All behavioral change needs motivation from the inside – this is true both for people and organisations – and change is impossible until old belief systems and stereotypes die away, says GWP Senior Gender & Social Inclusion Specialist Liza Debevec. She reflects on a discussion on gender equality during the recent webinar series on “Women Water Climate: Tackling the Challenges” – and the huge challenges that surround this topic.
On 27 October, Global Water Partnership and Wuhan International Water Law Academy organised an online engagement session based on the Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) on Governance for Transboundary Freshwater Security. The topic was ‘Does the world need more International Water Law?’ The event attracted approximately 100 participants. “One of the most encouraging feedback was a participant who realized ‘we don’t need to be lawyers to work with international water law.’ We tend to think that it is always lawyers who exercise the law, but the law is there to be exercised by anyone,” said GWP’s Yumiko Yasuda after the event.
The 2020 GWP Network Meeting concluded on 22 October, with over 900 GWP Partners signed up for the virtual event and others watching the Facebook Live feed. The overall theme was ‘Bringing the Change’ in the context of the GWP 2020-2025 Strategy and as the world faces a pandemic.
The finalists of the Water ChangeMaker Awards have been announced at the 2020 GWP Network Meeting. Oyun Sanjaasuren, Director of External Affairs for the Green Climate Fund, Chair of the stage two Water ChangeMaker thought leaders’ jury and former GWP Chair, presented the 12 change journeys that now enter the final stage of the Awards.
On 7 October, GWP Chair Howard Bamsey was the keynote speaker in the second of a series of webinars organized by the Asia-Pacific Water Forum (APWF) on the road towards the 4th Asia-Pacific Water Summit in 2022. He spoke to the topic of "Climate Change, Sustainable Development, and Investors: More Risks, More Opportunities through better Governance." His speech focused on how the world can deal with the potentially catastrophic risks of climate change by changing the pattern of investment in the global economy, towards climate-friendly activities.
In the words of Margaret Mead, “Never doubt that a small, group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has.” In that spirit, we are delighted to share the personal journeys from 78 Water ChangeMaker semi-finalists who have changed the world for the better.
The Japanese Government, in cooperation with the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), launched an online platform for sustainable and resilient recovery from COVID-19. Non-state actors were invited to contribute video messages – with GWP Chair Howard Bamsey stressing that water is at the heart of climate change adaptation.
The Central American Commission for Environment and Development (CCAD) and GWP Central America reported back to the Ministries of Environment of Nicaragua, Honduras and Guatemala on the national workshops regarding integrated drought management. GWP Central America coordinated a series of workshops on integrated drought management as part of the project “Increasing Disaster Risk Reduction Capacity due to Floods and Drought and Promoting Resilience in Central America”, financed by EUROCLIMA+.
Paraguay recently concluded a successful consultation workshop on Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) indicator 6.5.1: Degree of Implementation of Integrated Management of Water Resources (IWRM). Paraguay is one of the countries that accepted support by GWP South America to carry out consultations on SDG 6.5.1. The first round of consultations started in 2016, and in Paraguay in 2017. Paraguay's 2020 consultation is one of many taking place worldwide to collect data and measure the progress made on IWRM.
In 2014, GWP and UNICEF established a strategic partnership to work on climate resilience and Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene (WASH). While the world’s focus is currently on fighting the COVID-19 pandemic and its immediate consequences, the GWP-UNICEF collaboration is preparing for the next phase of this crisis: the support needed once governments begin to rebuild economies and introduce recovery plans to bring renewed, sustainable progress in their countries.
