A Regional Day under the theme of “Improved Efficiency for Increased Resilience to Climate Change: an Integrated Water Resources Management Perspective”, and a seminar on “Different Capacities, Different Roles – Empowering South Asian Women for Climate Change Adaptation” were jointly organised by GWP South Asia, GWP-India and WAPCOS Ltd at the recently concluded India Water Week 2013 held in New Delhi, India. Both events witnessed a large number of participants and lively panel discussions. The South Asia Climate Resiliency and Water Security Programme (WAter and Climate REsilience Programme – WACREP) was also launched as part of the Regional Day.
Local ownership and information are keys to success in water resources management. A project in the Cyohoha water catchment, shared between Rwanda and Burundi, shows that IWRM works in a region which suffered from disastrous conflicts only twenty years go.
Nine (9) Caribbean Ministers with responsibility for water resources management have committed themselves to making all essential efforts in addressing water security and climate change in the region.
The water resources of The Bahamas are threatened by over-abstraction, misuse and pollution. In the past, water management in the Bahamas has been conducted through a single-sector approach. To address its issues, actions have been taken to move towards IWRM and a multi-sector approach. In particular, attention has been focused on improving stakeholder participation and advancing political commitment. Presently only being partially successful, IWRM implementation in Bahamas highlights that it is a long term process.
To supply water to a growing population, an aqueduct was built in the watershed of El Limón River in Tovar municipality. However, this aqueduct does not provide sufficient supply, creating conflicts among the communities. To solve these, agreements on the use and conservation of water resources have been made among the communities, involving both rural villages and urban areas. This illustrates the benefits of a participatory approach.
The EU Water Framework Directive requires member states to identify and implement program of measures for reaching good water status for all water bodies by 2015. In Romania, this requires substantial investments. In response to address the pressures in the Romanian river basins, a number of measures have been identified, divided into basic measures and supplementary measures. The key lesson is the value of approaching the issue with several complimentary measures.
In its efforts to continue building capacity for improved water management in the region, Global Water Partnership-Caribbean (GWP-C) together with its partner, the Caribbean Agricultural Research and Development Institute (CARDI) hosted a workshop entitled ‘Water Use Efficiency in the Agriculture Sector’ on November 1st - 3rd, 2011 at the University of the West Indies (UWI) Centre in St. Kitts.