With the start of the activities of the Project "Integrating Flood and Drought Management and Early Warning for Climate Change Adaptation in the Volta Basin", a project implementation team is assessing the capacities and needs of national structures for flood and drought forecasting and warning.
Howard Bamsey, the new chair of the Global Water Partnership (GWP), was the UN ambassador to Geneva, special envoy for climate change, and top leader of the Green Climate Foundation (GCF). Being invited to "the Master Lecture" organised by the IWHR, he brought a unique standpoint in the relationship between ‘climate change’ and ‘policies’. “A fall into the pit again in your wit” embedded in his insight and analysis on the lessons and learned, revealing political difficulties and challenges.
The triennial World Irrigation Forum (WIF) takes place 1-7 September in Bali, Indonesia. GWP South East Asia is participating in the event, and will launch the new 2020-2025 GWP Strategy, Mobilising for a Water Secure World.
Examining the interlinkages between energy, water, land and ecosystem resources, a new transboundary “nexus” assessment identifies integrated solutions to render resource management more sustainable in the North Western Sahara Aquifer System.
The Water-Employment-Migration (WEM) Lab II (19-20 November 2019, Istanbul), brought together representatives of key institutions (including on migration and labour), governments and stakeholders including the private sector civil society and academia, to identify related challenges, possible solutions and synergies among a range of partners. The focus was on addressing key lines towards building the WEM Framework Programme of the Union for the Mediterranean (UfM) Water Agenda, building on contributions by on-going and future actions and projects.
The SADC Secretariat has been holding a series of workshops for the transboundary River Basin Organisations (RBOs) in the region since 2006. The workshops are organised with the aim of using RBOs as a vehicle for strengthening regional integration and have served as a key tool for implementing SADC’s Revised Regional Protocol on Shared Watercourses (2000).
This month, Howard Bamsey began his duties as the new Chair of GWP. He did so with a visit to the global secretariat in Stockholm, Sweden, where he met staff and got briefed on current issues around the network. We took the opportunity to discuss his thoughts on joining GWP, and his reflections on some of GWP’s most recent activities at the UN climate change conference, COP24, in December.
The Executive Secretary of Ghana Country Water Partnership participated from 6th to 9th May 2019, in the meeting of the Technical Committee of Experts of the Volta Basin Authority at Coconut Grove Hotel in Accra, Ghana. About forty (40) participants were present, drawn from the six (6) riparian States of the basin, notably the focal points of the VBA in the countries and technical and financial partners including the IUCN, GWP-WA, UEMOA, and Water Integrity Network (WIN). Also, technical structures from Ghana participated in the meeting.
