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On Wednesday 22nd March, 2017, GWPSA’s Executive Secretary and Head of Africa Coordination Unit, Mr. Alex Simalabwi, together with GWPSA programme staff attended the United Nations World Water Day Summit and Expo in Durban, South Africa to mark the 2017 World Water Day global celebrations under the theme “Wastewater”. The summit and expo were hosted by the Department of Water and Sanitation, in partnership with the KwaZulu-Natal provincial government and UN Water.

The first draft of the national studies in Benin, Burkina and Niger on the identification of development priorities in the Mekrou Basin have been submitted to the Project Manager. These drafts were forwarded to the Project Management team as well as to the international consultant recruited by GWPO to make a coherence in the national studies. The international consultant is to ensure the national consultants’ work comply with the Terms of Reference and create a coherence between the three studies.

 

On the global stage, China has remained a low profile as a late comer in regard of technology, economic development, environmental protection, water and other resources security, climate adaptation. Regardless of the latest adverse impact on the promotion of “the Paris Agreement on Climate Change”, China has kept its promise to the Paris Agreement since it signed in late November of 2016, giving a strong push to the international efforts against global warming.

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.

The distribution of many rural communities in Brazil presents a major challenge in terms of providing access to energy. The production and consumption of energy can, however, have serious consequences for the natural environment. The energy sector in Brazil has been engaged in a process of ‘learning from mistakes'. One important lesson learnt is that establishing and maintaining a high-level policy consensus is key in achieving success. 

The Global Water Partnership (GWP) Sponsoring Partners have announced the appointment of Dr. Oyun Sanjaasuren as the new Chair of GWP, effective July 1, 2016. Dr. Oyun is a Member of Parliament of Mongolia, former Minister of Environment and Green Development, and former Minister of Foreign Affairs. She currently serves as President of the United Nations Environment Assembly of UNEP.

The interdependence between Water, Energy and Food security (WEF) offers opportunities for stronger collaboration among the three sectors, thus increasing the strength of tackling the region’s developmental Agenda leading to the achievement of the SADC Goals of Peace and Stability, Regional Integration, Industrialisation and Poverty Eradication.

In the Netherlands and Belgium, good quality of water has become increasingly scarce. Action was taken and a project was initiated with the objective of conserving water quality and increasing water use efficiency in agriculture. The case illustrates the importance of involving farmers and other water users initially, so that they feel a sense of responsibility and motivation to introduce new approaches.

We are looking for young activists to join forces for water & climate!

 

Five awards of €1,000 each are available for youth-led projects which are based on the white paper recommendations made at COP 21.