More than 140 decision makers and representatives of government, civil society, international organisations, donors, financing institutions, and the private and banking sector, came together for 3 days sharing experiences and discussing needs, challenges and next steps during the “Conference on Water Governance in MENA and wider Mediterranean region” that was held in Barcelona, on 12-14 December. The Regional Conference was organised under the auspices of the Union for the Mediterranean (UfM), by two UfM-labelled projects supported by the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (Sida), namely the Governance & Financing for the Mediterranean Water Sector project led by GWP-Med, and the Regional Water Integrity Capacity Building Programme in MENA, led by SIWI UNDP Water Governance Facility. The Conference was organised in close and strategic synergy with the EU-funded Sustainable Water Integrated Management and Horizon 2020 Support Mechanism (SWIM-H2020 SM) regional project.
In 2015, the Paris Agreement saw countries make a commitment to climate change mitigation and adaptation through their Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) and National Adaptation Plans (NAPs). In parallel, the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) were adopted to address a broad range of sustainable development issues. These two landmark international agreements offer substantive opportunities to integrate water security and climate resilience into transformative growth and development globally, regionally, and nationally.
On January 18, 2017, GWP China and other three Asian Water Partnerships were invited to the 3rd Asia-Pacific Water Summit in Singapore. It was sponsored by the Asia-Pacific Water Forum (APWF) and organized by the Singapore Water Hub.
Pleased to acknowledge Zhang River Administration, Chinese Academy of Press and Publication and GWPO ToolBox Knowledge Management team for their invaluable assistance throughout the preparation of the original manuscript.