The Action Platform for Source-to-Sea Management, often referred to as S2S Platform, was formed in 2014, at the initiative of a group of committed partners.

Over the years it has successfully influenced policy dialogues as well as operational and financing strategies to better reflect the need for source-to-sea action. It has raised awareness and political attention to source-to-sea issues. And in the process, it has brought the freshwater and ocean communities together, and supported policy makers and practitioners through the development and dissemination of knowledge materials, policy briefs and practical tools.

At the end of the 2017–2020 strategy period, the S2S Platform could demonstrate notable achievements, but there is still a long way to go. With the Strategy 2021–2025, the aim is to achieve the vision: “A world in which land, fresh­water, coastal and marine resources are managed holistically, balancing benefits for the environment, communities and economy from source to sea”.  The S2S Platform does this by focusing on key strategic aims and clear ambitions for what it wants to achieve by 2025.

The strategic aims are:

• Strengthening partnership across actors and initiatives: Through individual and joint activities, we will engage our extensive networks and connect with relevant initiatives promoting source-to-sea policies and practice; thereby building understanding, commitment, and action to address source-to-sea issues.
• Growing understanding: We will substantiate the need for and benefits of the source-to-sea approach and increase the understanding of source-to-sea linkages by gathering and sharing knowledge, building an evidence-base gained through research, and developing guidance on addressing source-to-sea challenges.
• Building commitment for source-to-sea action: We will inform and influence global, regional, and transboundary agenda setting and the priorities of governments, financiers, private sector, and civil society to effectively address source-to-sea issues in policy and practice.
• Taking action on the ground: We stimulate source-to-sea action by raising awareness from grassroots to national levels, building local and regional capacity and demonstrating its benefits in addressing development challenges through practical application.

Goals for 2025

• The S2S Platform will have active, engaged partners representing the diversity of actors needed to fulfill our vision.
• The S2S Platform establishes a global source-to-sea knowledge hub.
• Source-to-sea perspectives hold a permanent place in the global agenda as a solution to rising and persistent development challenges.
• Expertise is built and source-to-sea management is applied in six continents.

The Steering Committee, elected from among the partners, guides the direction of the S2S Platform.

It identifies annual priorities and take a leading role in promoting the source-to-sea approach by engaging its collective networks.

Members of the Steering Committee:

• Tom Panella, Chair
• International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), James Dalton, Director IUCN Global Water Programme
• Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission UNESCO (IOC/ UNESCO), Julian Barbiere, Head, Marine Policy and Regional Implementation Section
• International Water Resources Association (IWRA),  Callum Clench, Executive Director
• Deltares, Audrey Legat, Senior Advisor Water Governance
• United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), Mary M. Matthews, Head, UNDP Water and Oceans i.a. UNDP Ocean Advisor and #OceanInnovationChallenge Manager
• United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), Heidi Savelli-Soderberg, Chief a.i., Source to Sea Pollution-Free Unit, Ecosystems Division
• Global Water Partnership (GWP), Dimitris Faloutsos, Deputy Regional Coordinator Global Water Partnership – Mediterranean (GWP-Med)
• Plymouth Marine Laboratory, Andy Rees, Senior Scientist
• International Capacity Development Network for Sustainable Water Management (Cap-Net), Yasmina Rais El Fanni, Senior Programme Officer
• Stockholm International Water Institute (SIWI)