Wastewater - Turning Problem to Solution

Table 3.2: Possible actions to develop effective and coherent legislation and governance.

Building blocks

Opportunities to develop the building block

International

• Ensure wastewater management and reuse is explicit and visible in the global water agenda to build awareness and raise the profile of this issue at the international level. • Use wastewater management and reuse as an entry point to deliver in other policy areas.

• Showcase commitments made under the United Nations Water Action Agenda (see box 10) to address circularity in the water sector and increase resource recovery and reuse; ensure that wastewater is an issue that is high on the agenda for a United Nations Special Envoy on Water, once appointed. • Increase support for the “UNESCO WWAP water and gender working group 2021 call to action for accelerating gender equity across the water domain” to ensure that wastewater resource recovery and reuse is explicit in this call to action. • Use the outcomes of the in-depth review of SDG 6 at the high-level political forum on sustainable development in July 2023 and the SDG Summit in September at the midpoint of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. • Engage with the work of the Water and Climate Coalition and other relevant initiatives to ensure that wastewater is visible in the development of this discussion at COP 28. • Engage with regional offices and Regional Seas Conventions to share experiences and facilitate regionally relevant approaches, e.g. the adoption of a regional action plan for wastewater reuse under the Barcelona Convention. • Establishment cross-sectoral policy working groups to help foster improved coherence. • Ensure that wastewater management and reuse is included in national development plans and connected to other national planning tools for e.g. climate adaptation strategies and National Biodiversity Strategies and Action Plans, e.g. the United States National Water Reuse Action Plan adopted in 2020 to drive national progress in water reuse. • Engage cities in water reuse for climate adaptation and resilience through the Megacities Alliance on Water and Climate, hosted by UNESCO’s Intergovernmental Hydrological Programme.

Regional

• Support regional coordination to help find solutions to transboundary aspects of this issue. • Facilitate cooperation and exchange of best practices on wastewater resource recovery and reuse between countries and across different regions. • Develop national policies to provide a framework for circular water management and ensure coordination across water-related policies and regulations. • Engage with business and industry to co-develop solutions.

National

Local and municipal level

• food packaging

Industry

• food packaging

• Support and build awareness of the Wastewater Zero Commitment Initiative under WBCSD.

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