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As much as 80% of all marine pollution is land based - wastewater from cities, factories and farms. Transforming wastewater from a major health and environmental hazard into a clean, safe and economically-attractive resource is emerging as a key challenge in the 21st century. Unless decisive action is taken, the wastewater challenge will intensify as the world undergoes rapid urbanization, industrialization and increasing demand for meat and other foods.
The recently launched report titled “Sick water? The central role of wastewater management in sustainable development” shows that the impact of poor wastewater management and degrading sewage systems is not only costing billions of dollars and degrading ecosystems, it is also challenging the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals, sustainable development, jobs, labour productivity and the health of hundreds of millions of people worldwide. “Sick Water” reports that the area of dead zones - locations of reduced or absent oxygen levels - has now grown to cover 245,000 km2 of the marine environment including in North America, the Caribbean, Europe and Asia. In addition, at least 1.8 million children die annually as a result of contaminated water and over half the world's hospitals beds are occupied with people suffering from illnesses linked with contaminated water.
The report, launched during the World Water Day celebrations in Nairobi, 22 March, and the World Urban Forum in Rio, not only identifies the threats to human and ecological health and the consequences of inaction, but also presents opportunities, where appropriate policy and management responses over the short and longer term can trigger employment, support livelihoods, boost public and ecosystem health and contribute to more intelligent water management. "Sick Water?” was developed by UNEP and UN-Habitat in collaboration with the broader UN-Water family. UNEP and Habitat will now lead efforts within UN-Water through an interagency “wastewater task-force” to develop a comprehensive interagency and multistakeholder programme of work to tackle this critical issue
Within UNEP, the impact of wastewater on ecosystem services, particularly in the coastal zone, is addressed through the Global Programme of Action for the Protection of the Marine Environment from Land-based Activities (GPA-Marine). UNEP activities are focused on promoting, leveraging or supporting action by governments at national and sub-national levels. While UNEP has contributed significantly to the GPA-Marine through a range of targeted initiatives, the primary responsibility resides with national governments. The eighteen Regional Seas Conventions and Action Plans also play a fundamental role. Several regions have LBS/A (land-based activities and sources of pollution) protocols, others are in the process of developing this protocol, and some do not have such a protocol but address the issue of wastewater and implementation of GPA through different mechanisms within their programmes. Currently there are 7 LBS/A protocols (Black Sea, Mediterranean Sea, ROPME Sea Area, South-East Pacific, Wider Caribbean, Red Sea and Gulf of Aden, East and South Africa), and an additional two are under development in the Caspian, and West & Central Africa regions. To date, three of the UNEP administered regional seas have an LBS/A protocol and implement a number of activities addressing the wastewater challenge:
The Wider Caribbean Region: The Protocol Concerning Pollution from Land-Based Sources and Activities (LBS Protocol) to the Cartagena Convention includes regional effluent limitations for domestic wastewater (sewage) as well as specific schedules for implementation. While three more countries must ratify it for it to enter into force, a number of activities are underway in relation to wastewater management including the Caribbean Regional Fund for Wastewater Management and the GEF-funded Integrated Watershed and Coastal Area Management Project in thirteen Small Island Development States.
The Mediterranean Region: The Protocol for the Protection of the Mediterranean Sea against Pollution from Land-Based Sources and Activities of the Barcelona Convention outlines that, in preparing action plans, programmes and measures, the Parties, in conformity with the GPA, will give priority to substances that are toxic, persistent and liable to bioaccumulate, in particular to persistent organic pollutants (POPs), as well as to wastewater treatment and management. Ongoing activities in support of the Protocol include the implementation of the GEF Strategic Partnership for the Mediterranean Large Marine Ecosystem.
The Western Indian Ocean Region: On 1 April 2010, Ministers and representatives of the 10 African countries sharing the Western Indian Ocean considered and adopted two new legal instruments, namely:
The Amended Nairobi Convention for the Protection, Management and Development of the Marine and Coastal Environment of the Western Indian Ocean (Amended Nairobi Convention) and;
The Protocol for the Protection of the Marine and Coastal Environment of the Western Indian Ocean from Land–Based Sources and Activities (LBSA Protocol).
The objective for the revision of the Nairobi Convention was to take onboard emerging issues and trends at both global and regional levels, particularly pollution from land-based sources and activities that have implications on the management of the coastal and marine environment. The development of the LBSA Protocol to the Nairobi Convention is based on the broad recognition by the Contracting Parties that pollution from land-based sources and activities constitutes one of the major threats to the sustainability of the marine and coastal environment in the Western Indian Ocean region.
In addition, the Ministers endorsed the Strategic Action Programme (SAP) for the Protection of the Marine and Coastal Environment in the Western Indian Ocean from Land-based Sources and Activities. The SAP aims at ensuring efficient management of the marine and coastal environment in the larger Eastern and Southern African region. It incorporates strategies for assisting countries to achieve an overall regional vision of: “People prospering from a Healthy Western Indian Ocean.”
For more information please visit:
http://www.gpa.unep.org/
http://www.unep.org/regionalseas/
http://www.grida.no/publications/rr/sickwater/