Decades of underinvestment led to poor water and wastewater services and low coverage in Manila. Due to this poor service, the government was unable to increase its water tariffs due to customers’ unwillingness to pay. This situation translated into very low cash flows for the government, thus leading again to the issue of underinvestment, which soon turned to a vicious cycle.
The 1st Regional Conference of the Union for the Mediterranean (UfM) labelled project Governance & Financing for the Mediterranean Water Sector was organised on 28-30 October 2014, in Athens, Greece, by the Global Water Partnership- Mediterranean (GWP-Med), in close collaboration with the EU funded Sustainable Water Integrated Management-Support Mechanism (SWIM-SM) project. It convened more than 110 decision makers; representatives of government; civil society; the private sector; international organisations; donors and financing institutions.
In line with the GWP strategic thematic area on urbanisation, GWP is collaborating with AfDB – Africa Water Facility and Partners to support the region and countries in Africa to address challenges related to water management in urban areas in cities in Africa. In view of this, a capacity building workshop on IUWM was held from 25th to 28th January in Abidjan, Ivory Coast aimed at contributing to the well-being of the urban population of Africa by improving water and wastewater services through the implementation of an integrated approach.
A field trip to the Secretariat of the International Commission for the Protection of the Danube River (ICPDR) as well as to water management national institutions in selected Danube Riparian countries - Austria, Slovakia and Hungary – that are active in the framework of the ICPDR, was organized on 8-10 October 2014.
Up to 300 participants from more than 30 countries were gathered for the Gender, Water and Development Conference, 7-11 November in East London, South Africa. The conference is organised as a step towards an on-going journey to change equality, equity and development in the water sector.
The IDMP WAF has launched a consultation to recruit national experts in the project countries (Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger) to review drought management ongoing initiatives in each country.
The IDMP Project officer met also a delegation from the Danish Hydraulic Institute (DHI) to discuss area of collaboration mainly on the possiblity of carrying out the identification of microproject for demonstration in Burkina Faso. DHI is already working on inundation and drought management tools in the Volta Basin and the collaboration could build on this intiative.
The Matura watershed is located in the eastern region of Trinidad. The major threats to watershed degradation originate from anthropogenic activities that are unsustainably executed. Several mitigation measures were initiated by the regulatory agencies that constantly monitor the watershed as well as the community-based organisation, Nature Seekers.
Sabina Bokal and Prof. Janusz Kindler will represent GWP Central and Eastern Europe at the High-level Meeting on 11-15 March 2013 in Geneva, Switzerland.