Swedish Agency for Marine and Water Management

Human activities upstream in rivers have negative environmental impact on coastal aquatic ecosystems of which millions of people in the developing world are dependent on for their livelihoods. Some of the main problems have been identified as hydropower development, sediment extraction and pollution with impacts on ecosystem functions and services. In order to address the environmental challenges it is important to identify critical flows in the source to sea continuum. The degradation of ecosystems in the continuum illustrates the lack of understanding of these flows that are connecting the systems. In addition the linkages in existing management systems on land, in the coastal zone and in the oceans, which are often handled separately, needs to be further understood. Hence it is crucial that existing management tools are developed into integrated management approaches, such as management based on a source to sea approach to address these linkages and to resolve the environmental challenges in aquatic ecosystems. The land-river-coasts linkages are also important in order to enable the realization of the implementation of several of the Global Goals for Sustainable Development. Availability of clean freshwater and protection of aquatic ecosystems will be two of the most important issues to improve living conditions for the poor riverine and coastal communities. Linking goal 6 and 14 and their targets and indicators is therefore essential to ensure livelihoods of poor communities that depend on the natural resources from the aquatic ecosystems. Furthermore, the implementation of the Global Goals for Sustainable  Development and targets will require concerted and coordinated actions at all levels and between all sectors. Active engagement of all stakeholders, effective dialogue, including poor communities, civil society and the private sector are also important conditions. The integration between the management systems of large rivers with their estuarine and coastal areas is a challenge and the future development will require new methodologies and innovative institutional arrangements. Hence, the application of a source to sea management approach is essential in order to secure a sustainable development.

En överblick av vårt seminarium på Världsvattenveckan 2015 med bland annat sammanfattningar av alla presentationer och slutsatser.