Responding to the dramatic increase in extreme weather events and mega disasters is one of the great challenges of the Limpopo River Basin. Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) is a top priority for the basin as it seeks to hold back the tide of rising economic and human losses through flood and droughts. To reduce risks from such disasters, GWPSA has over the past 2 years been involved in the development of a disaster risk reduction action plan for the Limpopo Basin. This Plan of Action presents a strategy for integrating disaster risk reduction into the Limpopo transboundary level operations. As part of the process to developing the plan, GWPSA held a workshop on the 5th of April, 2016, to validate the draft DRR action plan of the Limpopo Basin.
GWPSA facilitated the LIMCOM Technical Task Team Meeting that was held to develop the Limpopo River Basin IWRM Plan 2016-2020. The workshop took place in Johannesburg on the 6th and 7th of April, 2016. The 2016-2020 plan follows the 2011-2015 IWRM LIMCOM Plan that came to an end in 2015 and had adopted a comprehensive approach to Integrated Water Resources Management (IWRM) through three strategic areas, namely: i) Water Governance, ii) Water Management and iii) Water Resources Development. It was against these areas that the new plan would be developed.
World Meteorological Organization (WMO) and Global Water Partnership South Asia (GWP SAS) will be jointly organising ‘Climate Services User Forum (CSUF 27 and 28 April 2016) for the Water Sector in South Asia’ in association with WMO’s South Asian Climate Outlook Forum (SASCOF-8) in Colombo, Sri Lanka.
GWP-CAf Staff made a four days working visit to the Executive Secretariat of Lake Chad Basin Commission (LCBC), which took place from 22 to 25 of March 2016, in Ndjamena, Chad.
The main objective of this visit was to finalize the ToRs and tender document for the development of a project on the establishment of an Early Warning System. The visit ended with the approval of the Terms of Reference (ToR) of the project entitled “Strengthening Climate Information and Early Warning Systems (EWS) for Climate Resilient Development and Adaptation to Climate Change in the Lake Chad Basin area”.
Upon finalization of the campaign ÔVI (eau=vie / water=life) that has been running throughout February and March in primary schools around Tunisia to raise awareness on water scarcity and the importance of water saving, the Global Water Partnership - Mediterranean (GWP-Med) celebrated the World Water Day by organizing a workshop on “Water, Youth and Employment” on Saturday, 19 March 2016, in Hammamet.
On the occasion of World Water Day (22 March), GWP China hosted the 3rd Regional Partners’ Meeting during which the new council members of GWP China were elected for a term of three years (2016-2018) in Beijing.
In the run-up to the World Water Day 2016, let’s become ambassadors for change. Let’s address water scarcity utilizing options beyond the conventional!