Pollution from unsafely managed sanitation is a serious and often overlooked global problem. Solutions are desperately needed to reduce negative impacts on local and national economies, public health, fisheries, and coastal resilience, all of which will be exacerbated by the impacts of climate change.
OUR APPROACH: This team of experts from the sanitation and conservation sectors will synthesize existing processes, data, and experiences, with a focus on coral reef areas. By reevaluating effluent guideline values and creating intervention guides, we will equip practitioners with the tools to develop interdisciplinary, comprehensive strategies for improving sanitation management and enabling long-lasting conservation action.
- Identify knowledge needs among marine conservation and sanitation practitioners to improve collaboration on sanitation management challenges
- Develop evidence-based wastewater pollution guideline values for coral reef ecosystems to help managers set pollution targets that are complementary to existing health targets
- Design sanitation planning process guides to help conservation and sanitation practitioners work together on sanitation management interventions that meet public and ecosystem health goals
This paper presents innovative solutions that incentivize the large-scale, sustained action required to both improve water quality in watersheds and prevent water quality impacts on coral reef ecosystems. The solutions use holistic approaches to integrated watershed management that bridge social and ecological systems and provide important co-benefits to human well-being.
The Nature Conservancy
The Pew Charitable Trusts
University of Sydney / Edith Cowan University
University of Sydney / Ifakara Health Institute
WCS / University of Queensland
WWF US
Centre for Environment, Fisheries, and Aquaculture Science
Conservation International
Wildlife Conservation Society Belize
RARE
WCS Indonesia
University of Queensland
Asian Institute of Technology
Griffith University
University of California, Irvine
Coral Reef Alliance
Wildlife Conservation Society Tanzania
Coral Reef Alliance
Water Authority Fiji
University of Hawai'i at Manoa
Sanivation
WaterAid
South African Water Research Commission
WCS Indonesia
Water for Good
Imagine H2O
University of Hawai'i
UN-IHE Delft Institute for Water Education
Wildlife Conservation Society
United Nations Environment Programme
Coral Reef Alliance
Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation
Summit Foundation