It is often said that one of the only times you should look back, is to see how far you’ve come. This is quite fitting as Ms. Simone Lewis, Regional Coordinator of the Global Water Partnership-Caribbean (GWP-C), celebrates her second anniversary with the organisation.
How well is the world managing its water resources? To answer that question, the UN Environment Programme (UNEP), with the UNEP-DHI Centre and Global Water Partnership (GWP), have analysed the responses from 186 countries to the survey instrument on Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) indicator 6.5.1 – the degree of implementation of Integrated Water Resources Management (IWRM) – showing that the world as a whole has advanced from 49% in 2017 to 54% in 2020. While this does show definite progress, 107 countries are currently not on track to meet the target of implementing IWRM by 2030, and to reach the global goal, the current rate of implementation would need to at least double.
World Water Day is commemorated on 22 March - an annual UN observance to focus attention on the global water crisis. This year’s theme is 'Valuing Water', exploring what water means to people, its value and how we can protect this essential life resource. GWP South Asia, the global GWP office and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Government of Netherlands are organising a regional webinar on experiences and lessons at country level.
Budapest Water Summit 2019 took place on 15-17 October, and GWP took the opportunity to ask youth about their experience with GWP. Joanna O’Keefe from Poland said that GWP introduced her to a completely new world: “I knew scientific conferences, but now I also get involved with policy making events and political events.”
There were two youth associations competing to be the implementing partner of the project on the ground. Competing for this project were the "Koom La Viim" association (which means "Water is life") of Nomgana / rural municipality of Loumbila and the "Nongtaaba/Jeune La Touma" association (which means "youth is work") of Koankin in the rural municipality of Saponé.
The United Nations World Water Day (WWD) is observed annually on March 22nd. This year's theme is: Water and Climate Change. One of the ways the Global Water Partnership-Caribbean (GWP-C) will be commemorating the Day, is through the launch of its WWD Photo Contest.
