World Rivers Day is observed each year on the last Sunday of September and it is a celebration of the world's waterways. It highlights the many values of rivers and strives to increase public awareness and encourages the improved stewardship of rivers around the world. Rivers in virtually every country face an array of threats, and only through our active involvement can we ensure their health in the years ahead.
One of the critical challenges facing the water sector is climate change. Studies have shown that Uganda is highly vulnerable to climate change and variability. This means that the economy and wellbeing of its people are tightly bound to climate. This has been demonstrated by increasing climate variability and occurrences of floods and droughts over the last two decades. These changes are likely to have significant implications for water sources, agriculture, food security, and soils.
The elaboration of the study on the "Identification of development priorities in the Mékrou transboundary basin" in each country (Benin, Burkina and Niger) with workshops for the restitution and validation has been delayed because of some practical issues. The contracts were signed with some delay with each consultants and some national issues linked to the political and social situation couldn’t allow work to go on correctly.
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.
The Global Water Partnership - Mediterranean (GWP-Med) coordinated the Drin Day 2016, joining forces with the Mediterranean Information Office for Environment Culture and Sustainable Development (MIO-ECSDE), in the framework of the Drin Project and the Act4Drin Project respectively.
The Burkina WACDEP team had field trips in February (13th 2015) and March (13, 25 and 29) to first inform and discuss with interested parties on the progress of the demonstration project and find consensual solutions for the conduct of the project. Due to new budget limitation developments the intervention was reframed based on available financial resources. 