With one of the lowest per capita freshwater resources in the world, China have been investing in and seeking new ideas and methods for improving both supply side and demand side management of water resources. This has included numerous experiments in “eco-compensation”. These experiences demonstrate that eco-compensation should be considered as a potential tool for Integrated River Basin Management to address financing shortfalls, identify management pitfalls, and convince key stakeholders to participate.
The DRC Country Water Partnership (DRC-CWP) was established in November 2004. The Partnership was established to assist government and other actors to promote Integrated Water Resource Management (IWRM) principles in the water sector and related sectors. The Partnership is hosted by The National Committee of Water and Sanitation.
The preparation of the Buna/Bojana Transboundary Integrated Management Plan aims to assist in identifying steps towards the reduction of pollution and the preservation of biodiversity in the area. Through multi-stakeholder consultations, the Plan will identify problems and issues in this basin shared between Albania and Montenegro. The Plan is prepared in the framework of the GEF MAP UNEP MedPartnership Programme by UNEP MAP PAP/RAC, GWP Mediterranean and UNESCO
Many climate change models predict that increasing temperatures, droughts, heavy precipitation and other extreme climatic events will have severe impacts on family farmers. Yields might be reduced by up to 50 percent in dry regions at the same time as family farming continues to be the basis unit of the agricultural economy in developing countries.
Poor domestic and international coordination between South Africa, Swaziland and Mozambique has led to conflicts over the water utilisation of the Komati River basin. Despite these challenges, action has been taken to strengthen the institutional and legislative framework. These actions demonstrate that in the contexts involving transboundary water resources, a strong institutional framework can promote political and economic cooperation between riparian states.
To improve the state of the Balikpapan Bay coastal ecosystem, a coastal zone management project was initiated. After initial project failure, action was taken for policy reform and an adaptive management approach was developed, focusing on inter-agency integration. This case illustrates the importance of active project learning and adaptive management.
The Meuse and the Scheldt river basins are subjected to pollution and seasonal water shortages, as well as political clash of interests regarding maritime access. Action was taken to solve these issues by the Belgian government. However, although an agreement was eventually made, political issues made the process complex. From this case, it is apparent that a cross-sectoral approach that looks beyond the water sector is often instrumental in developing attractive package deals.
In Turkey, operations and maintenance for irrigation systems was highly centralised, but this imposed an increasing institutional and financial burden on the government. Action has consequently been taken to transfer irrigation management to Water User Associations. The key insight from this case is that legal reforms should accompany institutional changes to enable full benefits to be gained.
As a key step in the overall process of implementing the Water and Climate Development Programme (WACDEP), a rapid capacity needs assessment in Africa was launched on Tuesday, 23 April 2013. The assessment will initially target eight countries and five river basins/aquifer systems currently implementing WACDEP: Burundi, Rwanda, Burkina-Faso, Ghana, Cameroon, Tunisia, Zimbabwe and Mozambique; Limpompo Basin, Kegera Basin, Lake Chad Volta Basin and the North Western Sahara Aquifer System.
As a key step in the overall process of implementing the Water and Climate Development Programme (WACDEP), a rapid capacity needs assessment in Africa was launched on Tuesday, 23 April 2013. The assessment will initially target eight countries and five river basins/aquifer systems currently implementing WACDEP: Burundi, Rwanda, Burkina-Faso, Ghana, Cameroon, Tunisia, Zimbabwe and Mozambique; Limpompo Basin, Kegera Basin, Lake Chad Volta Basin and the North Western Sahara Aquifer System.