Lebanon and Jordan are exploring the possibility of joining the UNECE Convention on the Protection and Use of Transboundary Watercourses and International Lakes (Water Convention). To assist the two countries in this process, UNECE and the Global Water Partnership - Mediterranean (GWP-Med), with financial support provided by the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC), have organised national workshops to increase awareness and understanding of relevant stakeholders of the different legal and institutional frameworks for cooperation on shared waters resources, the specificities of the UNECE Water Convention, in comparison to the UN Watercourses Convention, as well as the complementarity of the two agreements.
GWP China representatives were at the 7th World Water Forum in Korea in April, taking part in many of the events and sessions of the conference. In addition to delegates from the regional secretariat, some experts from GWP China Regional Water Partnerships were actively facilitating the processes.
Due to a growing need within the region for countries to agree on a water-related research agenda and themes, and to avoid duplication in research, a workshop on developing a Southern Africa Development Community (SADC) Water Research Agenda was held at St. George Hotel in Pretoria, South Africa from the 8th to the 9th of April 2015. The workshop was planned and organised conjointly by SADC and WaterNet with the cooperation of GWP SA.
The GWP network celebrated World Water Day 2015 with a string of events throughout the world, from Central America to China. This a summary of some of the highlights, with links to reports.
On 26 March 2015, the Burundi CWP held its ordinary statutory general assembly meeting in Bujumbura to discuss several issues icluding review of progress towards activity achievement for the year 2014 and strategy for the implementation of Bu CWP’s Action Plan for the year 2015.
The Global Water Partnership Southern Africa (GWPSA) together with the Agriculture Research Council (ARC) held a close-out workshop at Khoroni Metcourt in Venda, South Africa on 26 March 2015. A total of 24 people attended the workshop, the majority of whom were direct beneficiaries of the project, the farmers that implemented the Rain water Harvesting on their fields. Other key representatives were from the Department of Water and Sanitation (DWS) and the Limpopo Department of Agriculture, the tribal authority from Ha-Lambani .
Water insecurity costs the global economy some US$ 500 billion annually, according to Global Water Partnership (GWP). That figure does not take into account environmental impacts so the total drag on the world economy could be 1% or more of global Gross Domestic Product (GDP).
The National Adaptation Plan Global Support Programme (NAP-GSP)/GWP Joint Mission aiming at supporting the National Adaptation Planning process in Madagascar and suggesting next steps and actions was held from 9th to 19th March 2015 in Antananarivo, Madagascar.
In Burkina a national workshop was organized in February to validate the National Adaptation Plan to Climate Change (NAP). This workshop brought together a hundred participants to review the final version of the NAP document that integrated the amendments made by the workshop of April 1, 2014 including those on water security, water has been integrated as a cross cutting sector. The principle of integrating water as central and cross cutting to all other sectors, thanks to the facilitation work from WACDEP, is one of the improvements of the document. The link is made between water and each priority area in the plan.
The Minister of Environment and Fisheries, in his opening remarks delivered by the Secretary General, addresses thanks to the Country Water Partnership of Burkina, through WACDEP for its very important role, both technical and financial, played in the development process of the National Adaptation Plan of Burkina Faso.
The document will adopted by the Cabinet in the Council of Ministers and then submitted to the United Nations Framework Convention as the NAP for Burkina Faso.
In Burkina a national workshop was organized in February to validate the National Adaptation Plan to Climate Change (NAP). This workshop brought together a hundred participants to review the final version of the NAP document that integrated the amendments made by the workshop of April 1, 2014 including those on water security, water has been integrated as a cross cutting sector.
1. Ghana: WACDEP supports GWJN Way-forward exercise
CWP-Ghana/WACDEP has supported members of the Ghana WatSan Journalists Network (GWJN) to undertake a Field Exercise aimed at assessing residents’ access to portable water in some selected communities in Accra as part of activities marking the World Water Day. This is a Way forward activity of the Media Training that was carried out in September, 2014. There were about 20 participants drawn from the membership of the network including in the print, radio, online and television media. The activity was monitored by the Communications officer.