GWP Central America signed an agreement with the National Water Authority of Nicaragua (Autoridad Nacional del Agua - ANA) to help prepare guidelines for basin management plans. The agreement, signed October 14, 2011, is a contribution to the implementation of the Water Law approved in 2007.
A USAID project to develop a regional economic model for the integrated use of Aral Sea basin water resources was granted to a consortium of DHI, COWI and GWP Central Asia and Caucasus (GWP CACENA), with GWP CACENA being asked to coordinate the project. A working meeting was held on 7-9 December 2011 to elaborate specific assignments for national experts from five countries.
A River Basin Management Plan of the Sava river basin is under development, the first attempt in the Southern European region to draft a River Basin Management Plan according to the EU Water Framework Directive. GWP Mediterranean and GWP Central and Eastern Europe have significantly contributed to the stakeholder involvement process related to development of the Plan.
West Africa has ten aquifers and some countries have no other alternative water resources than groundwater.
Conflicts over water resources exist in Vietnam as in many parts of the world where a large population have to share scarce water resources. To tackle these issues, GWP Vietnam organized a workshop on 29th November 2011, in Hanoi, to discuss solutions through and integrated approach to Food-Water-Energy Security.
GWP Georgia organized a meeting where the Ministry of Environmental Protection and the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE) agreed to carry out a National Policy Dialogue on Integrated Water Resources Management whose main objective is to facilitate achievement of the Millennium Development Goals on water-related issues.
GWP Chile organized a seminar "Towards an Integrated Water Resources Management” in Santiago on Tuesday, December 13 together with the Faculty of Law at Gabriela Mistral University. The workshop emerged as an initiative from the Diagnosis of Water Resources Management developed by the World Bank and disseminated by the General Water Directorate in June 2011.
Setting up of institutional mechanisms, legal status issues, and developing biological monitoring standards, were discussed at a workshop on monitoring and assessment methods for river and lake health, organized by GWP China on January 13, 2012, in Beijing.
GWP India is supporting the Society for the Promotion of Waste Lands Development who, with key partners the Sach-Sach Society and Shramik Bharti, is undertaking a dialogue with community-based organisations across the Ganga River on the need to engage meaningfully with the National Ganga River Basin Authority and the Indian Institute of Technology consortium.
The National Water Law, approved in 2009 (see GWP in Action 2009 Annual Report, p. 24), aims to establish a national framework for water management and stipulates the establishment of watershed councils to improve water governance through stakeholder participation.