Source-to-sea opportunities
in the Asia-Pacific region

S2SPLATFORM

12 December 2017, 9 am - 11 am ∙ Sedona Hotel (11th floor), Yangon
Co-organized by S2S Platform & FAO
Background | The Asia Pacific region hosts a large
variety of source-to-sea contexts, from widespread,transboundary river basins, large countries composedof many islands, to small island developing states, andrich marine life in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. At thesame time, millions of tons of plastic enter the ocean
from land-based sources every year. Nutrient loads fromagricultural runoff and inadequate wastewater treatment
continue to cause eutrophication and spread of deadzones in coastal and marine waters. Flows of some rivers
are so highly diverted that little water actually reaches thesea, robbing coastal ecosystems of the water, sedimentand nutrients they need. Coasts and oceans represent
enormous assets and opportunities for local and regional
economy that are jeopardized by the pressures posedfrom activities upstream. To better realize blue economic
opportunities, green investments in basins can help ensurethat healthy coastal and marine systems can continue tocatalyse economic development.

Efforts to achieve SDGs 6 and 14 have to be undertaken
in collaboration with stakeholders from a wide rangeof sectors, many of which are operating far upstream
from coasts and oceans. The freshwater community has
an important role to play in designing efforts to achieve
SDG 6 targets on freshwater in ways that contribute to
the well-being of the oceans.
Session purpose | This event will present experiencesfrom the Asia-Pacific region on how to instigate action
among upstream actors to reduce land-based impacts
on coastal and marine environments, drawing upon
experiences of S2S Platform members and other key
actors in the Asia-Pacific region.
The outcomes from the session will be brought to a highlevel panel on source-to-sea management at the World
Water Forum in Brazil, in 2018 and from there towards
the High-Level Political Forum (HLPF) review of SDG 6.

The importance of improving fresh- and marine water
quality and reducing marine litter is recognized by several
goals in the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.

The secretariat of The Action Platform for Source-to-Sea Management is hosted by theStockholm International Water Institute (SIWI).

www.siwi.org/source-to-sea

S2S

PLATFORM

Programme
Draft
Programme
9:00-9:05

Welcome by the session co-chair, Torkil J. Clausen
Chair of the Action Platform for Source-to-Sea Management

9:05-9:10

Welcome by the session co-chair Professor Charlie Than
Member of AG, National Water Resources Council, President, Myanmar Engineering Council,Rector(Rtd), Myanmar Maritime University

9:10-9:20

Keynote 1: H.E. Dr. Siti Nurbaya Bakar
Minister of Environment and Forestry, Republic of Indonesia (to be confirmed)

9:20-9:30

Keynote 2: Dr. Jakob Granit
Director General, Swedish Agency for Marine and Water Management (SwAM)

9:30-9:40

Keynote 3: Ranil Senanayake
Systems Ecologist, Chairman, Rainforest Rescue International and Chairman, Rainforest Trustof Sri Lanka

9:40-10:50

Panel discussion
Moderator: Torkil J. Clausen, Chair of the Action Platform for Source-to-Sea Management
Panelists:• Myanmar representative(s), to be determined• Adrian Ross, Executive Director, PEMSEA• Louise Whiting, Senior Water Management Expert, Food and Agriculture Organization• Louise Herrmann, First Secretary, the Swedish Embassy in Bangkok• Christopher Cox, Programme Officer, UNEP Global Programme of Action for theProtection of the Marine Environment from Land-based Activities (GPA)• Dipak Gyawali, Nepal Academy of Science and Technology

10:50-11:00

Closing remarks by the session co-chair, Torkil J. Clausen, Chair of the Action Platform for
Source-to-Sea Management

11:00

End of session@S2SPlatform#S2Snews
www.siwi.org/source-to-sea