Wastewater pollution is a growing threat to people and coral reefs and a challenge that many marine managers grapple with daily. For managers to address the complex issues surrounding wastewater pollution, they need to understand how to diagnose their problems, identify the risks they are facing, and develop clear strategies for implementing solutions. Partnership between the conservation and sanitation sectors is a critical tool in working toward solutions. In acknowledgement of these interwoven systems, Wildlife Conservation Society, The Nature Conservancy, and other partners recently released A Guide for Integrated Conservation and Sanitation Programs and Approaches. In this webinar, the guide’s lead author, Dr. Amelia Wenger of Wildlife Conservation Society and University of Queensland, provided an overview of the guide. She discussed the guide’s diagnostic tool to help managers better understand their systems, create the enabling conditions needed to mitigate wastewater pollution, and identify and form productive, multi-sectoral partnerships.
In addition to the Wastewater Pollution Toolkit, the Reef Resilience Network has a self-paced online course, case studies, and article summaries to discuss and demystify the massive issue of wastewater pollution and the innovative approaches addressing it.
Resources
- A Guide for Integrated Conservation and Sanitation Programs and Approaches
- Integrated watershed management solutions for healthy coastal ecosystems and people article summary
- A spatial framework for improved sanitation to support coral reef conservation paper
- Common characteristics of successful water quality improvement through point source pollution management paper
- A Guide for Pollution Assessment and Monitoring in Coastal Ecosystems features a guidance document and two technical factsheets (Approaches to Assessing & Monitoring Coastal Pollution and Methods for Collection of In-Situ Water Quality Data).
This webinar was brought to you by the Reef Resilience Network through the generous support of Oceankind, NOAA’s Coral Reef Conservation Program, and The Nature Conservancy.
If you do not have access to YouTube, please email us at resilience@tnc.org to receive a copy of the recording.
