As part of the UN 2023 Water Conference, the Ministry of Environment and Energy of Greece has organized a side event aiming to explore how we can use source-to-sea management to achieve multiple Sustainable Development Goals. The event, titled “Source-to-Sea collaboration: a game changer for the whole water cycle”, will take place on 23 March, from 17:00 – 18:15 pm (local NYC time), inside the UN Headquarters, side-event room 8.
Source-to-sea management is a holistic game changing approach across sectoral and administrative boundaries, aiming to balance social, environmental, and economic priorities by recognizing the linkages between land, freshwater, coastal and marine ecosystems, and bringing together upstream and downstream stakeholders to ensure healthy ecosystems and resilient societies, towards sustainable and lasting solutions.
During the event, we will learn from case studies worldwide where this approach has been applied in practice, showcasing lessons learned and success stories as well as barriers faced and how these have been overcome.
The interlinkages between Integrated Water Resources Management (IWRM), Integrated Coastal Zone Management (ICZM), Marine Protected Areas (MPAs), wetlands’ protection, and Maritime Spatial Planning (MSP) will also be highlighted as elements of the integrated source-to-sea management, including sharing of experiences and best practices from the regional level. Additionally, the UN Decade of Ocean Science and the endorsed Healthy Rivers, Healthy Ocean Programme can provide a framework for source-to-sea action.
More information is available and will continue to be uploaded on the side-event’s web page. In addition, the event will be live-streamed here.