Zagreb, 3 July 2015. Today, the ICPDR Stakeholder Conference “Voice of the Danube” has convened in the Croatian capital. Over 80 stakeholders from a broad range of backgrounds stood the heat and expressed their views on the draft management plans for the Danube River.
This article is part of a wider coverage of the “MENA Focus” events, a set of four regional sessions dedicated to the Middle East & North Africa, officially launched at the Stockholm World Water Week 2016, alongside the Regional Days for Africa, Asia and Latin America. The Global Water Partnership – Mediterranean (GWP-Med) had been selected and serves as the overall coordinator for these “MENA Focus” events. The sessions were organized in partnership with a number of international regional institutions and organisations. “Seeking answers to the MENA water crisis” was the first out of the four sessions, held on the 30th of August.
Right at the heart of Namibia, “the land of the brave”, in the capital Windhoek was the venue for the 7th SADC Multi- stakeholder Water Dialogue held from the 29th to the 30th of September, 2015. Held under the theme, “Watering Development in SADC: The central role of water in driving industrialization” the dialogue was attended by 150 delegates from across the region representing the water sector, Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs), cooperating and development partners, academia, the media, and other relevant stakeholders from non-water entities (energy, agriculture, industrialization). The delegates, of which a good number were youth were brought together to deliberate the role that water will play in driving industrialization in the region.
The sixth statutory meeting of the Assembly of Partners of Global Water Partnership West Africa (GWP-WA) was held on 7 and 8 May 2015 in Cotonou, Benin. The theme of the meeting was " The challenge of the post-2015 Development Agenda in Africa: what role for Partnerships in the context of Climate Change?'. Organized by the GWP Regional Secretariat in collaboration with the Ministry of Energy, petroleum exploration, mining, water and renewable energy, and the Country Water Partnership of Benin, it was under the patronage of the Minister.
The 3rd UN World Conference on Disaster Risk Reduction (WCDRR) took place in Sendai, Japan, 14-18 March. The planned outputs were met, with the announcement of a Declaration and a new Outcome Document to replace the Hyogo Framework for Action; the UN's previous disaster risk reduction deal, which expires in 2015.
The International Conference "Water conservation and water use efficiency", organized by the Network of Water Organizations from Eastern Europe, Caucasus and Central Asia (INBO-EECCA) took place on May 21, 2015 in Minsk.