On November 29th and December 6th, 2022, two online sessions took place to discuss how to accelerate action on freshwater ecosystems, building on learnings from the pilot project on Accelerating Action towards Target SDG 6.6: Protecting and Restoring Freshwater Ecosystems implemented over the last three years (2020-2022) by GWP and Cap-Net UNDP, with the support of UNEP and UNDP.
The two sessions brought together more than 130 participants from across the globe, the first one building on the results achieved in Kazakhstan and in Kenya, and the second one on those achieved in Argentina.
The sessions started with introductory remarks by Stuart Crane, Programme Coordinator SDG 6, Freshwater Unit, Ecosystem Division at UNEP. He highlighted the importance of freshwater ecosystems as they provide essential ecosystem services and the need to properly restore and manage water cycles and freshwater bodies in order to tackle the three planetary crisis of climate change, pollution and biodiversity loss that the world is facing. Julienne Roux, Senior Network Specialist at GWP, then presented the pilot project, explaining that its main objective was to encourage and promote the integration of environmental data within relevant decision-making processes through multi-stakeholder engagement, to improve the protection, management and restoration of freshwater ecosystems. This objective was achieved through two main components: one focused on awareness-raising and capacity development, and the second one on action planning for priority ecosystems through multi-stakeholder engagement.
Learnings from session 1 (November 29th):
After the introduction, the first session featured interviews with country representatives. Andrew Mware Kinyua, Deputy Director Water Quality Monitoring at the Ministry of Water, Sanitation, and Irrigation of Kenya and Stanley Kirimi, Coordinator at the Mount Kenya Ewaso Water Partnership in Kenya highlighted the way in which Kenya is supporting the implementation of the priority actions and the key needs to ensure the execution of priority actions identified. Ainur Dosanova, Director of the Department of International Cooperation and Sustainable Development at the Bureau of National Statistics of the Agency for Strategic Planning and Reforms of the Republic of Kazakhstan; Timur Khamitov, Head of the Department for the Implementation of the Green Economy Concept at the Ministry of Ecology, Geology and Natural Resources of the Republic of Kazakhstan; and Anara Tleulessova, National Coordinator of the CAR@WAN Network and Member of the Balkhash-Alakol Basin Council and Deputy Chairman of the National Water Partnership of Kazakhstan emphasised the importance of national policies and strategies and the role of the Basin Council in supporting the implementation of the priority actions as well as the relevance of monitoring mechanisms. The experience of the countries particularly highlighted the importance of putting in place the right institutional and legal framework and of bringing together all stakeholders.
Following the inspiring interviews, a panel discussion was moderated by Assel Mukamejan, Central Asian Regional Water Network CAR@WAN. The panel consisted of Sophie Tremolet, Europe Freshwater Director at The Nature Conservancy (TNC); Steven Ogwete, Principal Water Officer at the Ministry of Water and Environment in Uganda; Lilit Abrahamyan, Head of Water Policy Department in Armenia; and Mariam Makarova, Head of Water Division at the Ministry of Environmental Protection and Agriculture in Georgia.
Ms Tremolet emphasized that urgency is needed; it is more effective to protect ecosystems in the first place than having to invest to restore degraded ones. She shared how TNC is working through a Water Funds approach to incentivize all actors to work together and develop portfolio of interventions able to attract multiple sources of funding. Ensuring that action plans are formulated as investment plans which can speak to investors, at a sufficient scale, is very important to the mobilization of financing. She also recommended ensuring that freshwater ecosystems are well taken into consideration in the Biodiversity Conference and in the upcoming strategic action plans and financing plans which countries will develop.
The country representatives spoke to the importance of the policy, legal and institutional frameworks. Progress is being made in the countries, for example with ecosystem management approaches identified as a key framework in Armenia, and strides being made to conserve water and use it more efficiently. Challenges are faced to advance further however, and then to get to implementation. Needs are also identified with data and monitoring. Also, the importance of transboundary action on shared waters was highlighted in Uganda. Finally, there are promising perspectives to advance nature-based solutions for river basins in Georgia.
Learnings from session 2 (December 6th):
After the introductory remarks by Stuart Crane and Julienne Roux, the second session continued with an interview segment with representatives from the provinces of Tucumán and Chubut in Argentina. Aníbal Comba, Alternative Representative for the Province of Tucumán in the Interjurisdictional Committee of the Salí-Dulce River Basin, was involved in the drafting of the Marapa – San Francisco Action Plan. Jorge Reinoso, Director of the General Institutional Direction of the Provincial Institute of Water of the Chubut Province, was involved in drafting the action plan for the Esquel-Percy System.
Both representatives highlighted the participatory nature of the drafting of the action plans by including all relevant stakeholders. Furthermore, it was important to align the action planning with existing institutional frameworks and plans, and to raise awareness and understanding of the issues and solutions with all stakeholders to ensure that solutions are well embedded in the local context.
A panel discussion with three experts then further focused on the key ingredients for effective solutions for restoring and protecting freshwater ecosystems. Lizet de León, Head of the Department of Environmental Evaluation at the Ministry of Environment in Uruguay, highlighted the need for high quality, publicly available data and information for decision-making, exemplified by the National Environmental Observatory in Uruguay. Allison Aldous, Director of Freshwater Community-Based Conservation at The Nature Conservancy (TNC) emphasized that effective planning for the protection and restoration of freshwater ecosystems should include both biophysical and societal objectives and considerations, and the need to include local and indigenous communities living in proximity of the ecosystem from the outset and make them allies (see TNC practitioner’s guide to community-based management of water resources). André Villaça Ramalho, Coordinator of the Water Resilience Coalition of the United Nations Global Compact, further explained how the private sector could be included in conservation and water management activities by making smaller and bigger companies understand their water risks and connecting the private sector with other stakeholders engaged in the area.
Some key takeaways from both events include:
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In all three countries, the pilot project helped raise awareness on SDG target 6.6, strengthened with monitoring and move towards action.
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Action at all levels is needed, ranging from national and transboundary to local levels, and all relevant actors have to be engaged and included, including the public and private sector, civil society and academia.
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Key ingredients to make a change on freshwater ecosystems health include strengthening the enabling environment, improving access to data and information sharing, combining attention to biophysical processes and human needs.
More information on the pilot project and all the action plans can be accessed here: SDG 6.6.1 Pilot project - GWP