The International Day for Disaster Risk Reduction takes place on 13 October. It is an opportunity to acknowledge the progress being made toward reducing disaster risk and losses in lives, livelihoods and health. The 2021 edition will focus on “International cooperation for developing countries to reduce their disaster risk and disaster losses”.
The project team of TonFuturTonClimat of Benin has officially launched the reforestation actions by the Mayor of Tanguieta (in northern Benin) in the presence of the Executive Secretary of CWP-Benin, the heads of the Local Committee of Water (CLE), the departmental forestry officer, the communal unit of the territorial agency of agricultural development and several other guests.
The World Day to Combat Desertification and Drought is celebrated annually on 17 June to raise awareness around desertification and drought. GWP Senior Water & Climate Specialist Valentin Aich, who works on the Technical Support Unit of the Integrated Drought Management Programme (IDMP), shares some insights on what’s currently on the IDMP agenda. One of the major activities is expanding the programme to Caucasus and Central Asia (CACENA). Aich is passionate about this but explains that it is a process that will take years to achieve – however, all the elements are now in place and the time is right.
The Consortium, comprising the World Meteorological Organization (WMO), the Volta Basin Authority (VBA) and the Global Water Partnership in West Africa (GWP-WA), organized from 02 to 04 August 2021 in Bobo-Dioulasso in Burkina Faso, the first of a series of eight (8) national training workshops on "Mainstreaming gender into the end-to-end early warning system for flood forecasting and integrated flood risk management in the Volta Basin”. This was followed by the holding of the Decision-makers' Day on Thursday, August 5, which focused on the same theme in Bobo Dioulasso.
Last year the global pandemic exposed how current governance systems are inadequately prepared to address systemic challenges that threaten humanity. Better preparedness can make communities more resilient to large scale threats. On 2 June, GWP launched a report, “Mobilising Change: 10 years of climate resilient water investments”, which is a contribution to implementing transformative development to solve climate change challenges to water security.
2023 is a critical reporting year on the SDGs, when countries will detail their progress on water management, a process that will be supported by GWP and the SDG 6 IWRM Support Programme.
The Togolese Ministry of Environment and Forest Resources (MERF) in collaboration with Global Water Partnership West Africa (GWP-WA) organised from 05 to 08 July 2022, the workshop for the restitution, consolidation and validation of the results of the work of the first meeting of experts on the updating of the framework law on the environment in Togo in Kpalimé, Togo.
A Learning exchange on gender mainstreaming in water resources management (WRM) was organised on September 16th, 2021, to present the findings of the study on that topic. The event was also used as a platform to better understand and discuss how to advance on the key enablers and overcome common bottlenecks for gender mainstreaming in WRM, for those working on SDG 6.5 and SDG 5; and to understand the need for support from national governments and other stakeholders to advance in this key area for sustainable development.
In June 2022, a cohort of young and aspiring water specialists from Central and Eastern Europe will get a chance to experience a week of theory and practice on Integrated Water Resources Management at the Tisza Lake in Hungary.
