Global Water Partnership - GWP

Community of practice on nature-based solutions launched

The need for a forum where experts, practitioners, and stakeholders with an interest in nature-based solutions (NBS) can learn, discuss, and exchange information motivated GWP Central and Eastern Europe to establish a new community of practice on NBS in 2022.

Although NBS have huge potential to address water challenges and support sustainable development and climate resilience, their implementation has been hindered by insufficient awareness and information about them, fragmented knowledge, and a lack of cross-sectoral exchange.

GWP Central and Eastern Europe designed and launched the new community of practice, first carrying out a needs assessment, identifying existing projects, and gathering feedback from potential participants to define its objectives, content, target groups, and activities.

The community of practice is integrated into the GWP IWRM Toolbox. Through articles, blogs, discussions, interviews, webinars, and other interactive opportunities, it offers members a chance to share news, exchange and gather knowledge and experience, network and communicate, discuss innovative ideas, and develop new projects. It also showcases examples of different NBS and discusses the implementation challenges faced.

Studying microplastic pollution in the River Danube

There had been no previous study of the amount of microplastic in the Danube as it flows through Romania, although an earlier study by the University of Vienna suggested that 4.2 tons of plastic enter Romania in the Danube each day. In the present study, samples of alluvium were collected from one site close to where the Danube enters Romania and from a second site just before the river flows into the Danube Delta. Samples were collected at different times of the year and analysed to assess the amount of microplastic (plastic particles up to 250 mm in size) they contained.

It is hoped that the study will pave the way for interventions to reverse and prevent microplastic pollution, which has an impact throughout the food chain.

Strengthening drought management

A fundamental element of GWP’s mission for a water secure world is decreasing vulnerability to and mitigating the impact of droughts. Integrated Drought Management Programmes (IDMPs) are key to this. In 2022, the support of GWP Central and Eastern Europe secured successful outcomes for two multipartner IDMP projects.

GWP Central and Eastern Europe was project manager for the cross-regional IDMP for the Drin Basin Project, funded by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). Two tools developed in previous projects on advancing integrated drought management that could be used in the countries of the Drin Basin – North Macedonia, Albania, Kosovo – were identified by the project’s partners. These were:

  • DroughtWatch, an online platform for sharing and analysing drought-related datasets; and
  • National reporting networks to gather data from those directly affected by a drought and information about the impact of a drought on different industries.

GWP Central and Eastern Europe designed targeted country-specific capacity building programmes, focusing on each country’s needs and on the practical use of the tools, while project partners developed guidance to facilitate use of both tools.

The second IDMP project, in Armenia, was initiated by GWP Central and Eastern Europe, and funded by NOAA. GWP Central and Eastern Europe drafted an outline for an IDMP for Armenia, while a working group of relevant stakeholders identified the legal and institutional systems regulating drought management, the functions of various government departments, and the availability of information and data on drought management in Armenia. The project partners concluded that the IDMP needed legal status to be implemented effectively and the Armenian Government indicated its willingness to help implement the plan.