Webinar: Striving to attain water and sanitation for all: The SDG 6 Policy Support System (SDG-PSS)

Organizers

The webinar is organized by the United Nations University, Institute for Water, Environment, and Health (UNU-INWEH), a member of the Global Wastewater Initiative (GW²I). The GW²I is a multi-stakeholder platform that brings together UN agencies, international organizations, governments, scientists, the private sector and non-profit organizations with the goal of information-sharing and cooperation for an effective and comprehensive response to the challenges posed by wastewater management.

The GW²I is hosted by the Global Programme of Action for the Protection of the Marine Environment from Land-Based Activities (GPA) of UN Environment, an intergovernmental cooperation mechanism that aims to prevent the degradation of the marine environment from land-based activities. Initially established to address nine source categories of marine pollution (sewage, persistent organic pollutants, radioactive substances, heavy metals, oils, nutrients, sediment mobilization, litter and physical alteration and destruction of habitat), the Programme has, since 2012, focused on marine litter, nutrient pollution, and wastewater. Together with its partners and through the Global Wastewater Initiative, the GPA seeks to enhance the understanding of wastewater as a resource and works on various issues related to sustainable wastewater management including policy guidelines, technology, knowledge generation, capacity building, and awareness-raising that contribute to the implementation of the sustainable development goal 6, target 6.3.1, halving the proportion of untreated wastewater discharged in our water bodies.

The United Nations University, Institute for Water, Environment, and Health (UNU-INWEH) (https://inweh.unu.edu/)

The United Nations University Institute for Water, Environment and Health (UNU-INWEH) is an integral part of the United Nations University – an academic arm of the UN, which includes 13 institutes and programmes located in 12 countries around the world and dealing with various issues of development. UNU-INWEH’s mission is to help resolve pressing water challenges that are of concern to the United Nations, its Member States, and their people, through critical analysis and synthesis of existing bodies of scientific discovery; targeted research that identifies emerging policy issues; application of on-the-ground scalable science-based solutions to water issues; and global outreach. UNU-INWEH carries out its work in cooperation with the network of other research institutions, international organizations and individual scholars throughout the world. Its operations are secured through long-term host-country and core-funding agreements with the Government of Canada.

Speakers

Guillaume Baggio – Research Associate, United Nations University, Institute for Water, Environment and Health (UNU-INWEH)

Guillaume Baggio is a young professional on water and sustainability. Before joining the UNU-INWEH, he worked on several projects on the impacts of climate change and extreme weather events on the electricity grid in Canada and headed a group of young professionals in a project about smart cities in Canada, Finland, and Baltic Nations. His areas of interest include developing a policy support system to promote evidence-based policymaking for achieving SDGs by 2030 and investigating better ways to design policies in data-poor conditions. Overall, he is also inspired by the challenge of assuring sustainability and well-being under different socioeconomic pathways.

Olfa Mahjoub – Associate Professor, Water Quality and Wastewater Reuse, and Head of the Chemistry Laboratory for Water-Soil-Biosolids, National Research Institute for Rural Engineering, Water, and Forestry (INRGREF) in Tunisia

Dr. Olfa Mahjoub is Associate Professor at the National Research Institute for Rural Engineering, Water and Forestry (INRGREF), University of Carthage, Tunisia. She is heading the Chemistry Laboratory for Water-Soil-Sewage Sludge. She holds a PhD in Water Sciences from Montpellier 1 University, France. She has 20 years of experience in wastewater management and reuse in agriculture while focusing on emerging contaminants in the agricultural environment. She chaired and co-chaired several internationally funded projects and published more than 70 scientific publications in peer-reviewed journals, conference proceedings, and book chapters.

Yongjae Choi – Assistant Manager, Korea Environment Corporation (K-eco)

Yongjae Choi is an Assistant Manager at the Korea Environment Corporation (K-eco). He majored in environmental engineering at the University of Seoul, has 8 years of experience in soil, groundwater, and water reuse while working at K-eco's water environment management headquarters. He is currently participating as a partner in the joint project to develop the SDG 6 Policy Support System and plays a role to trial-apply and utilize SDG-PSS in Korea from the first phase of the project.

The webinar will be moderated by Guillaume Baggio.

• Global Programme of Action for the Protection of the Marine Environment from Land-Based Activities: https://www.unenvironment.org/explore-topics/oceans-seas/what-we-do/addressing-land-based-pollution/why-does-addressing-land.
• Global Wastewater Initiative: https://www.unenvironment.org/explore-topics/oceans-seas/what-we-do/addressing-land-based-pollution/global-wastewater-initiative.
• United Nations University, Institute for Water, Environment and Health (UNU-INWEH): https://inweh.unu.edu/.
• Contacts: guillaume.ferla@unu.edu; riccardo.zennaro@un.org;