Caring for our ocean from source to sea

Source-to-Sea Water governance Freshwater and ecosystems/biodiversity

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José Pablo Murillo

Programme Manager,

Water Cooperation and Diplomacy

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Ellen Boyer Pokorny

Communications Manager,

Communications

Accelerating source-to-sea action and strengthening collaborations between the freshwater and marine communities are two of the important discussions that will occur at the 9th Our Ocean Conference.

Undersea view of fish swimming around a colourful coral reef — Photo: Francesco Ungaro / Unsplash

The 9th Our Ocean Conference, which takes place from 15 to17 April, comes at a crucial time, as evidence mounts of the declining health of the ocean, and momentum gathers towards reverting this trend in the build up to the 2025 UN Ocean Conference.

“Most threats to the ocean originate on land and travel through freshwater bodies. To restore and protect our ocean, we need to address these threats from source to sea. A key part of this is to strengthen the coordination and collaboration between the freshwater and marine communities on knowledge, planning, policy, but most importantly, action,” explains José Pablo Murillo, Programme Manager at SIWI.

“[We need] to strengthen the coordination and collaboration between the freshwater and marine communities on knowledge, planning, policy, but most importantly, action”

José Pablo Murillo, Programme Manager, SIWI

José, also a member of the Secretariat of the Action Platform for Source-to-Sea Management (S2S Platform), and will be attending the 9th Our Ocean Conference. His aims in attending are to increase understanding of the tremendous pressure that human activities exert on the ocean, and to continue to build bridges between the ocean and freshwater communities.

To expand on this message, José will also be contributing to the side event, “Source-to-Sea Action for Healthy Rivers and a Clean and Healthy Ocean” that is taking place 16 April 15:00-15:50 (GMT+3) at the Stavros Niarchos Cultural Center (Attendance to the conference and its related events is by invitation only). The session is co-organized by the Hellenic Ministry of Environment and Energy, GEF, FAO, IOC-UNESCO, SIWI, GWP and the S2S Platform.

The side event aims to bring together experts to discuss opportunities and challenges of how to accelerate holistic source-to-sea management and how to address marine pollution caused by land-based sources. The session will focus on nutrient pollution that leads to serious consequences, such as extensive marine zones suffering from hypoxia, a challenge faced by coasts and the ocean that requires holistic source-to-sea solutions. These solutions can be fostered by programs such as Clean and Healthy Ocean.

This event will build on the discussions from the official side event at the 2023 UN Water Conference “Source-to-sea collaboration: A game changer for the whole water cycle”, and will accelerate momentum for source-to-sea management in the lead up to the 2025 UN Ocean Conference co-hosted by France and Costa Rica.

This event aims to:

Highlight the role of source-to-sea action to restore and protect a healthy water cycle.
Strengthen coordination and collaboration between the ocean and freshwater communities.
Accelerate source-to-sea action by discussing barriers and solutions.
Contribute to the 2025 UN Ocean Conference process and bridge the UN Water and Ocean Conferences.

9th Our Ocean Conference

The Conference takes place in Greece, 15-17 April 2024. It aims to foster collaborative efforts and commitments from NGOs, countries and diverse organizations to the protection of the ocean.

Learn more about the conference