With global change projections pointing to increasing water scarcity and drought in the Mediterranean, which are bound to cause significant environmental and socio-economic impacts, the development of a new management approach for water basins by integrating scientific thinking with sociological considerations seems essential.
On August 23, 2015, GWP China, jointly with WRI and WWF China, organized the side-event of the 2015 World Water Week, "How to Secure Water and Energy Amidst Rapid Urbanization" in Stockholm, Sweden
The Nigeria Water Partnership (GWP-Nigeria) has carried out successfully on 15 June 2015 in conjunction with the Federal Ministry of Water Resources the national consultation on water and food security. The Chairman of GWP Nigeria, Dr. Hassan Bdliya in his welcome address stated that in recognizing the looming food and water crises, the United Nations Open Working Group on Sustainable Development made a proposal for a dedicated goal on food security (Goal 2) – ‘’end hunger, achieve food security and improved nutrition and promote sustainable agriculture’’ and another dedicated goal on water (Goal 6) – ‘’ensure availability and sustainable management of water and sanitation for all’’.
The Global Water Partnership – Mediterranean (GWP-Med) has established a formal agreement with the Department for Planning and Conservation of Agricultural Lands at the Tunisian Ministry of Agriculture towards integrating climate change considerations in water and soil conservation planning, under the WACDEP (Water, Climate & Development) Programme; and in this context, it has entered a very fruitful collaboration with the Ministry, as well as the Regional Department for Agriculture in Bizerte, in Tunisia’s North, using the Douimis Basin in the Bizerte Region as a pilot for the development of the climate change mainstreaming methodology.
The farmers in the Volta river basin generally rely on rain-fed agriculture. However, insufficient or irregular rainfall frequently puts farmers at risk of losing their crops. Farmers must have access to a reliable water supply to sustain their livelihoods. In line with the problems highlighted, the Challenge Program on Water and Food (CPWF) set out to find ways to strengthen the capacity of the famers, communities and other stake holders in the basin. As a lesson learnt, it is reasonable to expect stakeholders to adopt improved agricultural practices if such new practices are of their own benefit. Experiences show that stakeholders will only participate in innovation platform meetings when they see the value of doing so.
On November 9, 2015, theGWP China Secretariat organized a working meeting in Jiangxi Province. The representatives of secretariats of Regional, Provincial and River Basin Water Partnerships convened in Jiangxi reviewing the 2015 work progress and discussing the implementation of 2016 plans.