On March 8th, 2015, the Global Water Partnership (GWP) which comprises of thirteen (13) Regional Water Partnerships including the Global Water Partnership-Caribbean (GWP-C) will celebrate International Women’s Day (IWD) by advocating for a #watergoal, which would mean major improvements in living conditions for women worldwide. GWP's Chair Ursula Schaefer-Preuss points out that there is a close connection between women and water.
On March 3, 2015, the Workshop on Stories to Watch 2015 was held in Tsinghua University in Beijing which was jointly organized by the World Resources Institute (WRI) China and the Institute for Contemporary China Studies at Tsinghua University. Mr. Rugang Zheng, the Coordinator of GWP China was invited to attend the workshop.
Qingdao city, with more than 5 million inhabitants, suffers from an acute water shortage. Its water resources are unevenly distributed, both temporally and spatially. Qingdao’s urban water system also faces an inevitable rise in energy intensity and carbon emissions.
The Global Water Partnership – Mediterranean (GWP-Med) will be a key supporter of the Malta Water Week, to be held on March 25-26, 2015, along, among other, the Sustainable Energy and Water Conservation Unit of the Maltese Ministry for Energy and Health, the EIP (European Innovation Partnership)-Secretariat, the European Regions Research and Innovation Network, as well as the Maltese Water Services Corporation. The Malta Water Week is being organised by Paragon Europe, within the framework of the “Water Efficiency in European Urban Areas” - WE@EU Project, with the aim to create an open platform for EU excellence in sustainable and efficient urban water management that will enable participating clusters and regions to bring together knowledge and innovation potential by collaborating and mutually learning on a trans-national basis.
A series of activities called The Great Walk for Water initiated by some NGOs will be held from 22 February to 22 March 2015 to draw the World attention on the future "disappearance" of Lake Chad, if nothing is done. This great walk for water is a media caravan, actions and multidisciplinary activities to advocate for an increased attention on the situation of National and International Watercourses in Africa in general and especially the Lake Chad.
During the year, Vietnam Water Partnership reviewed the existing irrigation management status and plan as well as drafted a proposal for new irrigation management plan. Two key government institutions, Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD) and Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment (MONRE) of Vietnam, are fully supporting the implementation of the activities that are under WACDEP program. Vietnam Water Partnership also coordinated closely with National Focal Point of Vietnam to UNFCCC, which will utilize the results of this program into other program of climate change agenda in the country.
Taking advantage of their presence in Ouagadougou, the GWP WAF chair, Abel AFOUDA and the network officer for West Africa visited with the Executive Secretary some of our partners. In view of getting in touch with the technical and financial partners, a series of meetings were organized.
In his address to the participants during the official ceremony of the Integrated Drought Management Project in West Africa (IDMP-WAF), the Chair of GWP-WA, Pr. Abel AFOUDA made a vibrant plea inviting organizations represented at the workshop and other regional institutions and governments in the region to add their voice to the GWP in the campaign for a dedicated "Water Goal" in the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to be adopted in September 2015 on the occasion of the 70th ordinary Session of the UN General Assembly in New York.