UNCCD COP16 is set to be the largest conference in the Convention's history, with high expectations for impactful outcomes, particularly in addressing drought. Held in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, from 2-13 December 2024, this COP will bring together global leaders, experts, and stakeholders to accelerate solutions for land restoration, resilience to drought, and sustainable land management under the theme “Our Land. Our Future.”
This process, initiated by the Cameroon government in 2023, has been supported by several technical and financial partners, including the World Bank, the Lake Chad Basin Commission (LCBC) and GWP Central Africa (GWP-CAf). After nine sessions of the working group set up for this purpose by the Ministry of Water and Energy (MINEE), the latter organized 2 working sessions with all stakeholders in the water sector from March 25 to 27, 2024 and from May 28 to 31, 2024 in Mbankomo, Yaounde.
The largest international gathering of water stakeholders, held every three years, the 10th World Water Forum - 'Water for Shared Prosperity' - was held in Bali, Indonesia, from 18 – 25 May, as the culmination of a multi-annual political, thematic and regional preparatory process. It attracted 64,000 participants and visitors from 160 countries.
For the Development of a project fiche in the form of a GCF Concept Note and related Project Preparation Facility (PPF) application for the project “Enhancing water security and farmers resilience in Assi River Basin through Water-Energy-Food-Ecosystems (WEFE) solutions – Lebanon”
Between 2017 and 2023, global performance on implementing integrated water resources management (IWRM) increased from 49% to 57%. However, the current rate of progress would need to at least double in order to meet the 2030 goal on clean water and sanitation (SDG 6).
The Water Scarcity Program (WSP) was developed by the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization with support from the Australian Government to support countries in Asia-Pacific in taking practical steps to address and manage water scarcity under rapid population growth and in a changing climate. The WSP specifically aims to provide technical and policy support to help countries ensure that agricultural water use is managed in a sustainable and productive manner under increasing water scarcity, thereby contributing to water security, food security, resilient rural livelihoods, and prosperity in across Asia-Pacific with an additional focus on achieving SDGs 2 and 6.
The 'Resilient Thessaly' project, based on partnership between GWP-Med, the Municipality of Trikala and The Coca-Cola Foundation, will implement stormwater management works, within the frame of a holistic intervention aimed to strengthen the city's climate resilience in response to the devastating floods caused by storm Daniel in September 2023.
GWP hosted a special side-event on "Source-to-Sea action for Healthy Rivers & a Clean & Healthy Ocean" at the 9th 'Our Ocean' Conference in Athens, Greece on 16 April 2024, moderated by Dimitris Faloutsos, Deputy Regional Coordinator of GWP Mediterranean and Deputy Coordinator, Transboundary water cooperation theme, and co-organised with distinguished partners, Hellenic Ministry of Environment and Energy, Global Environment Facility (GEF), FAO, UNESCO’s Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission (IOC-UNESCO), and SIWI.
The Pungwe River Basin originates in the eastern highlands of Zimbabwe and flows through Mozambique into the Indian Ocean. About 5 % of the basin area is in Zimbabwe, with the remainder in Mozambique. However, about 28% of basin flows are generated on the Zimbabwean side. The basin is rich in plant and animal diversity, which is constantly under threat from anthropogenic activities.
