The Global Water Partnership – Mediterranean (GWP-Med) contributed to a key UNESCO handbook on science diplomacy and transboundary water management published in late 2015, focusing on the Orontes River case in Lebanon; this was the outcome of the Information and Communications Technology (ICT) project “New technologies for an integrated and sustainable management of natural resources in Lebanon” financially supported by the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation.
Within the context of implementation of WACDEP in central Africa, GWP Cameroon in collaboration with GWP-Caf organized in Douala, Cameroon, from August 26th - to 28th 2015 WACDEP project capacity building workshop for national institutions and water organizations on “project preparation related to water security and climate resilience”.
The 3 days’ workshop brought together planners in ministries from Cameroon, Chad and Gabon and water professionals from Country Water Partnerships like Cameroon, Central African Republic and Sao Tome and Principe.
The main objective of the workshop was, on the one hand to introduce stakeholders the different project preparation key steps, integrating water security and climate resilience in conformity with the funders’ requirements, to know better the financial institutions and also to plead for integrating water security and climate resilience into development planning process and on the other hand to develop no/low regret investment and financing strategies
One of the critical challenges facing the water sector is climate change. Studies have shown that Uganda is highly vulnerable to climate change and variability. This means that the economy and wellbeing of its people are tightly bound to climate. This has been demonstrated by increasing climate variability and occurrences of floods and droughts over the last two decades. These changes are likely to have significant implications for water sources, agriculture, food security, and soils.
The 16th WaterNet/WARFSA/GWP-SA Symposium was held on the island of Mauritius at Le Méridien Hotel from the 28 to 30 of October 2015 under the theme ‘Integrated Water Resources Management (IWRM) and Infrastructure Planning for Water Security in Southern Africa’. The University of Mauritius, a GWPSA partner was the lead host of the Symposium. The Symposia has been held annually in the Eastern and Southern African region for the past 15 years to promote interaction among policymakers, academics, practitioners from water and related sectors, and cooperating partners.
The GWP network celebrated World Water Day 2015 with a string of events throughout the world, from Central America to China. This a summary of some of the highlights, with links to reports.