Stronger together: Building resilience and prosperity through integrated and evidence-based management of the Ocean–Water continuum

When: Thursday, 23 March 2023 | 13.15 hrs. - 14.30 hrs. EDT

Where: Conference Room 4 UNHQ, New York

This is an in-person side event at the UN Headquarters during the UN 2023 Water Conference.

The current triple-planetary crises of climate change, biodiversity loss and pollution significantly impact the function and value of freshwater and coastal and marine ecosystems. While there are many ongoing efforts to resolve the crises, progress remains slow and limited in scale. Solving this requires more holistic, integrated and evidence-based approaches. However, today’s governance systems are too fragmented to halt the destructive practices that are putting the valuable natural capital1 of our ocean and fresh water in danger. What is needed is action to bring system-wide, long-lasting change.

The importance of the ocean and seas in the water cycle cannot be overstated and their health depends largely on both direct sea-based and indirect land-based impacts. However, ecosystem management often exists in siloes without consideration of the broader implications or impacts to adjacent ecosystems. This is certainly the case in the aquatic realm where freshwater (inland) ecosystems including rivers and lakes are managed separately from coastal and marine ecosystems. Therefore, highlighting the synergies between Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) 14 and 6, and their profound contributions across all other SDGs, is crucial to achieve the 2030 Agenda.

The side event will explore the interconnected nature and critical importance of the land – freshwater – coastal – ocean continuum, and the necessary steps and actions to systematically addressed the drivers of ecosystem degradation in an integrated manner. More specifically, the side event will aim to highlight the key gaps for holistic management in the areas of knowledge/capacity; finance; collaboration; and governance in the ocean-water continuum. Furthermore, the event will contribute to the Water Action Agenda by showcasing game changing solutions and key Voluntary Commitments for addressing the barriers towards holistic water and ocean action. The discussions planned are closely related to the UN Water Conference’s Interactive Dialogue 3: “Water for Climate, Resilience and Environment: Source to Sea, Biodiversity, Climate, Resilience and DRR (SDGs 6.5, 6.6, 7, 11.5, 13, 14, 15).”

The objectives of the side event will be:

• To highlight the important interlinkages between SDGs 6 and 14 among others, and review actions that benefit the whole water cycle
• To highlight the critical importance of holistic, integrated approaches to addressing the challenges to aquatic ecosystem health from climate change, biodiversity loss and pollution
• To review possible collaborative action and game changers/voluntary commitments across the ocean-water continuum, including at the UN system level, to fill critical science and knowledge gaps that will support collective action to tackle the drivers of declining aquatic ecosystem health and loss of natural capital.