Water security is under intense pressure in many urban areas, and the very nature of urbanisation contributes to water stress situations both from a quantity and quality perspective. It is within this context that on 12th June 2015 at Meikles Hotel, Zimbabwe, Global Water Partnership co-jointly with the African Development Bank through the Africa Water Facility (AWF) gathered 45 participants at an Integrated Urban Water Management (IUWM) workshop.
Lebanon and Jordan are exploring the possibility of joining the UNECE Convention on the Protection and Use of Transboundary Watercourses and International Lakes (Water Convention). To assist the two countries in this process, UNECE and the Global Water Partnership - Mediterranean (GWP-Med), with financial support provided by the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC), have organised national workshops to increase awareness and understanding of relevant stakeholders of the different legal and institutional frameworks for cooperation on shared waters resources, the specificities of the UNECE Water Convention, in comparison to the UN Watercourses Convention, as well as the complementarity of the two agreements.
The Goascoran River basin is shared by Honduras and El Salvador and is of great environmental, economical and geopolitical importance. In 2006, action was taken to create a multi-sector instance to integrate, influence and coordinate sustainable management of the shared basin. This experience is of great value for IWRM, as the management group establishes a model of work for transboundary management.
GWP SA is working closely with a number of partners namely GRID-Arendal and RESILIM in the development of an Atlas of the Limpopo River Basin. This initiative is a basin collaboration initiative known as the Limpopo River Basin of Our Changing Environment. An initial conceptualisation workshop was held by the partners on the 18th-19th August, 2014 at Cresta Churchill in Bulawayo, Zimbabwe. The workshop brought together 33 participants to share experiences and understand the environmental changes that have occurred in the Limpopo River Basin and conceptualise the development of an Atlas.
The African Minister’s Council on Water (AMCOW) Secretariat, in collaboration with the Government of the Republic of Kenya and Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD), and Regional Economic Communities (RECs) together with Global Water Partnership (GWP) organised a Water Resources Management Priority Action Plan (WRM-PAP) validation meeting from the 16th to the 18th of May 2016. The validation meeting will be followed by a Consultation Meeting on the Draft Framework and Indicators for the Water and Sanitation Sector Monitoring and Reporting in Africa scheduled for the 19th and 20th of May 2016 in Nairobi, Kenya.
The Country Water Partnership of Burkina Faso (CWP Burkina) has supported the establishment of the Local Water Committee of the Massili (CLE- Massili ) to help in a shared vision for the management of resource water in this sub basin of the Nakanbé River. This action was made possible as part of the collaboration with the Nakanbé Water Agency (AEN).
The implementation committee of the youth project in Togo organized a press conference on Tuesday, October 27 to introduce the National White Paper. The event took place in the presence of representatives of the government, development partners, youth organizations and the media. It was an opportunity to initiate other actions, particularly with the Delegation of the European Union in Togo to support the dissemination of the white paper after the COY11.
GWP WAF took part in the Volta Basin Authority’s (VBA) workshop to validate the baseline study on the socio economic and environmental situation of the basin updated with a focus on the hydrological network to establish a network for the maintenance.
The Global Water Partnership Southern Africa (GWP SA) has been supporting the development of a Climate Change Strategy and actions plans for water related sectors in the Zimbabwe National Climate Change Response Strategy (NCCRS) consultation process since its inception in August 22nd 2013. A number of stakeholders, such as COMESA, UNDP, and UNICEF have been supporting this process.