Preceded by a series of regional workshops in Africa, Latin America, South-East Asia and Central Asia organized by IUCN and IWA since 2012, the Symposium on Infrastructure Solutions in the Water-Energy-Food Nexus was taken place at the Beijing Friendship Hotel, starting on Thursday 13 November and ending on Saturday 15 November, 2014, in Beijing. GWP China was formally invited to be the co-sponsor of the symposium jointly with IUCN and IWA .
Luke Smith, a Trinidadian graduate student at The University of the West Indies (UWI), St. Augustine Campus, has claimed the top spot in the Global Water Partnership-Caribbean (GWP-C) Media Awards on Water 2015 – Video Competition.
Lake Naivasha is an internationally renowned Ramsar site located in the Rift Valley in Kenya. But unlike most other designated wetlands of international importance, the water in Lake Naivasha also anchors a flourishing horticultural industry. The Lake Naivasha Riparian Association (LNRA) was established in 1929 to protect local land owner’s rights. and the LNRA became more strident in trying to balance the impact of the expanding commercial interests surrounding the lake with protecting its environmental integrity.
The Country Water Partnerships invited to take part in the inaugural session of the Steering Committee meeting of GWP met with the Regional Secretariat and the Network Officers in the afternoon of November 25. This was an opportunity to review the latest version of the GWP 2014-2019 Strategy and GWP West Africa 2014-2016 Work Programme as well as initiatives and opportunities that may be of some interest to CWPs.
Groundwater is a critical source of fresh drinking water for the citizens and also supplies irrigated agriculture in Shaanxi Province. Groundwater is also important in sustaining streams, lakes, wetlands, and associated ecosystems. In the meantime , effects of climate change on groundwater resources are closely linked to other global change drivers, including population growth, urbanization and land-use change, coupled with other socio-economic and political trends.
As one of co-organizers, GWP China facilitated the IUCN to organize the Sub-forum of the "Metropolis Drinking Water Source Protection" on July 21, 2014, in Guiyang, which was a side event of the Eco Forum Global Annual Conference of Guiyang 2014.
World Water Week 2014 takes place in Stockholm from 31 August to 5 September. This year’s theme is “Energy and Water”. Global Water Partnership will be involved in a number of activities during the week-long event.
GWP SA is working closely with a number of partners namely GRID-Arendal and RESILIM in the development of an Atlas of the Limpopo River Basin. This initiative is a basin collaboration initiative known as the Limpopo River Basin of Our Changing Environment. An initial conceptualisation workshop was held by the partners on the 18th-19th August, 2014 at Cresta Churchill in Bulawayo, Zimbabwe. The workshop brought together 33 participants to share experiences and understand the environmental changes that have occurred in the Limpopo River Basin and conceptualise the development of an Atlas.
A landmark conference took place on 15-17 October 2014 at Birchwood Hotel in Johannesburg, South Africa to enhance discussions between SADC and SADC regional partners such as River Basin Organisations, International Cooperating partners and developmental partners, such as RESILIM, CRIDF and GWPSA on “Strengthening Regional Cooperation and Resilience in Water Related Disasters”.
GWP SA, on behalf of SADC is currently making preparations for the forthcoming SADC Water Weeks which have been slated from April – October 2014. The SADC Water Weeks are aimed at ensuring that the Regional Water Programme is well understood and embraced by stakeholders from various sectors at the national level. The SADC Water Weeks were last held in the year 2000 and led to the development of the SADC Water Vision for Water, Life and the Environment