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For GWP, inclusiveness and gender sensitivity has always been a core value. GWP supports the Dublin Principle that women play a central role in providing, managing, and safeguarding water resources. The growing interconnectedness of gender, water, and sustainable development demand that we do more to ensure greater gender equity in all our efforts to properly safeguard and manage water resources for future generations.

International water cooperation is essential. This was one of the key messages that Ambassador Robert F. Van Lierop delivered in his keynote speech at the GWP Consulting Partners Meeting in Stockholm. He made it clear that climate adaptation issues affect the entire world.

How to improve the management of invisible resource? Bring your ideas!

Complex environmental, social, economic and political structures make the Nile hard to manage. The Nile basin states have, because of these issues, collectively recognised the need to protect, manage and utilize the Nile basin in an integrated sustainable manner through a close co-operation. Action was taken and the Nile basin states formed the Nile Basin Initiative. This illustrate the opportunities created by multidisciplinary networks to solve complex environmental problems, stemming from their broad platform. 

Irrigation infrastructure is crucial for economic development in Fujian. However, due to incomplete water management, the existing water facilities do not satisfy the current development.  Action has been taken by the infrastructure department of Fujian provinces to cooperate with local farmers and organisations to explore participatory management and new mechanism of local water management. This case indicates that direct involvement of water users will result in rational use of water resources. 

Astien groundwater aquifer has been subjected to over-use due to good water quality and over-extraction. To address this, SMETA, a syndicate of local authorities, was established to organise the management of the aquifer. Key lesson learnt is that an organisation like SMETA can prove to be a successful forum for groundwater protection. 

The Lake Atitlán basin experiences serious problems of water pollution, soil erosion and forest and biodiversity losses. Action was taken to establish the Authority for the Sustainable Management of the Atitlán Basin. However, barriers such as lack of public participation, institutional coordination and investment funds have only ensured limited success. The key lesson learnt is that the main barriers to an integrated management of water resources in the basin are strongly interlinked.