, and global, regional and national management of risks and opportunities from the ocean. The IOC enables its 150 Member States to work together to protect the health of our shared ocean. Since it was established in 1960, the IOC has provided a focus for all other United Nations bodies that are working to understand and improve the management of our oceans, coasts and marine ecosystems. The IOC acknowledges the importance of land-based activities for the health of the Oceans and has the capacity to mobilize its Member States and the ocean community enabling the enhancement of scientific and institutional capacities for source-to-sea action.