Healthy Rivers, Healthy Ocean

The seas, surface waters, and groundwater supports life and the economy. However, their health is critically threatened.

There is a systemic gap between the ocean and freshwater management communities. As a result, there is insufficient political and financial investment in safeguarding the services that the water systems, from the source to the sea, provide. The disconnects in policy development and implementation among basin, coastal, and marine areas lead to management failures, which result in issues such as pollution, alterations in sediment flows, and habitat fragmentation etc., with severe impacts on freshwater and marine ecosystems. The lack of concerted action between the ocean and freshwater communities for the achievement of SDG 6 and SDG 14 leads to a missed opportunity for an integrated response.The HRHO programme is designed to assist in addressing disconnects and systemic gaps and enable accelerated source-to-sea action at regional, national, and sub-national levels.

Start date: 01/06/2022
End date: 31/05/2028

Lead Contact: Dimitris Faloutsos | Email: dimitris@gwpmed.org