UNEP and wastewater including linkages to

pro-poor wastewater management (PPWM)

“UNEP’s mission: To provide leadership and encourage partnership in caring for the environment by inspiring, informing, and enabling nations and peoples to improve their quality of life without compromising that of future generations.”

Loss of Biodiversity Loss of blue carbon sinks

Loss of food securityLoss of shoreline protection

Global Programme of Action for the Protection of the Marine Environment from Land-based

Activities (GPA)• The GPA is a flexible global programme to protect coastal and marine

environment from land-based activities, which was adopted in Washington, D.C., U.S.A. in 1995; Its implementation is reviewed every five years;

• Intergovernmental mechanism explicitly addressing the linkages between freshwater, coastal and marine environments;

• Source categories include, among others, sewage, nutrients, marine litter, and physical alteration and destruction of habitats (PADH);

• National implementation through the development and implementation of National Programmes of Action (NPAs); and

• Regional implementation facilitated and supported by/through Regional Seas Conventions and Action Plans and other regional bodies.

UNEP activities to date

• Capacity building: ”Improving Municipal Wastewater Management for Coastal Cities” for municipal wastewater managers (1800 trainees/ 67 countries) Objective Oriented Planning (the project identification part of the project cycle), Innovative Technological and Financial Approaches, Stakeholder Involvement (benefits of stakeholder involvement and how to do it), Presentation Techniques and feasibility reporting,

• Publications - Sick Water(2010), Building the foundations for sustainable nutrient management (2010);

• Demo projects (WIOLAB, IWCAM, etc.)

• 7 LBS/A Protocols - Regional Seas Action Plans and Conventions

• Lead – UN-Water Taskforce on wastewater – collaborative agenda

3rd Inter-governmental Review of GPA (IGR-3)

• Review the progress of GPA implementation since IGR2, adopt the Programme of Work for next five years, Receive policy guidance on further implementation of GPA, Manila Declaration;

• Held in Manila during 25-27 January 2012

• Seeking discussion and adoption on policy direction for further implementation of GPA, also in connection with green economy in a blue world.

• The results should feed into Rio+20, meaning alignment of discussion to green economy, governance and emerging issues. The last inter-governmental meeting on marine and freshwater related issues before the Rio+20.

Global Conference on Land-Ocean Connections (GLOC)

• Scientific and Technical Sessions, 23-24 January 2012 to discuss emerging issues and science-policy linkages , feeding results into the IGR-3

• More flexible arrangements, involving our governmental, international and regional organisations

• A number of emerging issues will be highlighted. Emerging issues selection in alignment with UNEP Foresight Process

• Science-policy linkage discussion from the green economy perspective, governance/policy perspective (Integrated Coastal Management, River Basin Management)

Wastewater Proposal

• Objective: to promote and demonstrate pro-poor, environmentally-friendly and resource-recycling approaches to wastewater, while maintaining hygienic and health aspects of wastewater management.

• A series of components will collectively result in: 50 more partners will join this initiative, assisting in information on good

practices; Demonstration of at least 80% nutrient removal and 70% nutrient recycling rates

in a selected demonstration sites; An agreed guidance document on the re-use of wastewater among concerned

UN agencies; and The web-based information platform will be accessed frequently (at least more

than 20,000 hits per day).

Component 1: Development of an international forum on pro-poor wastewater management

• Multiple stakeholders (international organisations, Governments (Health, Agriculture, Environment and Economic development), NGOs/CBOs.) collecting and disseminating good practices linking wastewater management with climate

change mitigation, agricultural production, poverty alleviation and water use efficiency. Development of possible international guidance documents.

• UN-Water Task Force on Wastewater work with the forum to develop: a multi-stakeholder agenda for action – implementation through the forum; international guidance on wastewater reuse; matrix of PPWM technologies, so that the developing country participants can more easily

choose appropriate technologies that can meet their hygienic, resource-recycling, climate change and environmental concerns.

• Global Partnership on Wastewater Management (inter-sectoral focus)

Component 2: Development of information exchange platform closely linked with the international forum

• Disseminate good practices and lessons learnt that have been collected and collated through the forum;

• Promote any available and internationally/regionally accepted guidelines/guidance documents;

• Linkage with the existing information system, such as SEI (Swedish Environment Institute) EcoSan Knowledge Hub system, Sustainable Sanitation network, etc. will be sought.

Component 3: Demonstration of pro-poor wastewater management (PPWM) with focus on urban and peri-urban areas

• 5-10 demonstration areas will be selected to test and apply the PPWM approaches;

• Focus on providing specific economic and social benefits to the demonstration site population through, inter alia, recycling of nutrients, pursuing climate change/ energy benefits, enhancing water efficiency in wastewater systems, establishing ownership of wastewater management systems.

• A combination of ecological sanitation (urine diversion, compost toilet, feaces reuse, etc.), biogas generation, phytotechnologies, community based wastewater management will be tested and demonstrated.

• Urban-rural partnership on the exchange of wastewater and agricultural produce will also be sought.

How?

• Initiate partnership through UN agencies and collaborative agenda;

• Expansion of partnership at regional levels through UNEP’s Regional Seas Programme, SEI EcoSan knowledge hubs and other regional platforms to facilitate inter-sectoral collaboration;

• 7 LBS/A protocols regional policy mechanisms;

• Wider Caribbean Region: LBS Protocol – CreW – assist countries through financial, technical and information support to meet their obligations under the protocol

Summary

• Endorsement of Governments at the IGR-3

• Limited scope of proposal due to limited mandate/resources;

• Open to broaden the scope;

Way forward

• IGR-3: Partnership approach for wastewater, marine litter and nutrients

• Global Partnership on Wastewater Management (inter-sectoral focus)

• Online forum/ matrix/guidelines

• Projects on pro-poor approaches (ecological sanitation, phyto-technologies, low-tech biogas generation, composting technologies, environmental friendly septage management, or combination of these)

Benefits

• Nutrient recycling –closing the loop – contribute to food security – economic benefits

• Closing the carbon loop climate change

• Mitigation of environmental impacts

• GPWM – inter-sectoral collaboration

Thank you

www.gpa.unep.org

LBS Protocol Caribbean

• Adopted 1999, entered into force 2010;

• Promotes the establishment of pollution standards and schedules for implementation;

• Annex III establishes specific regional effluent limitations for domestic sewage;

• Annex IV requires each Contracting Party to develop plans, programmes etc. for prevention, reduction and control of agricultural non-point sources respectively)

Caribbean Revolving Fund for Wastewater (CReW)

• Caribbean: LBS Protocol – CreW – assist countries through financial, technical and information support to meet their obligations under the protocol; Improve the capacity of countries in wastewater management; Development of a prototype Regional Revolving Fund Possible modality for providing sustainable financing for

wastewater management projects in the region while also Addressing key capacity constraints within existing legal,

institutional, educational and policy frameworks for wastewater management

• Components: Investment & innovative financing for waste water management; Policy reforms for wastewater management; Regional dialogue; project management