International Roundtable

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Partnering with the Private Sector for Sustainable Financing from Source-to-Sea

Overview

Freshwater, coastal and marine resources represent enormous assets and opportunities for the local and global economy. However, the complexities of source to sea management and investments, which span across ecosystems and involve a variety of sectors, requires clear goals, objectives and partnerships relevant to the specific context and multi-stakeholder approaches. Although the linkages between land, rivers, aquifers, coasts and seas are well known, they remain poorly addressed in an integrated manner, including in the context of a water-food-energy-ecosystems nexus approach. At the same time, the economic effects of mismanaging freshwater and marine living resources are becoming increasingly apparent and posing additional challenges to sustainable growth. Developments at international level (e.g. the adoption of the Sustainable Development Goals, the new global climate agreement) are expected to directly affect efforts at national, regional and transboundary levels and thus, require integrated and innovative approaches to governance, management and investment.

Importantly, the source to sea management is further negatively impacted by the insufficient provision of funding from traditional public sources. Governance weaknesses often impede the efficient use of available funding and the mobilisation of much needed additional financial and managerial resources, particularly from the private sector. With due consideration to the benefits and risks from private sector operations, a partnership of private actors with public authorities and civil society alike offers a solid way forward for ensuring that the profit motive does not lead to negative impacts on environmental integrity, social considerations and sustainable livelihoods.

In this framework, a global-level Dialogue focusing on how the private sector can be involved in the sustainable source-to-sea management is being fostered by IW:LEARN and facilitated by the Global Water Partnership – Mediterranean (GWP-Med). The Dialogue aims to identify, debate, agree on and eventually disseminate viable approaches on how to partner with the private sector in the pursuit of more sustainable financing modalities. GEF investments have successfully catalysed commitments, action and finance from a wide array of public and private actors; the opportunity is ripe to capitalise and expand on these successes.

Overall, the Dialogue between the IW community and the private sector, already manifested within the framework of the last three GEF International Water Conferences, supplemented by guidance produced by IW:LEARN and also with successful partnerships for specific projects, will investigate where and in what form it is feasible for the private sector to be involved in the source to sea management and in GEF project interventions (e.g. financing SAP implementation with private sector contributing to targeted actions). The Dialogue will also look at how to engage with the private sector to leverage compatible investments that

serve also to mitigate their corporate sustainability/risk. Furthermore, the role and impact of water, coastal and marine stewardship will be explored for understanding better not only the companies’ footprint, but mainly as a means towards responsible and sustainable management of natural resources. The Dialogue will identify successful approaches for private sector engagement within the supply chain spanning across industries, and how the catalytic role played by some projects can be replicated. Most critically, the dialogue will examine how partnerships with the private sector, including banks, insurance companies, and other private partners, can be established with countries, joint water management commissions, marine management entities and regional organisations.

The International Roundtable will take place over one and a half days and will comprise a mix of short presentations, targeted panel interventions and interactive roundtable discussions, utilizing a range of cognitive tools (presentations, case studies, brainstorming exercises, etc.).

The International Roundtable targets and is relevant to the GEF IW Community, including: GEF IW project managers; government representatives of beneficiary countries dealing with water and environment and public-private partnerships; Private sector representatives, including also representatives of private-public initiatives, with an interest and/or involvement in freshwater, coastal and marine resources; and International and Regional Institutions and Organizations, including Civil Society Organizations.

Key Objectives

The International Roundtable will bring together a range of IW stakeholders, including competent public authorities, civil society, regional organizations, donors and the private sector, in order to initiate an interface among them with the objective of increasing private sector engagement in source to sea sustainable financing.

More specifically, the International Roundtable aims to:

(1) Shed light on the role the private sector, including banks, can play in the source to sea sustainable management and financing and the potential forms and modalities of such involvement;

(2) Assist with the design of new projects; the approaches by which projects can catalyse financially sustainable source-to-sea management and investments (including through identification of means to finance the implementation of GEF-support Strategic Action Programme provisions); and the set-up of the right enabling environment for private sector engagement.

(3) Help coordinate efforts among UN Agencies, International Financing Institutions and NGOs toward a coherent and tangible approach to private sector engagement in source to sea management, as well as the interface of these actors with private companies, banks and other private actors for sustainable investments and with the new global commitments in mind.