The World Ocean Council (WOC) of which the James Michel Foundation is a member is Chairing a Session on Business Leadership in Tackling Land-Based Sources of Marine Pollution at the World Water Week. Senior corporate representatives will bring industry perspectives and examples on addressing the linkages between land and sea and implementing Sustainable Development Goals 6 and 14.

The session will convene on 27 August during World Water Week (Stockholm, 26–31 August) with a focus on “Water, ecosystems and human development”. Decision-makers and business innovators from around the globe will be gathering at this annual event in Stockholm to foster new thinking and develop solutions to the most pressing water-related challenges of today.

One such challenge concerns the ramifications of land-based activities for freshwater, marine and coastal systems, which compromise ecosystem health and various aspects of sustainable development. The U.N. Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) have proposed to address this by “improving water quality by reducing pollution by 2030” (Goal 6.3), and by “preventing and significantly reducing marine pollution of all kinds by 2025” (Goal 14.1).

Industry organizations and their member companies have begun to recognize the importance of the linkages between land and sea in their operations, and of cross-sectoral leadership and collaboration in ensuring that efforts by individual companies and sectors achieve the synergies necessary to address these challenges.

This session will bring together representatives from Inter IKEA Group, Borealis, H&M, Stockholm International Water Institute and more, along with WOC COO Christine Valentin as moderator, to examine industrial challenges and opportunities on the road ahead for achieving SDGs 6 and 14.