One of the Ministerial Round Tables at the High Level Symposium on Water, part of the Oceans Congress to be held in Lisbon next week, addresses cooperation in the management of water services and coastal zones. Topics are coastal waters and ecosystems, surface and groundwater resources, drinking water, wastewater and stormwater services, and governance and partnerships.

Below is a free translation of the “concept note” for this Round Table, entitled “Existing successful and innovative partnerships to support the implementation of SDG 6 and 14: challenges, opportunities and actions”, which can be seen in its original version in English in the attached document.

Concept note – Roundtable 3_V1

Introduction

The United Nations, with the support of the Governments of Portugal and Kenya, will host the UN Oceans Conference, in Lisbon, from 27 June to 1 July 2022. Within the scope of this Conference there will be a High Level Symposium on Water “Bridging SDG 6 and SDG 14” which will include three ministerial round tables, one of them on “Existing successful and innovative partnerships to support the implementation of SDG 6 and 14: Challenges, opportunities and actions”.

The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, approved at the United Nations General Assembly in 2015, is an urgent call for all countries to come together and achieve harmonious development. Among the goals are SDG 6 and 14, which seek respectively to “ensure the availability and sustainable management of water and sanitation for all” and “conserve and sustainably use the oceans, seas and marine resources for sustainable development”. Complementarily, it is also important to consider SDG 17, “strengthen the means of implementation and revitalize the global partnership for sustainable development”. These three goals are essential and need greater attention on the political agenda and urgent global action.

The Sustainable Development Goals

It is important to start by recalling the main targets of SDGs 6, 14 and 17.

SDG 6 aims to ensure the availability and sustainable management of water and sanitation for all. The goals include the following: achieving universal and equitable access to safe and affordable drinking water for all; achieve access to adequate and equitable sanitation and hygiene for all and end open defecation; improving water quality by reducing pollution, eliminating discharges and minimizing the release of hazardous chemicals and materials, halving the proportion of untreated wastewater and substantially increasing recycling and safe reuse globally; substantially increase the efficiency of water use in all sectors and ensure sustainable abstraction and supply of fresh water to address water scarcity; ensure integrated management of water resources at all levels, including through cross-border cooperation if necessary; protect and restore water-related ecosystems, including mountains, forests, wetlands, rivers, aquifers and lakes; expand international cooperation and support for capacity building in developing countries in activities and programs related to water and sanitation, including water harvesting, desalination, water efficiency, wastewater treatment, recycling and reuse technologies; and supporting and strengthening the participation of local communities in improving water and sanitation management.

SDG 14 seeks to conserve and sustainably use the oceans, seas and marine resources for sustainable development. Its most relevant goals for water services and water resources include: preventing and significantly reducing marine pollution of all types, namely from land-based activities, including marine debris and nutrient pollution; sustainably manage and protect marine and coastal ecosystems to avoid significant adverse impacts, including by strengthening their resilience, and take steps towards their restoration, in order to ensure healthy and productive oceans; increasing the economic benefits to small island developing States and least developed countries from the sustainable use of marine resources, including through the sustainable management of fisheries, aquaculture and tourism; and increase scientific knowledge, develop research capacity and transfer marine technology.

SDG 17 aims to strengthen the means of implementation and revitalize the global partnership for sustainable development. The most relevant goals for coastal waters, inland waters and water services include the following: developed countries should fully implement their official development assistance commitments; mobilize additional financial resources for developing countries from multiple sources; strengthen regional and international cooperation on access to science, technology and innovation and improve knowledge sharing; promote the development, transfer, dissemination and diffusion of green technologies to developing countries; fully operationalize the technological bank and the training mechanisms in science, technology and innovation for less developed countries and boost the use of technologies, in particular information and communication; strengthen international support for effective and targeted capacity building in developing countries to support national plans to implement all the sustainable development goals; enhance the global partnership for sustainable development, complemented by stakeholder partnerships that mobilize and share knowledge, technology and financial resources, and encourage and promote effective public, public-private and civil society partnerships.

Interconnected Challenges

Through SDG 6, 14 and 17, we can see that inland water resources, water services, coastal waters and partnerships are interconnected in different ways, both in the impact on coastal waters due to inland waters, and in the impact on inland due to coastal waters, or the impact on water services, urban and agricultural due to coastal waters.

Impact on coastal waters due to inland waters:

• The pollution of coastal waters caused by untreated discharges of urban, livestock and industrial wastewater, runoff from agricultural fields (diffuse pollution), untreated stormwater and other diffuse sources, affects services coastal ecosystems and related economic activities, such as fisheries and tourism, and can lead to health problems through eutrophication and reduced coastal water quality.
• The coastal erosion, caused by variations in the transport of sediments from rivers to coastal zones, affects economic activities such as tourism and ecosystem services and can reduce the stability of marine structures.
• The imbalance in coastal ecosystems, due to changes in the management of inland waters, affects the flora and fauna of coastal and marine ecosystems.

Impact on inland waters due to coastal waters:

• The rise in the water level coastal due to climate change affects underground water resources, with the consequent degradation of their quality, aggravated by the high extraction by demand in the sector agricultural and urban.
• The water level rise coastal and the greater frequency of extreme events due to climate change in coastal zones affect surface water resources , reducing the quality of its waters and its potential to be used for domestic purposes and for agriculture.

Impact on water, urban and agricultural services due to coastal waters:

• The rise in coastal water levels due to climate change affects drinking water services and infrastructure, potentially causing reduced treatment performance standards and also structural damage.
• The increase in the level of coastal waters due to climate change, the tidal cycle and the consequent salt intrusion in the soils affect the wastewater and stormwater services and infrastructure, with greater entry of salt water into collector systems, which may reduce treatment performance, decrease hydraulic performance and cause potential structural damage; saline contributions can also decrease the potential for wastewater reuse.

Areas of action

To minimize these impacts, we need to:

• Strengthen the protection of coastal waters against urban, livestock, industrial waters, agricultural effluents and rainwater.
• Strengthen the protection of surface and groundwater against rising coastal waters due to climate change.
• Strengthen protection of drinking water, wastewater and stormwater services from rising coastal waters due to climate change.
• Integrated management of water services in the territory, including water supply, wastewater and rainwater.
• Strengthen water governance, with an inter-ministerial approach that ensures coherence in policies governing coastal waters, inland water resources and water services.
• To manage water in coastal cities with high population density and facing increasing environmental pressures, introducing a circular economy to maximize water resources, minimize waste and value by-products of the urban water cycle, incorporating desalination as a new source of water .
• Improve innovation and technology to manage coastal waters, inland water resources and water services.
• Promote effective and innovative partnerships at local, subnational, national, regional and global levels.

Issues to be addressed:

• How can we strengthen local partnerships at city level to better manage coastal waters, inland waters and water services using the circular economy? How to improve water governance and promote the involvement of different actors in order to align their different interests? What kind of instruments are needed to achieve these goals? Can we identify some successful case studies?
• How can we strengthen subnational partnerships, at river basin level, to better handle the joint management of coastal waters, inland waters and water services? How to improve water governance at this level and promote the involvement of different actors, aligning their different interests? What kind of instruments are needed to achieve these goals? Can we identify some successful case studies?
• How can we strengthen national partnerships, at country level, to better address and integrate public policies regarding coastal waters, inland waters, river basins and cities? How to improve water governance at this level and promote the involvement of all ministries, aligning their different political strategies? What kind of instruments are needed to achieve these goals? Can we identify some successful case studies?
• How can we strengthen regional partnerships, including across borders, to improve cooperation to solve shared problems? How can we align the different interests between countries? What kind of instruments and commitments are needed to achieve these goals? Can we identify some successful case studies?
• How can we strengthen global partnerships at an international level, to better share successful experiences? How can we align the different interests? What kind of instruments and commitments are needed to achieve these goals? Can we identify some successful case studies?
• How can partnerships with civil society help address these challenges and contribute to greater public awareness, accountability and transparency of policies and public investments in this area? How can we raise public awareness of the tangible and intangible value of water, including the social aspects?

Follow this debate live through the UN Web TV channel of the United Nations, at the link: https://media.un. org/en/asset/k1q/k1qpyfofnv, on the 27th of June, from 2:00 pm to 6:00 pm.