The challenges China is facing with the rapid growth of urban centres, and the corresponding demands on limited water and related resources, is immense. This is true on the Loess Plateau which covers an area of some 640,000 km² in the upper and middle of China's Yellow River. A workshop on “Efficient Use of Water Resources and Ecological Compensation” was co-organized by GWP China-Yellow River and the Yellow River Research Institute on 27-28 September 2010, in Zhengzhou, Henan Province.
Benin in West Africa belongs to the group of Least Developed Countries (LDC) with a low per capita GDP. Its economy is predominantly dependant on subsistence farming (extensive cotton production) and regional trade. The country is drained by a dense hydrographical network made up of seasonal flow rivers and less than 3% of its renewable water resources are currently used.
Key challenges in Central Asia are the degradation of ecosystems and increasing water deficiency. It is a region of scarce water resources, many of which cut across national borders. The intensive use of the limited resources leads to conflicts of interest, making transboundary water resources management crucial to the sustainability of the region’s resources.
In December 2010, the National Environmental Strategy of the Ukraine was adopted by the Ukrainian parliament and contains a component on water management. In 2009, Ukraine decided to revise its main water planning document in accordance with European Union laws and the EU’s Water Framework Directive even though the country is not a member of the EU.
The assessment of transboundary water cooperation in Central and Western Europe was the topic of a subregional workshop in Budapest on February 8-10, 2011, organized by the Ministry of Rural Development of Hungary, and the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE) in cooperation with the International Water Assessment Centre (IWAC).
For the first time, GWP Central America signed an agreement with a regional development bank to advance IWRM as an essential approach for water security, climate change and the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals in the region.
The Challenge Programme for Water and Food (CPWF) research in the Volta basin has been developed to respond to challenges in the river basin of “improving rainwater and small reservoir management to contribute to poverty reduction, and improved livelihoods resilience in Burkina Faso and Northern Ghana while taking account of implications for downstream water users including ecosystem services”.
On April 18, 2011, Ministers issued a Declaration expressing their support for the continuation and enhancement of the Drin Dialogue with the assistance of GWP Mediterranean and the U.N. Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE), and for the preparation of the Shared Vision for the management of the Drin Basin.
GWP Caribbean and Caribbean WaterNet in collaboration with the Government of Grenada, the National Water and Sewerage Authority (NAWASA) and the National Disaster Management Agency (NADMA), held a three-day workshop in Grenada on ‘Hydro-Climatic Hazards in Water Resources Management’, May 16-18, 2011.
GWP Pakistan collaborated with WWF Pakistan in holding a Stakeholders Consultation in Islamabad on July 16, 2011, on Integrated River Basin Management for the Indus River and Water Stewardship Study.