The COVID-19 pandemic is affecting societies and economies of countries at their core at different levels. It will most likely increase poverty and inequalities in South Asia, making achievement of SDGs even more urgent.
Trinidad and Tobago held a virtual consultation on Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) indicator 6.5.1 – which tracks the degree of Integrated Water Resources Management (IWRM) implementation. This is the first in a series of 60+ in-country consultations coordinated by GWP this year, in collaboration with the UNEP-DHI Centre and Cap-Net UNDP, under the guidance of the UN Environment Programme. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, most of the planned workshops will be held online. “We firmly believe that an integrated approach to water resources management is needed now more than ever”, says GWP Senior Water Resources Management Specialist Colin Herron.
Back by popular demand, the Transboundary Freshwater Security Governance Train starts its ‘Season 2’ in September 2021. This series of online engagement sessions follow a ‘train-like’ approach, stopping at various locations around the world and focusing on topics related to transboundary freshwater security. Each new stop explores a different topic from the Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) for Governance for Transboundary Freshwater Security. In addition to GWP and Wuhan International Water Academy (IWLA), ‘Season 2’ will be co-organised with various partners working in the transboundary water governance space. The first session focuses on international dispute settlement, co-organised by GWP and IWLA, and takes place on 21 September.
As part of Inter-Regional and South-South Cooperation within the GWP network, Global Water Partnership South America (GWP SAM) in collaboration with Global Water Partnership, Central Africa (GWP-CAf) organized a webinar in Portuguese on November 19, 2020 to introduce the Integrated Water Resource Management – IWRM Toolbox by GWP to partners in Sao Tome and Principe in a bid to find out their IWRM learning needs and preferences.
GWP and the International Water Management Institute (IWMI) are co-organising an online event on 24 February to launch a perspectives paper which intends to inspire discussion within the water and development community on the role of storage in managing water and building resilience.
From January to May 2021, the Mekrou Phase 2 Niger Project management team (PMT) has continued with the implementation of planned activities including contract signing with the consultant firms that were selected at the end of the bid for tender to carry out two main studies in the project implementation zones and start of the study processes.
On her visit to the Hellenic Parliament on 27 February 2020, Global Water Partnership Executive Secretary, Dr Monika Weber-Fahr, extended an invitation to Greek Parliamentarians and Government to strengthen their collaboration with the Global Water Partnership network, in order to address global and regional challenges to water security.