In preparation for the new Water Law in Bulgaria, as well as the EU Water Framework Directive, the watershed council was set up as a pilot to test on-site effective and participatory approaches to river resource management in the Varbitsa River. The key lesson drawn is that participatory, open, citizen-friendly and bottom-up approaches are more efficient than top-down administrative approaches.
The 2015 Working Conference and the Sub-regional Consultation Meeting of GWP China were organized on February 9 and 10, 2015 in Beijing.
Lao People’s Democratic Republic (PDR) faces considerable challenges in the delivery of sustainable and equitable access to sanitation in rural areas. Small steps have been taken towards increasing national ownership of and political commitment to sanitation in Lao PDR. As a lesson learnt; there is no one blueprint for progress in sanitation delivery. Services can be delivered in different ways– e.g. household investment or direct programmatic efforts.
If you are part of the GWP network, chances are that you have met GWP Head of Network Operations, Jacques Rey. He is coordinating GWP programmes in the global secretariat in Stockholm, and has been involved from the beginning of GWP, way back in 1996. Here he reflects on his history with the network.
Global institutions are still in the learning phase when it comes to successfully managing water and energy in an integrated manner as part of the quest for sustainable development. According to World Bank official Daryl Fields, understanding the water-energy nexus is critical for addressing growth and human development, urbanisation and climate change, but many policy-makers are finding it challenging to transform this concept into a reality. Fields, who is also a Technical Committee member of the Global Water Partnership, was speaking at a recent meeting of the GWP Consulting Partners, held in Trinidad for the first time.
The Upper Veda Project involves a dam that would submerge 14 villages. Opposing the project, the affected communities took action and urged for alternative solutions. The dam was eventually constructed, but the process was characterised by conflicts between the project authorities and the communities. This case illustrates that dam projects, which directly affect the livelihoods of large numbers of people, need to have developed a well defined rehabilitation plan prior to construction.
One of the areas of advocacy that the Global Water Partnership-Caribbean (GWP-C) promotes is Rainwater Harvesting (RWH). GWP-C advocates for safe RWH practices as a means of water augmentation, especially in light of climate related scenarios predicted for the Caribbean.
Global Water Partnership Central and Eastern Europe (GWP CEE) organized an innovative session on stakeholder involvement in water resource management at European River restoration Conference (ERRC) 2014 in Vienna on 29 October 2014.
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.
His Majesty King Mswati III's government through the Ministry of Natural Resources and Energy of Swaziland has joined the Southern African Development Community (SADC) in giving contributions to the fourth SADC regional water work programme. This three day event, held under the theme “from vision to Action” is being held from 27-29 May, 2015. The event is being held at Happy Valley in Ezulwini, Swaziland.