Nepal has vast water resources and approximately 67% of its cultivated land can be irrigated. Out of the 1.7 million ha of Nepal’s irrigable land, 78% has been provided with some irrigation infrastructure. Irrigation is vital to Nepal, especially as the country is facing climate change impacts such as rise in temperature and more erratic rainfall patterns, which is creating prolonged periods of droughts and jeopardising the agricultural production nationwide. As the supply of water for agriculture becomes more variable, water resource competition and water conflicts across the country are equally becoming increasingly visible. The Bajrabarahi Village Municipality is one of those rural communities where water conflicts have been clearly on the rise over the last decade.
India Water Week-2016 was held from 4 to 8 April 2016 with the theme of ‘Water for All: Striving together’. While the Inaugural and Plenary ceremony of the event took place at Vigyan Bhavan; the rest such as seminars, panel discussions, side events, exhibitions, brainstorming sessions, were held at Pragati Maidan, New Delhi.
Lebanon and Jordan are exploring the possibility of joining the UNECE Convention on the Protection and Use of Transboundary Watercourses and International Lakes (Water Convention). To assist the two countries in this process, UNECE and the Global Water Partnership - Mediterranean (GWP-Med), with financial support provided by the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC), have organised national workshops to increase awareness and understanding of relevant stakeholders of the different legal and institutional frameworks for cooperation on shared waters resources, the specificities of the UNECE Water Convention, in comparison to the UN Watercourses Convention, as well as the complementarity of the two agreements.
The Global Water Partnership (GWP) staff in Zimbabwe attended World Water Day commemorations organised by Mukuvisi Woodlands Nature Reserve and Environment Centre incorporating the Eco Schools Environment Education Programme. The event was funded by the 3rd European Union Water Facility Programme in Zimbabwe and was held at Darwendale/Manyame Dam on the 25th of March 2015. Apart from GWP, the event attracted 449 children and 74 teachers from 27 schools and 13 other organisations which included the European Union (EU),Environment Africa (EA), Wildlife Conservation, Practical Action, Upper Manyame Sub Catchment Council (UMSCC) and National Parks.