The 6th Global Environment Facility Biennial International Waters Conference (IWC6) was held from the 17-20 October in Dubrovnik, Croatia. The conference slogan, Raising the Bar: 20 Years of GEF Transboundary Water Results, focused attention on knowledge sharing on water management issues and results after 2 decades of interventions.

The IWC6 meeting brought together almost 350 participants from GEF projects, government agencies, NGOs, transboundary management institutions, UN agencies and the private sector. Participants discussed progress achieved and priorities facing GEF IW-supported interventions to improve management of transboundary freshwater and marine ecosystems.

A large amount of information and ideas were exchanged at the conference. One of the key issues discussed was the need for ongoing and increased urgent responses to rapidly changing environments. The urgency was highlighted during a session held to identify ways to link science and governance to improve our management of marine and coastal ecosystems. Some key points from the session outlined below, may be of interest to the broader DLIST community, and in particular to local coastal people and resource users in Africa.

Marine and coastal ecosystems are already showing some serious signs of impacts from climate change. Some of these include shifts in the range of marine species and in the diversity and species richness of fishes. For instance, in South Africa species including sardine, anchovy, rock lobster and horse mackerel appear to have shifted southwards and eastwards. Other impacts include changing seasonal weather patterns and ocean currents, more frequent harmful algal bloom events; increased threats of invasive species and greater vulnerability of species and ecosystems due to the rapid changes. In addition, participants heard that the combined effects of some changes may worsen the overall impacts, such as more frequent and more intense storm events and temperature changes may prevent fisheries stocks from recovering. Many important coastal cities are low-lying and are at risk from sea level rise. Some climate change impacts driven by the ocean, may be felt much more widely for instance as a loss in vegetation and crop production.

Participants at the IWC6 agreed that there is a clear need to improve the sharing of scientific research results with the broader stakeholder community in a meaningful and understandable way to inform decision-making and to assist people to adapt to a changing environment. Efforts should be made to translate the results of research on complex marine systems to understandable concepts and language for use by more people. Any project initiative needs to work from both the top down and bottom up to ensure that activities are relevant to people on the ground and to improve communication among all stakeholders.

This need was captured in one of the key concepts of the IWC6: “From Communities to Cabinet”. The challenge now is to ensure ongoing innovation, relevance and collaboration among all those working to improve the health of the global water bodies.