The sixth SADC Multi-Stakeholder Water Dialogue was held on 1-2 October 2013 at the Intercontinental Hotel in Lusaka, Zambia. The dialogue was sponsored by DANIDA and other cooperating partners (German Cooperation, Australian Aid, UK Aid).
Stakeholders concerned with water management and food security recently gathered for the First World Irrigation Forum in Turkey. A GWP delegation participated and discussed future collaboration possibilities with forum organiser ICID (The International Commission on Irrigation and Drainage).
GWP Chair Dr. Ursula Schaefer-Preuss took part in a Special Event hosted by the President of the UN General Assembly in New York on 25 September. The aim was to follow up on the efforts made to achieve the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and to discuss the post-2015 agenda.
Climate change and the increasing number of competing water users have led to the overexploitation of the Pangani river basin resources. Action has been taken to establishing environmental, economic and social implications of different river flow scenarios under expected climatic conditions. This helped to prioritize the allocation of water resources to meet basic human needs and those of ecosystems. The main lesson learnt was that providing a platform for dialogue between key stakeholders and increasing knowledge about the climatic variability and future risk are essential for successful water management solutions.
The inaugural meeting of the Technical Working Committee on WACDEP in Ghana was held on 19th September, 2013 at the International Water Management Institute Conference Room in Accra under the auspices of the Ghana Country Water Partnership.
During the last week of August, representatives from GWP from across the world gathered in Stockholm to discuss the strategies of the network, past and future. Some of the voices from the network can be heard in GWP’s video library – 13 new video features voices spanning from South East Asia to the Caribbean.
GWP Egypt and the Delta Alliance jointly organised a workshop in Cairo in June within the framework of the ‘Enabling Delta Life’ initiative. The main aim was to identify elements of a programme that can complement and add value to on-going activities in the Nile delta.
Over the last five years Pakistan has suffered three major floods. In 2010, the country experienced a super flood which devastated the country, with 2,200 people losing their lives. GWP Pakistan recently helped organise an international conference on flood forecasting.
Overexploitation, contamination, and salinisation of aquifers are among the main problems Peru currently faces in groundwater management. To tackle these issues, GWP Peru, with the financial and technical support of GWP South America, held a workshop on “Groundwater: steps towards adaptive and sustainable management” at the National Water Authority’s auditorium in Lima on 9 August 2013.
Global Water Partnership – Eastern Africa (GWP-EAf) will be hosting the 5th Water, Climate and Development Programme for Africa (WACDEP) Technical Coordination Workshop. The workshop will be held in Kigali, Rwanda from 23–28 September 2013.