In Somalia, water is life - literally. It is also a country where much is happening today. The one-person-one-vote election to take place in early 2021 will be a historic milestone in the country’s road back to security, stability, and wellbeing. The economy is growing, driven by increased confidence, reforms, and bank development, and the business community is resilient, globally connected, and entrepreneurial. New opportunities for economic cooperation and integration on the Horn of Africa plays to the country’s advantage. Still, water remains a critical factor in Somalia’s development pathway. It is a water scarce country, at risk of climate related variability, and has to improve its capacity to manage water well in coming years.
The Arab Water Week (AWW) is a high-profile international and regional event promoted to attract decision makers, water management practitioners, and professional organisations internationally and in the Arab region. The fifth edition of the event takes place 3-7 March in Jordan.
Our world is approaching a situation where several resources are becoming scarce at the same time, e.g., energy, nutrients, water, space, while at the same time climate change is proceeding. This will cause problems even in areas where such problems may at present seem negligible. Wealth and wellbeing of coming generations will depend on our ability to adapt our economies to this challenge in the finite world we are living in. Transforming today’s cities into sustainable cities is one of the main adaptations that will be necessary. A holistic approach looking at cities from a system’s perspective is needed to achieve this goal.
The Global Water Partnership (GWP) is supporting the Government of the Dominican Republic to implement a series of activities to inform the country’s submission for the second round of Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs). These activities are part of the Climate Action Enhancement Package from the NDC Partnership.
This year, GWP’s annual Network Meeting for Partners has been conducted for the first time in a “Follow-the-Sun” format. The objective being to engage as many of the network Partners as possible in a meaningful way, while keeping cost at bay, and also to make sure everyone who wanted could participate in their own language.
The Country Water Partnership of Benin has facilitated the setting up on 20 February 2020 of the Local Water Committee (LWC) of the Tchoutchoubou micro-basin in the commune of Tanguiéta, northern part of the country. This activity is part of the project "promoting IWRM in the Mekrou and Pendjari sub-basins" of the phase 2 of the Water, Hygiene and Sanitation Programme (ProSEHA) funded by the German Cooperation GIZ.
Strengthening partnership with national stakeholders, the chair of the CWP Guinea with Mr. Ibrahima Sory Camara, Coordinator of the National Focal Structure of the Niger Basin Authority (NBA) in Conakry.
The virtual conference CLIMATE2020 takes place from 23-30 March. It is organised by the Research and Transfer Centre Sustainability and Climate Impact Management (FTZ-NK) of the Hamburg University of Applied Sciences in Germany, and it will offer an opportunity for dialogue and exchange of ideas with scientists, experts from politics, business, education and other spheres of the society.
The United Nations system designated 2020 as the year in which most of the indicators under Sustainable Development Goal 6 on water and sanitation were to be updated. GWP, through its SDG 6 IWRM Support Programme, committed to assisting at least 60 countries in mapping out progress on SDG 6.5.1 – the degree of implementation of Integrated Water Resources Management (IWRM). Despite the COVID-19 outbreak in 2020, about 2,400 participants in 61 countries were consulted, mostly online.
